CVEN 4969/5969: Water Security, Sanitation and Hygiene

Fall, Tu/Th 2:30-3:45pm, 3 credits

Also cross-listed as EVEN 4969.

Instructor: Rita Klees

Course Description

Almost 75% of the world’s population live in countries classified as water insecure with nearly 4 billion facing severe water scarcity for at least one month annually. In 2026, about 1 in 4 (2 billion) people still lack safely managed drinking water and 3.5 billion lack safely managed sanitation and hygiene services. In combination, these conditions cause over 1000 deaths of children under age five every day, and impact upon, the nutrition, education, environment, and economic growth of communities. About 3 billion people, and more than half of global food production, are concentrated in areas where total water storage is already declining or unstable. Marginalized, rural, informal, immigrant and indigenous communities in low, middle and high income countries alike, suffer disproportionally. Besides the challenge of reaching those unserved, maintaining investments already made in water and sanitation infrastructure and services has proven to be difficult. Over the past 20 years, 30-40% of rural water systems in Sub-Saharan Africa have failed prematurely and more than half of all installed toilets are unused, misused or abandoned.

Against this backdrop, the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) include Goal #6 to “Ensure access to water and sanitation (WASH) for all by 2030.” Achieving this goal involves a complex and inter-related range of natural resources, infrastructure, services and human behaviors – all of which will be studied in this course. Fundamental concepts and best practices in water security and the WASH sector will be introduced. We will examine current conditions and trends and take a critical look at the underlying political, economic, social, and technical causes. Using case studies, guest speakers, debates, readings and videos, we will examine a broad range of interventions and programming, focusing on evidence-based solutions.

Course topics include the following:

Water

  • The global drinking water challenge
  • Health Impacts
  • Rural drinking water supply technologies and service delivery
  • Urban drinking water supply technologies and service delivery
  • Decentralized household water treatment and storage
  • Climate change and water security
  • Water, energy and food nexus
  • Water as a business

Sanitation & Hygiene

  • The Global Challenge of Sanitation & Hygiene
  • Health impacts
  • Urban sanitation technologies/issues/challenges
  • Rural sanitation technologies/issues/challenges
  • Sanitation as a business
  • Fecal sludge management
  • Hygiene and Handwashing
  • Behavior change and WASH
  • Menstrual Hygiene Management

Overarching Issues in Water Security and WASH 

  • Transboundary shared water resources management
  • Social justice, decolonization
  • Emerging Technologies
  • Reaching the unserved and the vulnerable
  • Monitoring and Evaluation
  • Gender
  • The Enabling Environment: National policies, plans, institutions
  • Financing
  • Humanitarian Assistance

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course the students will be able to identify:

  • key elements of water security and emerging concepts in water bankruptcy
  • the social, economic, institutional, and environmental benefits and challenges of providing access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation
  • WASH technical options and service delivery approaches for a variety of settings
  • vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations and ways to reach them
  • the role of hygiene and behavioral change
  • innovative approaches particularly in light of future challenges such as global pandemics, water scarcity, conflict, climate change, and urbanization
  • emerging issues and research needs

Prerequisites

This course is open to graduate and undergraduate (junior and senior level – with permission of the instructor) students in all disciplines.