Source Weekly 2009, 08

Published - 06 Aug 09

International

Faith in Water: meeting leads to new partnerships between religions and UN agencies

UN agencies and the World Bank have invited faith organisations to become partners in their water and sanitation activities. This was one of the results of a Faith in Water meeting that brought together for the first time religious groups, international water agencies and water innovators. It focussed in particular on water, sanitation and hygiene promotion (WASH) in schools.

Right to water: PLoS editorial promotes it, Californians to get it

The editors of the open access journal PLoS Medicine have added their voice to those who are demanding that access to water should be framed as a human right. Meanwhile, California is set to become the first US state to pass legislation on the right to clean water for basic human needs.

Virtual water: food products should carry ‘water footprint’ information, says UK report

Food and drink products in the UK should carry a new label to give consumers more information about their “water footprint” – the hidden amount of water used in the manufacturing process – say two health and food lobby groups. An international water ecolabel is on the agenda of Alliance for Water Stewardship, launched in March 2009.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, USA

Perhaps no two issues are more important to human health, economic development, and peace and security than basic sanitation and access to sustainable supplies of water.

Africa: G8 water and sanitation initiative lacks concrete action

The launch of the G8-Africa Water Partnership promised to be a centrepiece of the G8 Summit in L'Aquila but it contained no specific actions and no extra finance, the End Water Poverty campaign said.

Kenya: Nairobi water board sent packing following reports on malpractices

The entire board of the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company was sent packing over alleged mismanagement on 8 July 2009. A full council meeting of the City Council of Nairobi made the move citing unfair water rationing and illegal connections that have seen millions of cubic litres of water lost.

Mozambique: positive results claimed for delegated water management

The Mozambican Minister of Public Works, Felicio Zacarias, said on 29 June 2009 that the reforms in water supply that began in 1995, and which have led to delegating the management of urban water supply in major cities to private consortia, have produced positive results. Investments in water systems have lead to an increase in the number of people they serve, and in the number of hours of supply per day.

Swaziland: just add water and stir – multiple use water services in Maplotini

The Swaziland Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise (SWADE), a government parastatal, has since 2006 injected new life into the community of Maplotini using an integrated water resources management approach, which has set the community on a path of sustainable income generation.

India, Karnataka: 72 per cent in rural areas have no access to toilets

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.

Nepal: hygiene campaign sets up 100 booths in slum areas

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.

Viet Nam: where the schools have no loos

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.

Latin America: governments seeks to regulate shared waters to guarantee supply

Uruguayan authorities are concerned about the lack of coordination of regional water resources. The problem is affecting water supply for the dams along the river.

Bolivia, Chile: Govts ready to sign initial agreement on Silala waters

Chile and Bolivia are ready to sign an initial bilateral agreement regarding the Silala waters but the document has not yet been made public.

Bolivia: huge glacier disappears

Scientists in Bolivia say that one of the country’s most famous glaciers has almost disappeared as a result of climate change. The Chacaltaya glacier, 5,300m up in the Andes, used to be the world’s highest ski run. But it has been reduced to just a few small pieces of ice.

South Africa: Water Affairs Director-General Pam Yako, suspended

Pam Yako, Water Affairs DG, has been suspended awaiting the outcome of an investigation into suspected financial irregularities within the department.

András Szöllösi-Nagy: new Rector at UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education

UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education announces a new Rector, Professor András Szöllösi-Nagy. He replaces Professor Richard Meganck.

Dr. Albert Wright: renowned expert joins Global Sanitation Fund Advisory Committee

Dr. Albert Morgan Wright joined the Global Sanitation Fund (GSF) Advisory Committee in June 2009.

Henk Holtslag : Dutch international volunteer of the year

The Award for International Mambapoint Volunteer of the Netherlands has gone to “Mr. Rope Pump” Henk Holtslag.

Bente Schiller : new Senior Adviser Water and Sanitaton

Bente Schiller returned to Technical Advisory Services (TAS) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

WatSan Coordinator, MedAir, West Darfur, Sudan (Northern States)

Overall coordination of and responsibility for the management of Medair’s West Darfur water and sanitation project with other NGOs and UN agencies

Apply before Saturday 31 October 2009

Lecturer in Environmental Science - Aquatic ecology/water quality, UNESCO-IHE, Delft, The Netherlands

The Department of Environmental Resources seeks a Lecturer in Environmental Science - Aquatic ecology/water quality who will contribute to the development and implementation of scientific research; contribute to UNESCO-IHE’s Masters Programme in Environmental Science.

Apply before Friday 21 August 2009

Lecturer in Environmental Science - Environmental Planning and Management, UNESCO-IHE, Delft, The Netherlands

The Department of Environmental Resources seeks a Lecturer in Environmental Science - Environmental Planning and Management, who will contribute to the development and implementation of scientific research; contribute to UNESCO-IHE’s Masters Programme in Environmental Science.

Apply before Friday 21 August 2009

Secretariat Coordinator/Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing, AED, USA

The Specialist, Secretariat Coordinator, facilitates the efforts of the global Public Private Partnership for Handwashing (PPPHW) and its partner organizations to achieve the partnerships short- and long-term strategic objectives and manages resources and day-to-day activities on behalf of the PPPHW.

Apply before Wednesday 30 September 2009

Gender: effect of women’s perceptions and household practices on children’s waterborne illness in Lebanon

Female children, who are generally more involved in household activities than male children, are at higher risk of suffering from diarrhoea. The prevalence of diarrhoea is 5%. This is one of the findings from a recent study in Bebnine, an underserved town in Lebanon.

Health impact: purchase of drinking water from street vendors leads to higher child mortality in Indonesian slums

Purchase of inexpensive drinking water in urban slums of Indonesia was common and associated with greater child malnutrition, diarrhoea, and infant and under-five child mortality in the family, is reported in a recent study.

Asia: development banks set up shari'ah-compliant infrastructure fund

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) have agreed to put US$ 500 million into Asia's first major multi-country Islamic infrastructure fund.

Evaluating and improving the WASH sector

This TOP discusses evaluations, focusing on the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector.

Is low coverage of modern infrastructure services in African cities due to lack of demand or lack of supply?

The aim of this paper is to show how to measure the contributions of both demand and supply-side obstacles to better coverage of infrastructure services using household survey data.

Local sources of financing for infrastructure in Africa

This paper draws on a comprehensive new database constructed for the purpose of this research. It takes a comprehensive inventory of local sources of infrastructure financing in the 24 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.

UPI launches Global Water Feature service

United Press International has launched a Global Water Feature service and will be hosting the first in a series of topic-related forums entitled Our Water in Washington, DC on 23 September 2009.

WaterCredit

This is the web site of the WaterCredit Initiative, which was set up by WaterPartners International (now Water.org) in 2003 to provide microfinance for water and sanitation projects.

Networking Event in the Field of Water Management and Sanitation for Europe – Africa – EECA

Vienna, Austria, 16–17 September 2009

The aim of the two-day event is to initiate competitive research project proposals in the field of water management, sanitation and sludge treatment for the upcoming calls of the EU Framework Programme for Research (FP7) in the field of Environment. Following the joint Africa-EU strategy (2007) the European Union launches a cross thematic ‘Africa call’ with 63 million Euros available for funding.