Corruption in the Water Sector: Causes, Consequences and Potential Reform

Corruption in the water sector undermines development of society as a whole. It contributes to unsustainable development by discouraging investments, undermining efficient water resource management and service provision, and degenerating public institutions. Poor people are particularly hurt by corruption in the water sector, mainly because it creates poverty by reducing effectiveness and efficiency.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 44% of the countries are unlikely to attain the MDGtarget for drinking water before 2015, and when itcomes to the sanitation target, a staggering 85% are off track. Corruption has been identified as a major cause of this. That is to say that corruption contributes to millions of people dying from illnesses caused by lack of access to clean water and sanitation.