What You Need to Know about Safe Sanitation

One third of the world’s population does not have access to proper sanitation. That means one in three individuals defecate in the open, using whatever means available. Lack of adequate sanitation causes privacy, safety and health issues. 

Inadequate sanitation often leads to the contamination of water supplies and negates the advantages of pouring of billions of dollars in aid into poor countries – and the situation is getting worse not better.

  • A child dies every 17 seconds as the result of poor sanitation.
  • More children die from diarrhea than of malaria or AIDS.
  • One third of girls drop out of school due to the lack of access to a toilet.
  • Fifty percent of hospital beds in developing countries are used for patients with a disease related to the lack of sanitation.

By becoming a member of the PSAI and engaging in this initiative, we can work together to positively impact this global issue.

Portable sanitation operations are already saving over 125 million gallons of fresh water daily, while preventing the spread of communicable diseases and the contamination of fresh water. Portable sanitation provided by knowledgeable operators has been a proven means of safely handling and treating human waste for over 70 years.

Portable sanitation is a lifesaving necessity when natural disasters strike. It also protects the environment, improves public health and preserves human dignity. For more information about water saving decals that PSAI members can purchase, click here.


The PSAI and its Education Initiative seek to develop affiliations with other non-profit foundations, associations, individuals and organizations to advance awareness of the pressing issues created by the lack of adequate sanitation worldwide. We also seek to inform the general public about the importance of voluntary use of portable sanitation. Involvement by sanitation operators in efforts to educate customers and the general public is an important step in improving sanitation efforts in communities around the world.

Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and chairs the board of the Washington-based Food and Water Watch. She spoke at the PSAI Convention and Trade Show in 2015. Read her report called Our Right To Water: A People’s Guide to Implementing the United Nations’ Recognition of the Right to Water and Sanitation.

Download the pdf of “Our Right To Water”


Read an article from the TakePart “Insanitation” Series by Liz Dwyer about sanitation facts and information, and a map of countries without sanitation.




TED talk about sanitation:
Rose George: Let’s talk crap. Seriously.



TED talk reiterating the importance of sanitation:
Francis de los Reyes: Sanitation is a Basic Human Right