The scourge of untreated wastewater: The economic, environmental and human costs of inaction

Untreated domestic wastewater (sewage) is a killer, deeply affecting the health of humans and the environment. The harmful effects on human health, fisheries and agriculture result in economic value disappearing across sectors, leading to reduced economic growth and loss of job opportunities.There are also indirect impacts such as deterring tourists around polluted beaches and rivers. For countries that fail to act in treating their sewage, cascading impacts will further grow over time as some impacts of today (eg, poor health of school children from contaminated water) will translate into lost economic value in the future.

This pilot study estimates the economic loss from inaction towards treating domestic wastewater. The losses represent the disastrous consequences of wastewater pollution on the ground. When wastewater reaches the sea and rivers, the changes it induces in fragile water bodies result in untold losses of fish and other marine life. The bacteria and other pathogens from these water bodies also contaminate drinking water which in turn gives rise to diseases that impact millions of lives each year, especially in the developing world. It also imposes economic costs on countries through these and other human and environmental impacts.

Untreated wastewater is an age-old problem that plagues developing and developed countries alike, yet its full impacts are not widely understood. It is also an insidious problem. Poor water quality can often go unnoticed, making it hard to track the environmental and health threats. This report seeks to help change that, by tracing and quantifying its major economic impacts. It models the economic value lost to countries from poorer health outcomes and environmental damages to the agriculture and fisheries industries. Five countries are included in our analysis: Brazil, India, Kenya, the Philippines and the UK, selected to highlight diverse experiences across the globe. This is a pilot study that is drawn from a carefully chosen set of data and parameters (see the research methodology note in the Appendix for more details). Having established the feasibility of quantifying the impacts of wastewater pollution, we intend to widen the scope of the research to many more countries in the future.

Our analysis in this initial undertaking finds that the economic losses linked to untreated wastewater are sizeable, particularly for the four lower- and middle-income countries in the model. It also finds that all five countries, the UK included, face distinct challenges relating to their wastewater management.