Water supply and sanitation in Laos

According to data from the World Bank collected in 2014, Laos has met the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets on water and sanitation regarding UNICEF/WHO Joint Monitoring Program. However, as of today, approximately 1.9 million members of the Lao population could not access the improved water supply and 2.4 million people go without access to improved sanitation due to inequalities in access between areas with or without sufficient transport infrastructure. Poor sanitation affects people's health and national economic development. Annually, poor sanitation and hygiene problems cause three million disease cases in Laos, including 6.000 premature deaths. 49 percent of children in rural areas suffer from poor sanitation as of 2011. Taken together, water access and sanitation troubles are responsible for 193 million dollars of national economic loss per year, equal to 5.6% of GDP. Laotian people who can get access to sanitation in rural areas account for only 36 percent in 2004. The government in Laos adopted the Millennium Development as prepared collaborative by the United Nations, World Bank and International Mutual Fund to promote water supply and sanitation for its people to access safe drinking and basic sanitation. == Water resources ==

Mekong River The Mekong River plays an important role in Laos's economy. The Mekong River basin covers nearly 90 per cent of Laos country and drains toward Vietnam. The capacity of the Mekong River basin to sustain food security and water availability in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) is largely hindered by competing economic, ecological, and political interests. In Laos, the government encourages hydro-power investment, which increases pressure on water and sea animal threats. The development of electricity in Laos and export to neighbouring countries are essential for government revenues to reduce poverty. There are potential environmental consequences of damming riverways, including creating reservoirs, flooding, blocking the natural course of the river, and impacting the construction of power lines. For example, the structure of dam and reservoir interfere with aquatic migration and alter water temperature and the river's flow; as a result, it may injure the life of land and sea animals and animals. Meanwhile, locals stated that before the upstream dams were built, they could safely drink the Mekong River water. However, after the Xayaburi Dam in Laos was built, the water quality became contaminated. The water quality in Laos become even worse when a new dam was built in Don Sahong, less than 2 kilometers from the town, causing the population get diarrhoea and inhale with bad air quality. Furthermore, fisheries contribute about 13 percent of Laos's national GDP per year. Most population live near the Mekong river found dead fish floating in polluted water in the area between the Don Sahong Dam and Preah Rumkel (Cambodia) which made their only source of water for drinking, cooking, fishing and everyday chores as disaster. == Water quality ==

There is a high chance of getting malaria for those who live around the water which is surrounded by mosquitoes. In some rural areas, people are lacked of safe drinking water, chemical runoff, sewage and limited access to health services. Although Lao is one of the dominant renewable water resource in Asia, 25 percent of urban dwellers and 40 percent of rural Lao population are lacked access to safe drinking water. In certain location, villagers have to walk up to 2 kilometer to get access to water. Poor air quality is associated with premature death, cancer, and long term harm to respiratory and cardiovascular system. Furthermore, environmental health encounters from household air pollution appear to be significantly disproportionate which affect the poor population in Lao PDR. Most than 95 percents of Lao population use coal and wood for everyday cooking which can cause indoor air pollution and health issues with a life expectancy of 56 years in 2008. UNICEF works in Lao PDR to help ensure children and families in homes and schools have access to clean water and sanitation facilities. Many rural communities are unaware of appropriate sanitation and hygiene practices. Hazardous chemicals that include heavy metals such as chromium, copper, zinc and persistent organic pollutants such as furans, dioxins and poly-chlorinated phenytoin are widely banned while Lao population are not fully aware of its catastrophic effects. For example, poly cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one of the essential types of persistent pollutants of toxicity from natural resources of water and sediment. The major problems associate toward national goal in the Lao water and sanitation involve the absence of national programs to scale up rural hygiene education, inefficient annual budget allocation in rural areas, and weak sector monitoring for rural water supply as well as sanitation. Therefore, in order to improve water and sanitation target for 2020, the Implementation of Water Supply Sector Investment Plan and the National Plan of Action for Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene; capital investment is notably needed to finance the operations. ==See also==