Asia: reducing lost water could bring water to millions

Millions of people in Asia and the Pacific could have access to clean water if leaks were plugged and water utility reforms adopted, says a new study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

“By cutting the amount of lost water in half, 150 million people could be supplied with treated water”, said ADB’s Vice President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development Bindu Lohani.
ADB estimates that 29 billion cubic meters of water is lost each year in the region, causing Asia’s water utilities to lose more than US$ 9 billion in revenue each year.

The ADB study, which showcases eight of the best-performing water utilities [2] in Asia, shows that current unaccounted for water (UFW) levels in the region of up to 60%, can be brought down to less than 20%. Phnom Penh even managed to lower its UFW level to just 6% in 2008.

Good Practices: The Success Framework for Urban Water Utilities. Source: ADB publication “Good Practices in Urban Water Management”

The study developed a Good Practices Success Framework (see figure above) with seven key elements that urban water utilities need to address. Regarding one of these elements, empowering the poor, the study notes that each of the eight water agencies studied provided some kind of subsidy for obtaining a water connection and, in deserving cases, for the use of water as well.

[1] Chiplunkar, A., Seetharam Kallidaikurichi and Tan Cheon Kheong (eds), 2012. Good practices in urban water management : decoding good practices for a successful future. Mandaluyong City, Philippines: Asian Development Bank. xx, 206 p. Available at: < http://www.adb.org/publications/good-practices-urban-water-management>

[2] Bangkok, Thailand; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Jamshedpur, India; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Manila, Philippines; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China; and Singapore.

Related news: Higher water tariffs are associated with lower water loss, E-Source, 06 Dec 2011

Related web site: World Bank – Urban Water

Source: ADB, 03 Jul 2012

Thailand, Bangkok: struggling to clear garbage in flood crisis

Garbage piled up on a flooded street in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: Getty Images / WSJ

Industrial parks in Bangkok are being threatened after residents in Bangkok’s northeast demolish government-built levies to release the stagnant, garbage-ridden water that was building up in their neighbourhoods, writes the Wall Street Journal.

Flooded roads are preventing garbage collectors getting to many areas—raising fears over the risk of disease and over the blockage of drains, which is impeding the flow of water into the sea. Bangkok produces about 8,700 tons of rubbish a day—roughly a quarter of Thailand’s total. Added to that figure is the additional trash flowing into the city from northern provinces.

Thailand: Mae Sot locals sue two zinc mining firms for B3.7bn (US$ 107 million)

Villagers in Tak’s Mae Sot district whose lives have been devastated by cadmium contamination are taking court action to demand total compensation of 3.7 billion baht [US$ 107 million].

In civil suits filed [on 19 Jan 2009] against two mining firms, the 1,037 plaintiffs from tambons Mae Tao, Mae Ku and Prathat Pha Daeng accused Padaeng Industry Plc and Tak Mining Co of contaminating soil and water supplies with cadmium while mining zinc in the area.

The villagers said they had developed severe health problems, including renal failure and other kidney diseases, because of the dangerously high levels of cadmium in their blood.

[...] The Mae Tao saga began in 2004 when a study by the International Water Management Institute found that soil and water supplies in the Huay Mae Tao and Huay Mae Ku areas in Mae Sot district were heavily polluted with cadmium.

The contaminated area covered 13,200 rai, including paddy fields, plantations, waterways and residential areas. The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry and the Pollution Control Department later confirmed the cadmium contamination, but none of the agencies could confirm the source of the pollution.

[...] Padaeng Industry has repeatedly denied that its zinc mining had caused the contamination and has come up with development projects to help the affected villagers.

[In Feb 2009] the villagers will file an administrative charge against the Land Development and Primary Industries and Mining departments accusing them of negligence in dealing with the problem.

Source: Bangkok Post / IWMI, 20 Jan 2009

Thailand: Disease concerns rising as floods toll reaches 23

More than 200,000 people have fallen ill from waterborne diseases and 23 have died in the past 19 days of heavy flooding in north and north-east Thailand, government health authorities said.

Twenty-three people drowned, more than half children or the elderly, and a total of 230,588 were treated for trench foot, skin rashes and diarrhoea, Siriporn Kanchana, the Thai Public Health Ministry Deputy Permanent Secretary, told IRIN.

[...]

“The [medical] situation is very concerning and epidemiologists are studying measures to prevent the death toll caused by waterborne diseases, particularly Leptospirosis,” Siriporn told IRIN.

Outbreaks of Leptospirosis, also know as Rat’s Disease, are usually caused by exposure to water contaminated with the urine of infected animals or direct contact with the animals.

So far there have been no reports of Leptospirosis in flooded provinces; however, conditions are ripe for such a deadly outbreak. In a bid to prevent deaths from Leptospirosis or other waterborne diseases, as well as from snake bites, more than 100 mobile medical units and surveillance teams are monitoring the situation in five northern and north-eastern provinces experiencing heavy flooding, according to Siriporn.

Read more: IRIN, 01 Oct 2008

Southeast Asia: predicting groundwater arsenic contamination from surface parameters

Winkel, L. … [et al.] (2008). Predicting groundwater arsenic contamination in Southeast Asia from surface parameters. Nature geoscience ; vol. 1 : p. 536-542
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo254 [full text free of charge]
Published online: 11 July 2008

Abstract

Arsenic contamination of groundwater resources threatens the health of millions of people worldwide, particularly in the densely populated river deltas of Southeast Asia [Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Sumatra (Indonesia)]. Although many arsenic-affected areas have been identified in recent years, a systematic evaluation of vulnerable areas remains to be carried out. Here we present maps pinpointing areas at risk of groundwater arsenic concentrations exceeding 10 mug l-1. These maps were produced by combining geological and surface soil parameters in a logistic regression model, calibrated with 1,756 aggregated and geo-referenced groundwater data points from the Bengal, Red River and Mekong deltas. We show that Holocene deltaic and organic-rich surface sediments are key indicators for arsenic risk areas and that the combination of surface parameters is a successful approach to predict groundwater arsenic contamination. Predictions are in good agreement with the known spatial distribution of arsenic contamination, and further indicate elevated risks in Sumatra and Myanmar, where no groundwater studies exist.

See also the news item:

Southeast Asia At High Risk For Arsenic Contamination In Water. Science Daily. 14 Jul 2008. Retrieved August 15, 2008.