IT’S A situation the Philippines apparently shares with other countries. In a 2007 World Bank study that covered the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia, the economic impact estimates of poor sanitation included health, water resources, land use, sanitation access time, and tourism. Intangible aspects such as aesthetics and quality of life were assessed descriptively by the study called “Universal Sanitation in East Asia,” says World Bank expert Sy.

“Overall in the four countries of population size 400 million people, poor sanitation leads to annual economic loses of $9 billion,” she says. “These losses amount to two percent of (GDP). It is expected that over 70 percent of this — or $6.6 billion — can be averted through improving sanitation.”

Sy also says that “despite the impressive increases in coverage, 40 percent of the world’s population with unimproved sanitation are East Asians. Because of the large population of East Asia, meeting the MDG target still leaves 700 million people without improved sanitation.”

The World Bank study said that 9.1 million Filipinos still went to the toilet in the open — ranking third behind Indonesia and Cambodia, which had 22 million and 9.8 million people, respectively, who relieved themselves on the streets or in the fields. The study also said that 15.2 million Filipinos use public toilets.

Yet even having a sanitary toilet in each home may not really be enough for a country to stake a claim on a “good housekeeping” seal. Sy, for one, notes that close to 80 percent of Filipinos may have access to flush toilets that are connected to private septic tanks. But, she says, the human waste in the septic tank should be desludged at least once every three years. And if these are collected, do we know where the wastes go? If these are just thrown into the river, or in open fields, she argues, then it still contaminates the water and soil, thereby causing damage to the environment and endangering the lives of people.

According to Sy, the World Bank initially estimates that the East Asian region needs to spend at least $12 billion per year in water supply, sanitation, and wastewater treatment.

In the Philippines, the World Bank has committed more than P3-billion assistance for the sanitation sector in its effort to increase access to poor sanitation and to guard against the environmental impact of water pollution in the country.

It includes the Manila Third Sewerage Project and community-based investments activities like the $12.5-million Laguna de Bay Institutional Strengthening and Community Participation project that involves waste treatment facilities in Nagcarlan and Sta. Cruz towns in Laguna.

Still, it’s not enough that international funding institutions and the government pour more money into water and sanitation facilities. Such efforts may be for naught if the people will not observe hygienic practices like washing of hands after defecation and before handling food to avoid contamination.

Talk about having one’s fate in one’s hands.