Source - Asia and Pacific
India, Punjab: every village to store enough drinking water for 15 days, minister orders
18 Sep 09
The Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab has ordered that every village in the state should construct tanks with a minimum capacity of 15 days to ensure uninterrupted supply of drinking water.
Sri Lanka, Ampara district: water shortages grip southeast
18 Sep 09
Water shortages in southeastern Sri Lanka mean hardship for most but are a boon for water sellers.
Nepal: water and sanitation rights a must
28 Aug 09
Experts appealed to the government to establish water and sanitation as fundamental rights in the new constitution. They want a high-level political statement that water and sanitation are also the government’s priorities.
India, Karnataka: 72 per cent in rural areas have no access to toilets
04 Aug 09
As many as 72 per cent of people in rural Karnataka still resort to open defecation, around 63 per cent do not treat their water before drinking and majority of women do not have access to modern hygienic form of sanitary protection. These are some of the findings of a recent survey.
Viet Nam: where the schools have no loos
04 Aug 09
About one in three of the 11,200 schools across Viet Nam had no toilets or inadequate toilets, a recent survey of the Ministry of Education and Training showed.
Nepal: hygiene campaign sets up 100 booths in slum areas
04 Aug 09
To combat water-borne diseases rises in Kathmandu slums during the monsoon season the local NGO,Guthi, launched a safe water and hygiene campaign to make people aware about pure drinking water, hygienic food behaviour, personal hygiene and environmental sanitation.
Bangladesh and West Bengal: nine million people affected by cyclone Aila
12 Jun 09
As of 10 June 2009, the death toll from Cyclone Aila according to the Bangladesh government was 190 and over 3.9 million people have been affected. Across the border in India “over 5.1 million people have been affected in 16 districts of West Bengal.
Pakistan: diarrhoea and typhoid cost 1.8% of the GDP
12 Jun 09
Federal Minister for Environment Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi has said that Pakistan is paying heavy price of neglect in water and sanitation sector as the diseases – diarrhoea and typhoid - due to these two factors cost the national exchequer 1.8% of the GDP which is US$ 1.5 billion annually.
India, Jharkand: women repair handpumps
12 Jun 09
“When these girls take to the street clutching their tool bags on back, people get the message: females are as efficient as males in all walk of the life,” a local social worker in Jamsol village said.
Nepal: “illegal” water trading common practice in rural areas
19 May 09
Drinking water sources located on public lands are being purchased and sold illegally for millions of rupees after old sources have dried up.
