A/HRC/30/39 carrying out a study using a range of different tariff and subsidy systems to determine how affordability can best be assured.2 10. Discussions on affordability often focus on tariffs in the context of networked supply. While there are important challenges, this ignores that many people living in disadvantaged areas and within marginalized communities do not benefit from public networks, but rely on on-site or communal, often informal, sanitation and water solutions. It has been estimated that up to 25 per cent of the urban population of Latin America and almost 50 per cent of the urban population in Africa relies on small-scale informal providers to some extent.3 11. In many instances, these communities pay high prices for low-quality services – adding another layer of complexity to discussions on affordability. As informal service providers by definition tend not to be regulated for quality or affordability, they charge prices determined by what the market will bear or by price-fixing between providers (including cartel-like structures). For people in disadvantaged communities, paying for formal service provision is often a welcome opportunity to have a more regular and betterquality service, often at a lower price. These dimensions need to move centre stage in the discussion on finding solutions for ensuring affordable service provision for all. 12. Against this background, the present report presents an overview of the various costs that individuals and households must pay for water, sanitation and hygiene. It seeks to define affordability from the perspective of human rights and discusses the importance of setting concrete standards to determine affordability. It puts affordability in the broader context of ensuring environmental and economic sustainability, and discusses the impact of disconnections as a result of inability to pay. The report discusses who benefits from public financing in current practice, and then considers a variety of different mechanisms to ensure affordability of services for all through public financing and devising appropriate tariff schemes, including their advantages and challenges. Finally, the report discusses the importance of regulating and monitoring affordability before providing conclusions and recommendations. II. Costs associated with water, sanitation and hygiene 13. This section considers the various costs associated with water, sanitation and hygiene, not only direct costs, but also time costs, as well as the additional burdens that corrupt practices and inadequate governance may cause. It concludes by considering the costs of inaction. A. Different types of costs 14. In order to assess and ensure affordability, States need to look into the overall cost of delivering service that can have implications to the user’s payments. These include not only those regularly occurring costs such as operation and maintenance, but also the entire “life-cycle” costs of services, which include construction and rehabilitation (where 2 3 Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy – France, “Expert group on equitable access to water and sanitation”, 2015, available from http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/env/documents/2015/WAT/05May_1112_Paris/Meunier_FranceMEDD_ExperimentationSocialTariffs.pdf. Laura Sima and Menachem Elimelech, “The informal small-scale water services in developing countries”, in Water and sanitation-related diseases and the environment: Challenges, interventions, and preventive measures, Janine M. H. Selendy (ed.) (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), p. 231. 5