Millions of women and children spend hours every day walking miles to collect water.

End Water Poverty live blog chat

On Thursday 18 March we gave you an unique opportunity to put your question direct to Mike Foster MP, the minister responsible for Water and Sanitation at the Department for International Development. 

Unfortunately the technology didn't quite work but Mike Foster MP has responded to all your questions and we've published them below. 

Read comments and responses on: the MDGs, International Meetings and Processes, and General subjects  

On the MDGs

It’s not too late to achieve the MDGs in relation to water and sanitation – we must all strive together to make it realistic. There are some big challenges to tackle, but it’s not impossible.

Comment From Paul, London 
The Millennium Development targets for water and sanitation are 2 of the most off-track. What do you think needs to happen to get them back on track? What role should the UK play in this?

Getting them on track will need a big push at global and national level on several issues: investment, supporting country plans, building a strong common evidence base and using it to influence decision-makers. The UK should be a leading player in this international effort.

Comment From Jane 
HI Mike, great that you're doing this. What can we all do to focus minds on sanitation, as this seems to be the one area which is falling behind?

I’m glad you’ve asked what you can do too, Jane. I think everyone has a vital role to play in raising the profile of sanitation. Where there’s good data and a persuasive story to tell, we need to get it out there, in all the different ways you can think of. Where there isn’t, you can help us to do better at making that case. Let’s make more people talk about toilets!

Comment From Robert Wakeling, UK 
Why do we not have a target date for achieving safe water and sanitation for everyone in the world? Perhaps a realistic budget would help as well.

Universal access is the ultimate goal. Meeting the MDGs is a key milestone on the way. You’ll find some interesting data on possible costs in the forthcoming Global Annual Assessment on Drinking Water and Sanitation (GLAAS), out next month. But we do need to keep working to pin down that budget.

On International Meetings and Processes

Comment From Tim Nutt, Hampshire 
Are we working with other countries to solve this problem, or are the various organisations all pulling in different/same directions?

The good news here is that we now have a great coalition pulling in the same direction, called ‘Sanitation and Water for All’. Through that, we can multiply our efforts, at a global, regional and national level.

Comment From Steve 
DfID have done a lot to ensure that there will be a High-Level Meeting on Sanitation and Water this April. To be successful it needs to deliver tangible change and additional actions. What will the UK commit to doing to lead the way?

I’m glad you recognise the work we’ve done: my officials and I have invested a huge amount of time to date on this vital initiative. And we’ll continue doing this beyond the High Level Meeting. We are considering our own commitments in the contexts of what others are thinking of doing. The key thing is that we all commit to this partnership, its objectives, ways of working – and agree to be held accountable.

Comment From Kate Turner 
Who from the UK Government will attend the High Level Meeting in April

We hope that Douglas Alexander or I can attend the High Level Meeting. If not, we will ensure that DFID is well represented at a high level.

Comment From Naomi 
Hi Mike, nice to meet you. I'd like to know why no UK politicians have committed to going to the High Level meeting on water and sanitation in Washington next month?

Hi Naomi. As you know, April could well a busy month in the political calendar in the UK. There may be unavoidable and important domestic obligations which mean we cannot attend. So we haven’t made a commitment which we might later be forced to break.

Comment From Chloe 
It's looking like sanitation will not feature heavily in the MDG Review Summit in September, yet it is one of the most lagging sectors. What will the government do to ensure that sanitation is high up on the agenda at the summit?

Hi Chloe. I strongly agree that sanitation must indeed feature at the September summit. We will work, through Sanitation and Water for All and other processes and partners, to ensure this Cinderella target is not neglected. You can help us with this.

General

Comment From Martin Williams - London 
Why does water and sanitation receive so much less aid and political priority than health and education?

DFID consistently makes water and sanitation a high priority, and we’re meeting our ambitious targets here. Aid to the sector in Africa has doubled - and will have redoubled by the end of 2010. Setting up a competition with other sectors isn’t the way to go. We need to look at how to work together with our health and education colleagues on achieving the water and sanitation MDGs.

Comment From Isabella - London 
What is DFID's position on the right to sanitation?

DFID recognises that sanitation is fundamental in its own right, to achieving the other MDGs, and as a matter of human dignity. DFID supports the use of rights-based approaches, and recognises the work of the Independent Expert appointed by the UN commission on Human Rights. We are also now starting work to capture the evidence of impact from the recognition of the right by some developing countries.

Comment From Laura, London
What is the government doing to tackle the disproportionate impact that a lack of access to clean water and sanitation has on women and girls?

The programmes and projects we support all aim to ensure that women are involved in decisions around sanitation and water programming. And we are focusing on clean and private toilets for girls in schools, in particular. That commitment is in our new education strategy. But if you have ideas of what more we can do, do let my team know.

Comment From Louisa 
How will DFID make sure that all its work in sanitation - is properly inclusive and responds to different needs of women and men, girls and boys, and people with different disabilities?

We will do our best on this at all levels: at policy level, with partners, in our programmes on the ground, and with civil society. I know we have some examples to build on in Bangladesh and Kenya, of how facilities can be as inclusive as possible. We’re looking at school facilities in particular. Facilitating access to education for children with disabilities is particularly important: most of them simply don’t go to school. Again, we welcome all your ideas and evidence of what works.

Comment From Sue Batstone 
Do you agree that undeveloped countries cannot realistically aspire to water based sanitation solutions, and that adopting Eco-San principles would also reduce reliance on industrial fertilisers and improve both health and food security?

I think that it is up to poor countries and their citizens to decide what their aspirations are, rather than for us to dictate that to them.  Ecosan is a good technology when properly used, but it should not detract from the fact that the main thing we are aiming at is that people have good toilets that they are willing and able to use.

Comment From Kolleen Bouchane, UK 
The UK has long been a champion of reform at the World Bank - recently Douglas Alexander spoke again about this continued to commitment and opportunities a the upcoming Spring Meetings. What do you think is the most critical reform needed at this time to increase access to sanitation and water?

Douglas Alexander outlined what he thought should be the three priorities for the World Bank to meet the challenges of the future in a recent speech: 1) to prioritise tackling the toughest development challenges; 2) to do more to help the world’s poorest; and 3) to be flexible and innovative to respond to an unpredictable world. These apply equally to water and sanitation as to international development at large.

Comment From Helen, Guildford
What are you doing to ensure water and sanitation work is linked with government actions to tackle climate change.

Our White Paper “Building our common future” identified climate change as one of the major potential threats to development.  Within this, we provided tangible “we wills” to deal with water resources management, which we know is crucial to adapting to climate change.  So, we will ensure our work on both water management as well as water and sanitation services (“taps and toilets”) are linked at a policy level and also throughout our programmes.

Comment From Nokwhezi 
Hi - question from South Africa. Women in my country suffer horrifically with violence when using unsafe sanitation in townships. Can you pressure local authorities in our country to take action? Be an ambassador for sanitation?

Hi Nokwhezi and it’s great to see you joining from South Africa. You’ll be glad to know that there will be good South African engagement at the High Level Meeting, including with South Africa as the new Chair of AMCOW. I raise sanitation and women’s issues at every chance I get. We are also supporting civil society activists such as yourselves globally to hold your governments to account. I hope between all these efforts the horrific gender-based violence you mention can be reduced.

Comment From Alex-SP 
Mike, it's great that you took this opportunity but how can End Water Poverty work with you to better engage the UK public to improve awareness about Water and Sanitation issues?

I’m open to all suggestions here Alex. Do keep up the public pressure, and do think of innovative ways to raise the issues in the media. I hope that the World's Longest Toilet Queue is a success. I will be meeting some of you after World Water Day to hear how it went!

Comment From Claire in Ramsgate 
Difficult for me to add anything new especially after Nokwhezi's comments! The MDG on water and sanitation seems to lack ambition (it is surely wrong to leave anyone without basic sanitation and safe drinking water especially given what women and girls suffer through the lack of them) and yet it is still off target. Why?

I agree Claire that we should not fall short in our ambition. Let’s start with the MDGs, through all the ways raised in this discussion so far. And let’s work hard. As I said in my speech at today’s DFID Water Forum, there are some things in life we can’t do anything about – this isn’t one of them.