Balochistan’s land is “highly degraded” due to over-grazing, illegal logging and other factors. Water scarcity is at the root of the problem. Annual precipitation ranges from 50 to 500mm, with much of Balochistan lying outside the monsoon zone, and evaporation rates are extremely high.
“No government has thought of the people, or put in place schemes to provide them with safe water or other facilities,” said Farid Ahmed, provincial coordinator for the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, in Balochistan.
For the past 40 years, Janum Bibi (50) has walked daily from her village, about 20km from Quetta, to a small pond to fetch water. But now, water from the pond has become more brackish than ever before. “We know this water can make the children ill. But what choice do we have? There is hardly any other water available here,” she said.
Many other families in Balochistan suffer a similar plight, and as a result, water-borne disease is endemic. International aid agencies, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), have reported that country-wide two million children aged under-five die each year due to water-borne illnesses such as dysentery or typhoid.
In Balochistan, the situation is aggravated by a severe scarcity of water, which means some women walk 10km or more each day to obtain a single container that must meet all the needs of their families.
Read more: IRIN, 15 Apr 2008
Categories: Gender · Pakistan · Water collection · Water-related diseases
Tagged: drought, water shortage
Infants are suffering serious bouts of diarrhoea, and in some cases dying, from infant formula provided in emergency situations, according to a coalition of international aid groups and government agencies that is calling for the promotion of breast-feeding.
“Inappropriate use in emergencies of breast milk substitutes, often received as unsolicited donations, endangers the lives of infants and young children,” according to a statement issued after a March meeting in Bali, Indonesia.
[...]
“A lot of the time the donations are well meant. There’s a misconception that in emergency situations women’s milk dries up,” Kirsty McIvor, UNICEF Indonesia’s spokeswoman, told IRIN. She said stress can cause women’s milk to temporarily evaporate but it will return.
Giving out infant formula during emergencies is even more dangerous than in normal situations, she said, because survivors often lack access to clean water or do not have the facilities to properly boil the water. Using dirty water in the formula mix can prove fatal, causing debilitating bouts of diarrhoea, a leading cause of death in children under five.
Read more: IRIN, 9 Apr 2008
Categories: Indonesia · Water-related diseases
Tagged: child health, diarrhoeal diseases
Categories: Information and communication · Knowledge management · Pakistan · Sanitation · Water supply · Web sites
Media in Nepal reported two cases of party activists cutting off water supply to those who had not voted for their party.
Sixty two families of Angna-5 in Panchthar district were deprived of drinking water after their water supply pipeline was cut off by the cadres of CPN-Maoist party accusing them of not giving votes to their party in the election [Read more: NGO Forum - here and here, 30 Apr 2008 ; NGO Forum, 11 May 2008].
A second incident occurred in Bajhang: An upper cast family has barred about 40 dalit [low cast] families from fetching water from a local tap for not casting their votes to the Nepali Congress in the constituent assembly election. [Read more: NGO Forum, 6 May 2008]
Categories: Nepal · Water distribution
Tagged: water cut-offs, water disconnections
Hetauda: The Water Treatment Plant, constructed two years ago by Environment Area Assistance Programme (ESPS)* with financial aid worth Rs. 550 million from the Danish Government, is not in full operation. Only 15 per cent capacity of the treatment plant is under operation as some of the big industries producing wastewater in the industrial area are closed and some industries have not constructed underground sewerage to send their wastewater in the plant. Most of the industries connected with the plant produce little wastewater.
Read more: Kantipur / NGO Forum, 23 Apr 2008
* “Environment Sector Programme Support (ESPS) came to an end on 30 June 2005 as the government to goverment agreement expired. However, Danida confirmed its support for the operation and maintenance of Waste Treatment Plant (WWTP) and Air Quality Management (AQM) Components of ESPS in a sliding scale of 70%, 50% and 30% for their sustainability for the period of three years i.e. until February 2009″.
[Source: Embassy of Denmark, Kathamandu]
Categories: Nepal · Wastewater treatment
Nepal Water Supply Corporation Kaski has made a 15-year long-term plan under the ‘Mardi Drinking Water Improvement Project’ to provide safe drinking water to the denizens of Pokhara. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is assisting the project. JICA will assist for pipes to bring water from the Mardi Khola to the reservoir tank near the Bindhyabasini temple. Nepal Government and Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) will bear all other expenses.
Read more: Naya Patrika / NGO Forum, 21 Apr 2008
Categories: Nepal · Water supply
Tagged: Mardi Drinking Water Improvement Project
With the advent of rainy season, three-month long campaigns and programs dubbed the “Water Caravan for Peace” have been launched in the Kathmandu Valley to minimize the spread of water borne diseases.
Included are a 3-day long educational fair, training on water and sanitation, exhibitions on water testing techniques, street dramas, art competitions and peace races in each 10 strategic locations of 5 municipalities of the Valley. The campaign is being co-organised by Guthi, the NGO Forum for Urban Water & Sanitation, and Nepal Red Cross Society, with Rs. 3.8 million funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). It involves 100 youth clubs which will target the residents of 4 municipalities (Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Thimi, Kirtipur) and Kathmandu Metropolitan City.
The Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO) is also launching a special program before the rainy season, focusing mainly on water quality testing and free distribution of chlorine and raising awareness on water borne disease in collaboration with Bottlers Nepal.
Source: The Kathmandu Post / NGO Forum, 27 Apr 2008
Categories: Campaigns & Events · Information and communication · Nepal · Water quality · Water-related diseases
The problem of groundwater depletion in India is exacerbated because Indian farmers’ electricity bills are either free or heavily subsidized. As a result, many run their pumps with abandon, further depleting water tables.
In total India spends $8 billion to $9 billion annually subsidizing farmers’ electric water pumps. That’s half the amount spent on health care and twice what the state spends on education, according to government statistics.
While many say the answer to India’s groundwater problems and energy woes is to charge farmers the true cost of electricity, Saurabh Kumar, who heads the government’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency in New Delhi, says that would only spark riots.
As a result, he is set to begin a $7.5 billion pilot program nationwide that will create more efficient groundwater pumps with meters and prepaid electricity credits, allowing farmers to draw roughly the same amount of water they use now. But if they pump less, they can pocket the savings. If they pump more, they pay more. Utility companies will also upgrade transmission and distribution lines to improve service.
Source: Daniel Pepper, San Francisco Chronicle, 9 May 2008
Categories: India · Water resources management
Tagged: energy subsidies, groundwater overexploitation, water shortage
The WASH Cluster in Pakistan, of which UNICEF is the lead agency, is carrying out a series of orientation, training, planning and capacity mapping events in the lead up to the monsoons. The first of these will take place in Balochistan / Quetta on 20-21 May 2008 (tentative). It is intended that this be replicated in all three of the other Provinces before 15th June, in order that this feeds into and becomes a part of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) National Contingency Plan.
A second initiative, under discussion with both the Ministry of Environment and NDMA, concerns the hands-on training of emergency responders (both NGO and Line Agencies) in all aspects of WASH relief. The first of these is tentatively suggested for early July 2008.
Information on the international WASH Cluster is available here.
Read more: drinking water-Pakistan Google group, 8 Mar 2008
Categories: Education & training · Emergencies · Pakistan
Distance Learning Certificate Program
Social Capacity Building for Arsenic Mitigation Measures: Understanding the Health Risks of Drinking Arsenic-contaminated Water.
Organised by: Urban Development and Environmental Research Center (UDERC), Japan
This course is based on the Environmental Health Criteria for Arsenic and Arsenic Compounds (Report prepared by the World Health Organization - WHO). The scientific language is simplified and translated into Urdu for easy understanding. Audio/Video are also produced in Urdu language for easy understanding by participants with different academic background.
Duration: 4-6 Weeks
Last Date of Registration: 15 May, 2008
Course Starts: 20 May, 2008
Registration Fee: Rs. 3000/- (Discount of Rs. 2000/- for members of VEER Network)
More information and an online application form is available on the UDERC web site
UDERC is an initiative of Sakano Lab, Department of Social Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. UDERC has established close research collaborations with different organizations in Japan, Pakistan and other countries.
UDERC has launched a nation-wide program for arsenic free water in Pakistan. [Save the Nation Program: Arsenic Free Water for All].
UDERC promotes the establishment of Fuji Water Clubs to purchase Fuji Arsenic Treatment Units at subsidized cost on non-profit basis.
Categories: Education & training · Pakistan · Technology
Tagged: arsenic, arsenic mitigation
