Nepal: Darechowk village upscales ecological sanitation

Ecosan toilets. Photo: WHO, Nepal

With over 120 ecosan toilets now operational, Darechowk village in Chitwan district is on its way to upscaling the practice of eco sanitation. Made of mud masonry or using split-bamboo walls, many toilets are in good use already, fertilizing the fields and yet maintaining a sanitary environment.

[...] Encouraged by a sanitation training course he attended in Bharatpur in 2007, Shreerendra Pokharel, the headmaster of the Majhgaun Lower Secondary School, convinced the community to embark on a sanitation programme stewarded by the school. This triggered considerable interest in the community on adopting ecosan latrines since the accumulated urine could be diverted for use in farms.

Darechowk is doing well from the sale of tasty oranges and sanitation is progressing in all the clusters in the Village Development Committee (VDC) area, with ecological sanitation fast becoming the preferred choice. As building materials are expensive, people use local materials primarily for the toilet superstructure. This accessibility enables people to have safe sanitation, and the urine diverted is used in agriculture. The community now has plans to convert the village into an ecological tourism area, with trekking routes and “bed-and-breakfast” facilities.

For details contact Mr Han Heijnen, WHO, Nepal at hanheijnen [at] gmail.com

Source: Environment Health Update, vol. 4, no. 2, Feb-Apr 2009

Maldives: Water and Sanitation Authority abolished

President Mohamed Nasheed has abolished the Maldives Water and Sanitation Authority and the Environment Research Centre and transferred all activities to the newly established Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Following this change, the EPA will be linked to the Ministry of Housing, Transport and Environment. The EPA will also operate as a regulatory authority administered under a governing board.

Mohamed ‘Anni’ Nasheed, an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, won the country’s first democratic presidential poll in October 2008. In March 2009, he launched an ambitious 10-year plan for the Maldives to become the world’s first carbon neutral country.

Source: The President’s Office. Republic of Maldives, 18 Feb 2009

Pakistan: “There is no need for foreigners to tell us this [how to make latrines]” – insurgent leader

Insurgents in Pakistan’s volatile Swat Valley in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) who recently made a peace deal with the government now want all NGOs to leave the area.

“They come and tell us how to make latrines in mosques and homes. I’m sure we can do it ourselves. There is no need for foreigners to tell us this,” Muslim Khan, a spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), told IRIN from Swat Valley.

“NGO is another name for vulgarity and obscenity. They don’t want us to remain Muslims and want to take away the veil from our women,” Khan claimed.

He said NGOs hire women who work alongside men in the field and in offices. “That is totally un-Islamic and unacceptable,” he said.

Read more: IRIN, 22 Mar 2009

Indonesia: Police corruption unit to question officials over dam disaster

Police will question three Tangerang regency and South Tangerang municipal administration officials over the Situ Gintung disaster.

One of the officials, Dedi Sutardi, the head of the Tangerang Public Works Agency, said Thursday he would go to the Jakarta Police headquarters without a lawyer because he would testify only as a witness.

His agency is responsible for the maintenance and rehabilitation of the Situ Gintung reservoir.

The other two are Dedy’s predecessor at the agency, Hermansyah, and the newly installed South Tangerang Public Works Agency head, Eddy Adolf Nicolas Malonda.

Police corruption unit chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Aris Munandar said the questioning would begin Friday.

On Wednesday, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Abubakar Nataprawira said police had begun looking for evidence and questioning officials, experts and local residents to determine whether the disaster was caused by negligence.

“At the moment, we haven’t decided whether the embankment collapsed due to weather conditions or lack of maintenance. Once we have enough evidence and testimony, we will be able to determine who should be held responsible,” he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

A National Police forensics team arrived at the reservoir Tuesday.

Selamet Daroyni, executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment’s (Walhi) Jakarta branch, said local residents believed negligence was the main factor in the collapse of the embankment.

“Some locals told me they began noticing small cracks appearing in the embankment of the dam in the last two years,” he said.

Trisakti University urban planning expert Yayat Supriatna said Sunday the authorities’ failure to maintain the reservoir extended well before this.

Pitoyo Subandrio, head of the Ciliwung-Cisadane Flood Bureau at the Public Works Ministry, insisted the collapse was purely down to adverse weather condition.

“The rainfall was extremely unpredictable, causing the water volume to increase drastically,” he said.

The ensuing flash flood claimed 100 lives, with several people still reported missing.

Another 600 people were made homeless, forced to seek refuge at the nearby Muhammadiyah University Jakarta (UMJ).

On Thursday, Banten Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah visited the area and said she had prepared a “more proper” shelter at the Wisma Kerta Mukti building. Those sheltering at UMJ will be relocated Saturday.

She added the displaced people could stay at the new shelter until the government had finished rebuilding their homes.

Victims and volunteer workers at the UMJ shelter continued to be bombarded with an outpouring of relief aid, with some of the aid items outnumbering the victims.

“There’s an overload of relief aid for the victims, and it keeps pouring in. We have no idea what to do with it,” said Rahmat Sahlan, the main disaster post coordinator. (bbs)

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Pakistan, NWFP: Water Supply and Sanitation (WATSAN) Cell established

On 2 March 2009, the Government of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), announced it had established a Water Supply and Sanitation (WATSAN) Cell in the Local Government and Rural Development Department, with UNICEF support.

The objectives of the Cell are:

• building capacities of Local Councils to improve water supply and sanitation services;
• optimizing impact of WASH services by improving responsiveness of the Local Councils; and
• enhancing capacity for emergency preparedness and response.

The Cell will work according to an annual plan developed by the Local Government Department and UNICEF. The Cell will be housed in the Local Council Board and will be institutionally integrated with the Local Governance School.

Source: Murtaza Malik, drinking water-Pakisatn Google Group, 14 Apr 2009

Philippines: Financing Models for Small Scale Water Service Providers

In January 2009, the Streams of Knowledge Foundation started a 10-month Piliot and Demonstration Activity (PDA) on Assessing and Developing Models for Financing Small Scale Water Service Providers (SSWSPs) with US$ 50,000 funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

SSWSPs bring water to rural and urban population unserved by water utilities, playing a vital role in meeting water and sanitation needs. Often, however, SSWSPs’ operations and expansion have been limited; their participation in water and sanitation provision curtailed by the lack of institutional or legal framework and access to financing.

In the Philippines, SSWSPs are increasingly being recognized by national water agencies and financing institutions. Such recognition may open up financing windows for SSWSPs with rural and commercial banks. This PDA will provide financial models more responsive to SSWSPs needs.

Read more

Pakistan, Punjab: dengue danger returns

With warmer weather returning to Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, the vector-borne dengue fever virus has also returned, say officials. Six patients have been diagnosed with dengue in 2009 so far, according to Anwar Saeed Mirza, an additional medical superintendent at Services Hospital in Lahore, the Punjab capital. [...] Last year [2008], 1,240 cases of dengue were reported in the province. There had also been six deaths.

[...] Dengue fever is spread by the bite of the striped Aedes Aegypti mosquito.

Experts have been urging action to prevent a dengue epidemic in 2009. [...] With the first cases of the viral disease already coming in, doctors fear the situation could worsen rapidly. “We need to remind people of the need for safety measures, like ensuring there is no standing water in their homes. The government must also urgently begin a spraying campaign at breeding places,” Faiza Riaz, a family physician, said.

Punjab health secretary Anwar Ahmed Khan has promised the government will undertake measures to tackle dengue and said the spraying of residential areas had been ordered.

Source: IRIN, 29 Mar 2009

Water Voices: documentary Series

One in five Asians lacks access to safe drinking water and half the people living in the Asia Pacific do not have access to adequate sanitation. Conflicts over sharing of scarce water resources are increasing at an alarming rate. The Water Voices is a seven part documentary series featuring stories on people tackling the Asia Pacific’s water problems. It recognizes the power of good examples and lessons learned to inspire “homegrown” solutions to water problems.

dg Communitites Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration worldwide, http://water.developmentgateway.org/index.php?id=10976&no_cache=1&tx_dgcontent_pi1%5Btt_news%5D=493019&MP=10976-8804, april 2009

To get a copy: http://www.adb.org/Water/Knowledge-Center/dvds/water-voices.asp#Upstream