One-third of world's people still have no proper toilets

"[...] everyone has access to adequate sanitation facilities, the quality of water supplies will be undermined and too many people will continue to die from waterborne and water-related diseases," WHO's public health department director, Dr. Maria Neira, said in a statement.

The joint report released Tuesday by the U.N. agencies evaluates progress on global targets set in 2000 for giving everyone access to clean drinking water and sanitation facilities, along with other goals in areas such as poverty, hunger, disease and inequality.

With those benchmarks expiring this year, the United Nations is leading efforts to come up with a new set of "sustainable development goals" that are expected to focus on how some $2.5 trillion in development funds will be spent through 2030.

[...] they are left to scavenge for water around broken pipes and stagnant ponds, may walk miles (kilometers) to the nearest spigot for clean water, or may be financially exploited by "water mafias" charging almost a full day's wages for single cup of water.

Lomborg and other economists have argued for a more systematic approach in spending future global development funds, by analyzing project costs and potential benefits in monetary terms to determine which would deliver the most "bang for the buck."

The less ambitious goal of just getting people to stop defecating in the open, however, would cost just $13 billion and yield $84 billion in economic benefits, or $6 for every $1 spent, the group concluded.