ADB – Measuring Water Security in Asia and the Pacific

March 25, 2013 · 0 comments

Asian Water Development Outlook 2013: Measuring Water Security in Asia and the Pacific, 2013.

This second edition of the Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO) provides a quantitative and comprehensive view of water security in the countries of Asia and the Pacific. By focusing on critical water issues, AWDO 2013 provides finance and planning leaders with recommendations on policy actions to improve water governance and guidance on investments to increase their country’s water security. AWDO 2013 is presented in three parts.

Part I introduces the five key dimensions of water security and presents the combination of indicators for assessment of national water security. The assessments for individual countries are aggregated to provide regional snapshots, with overviews of what the findings mean, identifying regional issues and hot spots where urgent action is required to improve water security.

Part II applies the indicators to demonstrate how countries in Asia and the Pacific measure up against the AWDO vision of water security, discusses what is at stake, and introduces policy levers that may be used to increase security in each key dimension.

Kenya’s waste management challenge

March 25, 2013 · 0 comments

Kenya’s waste management challenge | Source: IRIN Africa, March 13, 2013 |

NAIROBI, 13 March 2013 (IRIN) – As the urban population in Nairobi and elsewhere in East Africa grows, so does the solid waste management burden – a situation worsened by poor funding for urban sanitation departments and a lack of enforcement of sanitation regulations.

At least 100 million people in East Africa lack access to improved sanitation,according to UN sources.

“Due to budgetary deficiencies, town authorities find it difficult to address solid waste management in a sustainable manner. In addition, insufficient public awareness and enforcement of legislation is also a hindrance,” Andre Dzikus, coordinator of the urban basic services section of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), told IRIN.  

In Nairobi, a large percentage of solid waste is managed by the private sector and NGOs due to public-private partnerships, says Dzikus.

The city council’s solid waste department, like those in Kampala and Dar es Salaam, is not well equipped, with transport vehicles few and often poorly serviced, despite increasing waste quantities due to rapid urbanization, he added.

Understaffing and a lack of skilled staff in waste management is also a challenge.

Without proper controls, solid waste is often dumped in abandoned quarries or similar sites. In Nairobi, for example, municipal waste is taken to the Dandora dumping site, a former quarry some 15km east.

Dandora slum residents who live close to the dumpsite are therefore exposed to environmental and disease risks, said Dzikus.

“Burning plastic produces very toxic fumes, such as furans and dioxins, which are very harmful to human beings and the environment. Most of the uncontrolled dumpsites are some of the major sources of greenhouse gases contributing to global climate change,” he added.

Although Nairobi has a sanitation policy, the Environmental Sanitation and Hygiene Policy 2007, which recognizes the role of NGOs, community-based organizations (CBOs) and the Kenya Water and Sanitation Network (KEWASNET), often there is little collaboration in service delivery, according to a February report, Comparing urban sanitation and solid waste management in East African metropolises: The role of civil society organizations.

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State of the World’s Cities 2012/2013: Prosperity of Cities

March 8, 2013 · 0 comments

State of the World’s Cities 2012/2013: Prosperity of Cities, 2012.

UN HABITAT

The State of the World’s Cities Report 2012 presents some of the underlying factors behind the financial, economic, environmental, social and political crises that have strongly impacted on cities. Chapter 2.2 ‘Urban Infrastructure: Bedrock of Prosperity’ addresses the issue of ‘Water Supply: When Good Governance Changes the Equation’.

The gist of this Report is the need for transformative change towards people-centred, sustainable urban development, and this is what a revised notion of prosperity can provide. This focus on prosperity comes as institutional and policy backgrounds are in a state of flux around the world. Prosperity may appear to be a misplaced concern in the midst of multiple crises –financial, economic,environmental, social or political – that afflict the world today. It may appear as a luxury in the current economic predicament. However, what this Report shows with compelling evidence is that the current understandingof prosperity needs to be revised, and with it the policiesand actions deployed by public authorities. UN-Habitat suggests a fresh approach to prosperity, one that reaches beyond the sole economic dimension to take in other vitaldimensions such as quality of life, infrastructures, equity and environmental sustainability. The Report introduces a new statistical instrument, the City Prosperity Index, measuring the prosperity factors at work in an individual city, together with a general matrix, the Wheel of Urban Prosperity, which suggests areas for policy intervention.

India – Waste pickers protest against unsafe disposal of sanitary napkins

March 8, 2013 · 0 comments

Waste pickers protest against unsafe disposal of sanitary napkins | Source: Indian Express, March 9, 2013 |

Sanitary napkin companies have engaged in aggressive campaign to spread awareness about the use of sanitary napkins in schools and colleges in rural areas and the urban cities but they have ignored the requests of waste-pickers to provide a disposable bag along with the product, or make suitable amends for appropriate disposable techniques.

“You roll it and chuck it, sparing little thought to what happens to the sanitary pads after they are disposed. Sanitary pads are not bio-degradable but can we make their disposal less degrading?” This is the question that the campaign titled ‘Chuck de, the right way!’ by SWaCH NGO has raised. When waste-pickers sort the wet and dry garbage, they are exposed to the unhygenic used sanitary napkin. While recognising and separating these non-biodegradable napkins, waste workers are infected with eye problems, respiratory ailments, gastrointestinal ailments, skin infections and allergies. These workers often belong to the lower income groups and are often undernourished which makes them more prone to diseases.

Members of SWaCH NGO have come up with a disposable paper bag that cost Re1 to pack the used sanitary napkin before chucking it into the dustbin. These bags have a bright yellow sticker with the details of usage, which makes it recognisable by waste pickers to separate it. “There has never been a uniform way of chucking sanitary napkins. Some wrap it in paper, some put it in plastic bags and some just throw it away. If everyone used an uniform way of disposing the bag, it would be easier for waste pickers to separate it without being exposed to the harmful effects,” says Baby Mohite, a SWaCH member and waste picker.

After sending numerous written requests to companies that manufacture sanitary napkins and diapers and getting no response, the SWaCH members decided to collect used sanitary napkins and send it to the companies as a gift on Women’s Day. “We have been writing to these companies to discuss sustainable ways by which their products can be disposed. Since they have shown no interest whatsoever, we have organised a campaign called ‘Send it back’. We will be sending back used towels and diapers to make them realise what waste pickers to go through while sorting such waste,” says Malati Gadgil, CEO, SWaCH.

Building a scalable business in Ghana: because every family deserves a toilet

February 26, 2013 · 0 comments

Building a scalable business in Ghana: because every family deserves a toilet, by Andy Narracott, WSUP. | Source: Skoll World Forum, Feb 2013 |

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Through collaboration, Unilever and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor are building a scalable solution to an enormous problem.
  • Clean Team Ghana is a social business that is in high demand by urban consumers in Ghana.
  • Each toilet installed helps creates jobs and revenues that help expand the business, taking us one step closer to a safer and more hygienic environment for the benefit of the entire community.

It’s often hard to believe that a small company can face a global problem head on and try to solve it.

At Clean Team, we are driven by that very belief and think we have found an answer to the global sanitation issue.  We’re putting this it into practice as we begin rolling out a new service which is already delivering massive benefits to individuals and families.  While we’re poised to tackle the issue at a local level, we’re preparing to scale our business way beyond our initial base in Kumasi, Ghana. 

The concept has been some time in the making, but solutions to incredibly complex issues don’t just happen overnight.  I’m an urban water and sanitation professional and social-minded entrepreneur. I began working for my father’s UK toilet business while at school and university and would often ponder why my father was able to make a good living in the UK from providing ‘conveniences’ for outdoor events while businesses around the world were failing to serve billions with no toilet at all.

Convenient sanitation is a basic human need and it seemed logical that someone would develop a viable business model to serve this enormous market.  Years later, I joined Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) in Bangalore, India to support their slum sanitation programme, seeking to demonstrate viable models for government investment.  Spending day after day in the slums, I saw mothers, fathers, grandparents and children nonchalantly walking over to some nearby waste land to defecate, being stripped of their dignity on a daily basis.  Their needs were so obvious and again, I thought, why isn’t someone offering a convenient toilet that people would be willing to pay for, instead of their inconvenient visit each morning that costs them so much in health and economic terms?  Fast forward to today, and I’m now part of a team that is answering that very same question.

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Slum upgrading: improving health and wellbeing?

February 22, 2013 · 0 comments

Slum upgrading – improving health and wellbeing?

This guest blog was written by Dr Ruhi Saith, a Research Fellow based in New Delhi and an author of a systematic review examining the effects of slum upgrades on health and socio economic outcomes.

Globally over one billion slum dwellers reside in informal housing and according to UN predications this figure will increase to 1.4 billion by 2020. Whilst progress towards the UN millennium goals, which aim to improve the lives of slum dwellers, is being made, slum improvements have failed to keep pace with the growing ranks of the urban poor.

To overcome the poor standards of living which can be rife within slum areas, the past 15 years has seen consistent political commitment to large-scale slum upgrading programmes. Strategies have sought to improve, formalise and incorporate informal urban areas into cities and also improve the health and livelihoods of people living and working in these areas.

Understanding what works

So, while valuable resources continue to be invested in slum upgrading strategies, how can these resources be invested in the most effective and efficient way? How can policy makers and implementers know what interventions will work to improve the health and wellbeing of those living in slum areas?

Until recently, the evidence on the effectiveness of strategies to reduce the ill effects of urban slums had not been examined systematically. Our review was the first comprehensive review of slum upgrading programmes, collating all relevant research and providing a broad picture of the effectiveness of strategies across different settings, interventions and outcomes. At the same time the review considered the reliability and validity of results and measures within each study.

There are many types of slum upgrading programmes, all which have the potential to effect various and interwoven health and socio-economic outcomes. Our review looked specifically at interventions involving physical environments and infrastructure changes. For instance, we looked at interventions that might improve water and sanitation, energy infrastructure, electricity, transport infrastructure, mitigation of environmental hazards, waste management or housing improvements. But we also wanted to know if these interventions had been combined with other interventions to improve health, education or social services.

We then wanted to understand how these strategies might impact on health and quality of life of slum dwellers in these areas. Such changes to health were determined by changes to mortality and morbidity and where associated to levels of communicable and non-communicable diseases and quality of life measures. In addition, the review examined whether upgrades could affect socio-economic status. We asked whether upgrades could result in changes to financial poverty, employment and occupation or crime and violence, education or social capital.

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WSUP – Dealing with land tenure and tenancy challenges

February 11, 2013 · 0 comments

Dealing with land tenure and tenancy challenges in water and sanitation services delivery, 2013.

Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor.

WSUP’s work in providing water and sanitation services to the urban poor takes place in contexts with complex formal and informal land ownership arrangements. How can these challenges be overcome?

Drawing on WSUP’s experience in the African Cities for the Future (ACF) programme, this Topic Brief gives an overview of this area, and discusses solutions that have been developed within the ACF programme. The Topic Brief also offers practical guidance on this issue for programme managers.

Is urban ecological sanitation possible?

February 7, 2013 · 0 comments

Is urban ecological sanitation possible? Lessons from Erdos, China. | Source: News from Stockholm Environment Institute, Jan 2013 |

For a large share of the 750 million urban people worldwide who lack adequate sanitation, flush toilets connected to municipal sewers are not a viable option due to poverty, water shortages, groundwater contamination risks and other issues. The research and development project at the China–Sweden Erdos [Ordos] Eco-Town Project was the first major urban project of its kind and was designed to test, at full scale, alternative sanitation in the form of eco-toilets in an arid area of the world.

The project encountered many challenges and uncovered many truths, and was a valuable learning experience that will make future urban ecological sanitation projects more effective.

Apartments at Erdos Eco-City which all had UDD toilets. Photo credit: Sustainable sanitation/Flickr

The project was a collaboration between the Dongsheng district government in Ordos and our organisation, the Stockholm Environment Institute, and aimed to save water and provide sanitation services in this drought-stricken and rapidly urbanising area of northern China.

Before the start of the project in 2003, the 250,000 residents of Dongsheng suffered water-rationing and used mainly public toilets, which were largely unfinished, concrete-slab squatting pit latrines that had no lighting or heating, and no running water for washing. The harsh winters, during which temperatures can drop as low as minus 30° Celsius, made the existing pit latrines even tougher to use, and during the hours of darkness they became more or less open defecation zones in the city.

The birth of eco-toilets
The challenge for the project was to work with local builders, officials and residents to improve conditions and develop a dry sanitation system with urine diversion in multi-storey apartments. Although the technology for these systems is not standard, it has been successfully carried out in Sweden and Germany as well as other locations at a smaller scale. The “Gebers” project in southern Stockholm has been running well since 1997. The Ordos project was an upscaling effort, involving 832 apartments and about 3,000 inhabitants.

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The impoverished gut-a triple burden of diarrhoea, stunting and chronic disease.

February 7, 2013 · 0 comments

Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2012 Dec 11. doi: 10.1038/nrgastro.2012.239.

The impoverished gut-a triple burden of diarrhoea, stunting and chronic disease.

Guerrant RL, Deboer MD, Moore SR, Scharf RJ, Lima AA.
Center for Global Health, Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health, University of Virginia School of Medicine, 1400 West Main Street, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA.

More than one-fifth of the world’s population live in extreme poverty, where a lack of safe water and adequate sanitation enables high rates of enteric infections and diarrhoea to continue unabated. Although oral rehydration therapy has greatly reduced diarrhoea-associated mortality, enteric infections still persist, disrupting intestinal absorptive and barrier functions and resulting in up to 43% of stunted growth, affecting one-fifth of children worldwide and one-third of children in developing countries.

Diarrhoea in children from impoverished areas during their first 2 years might cause, on average, an 8 cm growth shortfall and 10 IQ point decrement by the time they are 7-9 years old. A child’s height at their second birthday is therefore the best predictor of cognitive development or ‘human capital’. To this ‘double burden’ of diarrhoea and malnutrition, data now suggest that children with stunted growth and repeated gut infections are also at increased risk of developing obesity and its associated comorbidities, resulting in a ‘triple burden’ of the impoverished gut.

Here, we Review the growing evidence for this triple burden and potential mechanisms and interventions that must be understood and applied to prevent the loss of human potential and unaffordable societal costs caused by these vicious cycles of poverty.

The Future of Water in African Cities : Why Waste Water?

January 30, 2013 · 0 comments

The Future of Water in African Cities : Why Waste Water? 2013.

Jacobsen, Michael; Webster, Michael; Vairavamoorthy, Kalanithy. World Bank.

The overall goal of this book is to change the way urban policy makers think about urban water management, planning, and project design in Africa. African cities are growing quickly, and their current water management systems cannot keep up with growing demand. It will take a concerted effort on the part of decision makers across sectors and institutions to find a way to provide sustainable water services to African city dwellers. This book argues that these complex challenges require innovative solutions and a management system that can work across institutional, sectoral, and geographic boundaries.

A survey conducted for this analysis shows that African city leaders and utility operators are looking for ways to include a broader range of issues, such as water resources management, flood and drought preparation, rainwater harvesting, and solid waste management, than previously addressed in their water management plans. This book argues that integrated urban water management (IUWM) will help policy makers in African cities consider a wider range of solutions, understand water’s interaction with other sectors, and secure resilience under a range of future conditions.

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