Response of water supplies and household toilets to climate extremes: evidence from southern Malawi

Extreme climate events damage water and sanitation infrastructure and disrupt services for millions of people globally. There is consensus that improving the response of services to climate threats will require investment in institutions, service management and infrastructure. However, there is limited practical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa on how users and service providers can make services more resilient. The goal of this study was to collect such evidence from the southern district of Malawi which is frequently hit by natural disasters. Our findings revealed that heavy rainfall, long dry spells and cyclones are affecting services, but this varied by infrastructure type and factors related to management and maintenance. Boreholes with handpumps were more resilient to changes in water quantity and quality than other water supply types; breakdown in dry seasons was affected by the group responsible for repair, whereas toilets with more robust superstructures were more resilient to cyclones and flooding.