India: drought forces talk of user fees, rainwater harvesting

A record heat wave and growing water crisis in India are forcing politicians to consider implementing user fees and other measures to conserve water.

[R]ecord high temperatures in several areas have been blamed for dozens of deaths across the country. Drying rivers are causing regional water shortages. And in Nagpur, an urban area of 2.4 million in central India, the heat wave has triggered a fuel crisis as rail wagons that normally transport petroleum have been pressed into service to carry water instead.

To cope, the Indian government is drafting a new water policy that could create user fees for water-intensive sectors, such as agriculture, to deal with the crisis. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of the government panel drafting the new policy, said that nearly 80 percent of the country’s water goes to agriculture, but estimated that the figure could be reduced to 50 percent.

In Pune, the country’s eighth largest city, the Green Energy foundation, a locally-based environmental non-profit, is urging the government to encourage greater harvesting of rainwater, which the foundation estimates could provide 21 percent of the eastern city’s water needs. A foundation-prepared report for their proposal criticizes the municipality for poor water management and notes that the city faces a 30 percent cut in its water use.

Source: Steve Kellman, Circle of Blue, 10 Jun 2010

India: revision of unit cost of toilets for schools and kindergartens under Total Sanitation Campaign

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the increase in the revision of unit cost of a school toilet unit being constructed under the government’s Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) from existing Rs.20,000 [US$ 431] to Rs.35,000 [US$ 754] (Rs. 38,500 [US$ 829] for difficult and hilly areas). The CCEA has also approved the increase in the revision of unit cost of Anganwadi [kindergarten] toilets being constructed under the TSC from existing Rs.5000 [US$ 108] to Rs.8000 [US$ 172] (Rs. 10,000 [US$ 215] for difficult and hilly areas).

There will be no change in the funding pattern and it will remain same as 70% by centre and 30% by State. The revision in unit cost of School Toilets and Anganwadi Toilets will have an additional financial expenditure of Rs.353.74 crore [US$ 76.2 million] for the Central Government. The increase in unit costs will enable construction of good quality toilets as per plan and specifications. The revised unit costs will be made effective from 1st of April 2010.

The revision in the unit costs of school and anganwadi toilets is expected to accelerate the pace of construction of these toilets. It is expected that all the rural government schools and anganwadis shall get covered with sanitation facilities by March 2011.

The Government has so far constructed 9.97 lakh [997,000] school toilet units and 3.32 lakh [332,000] anganwadi toilets under TSC against a target of 13.04 lakh [1.304 million] school toilet units and 4.65 lakh [465,000] anganwadi toilets units respectively. Construction of the remaining toilets totalling to around 3.07 lakh [307,000] school toilet units and 1.33 lakh [133,000] anganwadi toilets is expected to be expedited with the revised unit cost norms.

Related web sites:

• India – Total Sanitation Campaign
• WASH in Schools

Source: PIB, 24 Jun 2010

India: new sanitation award creates healthy competition among cities

A survey commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) found that no city was “healthy and clean” while 40 per cent “need immediate remedial action”. The survey covered all 423 Class-I cities (with a population of more than 100,000), representing 72 per cent of India’s urban population.

Only four cities are found to be in the category of “recovering” in terms of sanitation facilities. These are Chandigarh at the top with a score of 73.480, followed by Mysore (70.650), Surat (69.080), and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation administered area (68.265). With a score of 16.750, Churu in Rajasthan is at the bottom of the list.

The survey sparked an immediate reaction in the capital of Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar, ranked as the fourth dirtiest city among Indian cities. A day after the results were published the Chief Minister, Mr. Omar Abdullah “directed the Srinagar Municipal Corporation and the Housing Department to put in place short, medium and long term measures for ensuring cleanliness of Srinagar city”.

Nasir Sogami, the junior minister in charge of urban development, said: “It gives us bad publicity. The problem is that our work force is inadequate and for this the government has decided to engage additional 600 sweepers for maintaining sanitation in the city.”

“We may also go for outsourcing. A proposal for this is under serious consideration of the government,” he added.

The rankings used in the MoUD survey are based on on 19 sanitation parameters such as access to community toilets, safe management of human excreta, and solid waste collection and treatment. The exercise highlighted that considerable efforts are required to improve access to community and public toilets for the urban poor and to stop open-defecation.

Four color codes have been assigned to the cities based on the points they obtained in the rating; red means the cities need ‘immediate remedial action’, black means ‘need considerable improvement’, blue means ‘recovering,’ green means ‘healthy and clean.’ A ‘healthy and green city’ would have required a score between 91 and 100.

Ratings of cities is an initiative that supports implementation of the National Urban Sanitation Policy launched in 2008, to create healthy competition among cities as each strives to earn the glory of being a Nirmal Shahar (exemplary city) on a set of ratings that will determine its sanitation and healthy living status.

MoUD introduced a new benchmarking tool and award scheme in November 2009, aiming to address poor sanitation conditions in India’s urban areas. The scheme is aligned to larger goals of the National Urban Sanitation Policy (NUSP) which seeks to mobilize governments and civil society to transform urban India into community-driven Nirmal Shahars, or totally sanitized, healthy, and livable cities and towns.

The goal of Nirmal Shahar Puraskar is to encourage cities to strive for 100 percent access to sanitation facilities to all cities and 100 percent safe disposal of all city generated waste. The rating and award is based on the premise that improved public health and environmental standards are two outcomes that cities must ensure for urban citizens. In doing so, state governments and urban areas must adopt a holistic, city-wide approach while incorporating processes that help reach outputs pertaining to goals of the NUSP.

The rating does not recognize mere inputs, hardware or expenditure incurred in urban sanitation, but assesses how these lead to achievements of intermediate milestones towards the final result of 100 percent safe disposal of wastes from the city on a sustainable basis (delivering public health and environmental outcomes and benefits to citizens).

The policy aims to ensure sustained public health and environmental outcomes for all cities by making them free of open defecation; providing adequate and properly maintained individual, community and public sanitation facilities, especially for the poor; ensuring safe and sanitary disposal of waste; altered mindsets, collective behavior change and health and hygiene practices, and re-oriented institutions that work collaboratively to achieve and sustain health and environmental benefits.

NUSP is operationalized on the basis of technical and financial assistance provided to States from the Government of India (GoI) in developing and implementing State Level Sanitation Strategies and introducing a prestigious National level Reward Scheme for Cities (Nirmal Shahar Puraskar) achieving measurable milestones in becoming sanitized, livable Nirmal Shahars.

The intention is to update the survey results annually and scale it up to cover to all 5161 urban centres.

Each year if the city improves its ratings, it will be recognized and awarded “Nirmal Shahar Puraskar”. AC Nielsen, Development Research Services Pvt. Limited (DRS) and Centre for Environment Planning and Technology are facilitating the process. While the first two agencies are consulting firms, the third is a university. The cities are divided into north, south, east and northeast, west and central, and south central.

The GoI has laid out clear steps for cities and states on how they must improve sanitation and the process they must follow before they can apply for the awards. Clearly, there has to be greater involvement, participation, and ownership from states in making their cities and urban spaces healthier and more livable.

View the full Rank of Cities on Sanitation 2009-2010

See also: PIB, Rating of Cities under the National Urban Sanitation Policy, 11 May 2010

Source: Vivek Raman, WSP, 08 Jun 2010 ; IANS / Thaindian News, 13 May 2010 ; Kashmir Observer, 13 May 2010

China, Shaanxi Province : 55 bln yuan to be spent on water projects

Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province plans to spend 54.5 billion yuan [US$ 8 billion] for water projects in the next five years to expand the province’s water supply capacity by 1.5 billion cubic meters.

Of the total, 1.32 billion cubic meters will be for household use in urban and rural areas and for industrial consumption, and 180 million cubic meters for agricultural irrigation.

About 90 percent of townships and 60 percent of villages in the province will get access to tap water by 2015.

Source: Xinhua, 07 Jun 2010

China: country’s first film on water protection premieres

“He Zhang,” China’s first film on the subject of the water supply crisis, premieres on June 5 – World Environment Day – in Beijing, Chinafilm.com reports.

Still from "He Zhang". Photo: CFP

The film is based on events that took place in Wuxi City, located on the banks of the Taihu Lake in east China’s Jiangsu Province, in May 2007. About 2 million residents ran out of safe drinking water after algae took over the polluted waters of the lake.

Chinese actors Ray Lui, also known as Lv Liangwei, and Zhou Xianxin star in the film. Lui plays the boss of a chemical company who illegally dumps polluted water in the lake, and is reported to authorities by his honest father, who’s dying of cancer.

The film’s producers set the premiere for World Environment Day in hopes of evoking concern for environmental protection, especially water protection.

In Chinese, “He Zhang” refers to the local government official in charge of protecting the major rivers in their region. Chinese superstars Li Bingbing, Pu Cunxi and Xu Qin also make appearances in the film.

Source: Han Jingjing, Xinhua, 08 Jun 210

China: government releases plan on urban drinking-water source protection

The Chinese government has released a plan on the protection of drinking-water sources in urban areas to guarantee the safety of drinking water and protect people’s health.

The Urban Drinking Water Sources Protection Plan (2008-2020), jointly issued by five ministries including the ministries of Environmental Protection and Health, will guide environmental-protection and pollution-control work at drinking-water source areas.

Illegal buildings, drain outlets, dump sites and factories will be removed from such areas, according to the plan that was estimated to cost 58 billion yuan (8.5 billion U.S.dollars).

Activities that may pollute the water in the protected areas, such as fish farming, swimming and fishing, will be banned.

The plan vowed to control water pollution caused by farming, animal husbandry, and water transportation in the areas. Local governments will also launch ecological restoration projects at protected areas.

Meanwhile, monitoring and emergency response systems will be enhanced for water quality control and management.

The plan comes after an investigation of water quality at 4,002 centralized drinking water sources in 655 cities and towns nationwide.

Source: Tang Danlu, Xinhua, 16 Jun 2010

Bangladesh: 77m poisoned by arsenic in drinking water

Up to 77 million people in Bangladesh have been exposed to toxic levels of arsenic from drinking water in recent decades, according to a Lancet study [1].

The research assessed nearly 12,000 people in a district of the capital Dhaka for over a period of 10 years.

More than 20% [407] of deaths among those assessed were caused by the naturally occurring poisonous element, it found [attributed to (>10 μg/L) in drinking water].

The World Health Organization said the exposure was “the largest mass poisoning of a population in history”.

It began after hand-pumped wells were installed in the 1970s to tap groundwater from.

Scientists say even small amounts of arsenic over a long period can cause cancer of the bladder, kidney, lung or skin.

Bangladesh was chosen for the study because nearly 90% of the population uses groundwater as its primary source of fresh water.

[1] Argos, M. … [et al.] (2010). Arsenic exposure from drinking water, and all-cause and chronic-disease mortalities in Bangladesh (HEALS): a prospective cohort study. The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 19 June 2010. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60481-3. Free download after registration.

Related news: Arsenic: MIT scientists pinpoint origin of contamination in drinking water in Bangladesh, Source Weekly, 22 Jan 2010

Source: BBC, 19 Jun 2010

In 2006, the British House of Lords, dismissed a case brought against the British Geological Survey (BGS) for being negligent in not testing for arsenic during a water evaluation in Bangladesh in 1992. If the legal action had been successful it could have cost the British taxpayer millions of pounds in compensation. It would also have set a precedent in making development aid more accountable. [Source Weekly, 17 Jul 2010]

India: scheme for low-cost sanitary napkins to rural girls approved

The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on [15 June 2010] approved a scheme for providing highly subsidised sanitary napkins to adolescent girls in the rural areas to promote menstrual hygiene. The scheme, to be launched in 150 districts across the country in the first phase, will cost Rs. 150 crore [Rs 1.5 billion = US$ 32.2 million] for the current financial year.

Approved by the Mission Steering Group – the highest decision-making body – of the National Rural Health Mission, at its sixth meeting here, the scheme envisages covering 1.5-crore [15 million] girls in the age group of 10-19 years every month. Of this, the approximate number of APL girls is 105 lakh [10.5 million] while that of the BPL category is 45 lakh [4.5 million]. The napkins will be supplied to the below poverty line (BPL) girls at a nominal cost of Rs.1 [2.15 US dollar cents] per pack of six while those girls living above poverty line (APL) will have to pay Rs.5 [10.7 US dollar cents] per pack.

Limited access

In India, menstruation and menstrual practices are clouded by taboos and socio-cultural restrictions for women as well as adolescent girls. Limited access to safe sanitary products and facilities is believed to be one of the reasons for constrained school attendance, high dropout rates and ill health due to infection.

Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan and Puducherry have already taken similar initiatives to promote menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls.

The 150 districts identified in the first phase include 30 from the four southern States, Maharashtra and Gujarat and 120 from northern, central and the north-eastern States. In the first year, the Centre will procure the napkins and supply these to the States that will in turn send these to Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) in the districts for distribution on a monthly basis or to the schools which will become distribution points for students.

As an incentive, ASHA will get one pack free every month in addition to Rs.50 [US$ 1] per meeting she holds on a Sunday for creating awareness regarding menstrual hygiene among girls. Subsequently, States can choose to involve self-help groups for manufacturing and marketing sanitary napkins. At least 50 districts with a strong network of SHGs will be involved in the manufacture of napkins in the first phase itself. The ASHAs will procure sanitary napkins from the sub-centre for which she will be given Rs.300 from the untied fund. Each month, ASHA will replenish the imprest fund with the amount collected through the sale of napkins.

Safe disposal

For safe disposal of the napkins at the community level, deep-pit burial or burning are the options being considered. Due environmental clearance has to be obtained from the States for this. Installing incinerators in schools that can be manually operated is another option. Consultations are on with the Ministry of Environment and Forests for use of environment-friendly raw material and disposal mechanism.

States have been given the option of leveraging funds for incinerators through the Total Sanitation Campaign of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

The scheme will be expanded to other districts after the outcome of the first phase is evaluated. In that case, the States will be asked to contribute 15 per cent of the cost. The scheme can also be transferred to the Ministries of Women and Child Development and Rural Development at a later stage for self-financing and self-sustaining that will reduce the budgetary support.

Source: The Hindu, 16 Jun 2010

China, Songhua River Basin: ADB providing $146.6 million loan to privatise and improve water supply and wastewater treatment

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing equity and loans of up to $146.6 million to a company planning to improve water supply and wastewater treatment facilities in the polluted Songhua River Basin in the northern part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Tongfang (Harbin) Water Engineering (TWE), an affiliate of publicly listed environmental technology firm, Tsinghua Tongfang Co. Ltd. (TTC), is looking to build, rehabilitate, and privatize water supply and treatment plants in the basin, which is home to 62 million people.

Massive rural-urban migration in the PRC over the past 30 years – the largest and most rapid in history – has put immense strain on public services in towns and cities. The discharge of untreated wastewater into rivers has caused widespread contamination, resulting in a growing shortage of safe drinking water. The Songhua River Basin, the third largest river basin in the PRC, is one of the country’s most polluted.

The PRC government is targeting a clean-up of the basin. A Songhua River Basin Water Pollution Prevention and Control Master Plan has been drawn up, supported since 2005 by ADB through technical assistance and loans totaling around $400 million.

“Treating more wastewater and improving the supply of potable water will reduce pollution in the urban environment around the Songhua River Basin, and improve the health and quality of life for millions of residents,” said Philip Erquiaga, Director General of ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department.

TWE has earmarked capital spending of CNY3.5 billion ($512.6 million) from 2009 to 2011 – partly financed by ADB – to treat an additional 2 million tons of wastewater a day. Private investors and local commercial banks are expected to provide the remainder of the funding needs.

“The cost of developing water infrastructure is huge and this project shows how the public and private sector can work in partnership,” said Paul Heytens, ADB’s Country Director for the PRC. “Private sector participation in services usually provided by municipalities or the central government can enhance efficiency and lead to the use of newer technologies.”

ADB’s equity investment will be $10 million, or 15% of the paid-up capital of TWE, whichever is lower. The main A loan of CNY250 million ($36.6 million) carries a 10-year term, with a two-year grace period. A B loan of up to $100 million, involving international commercial banks, will also be extended, with terms to be decided later.

Source: ADB, 15 Jun 2010

India, New Delhi: water tanker privatisation aims to curb corruption

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) [Delhi water board] has decided to privatise tanker management system to check water wastage and corruption in its own ranks. Four companies have shown interest and submitted technical proposals for the tenders issued by DJB. The contract would ensure a total revamp of the system and introduction of new technologies.

Officials say that this would help DJB monitor the movement of tankers to and from various delivery points. The project also proposes to put a check on water wastage due to leakages in tankers.

“There have also been complaints of our tankers supplying water to hotels and malls for extra money. With corruption prevailing within the department and in the absence of a monitoring system, it is difficult to say if the tankers even reach the destination,” a senior DJB official said.

The DJB’s decision to enter into a public-private partnership to revamp tanker management involves introduction of technological changes to tankers. These changes would include biometric identification for drivers, a GPS system to monitor the tanker movement, a flow meter to account for the amount of water taken and supplied, a chlorimeter to ensure the water quality and an auto lock system to put a check on leaking tankers.

The DJB is mandated to supply water tankers at 18,349 fixed delivery points in the city. Besides that, water tankers are also supplied to regular colonies in case of common emergencies like pipeline burst or shortage of raw water supply. The department owns 250 tankers and hires at least 600 private tankers on a daily basis to ensure supply to at least 1,600 unauthorised-regularised colonies.

Source: IBNS / newKerala.com, 07 Jun 2010