How £11bn pledged for water sanitation aid never arrived

Post date: Sep 04, 2012 9:20:38 AM

Almost £11bn of life-saving aid has gone "missing" over the past decade – a sum that could have provided around 100 million of the world's poorest people with access to clean water and basic sanitation.

World aid donors pledged to spend £34bn of water and sanitation aid between 2002 and 2010 but only released £23bn of it, according to a new report by WaterAid and Development Initiatives, Addressing the Shortfall, to be published next week. More than two and a half billion people do not have access to safe sanitation – around a third of the world's population – and almost 800 million go without access to clean drinking water.

The accumulated shortfall of £11bn could have provided clean water to one in seven of those most in need. The report's analysis of Organisation of Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) figures shows that, on average, 30 per cent of water and sanitation aid, per year, was never released, or was not accounted for. More than a quarter of UK aid, or £192m, was not disbursed.

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Source the Independent, accessed on 4/09/2012