The International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade: Dogmatic Means to a Debatable End Available to Purchase

The International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (1981-1990), has called for a whole new approach to water sector development. The spotlight is on communities - community participation, community management, community financing - and away from national and local government structures. In this paper it is argued that the Decade rhetoric has not created the capacity and infrastructural networks to achieve and sustain its objective of universal water and sanitation coverage. The result is a contradiction between strategy and structures. It is concluded that community participation and community management may be conducive to achieving the Decades target; but are not sustainable alternatives to strong local and national government institutions in the water sector.