Approval Date: December 2012

According to the Bangladesh Basic Standard, at present the country's water supply coverage is 74 percent and sanitation coverage is 80.4% percent, but this coverage is in extremely poor condition in Hard-to-Reach areas, which is pulling down the progress of country coverage. So far, 1144 Unions under 257 Upazilas of 50 districts have been identified as Hard-to-Reach areas where special policy measures are needed to make the water supply and sanitation services equitably available to the poor and disadvantaged people living in Hard-to-Reach areas. This is perhaps the only way to further improve the country's water supply and sanitation coverage towards satisfying the national target as well as the Millennium Development Goal. This strategy paper has been designed carefully in consideration of unfavorable and varying geophysical and geo-hydrological contexts of the Hard-to-Reach areas suggesting area-specific appropriate technological solutions for providing immediate and sustainable water supply and sanitation services