Published by Earthscan for and on behalf of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT).

The importance of small towns is gaining increased recognition as a result of two developments. The first development concerns the possible role of small towns in migration flows and urbanization. Development of small towns, in the form of improved basic services and other amenities, has been promoted in order to abate the impact of urbanization on large urban centres and to alleviate service provision pressures in major urban centers, whilst stimulating rural economies and eventually prompting social transformations. The second development concerns the targets set by the SDGs in 2015. SDG6 requires countries to ensure universal and equitable water services by 2030. This inclusive target requires that the water services needs of small towns are considered in the expansion of sustainable and equitable water services. This book aims to contribute to the study of water services in small towns by critically examining different approaches and experiences of water supply in small towns. It brings together empirical testimonies of how the implementation of reductionist models and the perseverance of certain principles underlying these models in the water sector have yielded suboptimal results. Much remains to be done before achieving universal service coverage in small towns is likely. In order to do that, we should start speaking of small towns as a category on their own and continue the work in elaborating further what these are and how they work. In Focus – a book series that showcases the latest accomplishments in water research. Each book focuses on a specialist area with papers from top experts in the field. It aims to be a vehicle for in-depth understanding and inspire further conversations in the sector.

Water and Wastewater Management in the Tropics provides the necessary conceptual framework and tools to assess all appropriate aspects of water and sanitation projects in developing countries. Using the lessons learned from courses taught at the Technical University of Denmark, Water and Wastewater Management in the Tropics is the concerted effort of a broad team including "hard core" engineers and practitioners as well as "soft core" environmental and institutional planners and economists, with contributions from renowned researchers as well as seasoned project managers. The first part of the book aims to give a basic understanding of international projects and addresses how to identify, formulate, select, organise, cost, finance, implement and manage water and wastewater management projects in developing countries. Later chapters focus on three different types of water and wastewater management projects in a tropical context: rural water and sanitation; urban water and wastewater management; and, industrial water and wastewater management. Water and Wastewater Management in the Tropics will appeal to graduate environmental engineering students but also to practitioners, economists, sociologists, and institutional planners working with water and sanitation projects in developing countries.

This is surely the most impressive and important publication to come out of the UN system for many years.'Peter Adamson, founder, New Internationalist, and author and researcher of UNICEF's The State of the World's Children from 1980 to 1995. The world's governments agreed at the Millennium Summit to halve, by 2015, the number of people who lack access to safe water. With rapidly growing urban populations the challenge is immense. Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities is a comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the problems and how they can be addressed. This influential publication b.

Half of the world's people live in urban areas, and roughly a third of these live in desperate poverty without access to basic amenities. Taking on the themes of UN-HABITAT's Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities (2003), this new volume focuses on the deficiencies in the provision of water and sanitation where most of the populations of the developing world live: in towns and small cities. Drawing on extensive unpublished research and 15 commissioned papers from experts involved in designing and implementing innovative projects around the world, this is the first major study of the problems facing the smaller urban centres that are recognized to be of enormous importance by governments, international agencies, NGOs and service providers. Tackling these problems is a crucial part of development and of good governance, and critical to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. The volume will be essential reading for all professionals and researchers in the relevant fields and a valuable resource for teachers and students of urban development.

'This is surely the most impressive and important publication to come out of the UN system for many years.' Peter Adamson, founder, New Internationalist, and author and researcher of UNICEF's The State of the World's Children from 1980 to 1995 The world's governments agreed at the Millennium Summit to halve, by 2015, the number of people who lack access to safe water. With rapidly growing urban populations the challenge is immense. Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities is a comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the problems and how they can be addressed. This influential publication by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) sets out in detail the scale of inadequate provision of water and sanitation. It describes the impacts on health and economic performance, showing the potential gains of remedial action; it analyses the proximate and underlying causes of poor provision and identifies information gaps affecting resource allocation; it outlines the consequences of further deterioration; and it explains how resources and institutional capacities - public, private and community - can be used to deliver proper services through integrated water resource management.

Despite significant progress in water and sanitation much still remains to be done. This report shows how the world has changed since 1990. It provides an assessment of progress towards the MDG target and insight into the remaining challenges. Section A provides an overview of progress against the parameters specified in the MDG target for water and sanitation in both urban and rural areas. It presents data for the world as a whole and compares progress across regions. The report goes on to examine trends over the MDG period by region and by level of service. It pays particular attention to the numbers of people who have gained the highest level of service in drinking water supply - piped water on premises - and those with no service at all who use surface water for drinking and practice open defecation. In order to understand the nature of progress it is important to look carefully at the way improvements in water and sanitation have benefited different socioeconomic groups. This report sheds light on equality gaps between urban and rural dwellers and between the richest and poorest segments of the population. It presents several new ways to visualize progress on extending service to the poor designed to reveal the nature of inequalities and give the reader insight into the great challenge that still exists in ensuring that progress reaches everyone. The JMP was established in 1990 and is celebrating its Jubilee Year in 2015. Section B provides a retrospective analysis of the evolution of water sanitation and hygiene monitoring over the past 25 years.