Hi Kareem, thanks for raising these important questions. Regarding the first one "what are the challenges"; I would say that in MENA region there is a serious governance and management problem which led to the slow progress in adopting efficient policies. these challenges could be described as "wicked problems" (Rittel and Webber 1973 and Mysiak et al., 2005) where "multi-layer problems" are handled by large number of stakeholders (individuals and institutions) where each one of them see the problem from different perspective, and decision making processes are often described as non-participatory process that is triggered by different interests and objectives. Therefore, an integrated approach to investigate the role of stakeholders in the governance scheme and its relation to the repeated failure in W&S services in MENA is urgently needed.

I would like to start this discussion to identify -as much as possible- all Sanitation Challenges in MENA quantitatively and qualitatively.

In MENA, proper wastewater collection and treatment was missed in the majority of rural areas and some of urban areas. About 37 millions in MENA are suffering the lack of improved sanitation (The World Bank, 2015) The insufficient sanitation infrastructure has led to surface and groundwater contamination, with negative impacts on the environment and public health. And consequently, adverse socio-economic and environmental problems. (Yamouri, 2010)

About 64 percent of the total focuses of World Bank’s projects in the Arab world are on water supply and sanitation issues. However, these investments have not always been accompanied by the necessary institutional and policy changes, and are often not generating optimum economic returns. (Yamouri, 2010)

Accordingly in this discussion I will start it with the following questions, and would like to find their answers with you:
1- What are these challenges?
2- What are the reasons behind them?
3- How much negative impact they cause?

I kindly invite you to add your valuable inputs in this discussion; by adding your comments, thoughts, research findings, attach documents, references, web links ...etc. And please make sure that these resources are trusted and well cited.

Looking forward for your amazing inputs.

Kind regards,
Kareem