Waterborne diseases in Peru

The cholera epidemic in Peru brought to light the miserable state of local water and sanitation conditions. The author discusses the relationship between waterbone diseases and water and sewerage conditions in Peruvian peri-urban areas, or pueblos jovenes. These diseases are associated with poor living conditions. In 1989, only 52 percent of the population had access to piped water, and only 39 percent to sewerage. About 52 percent of schools lack light, water, and sewerage. In Lima, 2 million people daily eat meals from street vendors who lack access to fresh water or toilet facilities - 90 percent of a sample of their food was fecally contaminated. The author estimates the per capita costs of providing in-house water and sewerage facilities in urban areas to be $150 in urban and $180 in rural areas. The cost of constructing easy-access water facilities (a standpipe less than 1,000 meters from each house) and latrines in urban and rural areas is an estimated $30 per capita. In contrast, the author estimates the annual per capita cost borne by urban households without in-house continuous water connections (that is, households that buy water from vendors) to be $40. In short, the total cost borne by the urban poor over four years is equivalent to the cost of providing them with permanent water and sewerage facilities. Providing those facilities would relieve the urban poor devoting an average of 23 percent of their income to meeting their water needs.