Sri Lanka: new partnership tackles fecal sludge management

Septage disposal. Sri Lanka/Nuwara Eliya sanitation project, 2008, Photo: Flickr/USAID.

An international research institute is helping the government of Sri Lanka to improve septage management in the country.

On 8 May 2013, the Colombo-based International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Ministry of Water Supply and Drainage signed a Memorandum of Understanding that provides a collaborative framework for sustainable septage management in Sri Lanka.

IWMI will contribute research data for the drafting of a septage management component of the national sanitation policy. The Ministry will lead implementation of the policy through an advisory committee headed by Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.

Only about 3% of Sri Lankans have a sewerage connection while the rest rely on latrines and septic tanks for sanitation. Safe disposal of septage (fecal sludge) is a problem because of a lack of treatment facilities in large parts of the country.

IWMI is studying a new approach in cities around the world, which treats the sludge so that it can be safely reused as agricultural fertiliser. With the rising costs of imported fertiliser, such an approach would not only benefit farmers but also allow better sanitation and environmental protection for all.

Related news:

• The business of the honey-suckers in Bengaluru (India), E-Source, 27 Sep 2012
• WASHplus Weekly: Focus on Fecal Sludge Management, Sanitation Updates, 30 Nov 2012

Related web sites:

• IWMI - Resource Recovery and Re-use
• Ministry of Water Supply and Drainage
• SuSanA - WG 5 – Food security and productive sanitation systems and Library – Fecal sludge management

 Source: IWMI, 8 May 2013

Asia Water Week 2013, Manila, Philippines, 14-15 March 2013

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will invite around 400-500 participants from its stakeholder groups to discuss water sector issues, technologies, and emerging priorities around the theme “Securing Water for All”.

Topics: climate change, water-food-energy nexus, disaster management, civil society, financing, leveraging, private sector participation, governance, water supply and sanitation, water resources and environment, agriculture/irrigation, regional and national focus groups; and technical presentations.

The ADB Water Prize 2013 award will also be presented.

For more information go to: www.adb.org/news/events/asia-water-week-2013

Asia: leadership for sanitation needed at both central and local level

The responsibility for sanitation in Asia is fragmented over different agencies, and in most cases the priority given to sanitation is low. Therefore more leadership and political will is needed to make sure that organisational structures function, that plans with good intentions become a reality on the ground and that resources go to the right places. While leadership for sanitation is needed at all levels, it’s most urgent at sub national level, in districts and provinces, because it’s there where the actions take place.

This is the outcome of an email discussion [1] of the WASH Asia Dgroup platform held from 9 August to 9 September 2011. The discussion was moderated by the SNV Asia knowledge network and IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, and involved 120 WASH practitioners from 5 different countries in Asia.

Viet Nam: Integrating sanitation marketing into a national program

Nguyen, H.H. (2011). Integrating sanitation marketing into a national program : a case study in Vietnam. Brisbane, QLD, Australia, International Water Centre.
Read the full report

Supply-driven approaches to rural sanitation in Viet Nam, with associated toilet subsidies, have had little success over the last decade. Since 2003, International Development Enterprises (IDE) Vietnam has achieved better results in several pilots with an alternative approach involving rural sanitation marketing. As a result, the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) has supported IDE in collaboration with the Health Environment Agency of the Ministry of Health (MOH) (HEMA) to implement a rural sanitation marketing pilot project within the National Target Program II (NTP II) program in Quang Tri province since 2010. This report  provides an analysis of the potential as well as the constraints for integrating sanitation marketing into NTP II.

Sri Lanka, Colombo: water pirates to be hunted down

The National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) has taken steps to nab water pirates in Colombo and the suburbs, an official said.

“We have established a special unit to nab water pirates. It is headed by a chief engineer in the NWSDB,” Deputy General Manager, Western and Central (NWSDB), Gerard Fonseka said.

Nearly 120 such illegal water tappers in Colombo are nabbed every month by the NWSDB. There has been no need to implement such programmes in the other districts since complaints regarding tapping of water have not been reported from these areas, he said.

Once the water pirates are caught, the NWSDB would demand that they pay the fines within a given period of time and in the case of not obliging, legal action would be initiated.

According to Fernando, water has been pilfered either by tampering with the meters or obtaining water illegally. He further requested the public to inform the NWSDB about water pirates on their hot line (1939).

Source: Pabodha Hettige, The Island, 18 Jul 2011

India, Gujarat: state govt approves slum rehabilitation project in Ahmedabad

Amraiwadi, a crime-prone slum area of Ahmedabad, is set for a makeover as nearly 1200 families will get one-bedroom flat with good drainage, separate toilets, a drinking water supply, a landscaped garden and a school.

This is the first project to be approved by the state Urban Development Department (UDD) under its new Slum Rehabilitation Policy [1]. Under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, UDD has contracted the Ahmedabad-based realty firm, Safal Realty Pvt Limited (HN Safal) to implement the project.

Gujarat has based its policy on the Mumbai Dharavi slum development project plan.

[1] UDD – Regulations For The Rehabilitation and Redevelopment of the Slums 2010

Source: DailyBhaskar.com, 18 Jul 2011 ; Indian Express, 15 Jul 2011

India: govt plans to tackle groundwater over-exploitation

The government is planning to regulate over-extraction of groundwater in agriculture and industry which is seriously affecting drinking water supply in rural India, new Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said.

“80 per cent of drinking water supply schemes of rural India are depending on groundwater sources and these sources are drying up due to unregulated over-extraction of water for industry and irrigation,” Ramesh told PTI. “It is a serious issue. We are planning to regulate over-extraction of groundwater for irrigation and industry”.

Drinking water supply schemes are being affected as perennial water sources are becoming seasonal. They are also face pollution by naturally occurring arsenic and fluoride, and by leaching or fertilisers, untreated industrial effluent and sewage.

Source: PTI, MSN News, 17 Jul 2011

“Sanitation is a single most important need in India today”, says new minister

Jairam Ramesh. India's new sanitation crusader?

India’s new rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has also taken charge of the newly-created Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. Will the former environmental crusader transform into a sanitation crusader? The first signals are encouraging.

In a cabinet reshuffle the new ministry position was first assigned to Gurudas Kamat who refused to take up the post for “personal reasons” though many commentators believe he was unhappy at being offered such a low-profile portfolio. The new water and sanitation ministry was formerly a department of the Ministry of Rural Development. It provides financial assistance to states and monitors progress but does not have the mandate for actual implementation on the ground.

In his first days in office, Ramesh has made clear he wants to give sanitation the same high profile he achieved for the environment during his two-year stint as minister when he habitually hogged the headlines.

“Sanitation is a single most important need in India today. If you look at the filth, if you look at the hygiene in our country, sanitation programme is the most important programme. It is severely under-funded,” Ramesh told PTI.

Nepal, Mid-Western Region: sanitation card system introduced

Villagers in Salkot, western Surkhet, have to produce a “sanitation card” when applying for services from the Village Development Committee (VDC).

The “sanitation card” system was introduced in Salkot in mid April 2011 when it was declared an open defecation free zone.

The card contains information on whether the house of the card holder has a toilet and has pledged to no longer practice open defecation.

According to VDC Secretary Tilak Ram Adhikari red cards are issued to households which do not not concrete toilets and white cards to those which do have them.

The VDC office claimed that the out of total 1,553 households of the VDC, 1,117 households have been using toilets.

Source: The Rising Nepal, 18 Jul 2011

Nepal, Mid-Western Region: no scholarship without a toilet

Another example of how coercion is used in sanitation programmes comes from Radhapur village, Banke district in Nepal’s Mid-western Region. The Village Development Committee (VDC) of Radhapur prevents people without toilets “from getting recommendations for citizenship, land certificates and other services”. Schools also do not give scholarships to students from “dalit” (untouchable) families that don’t have a toilet in their house.

Scholarship are made available by the Water Supply and Total Sanitation Programme. So far one school says it has provided scholarships to 133 households.The Radhapur VDC, Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH) and other organisations provide loans for toilet construction.

Source: Rajdhani / NGO Forum, 30 Jun 30, 2011