Indonesia: The challenge of piped water and sanitation

Like many villages in Madiun District, East Java Province, Geger [...] for years lacked piped water or adequate sanitation facilities.

While the water problem was partly addressed by installing wells, the issue of adequate sanitation remained a concern. A stream that snakes through the village served as a natural latrine, with the downstream current relied on to wash away the sewage.

“This became a particular problem during the dry season when the river dried up,” Faridah, the village midwife, told IRIN. “There was a high rate of diarrhoea among the villagers.”

[...] In 2006 [...] Geger’s local government [established] public washing areas – or MCK, referring to mandi, cuci, kakus (bath, wash, toilet). Two were established – one beside the local mosque and another near the community health centre – with the help of a $25,000 grant for rural infrastructure from the government.

Faridah said the MCK, especially the one near the health centre where she worked, helped to significantly cut the incidence of diarrhoea, but proper sanitation facilities within homes would be the ideal solution.

Households, however, could not be fitted with their own sanitation facilities as the village only received water for one to two-and-a-half hours per day due to limited supplies from the well.

[...] In 2007, the government tried to provide a solution by setting up a Perusahaan Daerah Air Minum, or PDAM, a local government company tasked with supplying water through piped connections. But few Geger residents signed up to the facility because they found the Rp 1,100/cubic metre (10 US cents) charge too “expensive”, said Bambang Alfi, head of the community development group.

The rate, however, is far lower than the national average water tariff of Rp 1,705/cubic metre (18 US cents). According to Ir. Firdaus Ali, a board member of the Jakarta Water Supply Regulatory Body, it is, in fact, much too low for the PDAMs to run efficiently and at a profit.

“PDAMs can’t even cover their operating expenses,” he said. “The reasonable tariff should be at least 3,000 rupiahs per cubic metre.”

According to Ahmad Lanti, an adviser to the East Asia Pacific Infrastructure Regulatory Forum, 75 percent of the country’s 306 PDAMs were in a precarious financial state in 2007, partly because of these low tariffs.

“The tariff in that village is probably already one of the lowest in the country,” Lanti told IRIN. “But if the people still cannot afford it, it must be subsidised by local government. It’s a public service obligation.”

In a number of other higher income cities and districts, the central government has begun inviting private sector investment to make PDAMs more efficient and sustainable. But this often means higher tariffs.

“That is not possible for that East Java village,” Lanti said. “It’s the government’s responsibility.”

The Ministry of Public Works last week announced a plan to connect 10 million new consumers throughout the country to piped water over the next four years in a $933 million project. The residents of Geger village can only hope they are among that number.

Source: IRIN, 12 Jan 2008

Sri Lanka: Dengue deaths drop, but health officials urge more vigilance

Four years after Sri Lanka’s worst outbreak of dengue fever, fewer people are dying of the mosquito-borne disease, but health officials caution that more public action is needed to prevent epidemics.

The number of fatalities has been dropping since 2004 when 88 people of the 15,334 known to have contracted dengue died of the illness. In 2008, some 6,431 people were infected and 24 deaths were recorded, according to provisional figures collected by the Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry.

However, health authorities are cautious about the drop in the number of cases reported, saying there could be a resurgence of the potentially fatal illness.

[...] Unlike malaria, the other mosquito-borne disease that once plagued the island’s rural provinces, dengue occurs mainly in urban centres, with the capital Colombo and two neighbouring districts, Gampaha and Kalutara, topping the list. Almost half the country’s 25 districts are designated high-risk areas.

[...] To combat the spread of the dengue mosquito, Aedes Aegypti, health officials are advocating more public vigilance and discouraging the widespread use of insecticides administered without proper supervision. The dengue mosquito is also responsible for spreading chikungunya, characterised by high fever and inflamed joints.

“People should not be encouraged to use insecticides because the danger is that the mosquito will develop resistance to these chemicals,” said Supriya Warusavithana of the World Health Organization (WHO). “The most effective way of preventing the disease is by cutting back mosquito breeding sites.” [Also] the high and frequent dosages required could lead to other diseases. The cost of funding long-term insecticide use could also prove prohibitive.

“The only way to combat dengue is to change the behaviour of people and mobilise community support to eliminate mosquito breeding sites,” said Warusavithana.

The Dengue Control Unit’s main strategy is persuading people to keep homes and neighbourhoods free of breeding sites, where water collects, such as tyres and other receptacles. Home-owners, school-children and tyre traders are being targeted in a campaign to dispose of coconut shells, plastic cups, old tyres and other containers that hold even a few centimetres of water in which the mosquito can lay its eggs.

WHO has been supporting the Communication for Behavioural Impact (COMBI) strategy by providing funds and technical advice. The agency gave US$90,000 for 2008 and 2009 to supplement the government’s budgetary allocation for the dengue control programme.

Although there is a legal provision to fine anyone with breeding sites on their premises, the amounts are small and insufficiently prohibitive. The government is currently drafting tougher laws to bring offenders to book.

Source: IRIN, 08 Jan 2009

India, Andhra Pradesh: world’s highest drug levels entering stream in Patancheru

PATANCHERU: When researchers [led by Joakim Larsson of  the University of Gothenburg, Sweden] analyzed vials of treated wastewater from a plant where about 90 Indian drug factories dump their residues, they were shocked. Powerful antibiotic was being spewed into one stream each day to treat every person in a city of 90,000.

And it’s not just ciprofloxacin. The supposedly cleaned water was a floating soup of 21 different active
pharmaceutical ingredients, used in generics for treatment of hypertension, heart disease, chronic liver ailments, depression, gonorrhea, ulcers and other ailments. It is the highest levels of pharmaceuticals ever detected in the environment, researchers say.

These factories, located [in Patancheru] on NH-9, just 28km from Hyderabad [in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh], produce drugs for much of the world. The result: Some of Andhra’s poor are unwittingly consuming an array of chemicals that may be harmful, and could lead to the proliferation of drug-resistant bacteria.

[...] Patancheru became a hub for largely unregulated chemical and drug factories in the 1980s, creating what is described locally as an “ecological sacrifice zone” with its pharmaceutical waste. Since then, India has become one of the world’s leading exporters of pharmaceuticals, and the US which spent $1.4 billion on Indian-made drugs in 2007, is its largest customer. [T]he wastewater downstream from the Indian plants contained 150 times the highest levels detected in the US.

[...] M Narayana Reddy, president of India’s Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association, disputes Larsson’s initial results: “I have challenged it,” he said. “It is the wrong information provided by some research person.”

Reddy acknowledged the region is polluted, but said that the contamination came from untreated human excrement and past industry abuses. He echoed pollution control officials, saying villagers are supposed to drink clean water piped in from the city or hauled in by tankers which a court ordered the industry to provide. But locals complain of insufficient supplies and some say they are forced to use wells.

“We are using these drugs (traces of which are found in water here), and the disease is not being cured. There is resistance going on there,” said Dr A Kishan Rao, a medical doctor and environmental activist who has treated people for more than 30 years near the drug factories. He says he worries most about the long-term effects on his patients potentially being exposed to constant low levels of drugs. [...] “It’s a global concern,” he said. “European countries and the US are protecting their environment and importing the drugs at the cost of the people in developing countries.”

For more information on this topic see the US EPA’s page on Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products as Pollutants (PPCPs)

Source:  Margie Mason, AP / Yahoo! News, 25 Jan 2009 and Times of India, 27 Jan 2009

Korea: “Mr. Toilet”, Sim Jae-duck, dies

Sim Jae-duck. Photo: WTA

Nicknamed “Mr. Toilet”, the Korean sanitation campaigner and founder and first president of the World Toilet Association (WTA), Sim Jae-duck died on 14 January 2009. Parliament member Sim Jae-duck earned his nickname for improving public restrooms for the 2002 Football World Cup as mayor of Suwon city. Since 1999 he was president of the Korea Toilet Association.

Sim Jae-duck grabbed the headlines in November 2007 when he unveiled

'Haewoojae', Sim Jae-duck's toilet house. Photo: WTA

his toilet-shaped house on the eve of the inaugural meeting of the World Toilet Association General Assembly (WTAA).

“He had been suffering from prostate cancer since he began a campaign to launch his World Toilet Association in 2007,” association spokesperson Shon Seong-Jin said.

“But he continued his campaign until his death.”

Sim was born in a restroom – in line with then-traditional beliefs that this would bring good luck – and once said he planned to die in the $1.6-million toilet house he designed.

Source: Sapa-AFP / IOL, 14 Jan 2009

Water China 2009 / PVP China 2009, 4 – 6 March 2009, Canton (Guangzhou)

Water China 2009 – 10th International Water, Wastewater & Water Treatment Trade Show

PVP China 2009 – 9th International Pump, Valve & Pipe Trade Show

In 2008 the event attracted 386 exhibitors (91 international) and 8590 visitors.

Organisers:

• China Foreign Trade Guangzhou Exhibition Corp.
• MEREBO Messe Marketing (International participation)

Water China 2009

• Industrial Water Treatment
• Drinking Water Treatment & Equipment
• Water Treatment Equipment
• Process Water Filtration
• Disinfection Equipment
• Membrane Separation Technology Instruments
• Controls & Automation
• Water Pipes & Drains
• Sewer Inspection
• Cleaning & Maintenance

PVP China 2009

• Pumps: Diving Pumps, Pipeline Pumps, Centrifugal Pumps, Vacuum Pumps, Clean Water Pumps, Wastewater Pumps, Chemical Pumps
• Valves: Ball Valves, Butterfly Valves, Gate Valves, Electromagnetic Valves, Sewer Valves, Drain Valves, Diaphragm Valves, Valve Fittings
• Pipes: Plastic Pipes, Metal Pipes, FRP Pipes

For more info go to the Water China 2009 web site

Philippines: evaluation of ADB assistance to water supply services in Metro Manila

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has had more than 3 decades of partnership experience in supporting the development of water supply services in Metropolitan (Metro) Manila. During this period, ADB provided nine loans (worth US$ 425.3 million) and seven technical assistance (TA) grants (worth US$ 3.6 million).

The ADB conducted a special evaluation study (SES) to assess the performance of their assistance to draw lessons for future partnership operations. The findings were used as input to the Philippines Country Assistance Program Evaluation completed in 2008.

Overall, the SES rates ADB’s assistance to improving water supply services in Metro Manila as “partly successful”. All projects are rated relevant [...] and were well coordinated with other development partners. With the exception of the Manila South Project, they were generally effective in achieving their immediate objectives, efficient in resource use, and likely sustainable from the financial and economic perspectives, which was eventually strengthened following upward tariff revision. The Manila South Project experienced a shortage of raw water and did not utilize the full loan amount; hence, it could not meet its immediate objectives.

Key lessons identified from experience with implementing water supply projects in the Philippines relate to the need (i) for greater attention to demand-side issues in project design; (ii) to reduce the high levels of NRW [non-revenue water] as an integral way of responding to rapidly increasing demand; (iii) for water utilities to give priority to adequate maintenance of existing water supply facilities and investment for rehabilitation to reduce NRW over the investment in new assets; (iv) for better readiness for project implementation; and (v) to improve transparency and accountability in preparing concession agreements.

Read the full evaluation study report (Sept 2008) here.

New advisory centre to improve Pacific infrastructure

A partnership of government and international development agencies has announced the establishment of the Pacific Infrastructure Advisory Center. The Center will analyze, plan, and provide technical assistance to help Pacific countries develop sustainable infrastructure and services [including transport, water, sanitation, solid waste
management, energy, and communication] that support national development goals.

The Advisory Center is the initiative of the Australian Government, New Zealand Government, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank Group including the International Finance Corporation. ADB will establish and manage the Center from the ADB Sydney office [in Australia] at a cost of $2.4 million.

The Center is the first key component of support to be provided under the new Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility (PRIF), announced in August 2008.

The PRIF aims to coordinate donor assistance to develop and maintain critical infrastructure in the Pacific, increasing economic growth, creating jobs, and better linking urban and rural areas to basic social services. PRIF partner agencies will provide up to $200 million for infrastructure development in the Pacific over four years.

For more information see the ADB’s technical assistance report (Dec 2009) on the Establishment of the Pacific Infrastructure Advisory Center here.

Source: ADB, 15 Jan 2009

Laos: evaluation of small towns water and sanitation project

In October 1999, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved the Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project to sustain improvements in environmental health and the quality of life for the urban communities in small towns. The Executing Agency was the Department of Housing and Urban Planning (DHUP) of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.

The purpose of the Project, which ended in July 2008, was to provide 24-hour, potable water at affordable tariffs to 12 of the highest-priority small towns and to parts of the capital, Vientiane.

The Project is considered relevant though less effective, less efficient, and less likely to be sustainable. Its overall performance is therefore rated only partly successful. Sustainability will require (i) increased support and commitment from the Government and the PNPs ([provincial nam papa (provincial water supply company)];  (ii) continued training of operational and management staff, especially in minimizing non-revenue water and improving asset management, to improve operating performance and technical sustainability; and (iii) higher revenues, through the sale of more water and an increase in water tariffs.

Read full completion report (Aug 2008) here.

National Workshop cum Brain Storming on Rainwater Harvesting and Reuse through Farm Ponds: Experiences, Issues and Strategies, 21-22 April 2009, Hyderabad, India

Organised and hosted by: Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA)

The objectives of the Workshop are:

• Sharing of experiences on water harvesting and reuse through farm ponds and related issues, among scientific institutions, Govt. departments, NGOs, civil society organizations and progressive farmers.
• Understand the biophysical, technological and social constraints in adoption and up-scaling.
• Identify critical research gaps and policy initiatives for wider adoption of farm pond technology in the country.

All the participants who attend the workshop are required to present their experiences.

Application deadline: 10 Feb 2009
Abstract deadline: 31 March 2009

For more information and to register go to the CRIDA web site.

India, Jharkand: clay filters promise clean drinking water in villages in

Clay filters based on the Terafil technology will not only ensure clean drinking water in villages but also turn the rural people into entrepreneurs. Chakdoha and Chapri, two villages of Ghatshila in East Singhbhum district [of Jharkand state, India], will play host to the pilot project.

The initiative has been taken by the Rural Development Trust under the Art of Living Foundation, Bengaluru. Terafil water filters have been designed by S.K. Kuntia, the head of design and rural technology department at the Institute of Mineral and Material Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar, a wing of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi.

[...] The terafil would cost around Rs 350 to Rs 500. The foundation has planned to rope in the corporate sector to help donate the filters as a part of their corporate social responsibility.

The filters would encourage self-employment, too. The foundation would also arrange for resources to train the villagers and help them turn into entrepreneurs.

[...] The filters are being manufactured and would be distributed across the two villages from March 31 [2009].

Source: The Telegraph, 23 Dec 2008