Source South Asia 2007, issue 1

Published - 21 Sep 07

South Asia - General

Asia: ADB, UN body make joint statement to help Asia's poor get better access to water, sanitation

In an effort to improve access to clean water and adequate sanitation for the poor, the Asian Development Bank and the U.N. Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation issued a joint statement on 1 June to collaborate in promoting the efficient management of Asia’s water resources and bolstering investments in safe and sustainable sanitation.

Asia: Head of States should understand the importance of water

"Water covers all aspects of human activities. Therefore the water is not only the problem of Water Ministers"".

Asia: sanitation must get top priority, says ADB

Many Asian countries face huge financial costs to clean up the environment because of a lack of investment in sanitation. The Asian Development Bank's (ADB) has launched a call to action “Dignity, Disease and Dollars”, focusing on better facilities, disease prevention and financial viability of sanitation services.

Mr. Jack Sim, Founder and Director, World Toilet Organization (WTO), Singapore

We need to make toilets and sanitation sexy.

Harunor Rashid, local government official, Rajshahi region, Bangladesh

If a child gets a waterborne disease, the family has to pay at least 5000Tk to help cure them, but they can buy a sanitary latrine for only 100Tk or less.

Afghanistan: flooding blamed for diarrhoeal outbreak

An epidemic of diarrhoeal disease across the country is being blamed in part on flooding that has contaminated drinking water sources. More than 100,000 people, mostly children, have sought hospital treatment.

Bangladesh: monitoring tool for sanitation progress

A monitoring tool has been developed and deployed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to track the progress in sanitation services.

Bangladesh: disaster preparedness keeps post-flood diarrhoea fatality rate low

Despite the fact that more than 10 million people in Bangladesh were affected by the July/August 2007 floods, the diarrhoea case fatality rate of about 0.02 percent was extremely low. The extensive network of tube wells, effective government maintenance and repair systems, and emergency preparedness have helped keep diarrhoea in check.

Bhutan, Thimphu: Hejo residents pays taxes but get no amenities

Hejo village was annexed by Thimphu city in 1994, with promises of urban amenities such as water supply, roads and sanitation. For thirteen years residents have been paying urban land and property taxes, but still no amenties have been constructed.

India: providing water and sanitation services to the urban poor

All 63 cities under India's ambitious urban reforms initiative, called the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM), are being urged to set up social development units within urban utilities to help focus critical services such as water and sanitation to the poor (28% of the country's urban population, according to the 2001 Census).

India: ‘Walk of shame’ triggers toilet consciousness

Dabena village in Bilaspur district declared a 'Nirmal Gram' (clean village). The 33 families in the village were provided with latrines under the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) launched in November 2005.

Maldives: after achieving 100% urban sanitation, utility looks towards rural areas

In 2002, the three urban centres of the Maldives achieved 100% sanitation coverage. The utility responsible for this achievement, the Malé Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC), has decided to expand its operations into rural sanitation as well

Nepal: lack of toilets means fewer girls in school

Only about 46 per cent of the 28,131 schools (primary to secondary) in Nepal have toilets. This accounts for 10 percent of girls not going to school.

Nepal: water borne disease a major health problem in Nepal

Nepal has the poorest drinking water and sanitation coverage for its population in South Asia and a large percentage of its drinking water contains faecal coliforms.

Nepal: political advocacy - WASH coalition urges government to spend more on sanitation and water

The Nepal WASH Coalition has sent a letter to Nepal’s National Planning Commission and Minister of Finance, appealing for an increased budget allocation for sanitation and drinking water services, especially for the semi-urban and rural areas, where the majority of the poor and vulnerable live.

Pakistan, NWFP: School Sanitation and Hygiene Education Centre established

The Government of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has established a School Sanitation and Hygiene Education (SSHE) Centre with support of UNICEF. It aims to promote appropriate hygiene behaviors and sustainable use of water and sanitation facilities in schools through capacity development on life skills based hygiene education.

Pakistan: urban water puts Punjab at risk

Urban water quality in Pakistan has deteriorated dangerously especially in the most highly populated province of Punjab.

Sri Lanka: ADB’s water and sanitation support “successful”

The overall performance of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) sector strategy and assistance to the water supply and sanitation sector in Sri Lanka is rated “successful”, based on the evaluation criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact.

Sri Lanka: CapNet-Lanka helps Plan to boost WES programme

CapNet-Lanka has been helping the NGO Plan to adopt an integrated approach to water supply, environmental sanitation and hygiene education in Sri Lanka. Plan’s Water and Environmental Sanitation (WES) programme has resulted in a fivefold increase in water use.

Africa: improving monitoring systems for MDG targets in Africa

More than 90 international delegates discussed the application of a Sector Information Monitoring System (SIMS), a monitoring approach which brings monitoring in line with the ‘sector-wide approach’ (SWAp) that many countries are implementing.

Amman Principles on Local Water Governance

The Regional Forum on Local Water Governance has adopted seven “Amman Principles” which emphasise locally appropriate solutions and the inclusion of especially vulnerable groups.

Latin America: political pressure seen as obstacle to service improvement

Political pressure on municipal governments often prevents the adoption of measures, necessary to improve the quality of water and sanitation services, such as increasing tariffs and cutting off services to non-payers, says Manuael Schiffler, senior economist of the World Bank

G8: Heiligendamm Summit overlooks water and sanitation, campaigners look to Japan

The 2007 G8 Summit in Germany has overlooked water and sanitation despite the 25,000 messages sent to German Chancellor Angela Merkel by the End Water Poverty Campaign. The Campaign is now looking to the Japanese government, host of the 2008 G8 Summit, to lead action on the water and sanitation crisis.

Arsenic: poisoned drinking water a global threat to health

The international response to the arsenic crisis, which threatens the health of 137 million people in over 70 countries, is inadequate say researchers attending the 2007 Royal Geographical Society annual conference in London.

Sanitation: meeting the MDG target will require extraordinary efforts, says UN report

Without extraordinary efforts, the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving the proportion of people without basic sanitation by 2015, will be missed by 600 million. The region demanding most attention is sub-Saharan Africa.

Development Marketplace: four WASH-related projects among winners of 2007 awards

This year’s World Bank’s Development Marketplace saw four WASH-related projects winning awards out of 22 small-scale, Innovative Health, Nutrition and Population innovative projects from 13 countries.

WSP: Staff changes

The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) reported eight recent staff changes.

CEO changes: IWMI and Water for People

Dr. Colin Chartres is the new Director General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Sri Lanka. Colleen Stiles started on 15 August 2007 as Chief Executive Officer of the Denver-based Water For People non-profit international humanitarian organisation.

Letitia Obeng: new Chair of Global Water Partnership

At the end of the year Letitia A. Obeng will start as new Chair of the Global Water Partnership, GWP announced in Stockholm.

Nepal: B. K. Man Singh appointed as chairman water tariff fixing panel

The government of Nepal appointed B. K. Man Singh as chairman of the newly formed Water Supply Tariff Fixation Commission. This is part of institutional reform in Kathmandu valley's water supply system under the Melamchi Water Supply Project.

ADB and Singapore Public Utilities Board link with UNESCO-IHE

The Asian Development Bank and Singapore Public Utilities Board (PUB) have signed an agreement with UNESCO-IHE – the international institute for water education - to promote knowledge-sharing and networking.

Director – Programme Operations, WaterAid India

Main responsibilities include strategic programme development and programme operations management. Annual salary: INR 1.1 million

Apply before Monday 15 October 2007

WASH India Manager Advocacy Support

Responsibilities include: organise and support WASH India members in research, networking and advocacy; dissemination and advocacy; supporting the WASH National Coordinator. Annual salary: INR 600,000

Apply before Monday 15 October 2007

City water and waste management: alternative paradigms

New Delhi, India, 14-17 January 2008

The four-day workshop explores current water-waste, pollution management practices and policies and its drawbacks, suggests an alternative paradigm more suited to the Indian situation, and teaches participants to design and implement localised wastewater treatment systems.

World Bank - Learning Modules

The World Bank is making some of its accumulated knowledge available as training modules. The first two freely available for download for home study are Attributes of Well-Performing Water Utilities and Aggregation of Water Supply and Sanitation Providers.

Open courseware: examples in the water and sanitation sector

Among all the courses offered by members of the OpenCourseware Consortium, there are three which specifically deal with water and sanitation in developing countries: Water and Sanitation Needs in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies, Tropical Environmental Health, and Water and Sanitation Infrastructure Planning in Developing Countries. Other organisations offer open courseware on potable water treatment, water and human health, IWRM and rainwater harvesting.

Urban poor: small piped water networks help slums in Manila, Philippines

Small piped water networks are no longer the domain of informal entrepreneurs going where utilities won’t or can’t go, slums. Manila Water involved four homeowners associations to clear the technical hurdles often present in densely populated areas, turning to small piped water networks as a solution.

Participation: "providers, engage directly with water consumers” in India

Service outcomes and access will improve when water and sanitation utilities are compelled to engage directly with consumers in designing services and meeting certain performance targets. This is the conclusion from a new overview study and 10 case studies from Indian cities.

HIV/AIDS: communicating the links with water, sanitation, and hygiene in India

People living with HIV and AIDS recognise the need for safe water, appropriate sanitation, and hygiene practices but face barriers in putting their knowledge into practice. Messages about safe water and hygiene are not always consistent.

Poverty assessments: poor in India give high priority to water supply

Safe drinking water is a high priority for poor communities in India while a private place to go to the toilet is also a major concern, according to participatory poverty assessments (PPAs) covering 20,000 people.

Water quality interventions: cost-effectiveness of non-piped sources and household treatment

Household-based chlorination was the most cost-effective where resources are limited; household filtration yields additional health gains at higher budget levels, researchers report from a cost-effectiveness analysis.

Wastewater reuse: health risks from peri-urban farms in India

Small farmers who irrigate crops with wastewater in peri-urban areas of Varanasi, India, show higher levels of contamination in soils and crops and may be putting themselves and others at risk.

Arsenic: lung and bladder cancer deaths continue decades after exposure ends

Arsenic exposure appears to continue causing lung and bladder cancer deaths years after exposure ends, according to research in Chile.

Food hygiene: microbiological quality of fish grown in wastewater-fed aquaculture

Fish grown in two wastewater-fed ponds and one non-wastewater-fed pond in Hanoi, Viet Nam, were sampled at harvest and in local retail markets.

Fog collection: field study comparing mesh materials in Oman

Experiments conducted in mountainous areas in the Dhofar Region of Oman showed that fog collectors made from air conditioner filter were more effective than those made from green shade mesh or aluminum shade mesh.

Sustainable sanitation: researchers develop technology selection algorithm

Researchers have published a sanitation selection algorithm, which considers all the available sanitation arrangements and is based on the principles of sustainable sanitation. It is especially designed for the poor and very poor rural and peri-urban areas in developing countries

Condominial sewerage: a solution for the sanitation crisis in urban areas?

The success of condominial sewerage in Brazil has led to a growing interest worldwide. Condominial systems combine a group of houses' small diameter sewerage networks into a single system. In densely populated peri-urban areas, they are often the only feasible option.

Concessional loans: on-lending practices of ADB loans can harm the poor says WaterAid

Asian Development Bank concessional loans for water supply and sanitation projects are being lent and re-lent by intermediaries at increasing interest rates and reach end borrowers at relatively high rates of interest. Poor users can often not afford to connect to services because projects are forced to impose high tariffs to be able to repay the loans.

Competition: 2nd WASH Media Award

This competition is open to journalists in developing countries who publish or broadcast original investigative reports on issues relating to water supply, sanitation or hygiene in their countries. Prize winners will be invited to attend the World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, in August 2008.

Apply before Thursday 15 May 2008

Best practices in social marketing safe water solution for household water treatment

This paper synthesizes lessons learned, best practices, successes, and challenges of social marketing safe water solution, and discusses how these lessons may be applied to planning safe water treatment programmes around the globe.

32nd WEDC conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 13-17 November 2006 : conference proceedings

The proceedings of the 32nd WEDC conference are now available on CD-ROM.

Water reuse : an international survey

The emphasis of this book is on technical details, rather than just theoretical and backed up with 12 case studies from around the world.

Planning urban sanitation and wastewater management improvements

This approach and methodology for planning urban sanitation and wastewater management improvements is in the form of a consultant Terms of Reference (TOR) for a Project Preparation Technical Assistance.

Household water treatment and safe storage options in developing countries

This article focuses on point-of-use drinking water treatment and safe storage options, which can accelerate the health gains associated with improved water until the longer-term goal of universal access to piped, treated water is achieved.

Excreta disposal in emergencies : a field manual

In this manual existing, innovative and new technologies and approaches for excreta disposal in emergency situations are investigated.

Sanitation for all?

After introducing the topic of sanitation, this Thematic Overview Paper (TOP) looks at the historical perspective and addresses different ´types´ of sanitation, such as basic sanitation, environmental sanitation, and ecological sanitation.

WASH in Schools

This new web site serves as an information exchange platform for sector professionals working in the field of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools.

IWA Global Development Solutions

Web site presenting the Global Development Solutions programme of the International Water Association (IWA). The programme is focusing on six areas, including post-disaster management, sustainable sanitation, technical expertise exchange and agency support

International Year of Sanitation 2008

The official IYS web site, maintained by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA).

Arsenic in Pakistan videos at youtube.com

Collection of arsenic (and other) videos on You Tube by the Urban Development and Environmental Research Center (UDERC).

Splash Bradford - Water Governance Group

This web site presents the outputs from recent research on water governance and related topics by members of the Water Research Group at Bradford University.

Water for Asian Cities blog

A blog for UN-HABITAT’s Water for Asian Cities programme.

India Water Portal – Ask a Question

A question-and-answer service on water and sanitation related issues, started in August 2007 by Arghyam in collaboration with WES-Net India.

World Toilet Association General Assembly

Seoul, South Korea, 21-25 November 2007

Theme: Globalization of World Toilet Facilities for Public Health and Sanitation

World Toilet Day

Global, 19 November 2007

Global annual event to get people to take action and increase awareness of the toilet users right to a better toilet environment, and to lobby for increased access to toilets and sanitation for all.

Wetland 2008: 11th International Conference on Wetland Systems for Water Pollution Control

Indore, India, 01-07 November 2008

Topics include: global issues; process dynamics; design criteria; economics; landscaping; treatment performance of wetlands in water pollution control; and case studies.

National Workshop on Dynamics of Watershed Development and Sustainable Rural Livelihood

Hyderabad, India, 26–28 December 2007

Programme covers: status of watershed development and people participation; contributing factors in employment creation; shift in development paradigms after economic policy reforms and its impact on rural livelihood with an emphasis on backward states; gender in watersheds and livelihoods; capacity building for poverty alleviation.

International Seminar on Sanitation

Manila, The Philippines, 15-16 November 2007

Theme: “Delivering Our Vision: Sanitation for All”.
The seminar aims to: mobilise all local governments to advance their sanitation agenda in response to issues concerning environment and public health; develop mechanisms and approaches for sustainable sanitation; and disseminate best practices on sustainable sanitation.