Sanitation
The problem of sanitation plagues every water provision system at its beginning. However, only relatively recently in human history has it become regarded as an important aspect of infrastructure to consider during development, and as such many around the world are still unaware of the importance, and often ease, of proper sanitary practices.
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Further compounding the problem, many traditionally used sanitation methods fail in developing nations due to various factors such as the decentralization of water access and lower levels of quality control when performing the actual sanitation of the water.
Internally displaced people camps (IDP camps) in Nyala, a city in the South Darfur region of Sudan, face many of the same economic and physical challenges as South Sudan with regards to a water system. Their solution is extremely centralized - chlorination occurs at one point in the city and water is then distributed, primarily by hand, to the various households served by a single water point.
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However, the solution has proven inadequate. Nearly all household water storage facilities contain coliform bacteria at a higher rate than the standard, and nearly half had such a high incidence as to be considered dangerous. This indicates that much of the contamination of water sources occurs at the point of use rather than at the point of access, but sanitation typically occurs at the point of access.
Nyala and the problem of Access points
Moreover, chlorine administered centrally does not work to maintain the cleanliness of water that is polluted at the point of use, since chlorine concentration drops below the safe level after approximately 15 hours.
The graph at left represents the results of a study conducted across refugee & IDP camps in Sudan. The red line shows the minimum safe level of chlorine.​
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It is clear that some alternative to point of access chlorination is necessary to ensure continued cleanliness of water.
A survey in Mbeya City, Tanzania revealed the danger of low awareness of the importance of sanitation. It found that nearly 85% of residents do not compost any of their waste, but that 97% would like to compost. Additionally, 64% of residents identified the reason for not composting as being a lack of knowledge and technology to actually begin composting.
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An important part of developing resilient infrastructure must be involving the entire community in the building and maintenance of the system. Only then, with widespread knowledge of it, can any infrastructure survive and fulfill its intended purpose.