SBR- Content.pmd - INBO

State of the Basin Report - 2003diarrhoea. In addition to health risks, in rural areas poor people often have to walk some distanceto supply their families with water. Women and children, who are the family members most likelyto carry water, may spend hours of their day doing so. This is a loss not only of time that could bespent on more productive activities, but if the water source is far from home, personal safety maybecome an additional issue.Figure 1. Access to domestic water and sanitation in the LMB countriesNotes: Figures shown are countrywide, in the absence of more specific data for that part of eachcountry falling within the LMB. Scales are based on approximate percent of populationsservedSource: UNICEF 2002In urban areas of the basin, a much higher percentage of people have water piped into their homesand are able to flush sewage away, but the poorest urban dwellers, whose numbers are increasing themost rapidly due to migration from rural areas, often lack such conveniences. Governments cannotkeep up with the demand for water and sanitation services as more and more people settle in urbanareas. Problems are arising as well in urban areas because the water and sanitation systems builtdecades ago are reaching the end of their lifespans and are beginning to break down. As a result,service levels are low, significant amounts of water are lost and water becomes contaminated as itflows through leaking pipes.As LMB populations grow and coalesce inurban areas, providing water and sanitationservices will become an even-greaterchallenge. Populations are likely to demandbetter quality water and greater quantitiesof it, and compete with other users of watersuch as agriculture and industry.The poorest urban dwellers, who are often recentmigrants from rural areas, usually lack adequatedomestic water and sanitationThus although in a largely water-rich areasuch as the Lower Mekong Basin, domesticwater may not at first seem as important asother water uses, it is, in fact, one of themost crucial uses for water, and likely tobecome more so in the near future asprovision becomes even more challenging.244