We often assume that once a household has a toilet and access to clean water, the job is done. But here's the catch, those individual upgrades don’t necessarily protect the wider community. In fact, they can create new risks when sanitation systems are disconnected, poorly managed, or unsuited to local conditions.

When Waste Leaves the Household and Enters the Community
In many informal settlements and rural areas, untreated or poorly treated wastewater is discharged directly into open drains or ditches. These often-clogged channels overflow during rains, spreading contamination across homes and playgrounds. Children who are the most exposed walk barefoot or play nearby, coming into direct contact with harmful pathogens. In Zambia’s flood-prone settlements like Kanyama, studies have shown how open drains fill quickly, becoming breeding grounds for cholera and other waterborne diseases. Even improved latrines fail when they collapse or overflow during seasonal floods.

The Limits of Conventional Infrastructure
In densely populated or unplanned areas, conventional sewerage systems often aren't feasible. High capital costs, narrow streets, and insufficient water supply make large-scale infrastructure difficult. As a result, households are left with pit latrines or septic tank systems solutions that can work, but only under the right conditions.In districts like Kalumbila, Zambia, rapid corrosion of galvanized iron pipes has caused handpump failures in rural water systems. Community members are left without safe water for days or even weeks, illustrating how the wrong materials or poor maintenance planning can derail good intentions.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Across many regions, including rural Zambia subsidized sanitation technologies are often rolled out without community input or proper environmental assessment. A single model is promoted everywhere, regardless of local soil type, flood risk, or water table levels. The result? Latrines that leak, pumps that rust, and systems that stop working just when they’re needed most. For example, studies in several Zambian villages have shown how handpumps remain non-functional due to poor design, low-quality materials, or lack of maintenance funds. Once these systems break, they often stay broken.

So, What Needs to Change?
To truly improve WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) outcomes, we need to go beyond household solutions and build systems that protect the community as a whole. That includes:
Fit-for-context solutions: Technologies must match the environment. In flood-prone areas, raised and sealed latrines work better than pit-based systems. Using rust-resistant materials like stainless steel or uPVC can prevent failures seen in places like Kalumbila.
Maintenance that lasts: Infrastructure doesn’t maintain itself. Community-led repair funds, local training, and spare parts access are crucial. In Zambia’s Sesheke District, local WASH Champions have mobilized communities to maintain latrines and water points, significantly reducing disease rates.
Equity-driven design: WASH systems must consider gender, disability, and child-friendliness. Too often, the most vulnerable are left out of planning and suffer the most when systems fail.
Linking household to community:  A clean toilet in one home won’t protect a child playing in wastewater outside. We need integrated systems drainage, water supply, and waste collection that work together.

Household WASH solutions are vital, but they’re not the finish line. Without community-wide planning, flood-aware design, and proper maintenance, these systems break down and public health suffers.Real progress comes when we stop thinking of toilets and pumps as isolated fixes and start seeing them as part of a living system one that depends on the people, environment, and infrastructure around them.

References
1. Moyo, T., & Phiri, M. (2023). *Effects of climate change-induced flooding on onsite sanitation services: A case study of Kanyama Compound, Lusaka, Zambia.* *Journal of Environmental Planning and Management*. ResearchGate.
2. Harvey, P. A. (2004). *Sustainable supply chains for rural water supplies in Africa.* *Proc. Institution of Civil Engineers: Engineering Sustainability*, 157(1), 31–39.
3. UNICEF Zambia. (2023). *Clean hands save lives: Emergency hygiene kits and borehole rehabilitation in Chama District*. UNICEF Zambia.
4. African Development Bank. (2021). *Community champions mobilize for better sanitation in Sesheke District, Zambia.* AfDB.