Pakistan, Karachi: ‘water mafia’ leaves Pakistanis parched and broke

Corrupt politicians allow businessmen to siphon off as much as 41% of the city’s water supply and turn around and sell it at exorbitant rates to residents, generating an estimated $43 million a year.

Name a cash cow in this sprawling city of ragged slums and glass-walled office buildings and it’s almost certain there’s an organized crime syndicate behind it.

The illegal operations, routinely referred to as mafias, are everywhere. There’s a land mafia that commandeers prime real estate, a sugar mafia that conspires to control sugar prices, and even a railway mafia that forges train tickets and pilfers locomotive parts.

For those on the city’s bottom rung, however, the underworld entity they revile the most is the water tanker mafia, a network of trucking firms that teams up with corrupt bureaucrats to turn water into liquid gold worth tens of millions of dollars each year.

The water tanker mafia’s prey can be found in slums like Karachi’s Gulshan-Sikanderabad neighborhood, where every morning people buy water from the tankers, lug the plastic jugs back to their homes on wooden carts, then come back three or four more times in the afternoon and evening to buy more.

A family that makes $100 a month can spend as much as a quarter of that on water, which, elsewhere in Pakistan, costs pennies and flows out of household taps.

Water scarcity isn’t the cause. Karachi has a steady water supply, and it has the network of pipes to pump ample water into every neighborhood, rich and poor.

But Karachi is also a city of opportunists forever on the prowl for under-the-table wealth. As municipal officials look the other way, businessmen illegally tap water mains, and use the makeshift hydrants to supply fleets of tankers that then sell water to businesses, factories and neighborhoods at inflated prices. As many as 272 million gallons a day are siphoned off by the trucks.

On a recent sunbaked afternoon, along a dirt lane filled with goats munching on piles of refuse, Momin Khan seethed as he filled another blue jug with water from a cistern replenished every other day by the water tankers.

“We’re poor laborers — we can’t spare this much for water,” said Khan, 27, a glass factory worker. “The water supply lines come right into this neighborhood, but there’s never any water. So I buy the same water that I should be getting through the pipes for free. I’ve got no choice.”

Karachi has nine hydrant locations where water supply companies can legally buy water and fill their tanker trucks. But scattered throughout the city are at least 160 illegal hydrants, said Ashraf Sagar, manager of the Orangi Pilot Project, a private organization that researches water issues in Karachi.

The siphoning takes place around the clock, Sagar said. It’s done in the dead of night, but also in broad daylight.

Along Manghopir Road, a bustling Karachi avenue lined with grease-covered car repair stalls and appliance storefronts, it’s easy to find a pair of tanker drivers standing on top of their trucks, filling up with a large blue hose from an illegal hydrant inside a red-brick building. Armed guards keep outsiders from meddling.

On average, a tanker fills up six times a day, Sagar said, siphoning as much as 41% of the city’s daily water supply, an amount that generates $43 million annually for tanker owners, according to Orangi.

“With this much money involved, it’s clear these are very wealthy people,” Sagar said. “They’re powerful mafias colluding with corrupt people in the government. So there’s really nothing ordinary Pakistanis can do to stop it.”

Shahnawaz Jadoon, a deputy administrative chief for the Gulshan-Sikanderabad neighborhood, said it was virtually impossible to clamp down on an enterprise that combines the clout of city government and the wealth of Karachi’s powerful business circles.

At times, illegal hydrants are shut down by city officials, only to reopen a week later. Activists said they didn’t know of anyone involved ever being arrested.

“The big reason why people don’t get the water they’re supposed to,” said Jadoon, “is that if they did, this whole system, the tanker mafia and this corrupt network, would shut down.”

See also: Pakistan: Karachi water shortage, IRIN, 16 Jan 2002

Source: Alex Rodriguez, LA Times, 16 Mar 2010

Viet Nam: designing evidence-based communications programmes for handwashing with soap

Since 2006, the Viet Nam Ministry of Health and the Viet Nam Women’s Union, with support from the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), have been carrying out an evidence-based, comprehensive behaviour change communications programme to promote handwashing with soap (HWWS) among women aged 15-49 and schoolchildren aged 6-10 throughout Viet Nam. The ultimate objective is to reduce the incidence of diarrhoeal diseases in children under the age of five.

The programme has reached more than 1.8 million people in the first phase, with a target of 30 million in phase II. Viet Nam is one of four countries (along with Tanzania, Senegal and Peru) involved in a large global Scaling Up HWWS Behaviour Change project by WSP. This tests whether innovative behaviour change approaches can generate widespread and sustained changes in handwashing with soap habits in target populations. To date, the programme has developed two communications campaigns, one aimed at caretakers of children under the age of five and the other targeting rural and semi-urban schoolchildren in Viet Nam.

Read more: Source Bulletin, May 2010

India, Jharkhand: with access to the toilet came access to dignity

This Government of India programme offers incentives for families below the poverty line to construct toilets with technical designs approved by the District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM) responsible for sanitation.

However, the evidence is that people with special needs, or the differently abled are being left out, since even if their families have toilets, these are not user friendly or appropriate. This means that, despite the programme designed to be ‘total’, there is not really universal access and not all people can live with dignity.

To enhance the inclusiveness of access and to sensitise the service providers and the community on the need for inclusive approaches in planning, design and implementation, several initiatives were undertaken by the Regional Office East for the state of Jharkhand along with Gram Jyoti, a partner of WaterAid. All this was possible because of one person, Jitendra Turi of Sisanathur village, Jharkhand who proved to be really special.

Jitendra suffers from multiple disabilities, with locomotor, visual and mental impairments. He comes from a Scheduled Caste (‘lower caste’ in India) family and lives with his parents. Even at the age of 25, he is still dependent on his mother for most activities. He is not a child and cannot go to school and he cannot participate in village activities.

The family did not have a toilet at home, unaware of its importance in reducing dependency and increasing dignity for their son so that he could lead as normal a life as possible. For defecation, his mother usually took him to the outskirts of the village. Sometimes, when was unable to take him out, she would ask him to defecate in a corner of the village lane, which earned him the ridicule of children and villagers. “I felt such shame in telling my mother to help me for defecation. I am grown up but how can I go out? I cannot see, nor am I able to walk,” recalls Jitendra.

Read the full story about Jitendra by Meeta Jaruhar from WaterAid India in Source Bulletin, May 2010

India, Uttar Pradesh: transforming lives of people with HIV/AIDS through WASH services

In 2008 WaterAid India entered into a partnership with Uttar Pradesh State AIDS Control Society for a project titled Programme on Arresting Opportunistic Infections for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) to help improve the quality of their lives through water and sanitation. The project is being implemented through CREATE in 14 districts and involves anti-retro-viral therapy cells, located in the Medical Colleges and working with District Level Networks (DLNs) of HIV positives, Drop in Centres (DICs) and Community Care Centres (CCCs), which are care and support centres during opportunistic infection.

These have also become WASH information centres where people living with HIV/AIDS are able to learn about key hygiene practices. The centres share information through posters and pamphlets, display different toilet models, and offer a range of audio, video and other materials as well as group and individual counselling.

PLHAs are also able to use good quality facilities at the centres, such as water filters, washbasins, urinals and latrines. Staff are trained on WASH issues and are able to tell PLHA about the importance of good WASH practices in their lives.

Read more: Johnson Jeyaseelan, Source Bulletin, May 2010

Sri Lanka: Miss, may I go to the toilet, please!

Sitting under a tree during the final stage of a water project to give women of Bandaragama water on tap, I noticed the swollen feet of the woman sitting next to me.

“I teach in the school here. My school day sometimes stretches to eight hours,” D.M. Renuka, head of the coeducational school in her village tells me in whispers. “We have no toilets at school and I have to wait till I go home to go to relieve myself. Sadly, even the teenage girls go to the bush to relieve themselves, but as a teacher I can’t do that. We need toilets for our school. My feet are swollen due to urine retention, the doctor tells me. Water provision is fine, but what about toilets for our schools?”

That brief conversation was the entry point to a project which provided hygienic toilets to her school and 27 other schools in the Bandaragama area between 2007 and 2009. The Decade Service (DS), a consortium of 38 NGOs, financially assisted by the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), targetted first schools which had no toilets and then those which had unusable toilets in a deplorable state. DS built 41 toilets where the need was most urgent within the first three months of the project.

Read more: Ms Vijita Fernando, Source Bulletin, May 2010

Nepal: specialists call for stronger measures to combat diarrhoea

Aid agencies are urging Nepal to implement stronger water and sanitation measures to prevent diarrhoea outbreaks, which claim hundreds of lives each year.

Ahead of next month’s monsoon season – the four- to five-month period when there is a spike in diarrhoea-related deaths – aid workers have been calling on the government to prepare for a deluge of cases.

“This is the period of water-borne disease, and there is a lack of effective awareness programmes, which has to be stressed a lot to reduce the outbreak,” said Richard Ragan, country representative of the UN World Food Programme, which is involved in public health education about safe drinking water and sanitation practices.

In 2009, there were more than 370 diarrhoea deaths, mostly in western Nepal, according to figures from the government’s Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD). There were more than 67,000 diarrhoea cases reported last year, most of them in 18 of the country’s 75 districts.

The east of the country is also vulnerable, with the number of children five and under who fell ill with diarrhoea increasing from 241 cases per 1,000 children in 2007, to 550 in 2009, the regional health directorate said.

Even before the monsoon has started, 15 people have died from diarrhoea-related causes in the last two months in five districts of western Nepal, according to the government.

Better preparation needed

The Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS), the country’s largest humanitarian organization, is concerned that the mistakes of last year might be repeated: improper distribution of medicines, untimely reporting of cases and poor coordination with remote districts.

“Preparedness measures are the top priority of the government, but it needs to do a lot in terms of action in the field or we will be faced with a major disaster like last year,” said Pitamber Acharya, NRCS disaster director.

Acharya said the government needs to invest more in hygiene, water purification and safe drinking water supplies – the lack of which are the main causes of diarrhoea outbreaks every year.

“Simply giving health education and providing emergency response are not enough,” he said.

According to the latest UN Millennium Development Goal statistics, 89 percent of the population has access to improved drinking water sources – such as piped water into a home, a dug well, rainwater or bottled water – and 27 percent have access to clean sanitation.

Twenty-six districts across the country remain at risk from diarrhoea outbreaks, according to the EDCD. Some impoverished, food-insecure districts, where people survive on less than US$1 a day, endure the worst water and sanitation conditions, and health services.

Thir Bahadur, head of the Home Ministry’s disaster risk management unit, said the government has stocked medicines and formed rapid response teams in vulnerable districts to prepare for the monsoon.

Source: IRIN, 14 May 2010

India: impact of sanitation award scheme to be assessed

The government will assess the impact and sustainability of the Nirmal Gram Puraskar (Clean Village Award) scheme implemented between 2005-2008. The Department of Drinking Water Supply under the Ministry of Rural Development will conduct a survey, based on a methodology that it developed with UNICEF, in 12 states*.

The objective is to assess the impact of NGP [Nirmal Gram Puraskar] on the pace of progress of sanitation availability and usage in the country under TSC [Total Sanitation Campaign] and its related impacts on health, education, gender empowerment, social inclusion in rural areas on different user groups particularly the rural poor. This study will also assess the durability and sustainability on the provision and usage of sanitary facilities over time. The rational of this evaluation study will be to provide important evidence on the NGP component of the TSC. The Study will provide a national level report on assessment of impact of NGP.

The Government of India introduced the NGP incentive scheme in 2003 under its Total Sanitation Campaign to reward local government institutions at village, block and district level, that had achieved full sanitation coverage (for households, schools and day-care centres) and were declared open defecation free.

* States to be covered in NGP assessment survey

Source: DDWS

A 2008 UNICEF study on NGP villages found high levels of non-use of toilets (34%), and that only 34% of schools had separate toilets for girls and boys. In most villages the study found a “severe drop in efforts towards social mobilisation and monitoring of ODF status after the NGP award has been received. This has resulted in slippage of ODF status in many GPs and is a serious concern with respect to sustainability”.

Source: PIB, 13 May 2010 ; DDWS/Ministry of Rural Development, 11 May 2010 ; India Sanitation Portal – Nirmal Gram Puraskar

Afghanistan, Badghis: Maqurites struggle for drinking water

Villagers in a district of western Badghis have to carry water from as far away as 25 kilometres due to a lack of wells or other resources, officials and locals said. Those living in Samadi, Noorkhel, Musazai, Niaz, Firozi and Nabikhel villages in Maqur district all lacked access to clean drinking water, officials said.

Haji Abdul Samad said 1,600 families living in his village of Samadi all faced problems getting clean drinking water. Even though the river was not clean, people were forced to drink from it, he said. However, during the summer months, the dirty water was undrinkable. He urged the government to provide clean drinking water for the village.

In Noorkhel village, Zemaray said his family needed at least 200 litres of water a day which they were bringing from an area up to six kilometres away.

Dr. Muhammad Arif, in charge of a clinic in the district, said the dirty water spread disease and many villagers were falling sick with stomach ailments.

Director of the national solidarity programme in the province, Abdul Salam, said they had dug a number of wells in the area, but they were not deep enough and so the water was still not fresh. He called on the international community to provide better access to clean water.

Source: NNI, Frontier Post, 13 May 2010

Sri Lanka: new museum to showcase ancient hydraulic civilization

The Government plans to set up an Irrigation Museum to depict ancient hydraulic civilization in Anuradhapura, the Water Supply and Drainage Ministry said.

The Museum will depict the ancient hydraulic civilization of Sri Lanka which dates back 2,500 years, as there is a need to preserve the memories of this civilization to learn lessons from it.

Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said the proposed Irrigation and Water Resources Museum would display models of ancient irrigation systems, archaeological artifacts and informative data regarding the ancient irrigation technology of Sri Lanka.

Minister Gunawardena said Anuradhapura was selected as the site for the Museum because it was the capital of Sri Lanka from the 4th century BC to 11th century AD when the ancient hydraulic culture was believed to have commenced in Sri Lanka. The people of that era marked their presence in history with a network of reservoirs and canals that provided water for rice cultivation in the ancient kingdom of Rajarata.

He said that the traditional reservoir that is called ‘Weva’ is a unique creation of ancient Sinhala people and it had an advanced irrigation technology that amazed even the modern engineers.

The UNESCO has pledged to provide technical assistance for establishing the Museum.

Source: Dasun Edirisinghe, The Island, 11 May 2010

Pakistan: 71% of people complain about inadequate water supply

A recent Gilani poll conducted by Gallup Pakistan shows that more than two thirds of all Pakistanis (71%) have complained about insufficient water supply by citing that the problem of water supply in their area is severe or at least somewhat serious. The remaining respondents claim they do not face water supply problems in their area (25%) or gave no response (4%).

The recent Gilani poll was conducted in Pakistan by Gallup Pakistan, affiliated with Gallup International Association, among a sample of 2723 men and women from rural and urban areas of all four provinces of the country, during April 2010.

Source: Gallup PakistanAPP, 10 May 2010