Athena Infonomics returned to World Water Week with two thought-provoking sessions that brought together international WASH experts to explore ways in which equity can be integrated into the delivery of essential services.

In an August 23 session, Athena convened representatives from a number of organizations in the WASH field—including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the African Water Association, the Kampala Capital City Authority, the Lusaka Water Supply and Sanitation Company, Pit Vidura, the Pan African Association of Actors for Non-sewer Sanitation (PASA), and the CWIS Technical Assistance Hub—to consider the use of public financing resources as a means to formalizing and sustaining strategies that can improve water conservation, safe waste management, and equity in basic services. Read a Waterfront Daily summary of the session.

Then, during an August 24 session, members of Athena Infonomics, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Container Based Sanitation Alliance, Safe Water Network, and Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL) shared evidence from decentralized drinking water and sanitation service models in Haiti and India to press for a "service subsidy" that would make such services more affordable for the poor and viable for private enterprises—improving water-use efficiency and sector formalization in the process.