World Bank Water Week 2009 Asia presentations online

Water Week took place at the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC from February 17-20, 2009. The event was organized by the Water Anchor in partnership with the Water Sector Board. Titled “Tackling Global Water Challenges”, the discussions focused on the urgent challenges currently faced by the water community including inter alia: adapting to climate change, responding to the food crisis, keeping the momentum for the MDGs, and dealing with the potential impact of the global economic crisis.

All presentations are now online here.

Below are links to some of the Asia-related presentations:

• Multipurpose Use of Water Resources – Bangladesh
• India – Effectiveness of Rural Water Schemes
• Helping Implementers Scale Up: Indonesia, India, and Tanzania
• Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Fund Development Board – Nepal
• 24 /7 Managed by Rural Communities – Pakistan
• Effects Of Climate Change On Planning And Managing Water Services In The Potohar Region Of Pakistan
• Mobilizing Finance for Small Water Utilities: The Case of the Philippines
• Philippines Small Towns Water Utilities Performance
• Community Water Supply & Sanitation Project: Sri Lanka
• Poor-Inclusive Sanitation Planning and Development in Southeast Asia

Myanmar: Water shortages loom in delta

Aid agencies working in the cyclone-hit Ayeyarwady Delta are scrambling to provide tens of thousands of people with water as the peak of the dry season approaches. The delta’s water storage ponds, which traditionally tided villagers over the dry season, were contaminated with salt water when Cyclone Nargis hit on 2 and 3 May 2008, bringing with it a wall of seawater. Traditional clay storage jars were also destroyed or washed away.

Now survivors of the cyclone will need help to meet their water needs until the monsoon rains return in late April or May, humanitarian workers [said]. “People are using up what stores they have quickly, which indicates there will be a problem at the end of the dry season in April,” said Than Myint, head of Save the Children’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme in Myanmar. “Some villages will run out of water.”

[...] Waldemar Pickardt, WASH chief at the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which leads the [country's WASH cluster] said it was important not to overstate the problem. [..] He said panic buying and hoarding of water could make the problem worse, and the price of water in the delta had already nearly doubled in recent months, from 20 kyats (2 US cents) for a 30 l container to 35 kyats (3.5 cents).

[...]

Solutions

Save the Children was one of the agencies to raise the alarm about a potential water crisis last September [2008], and built 2,600 temporary rainwater tanks [...] coconut trees, which had fallen in the cyclone, and tarpaulins.

Save the Children has installed treatment plants in its project areas in Mawlamyinegyun and West Labutta [and] it has also dug 10 tube wells to a depth of more than 152m to prevent saline or arsenic contamination and is due to deliver 10 reverse osmosis (RO) machines.

[...] However, Dan Collison, head of Save the Children’s Nargis response, said relying on water vendors and redistributing supplies could hurt livelihood recovery in the shattered delta.

Source: IRIN, 20 Feb 2009

Pakistan, Karachi: slum dwellers fear impotence from water-purifying tablets

“I cannot take these tablets as my husband has said no,” said Shahida, a young housewife in Machar Colony, Karachi’s largest slum. Shahida told Farooq Sultana, a community mobiliser and saleswoman for Saafwater, that her husband suspected the water-purifying tablets were birth control pills.

“It’s not a new excuse. People here have this misconception that we are selling them contraceptive pills and men think that somehow these tablets will interfere with their reproductive systems,” said Sultana.

Machar Colony is the biggest slum in Karachi, housing 700,000 of the city’s 16 million people. Given its illegal status, the colony has no access to civic amenities and is never mentioned in government [improvement] plans and policies aimed at improving the city.

[...] SaafWater [...] began working [in Machar Colony] in August 2008 [...] by employing local women and training them in [...] health and hygiene-related issues. “We sell chlorine tablets. A week’s supply costs Rs30 [less than 37 US cents] and each tablet purifies up to 25l of water.” Sultana [said] “Before, even I had no clue about clean water. I have lived in this colony for a long time and we do not have gas, electricity or a proper water supply. The tap water we get comes from a line buried deep within a sewage drain and as a result, the potable water mixes with toxic water.”

She says it was normal for her to filter the water through a cloth and drink it. “We cannot boil the water as we do not have gas in our houses and rely on wood or gas cylinders, which are expensive and we have limited means,” says Sultana.

[...] Unsafe water killed at least 20,000 children each year in Karachi, said [Asma Shariq, a medical consultant at the CFC Mother and Child Health Centre] with diarrhoea the leading cause of child mortality.

“[...] I tell them again and again to either boil the water or use water purification tablets but they always come up with excuses,” said Shariq. She said most blamed expensive fuel wood while others said the water tasted bitter when boiled. “However, the major excuse that these women have is that they fear these tablets will render [the men] impotent.”

[..] Sultana said: ” I have had doors slammed in my face but deep inside I know that out of 100 families if I am able to convince even two to use these tablets, I have done my part in saving someone’s life.”

Source: IRIN, 19 Feb 2009

India, Karnataka: Advice on Household Water and Sanitation Survey in Karnataka

Analyze the data to assess rural attitudes, access and use of drinking water in terms of water usage, demand and supply, type of water sources, time spent on water collection, sustainability of water sources, quality and mitigation of water quality problems. This was the main advice given to Binayak Das, by discussants on Solutions Exchange in India of the 2008 Arghyam Survey on Household Water and Sanitation that covered 28 districts of Karnataka covering 17,200 households. You can read more on the survey at http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/environment/cr/res30010901.doc.

Arghyam supports water-related activities in India. In their survey they gathered a large amount of data on WATSAN. And they asked advice from experts and other people working on rural WATSAN the most useful ways to analyze the data, and the way to present the output in a user-friendly way.

… 

Further the analysis could yield information on the health condition of households and prevalence of water-borne diseases, as well as help determine how effective panchayats are in providing water, the level of people’s participation in water and sanitation service deliveryand provide success stories relating to the same. Specifically, the data can be analyzed to understand the factors that influence farmers’ willingness to take up certain practices for managing livestock waste. This is important learn in order to protect groundwater from non-point sources of pollution.

Along with understanding how farmers hand animal waste, the survey data analysis can also indicate rural attitudes towards sanitation, and household and community collection, storage and use of drinking water, all of which is important from the public health and policy points of view. This understanding respondents felt was necessary in order to address the current gaps in behaviour change communication.

See the consolidated reply at http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/environment/cr/cr-se-wes-30010901.pdf

Solution Exchange is a UN initiative for development practitioners in India. For more information please visit www.solutionexchange-un.net.in

Source: Water Community Update, No. 30, 24 Feb 2009, http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/environment/comm_update/wes-update-30-240209.pdf  (PDF; Size: 150 KB)

Sri Lanka: SLWP and Water Integrity Network Partnership Roots Out Corruption

On Thursday, February 12, 2009, the Daily Mirror in Sri Lanka reported the arrest of seven illegal sand miners by Bingiriya police. In a separate article on the same day, the paper reported that more stringent laws against illegal sand mining are to be introduced in order to protect the environment.

In 2008, the Sri Lanka Water Partnership (SLWP) began working with the Water Integrity Network (WIN) to fight corruption surrounding illicit and unregulated river sand mining. Together the two agencies produced an integrated package of activities, including awareness programmes, brochures, posters, and a documentary. Police from Bingiriya had participated in the awareness programs. Police attendance was over 150% of target in all dialogues with community representatives.

Illegal sand mining contributes to river-bank collapse and lowers water tables, causing havoc to ecosystems, community water needs and the livelihoods of fishermen. Erosion undermines bridges and irrigation infrastructure, productive land is lost and stagnant water breeds disease.

[...] The SLWP-WIN partnership-of anti-corruption action in the water sector will be highlighted at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey, in March [2009] during a side event titled “Beyond the Global Corruption Report 2008: Promoting Water Integrity through Partnerships”.

A draft completion report, information sheets, posters and photos of the river sand mining project are avaialable on the Sri Lanka Water Partnership (SLWP) web site.  See below one of the project posters and a video on sand mining by the he Access Initiative Coalition of Sri Lanka.

Source: GWP, 18 Feb 2009

SLWP poster on Sand River Mining

China: Toilet relief for Shanghai’s World Expo

Shanghai has sought to reassure visitors to next year’s World Expo that they can expect relief from the city’s sometimes foul public toilets. The city will clean up and renovate more than 5,200 public toilets to meet an expected 70 million Expo visitors’ “urgent needs,” according to Ma Yun’an, head of the city’s urban management bureau. [He added that] more than 500 new free toilets will also be installed before the five-month event starts on May 1, 2010

“To offer free public toilets is only part of the whole work. It is also important to improve the service,” Ma said. “Some of the toilets will offer medicine and sewing kits.” More than 300 of the new toilets will be built around the Expo site and they will be supplemented by “mobile public toilets,” he said.

[...] Authorities in Beijing carried out a similar toilet campaign ahead of last year’s Beijing Olympics. The stated goal of the Olympic effort was to make every public toilet a “pleasant experience.”

Source: AFP / Google, 24 Feb 2009 ; China People’s Daily Online, 24 Feb 2009

India, Uttar Pradesh: Pinki’s Oscar to bring drinking water, power to her village

As “Smile Pinki“, a short film about a cleft lip girl – Pinki Sonkar from Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur Dabai village [pop. 2,000] – won an Oscar, her undeveloped hamlet has come into limelight and authorities Monday [23 February 2009] committed to provide it with roads, drinking water and solar electricity. Pinki Sonkar, whose cleft lip made her a social outcast, plays a protagonist in the “Smile Pinki” by American filmmaker Megan Mylan.

“As Pinki has given an international recognition to Rampur Dabai village in Mirzapur district, the government has decided to undertake several developmental projects for the welfare of the villagers,” Mirzapur chief development officer Jaswant Singh told IANS. [...] Initially, the upcoming projects will focus on providing potable drinking water to the villagers, the official said. “The village has been grappling with water scarcity for the last several years. But, now we would dig up ponds, install hand pumps and re-bore old wells to ensure villagers get adequate water,” said Singh.

[...] Village head Pradeep Vishwakarma said, “We owe Pinki a lot. By her accomplishment, the girl is going to change the village forever.”

Source: IANS / Thaindian News, 23 Feb 2009

India, Bangalore: Changing the Sanitation Landscape

The residents of Sudhamnagar, a slum community in Bangalore, made the big leap from defecating in the open until 2007 to having household latrines in 2009, proving that once people understand what they’re missing, they will find ways to get it.

Sudhamnagar comprises 300 households of mostly daily wage earners. For a long time residents had no access to safe water supply, no basic sanitation facility in their homes, limited educational opportunity for children, and very little hope for a better quality of life.

“Everything changed when AVAS [Association for Volunteer Action and Services] stepped in and helped us by constructing a community toilet,” says Josephine, a local resident and member of the WATSAN committee.

In a dialogue faciltated by AVAS, residents identified basic facilities like housing, water, sanitation, and electricity as their most urgent needs. The dialogue later branched out to wider grounds-from education to health to land tenure to livelihood.

After ensuring that the community had stable land rights, AVAS and the WATSAN Committee negotiated with the local government and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) for the installation of water connections and construction of public toilets.

The public toilets were so popular that frequent use led to maintenance and cleanliness problems. As a result residents began constructing household latrines with technical guidance from AVAS, a little financial assistance, and the support of the WATSAN Committees.

The community’s efforts easily demystify many myths about sanitation: that sanitation requires expensive and high-tech solutions, that the poor have more important needs than sanitation, or that governments and utilities do not have access to financing for sanitation.

“The poor are willing to pay if they have access to the service,” says Anita Reddy, AVAS’ Managing Trustee. “Accessibility, affordability, and participation in decision making are the critical ingredients that helped the residents change their lifelong habits,” she added.

See also: Water rights: access to water means access to education in the slums of Bangalore, India, Source South Asia, 19 Nov 2007

Contact: Association for Voluntary Action and Service (AVAS), No. 9, 5th Cross, Puttaiah Compound, Ashwath Nagar, Bangalore 560094, India, Ph: +91-80-23516227, Email: avas [at] vsnl.com

Source: Ma. Christina Dueñas, ADB, Feb 2009

Meeting on Action Plan for Water and Climate Change, 25-27 February 2009, Manila, Philippines

The aim of this meeting is to discuss and agree on follow-up actions from the Regional Workshop on Developing Partnerships for Water and Climate Change Adaptation, which was held in December 2008.

It is being organised by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Network of Asian River Basin Organizations (NARBO), Center for River Basin Organization and Management (CRBOM), National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM), Team Japan and others.

NAHRIM is the Asia-Pacific Water Forum’s Regional Water Knowledge Hub for Water and Climate Change Adaptation in Southeast Asia.

Read more on the ADB web site.

ADB-DMC Sanitation Dialogue, 3-5 March 2009, Manila, Philippines

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is inviting developing member country (DMC) Ministers of Finance, Health, Water and Sanitation, Environment, and Water Resources or their senior executives and city mayors to the ADB-DMC Sanitation Dialogue to discuss DMC’s sanitation needs, barriers, options, and actions.

Themes:

• Economics of sanitation: (benefits and costs) covers public health and environmental issues, and impacts on other sectors, like tourism;
• Social issues: community psychology and sociology of sanitation;
• Technologies: practical, affordable options;
• Finance: financing sources and options, and financial viability of sanitation;
• Private sector participation: opportunities and business environment;
• Politics of sanitation: why and how to market sanitation and overcome political barriers.

See also the related background article “Getting Sanitation on Track” by Anand Chiplunkar (Feb 2009, ADB)

Read more on the ADB web site