South Africa – "Naming and shaming" businesses for illegal dumping

June 19, 2009 · 0 comments

dumpingBUFFALO City Municipality has blamed big business as the main culprits for illegal dumping and has embarked on a campaign to “ name and shame” them.

This week officials from the city did a routine inspection of an illegal dumpsite in Umtiza Nature Reserve, where they discovered that a furniture company in Beacon Bay, Wetherlys, had been dumping rubbish illegally.

“Our senior managers randomly, on an irregular basis, accompany field personnel in inspecting illegal dumping hot spots and areas that are prone to illegal dumping,” BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said.

He said on one of the dumps were magazines, wrappings, invoices and catalogues from Wetherlys.

“The addresses point to the business being situated in Beacon Bay, where we ordered the business to clear the area within a specific period as per our bylaws.

“It is very disturbing to find organised businesses, who are in a position to access proper information and know better, being behind such acts,” said Ngwenya.

Wetherlys regional manager Jean Pretorius yesterday said he was not aware of the illegal dumping by some of his employees, but would attend to the matter. He said it was “absolutely unacceptable” that refuse was being dumped at a nature reserve, and ordered that it be taken to a legal dumpsite.

“On the Buffalo Pass we found out there is a lot of dumping taking place, with the main affected areas inside the premises of the Umtiza Nature Reserve,” said Ngwenya. “This is the same area that we had found letters from the Post Office.”

In December the Post Office was found responsible for dumping in the same area. The Post Office apologised and cleaned up its mess.

“As the reserve is not under the maintenance of the city, we had to engage with them. We discovered that the fence was broken and that dumpers were using these to break into and dump in the three large areas inside.

“We have since advised the reserve to fix the fence and beef up security at their gates so as to monitor and search cars. We then instructed them to clear the dumps,” said Ngwenya.

He said the city also found a garden waste refuse dump.

“It must be noted that we have a legal garden refuse dumpsite in West Bank that processes garden waste for free,” said Ngwenya.

Although the main transgressors, BCM said, businesses were not the only ones to blame.

“On the Mdantsane Access Road we have had challenges, especially around informal settlements, where people throw away trash.

“Three weeks ago we undertook a massive cleaning and awareness operation where we cleared areas along the road banks.

“Judging by the state of the areas that we cleaned, these efforts seem to have fallen on deaf ears,” said Ngwenya.

Official dumping sites in the city are:
- Stoney Drift garden transfer station (Amalinda);
- IDZ garden transfer station (West Bank);
- Beacon Bay garden transfer station (Beacon Bay);
- Second Creek general waste site (Parkside); and
- Round Hill general waste site (Berlin).

Source – Daily Dispatch Online

E. coli Strains in Urban Pigeons in Brazil

June 10, 2009 · 0 comments

Curr Microbiol. 2009 Jun 6.

Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli Strains Recovered from Urban Pigeons (Columba livia) in Brazil and Their Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns, by Silva VL, Nicoli JR, Nascimento TC, Diniz CG.

Laboratory of Bacterial Physiology and Molecular Genetics, Department of Parasitology, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, MG, 36036-900, Brazil.

Urban pigeons (Columba livia) come into close contact with humans and animals, and may contribute to the spread of infectious agents. These may include human pathogens such as diarrheagenic Escherichia coli strains, which are able to survive in pigeon feces, thus creating potential for human exposure and infection. Our objectives were to determine the occurrence of diarrheagenic E. coli strains in fresh feces from urban pigeons and their drug susceptibility patterns.

E. coli strains were isolated from 100 fresh feces samples and presumptive phenotypic species identification was carried out, confirmed by amplification of specific 16S ribosomal RNA encoding DNA. Multiplex PCR was performed to characterize pathogenic strains. Drug susceptibility patterns were determined by the agar dilution method.

Enteroinvasive E. coli, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, enteropathogenic E. coli, and enterotoxigenic E. coli were detected at an overall rate of 12.1%. Among the isolated E. coli strains, 62.1% were susceptible to all tested drugs, whereas 37.9% were resistant to at least one of the antimicrobials tested. Amikacin was the less effective drug (36.8% resistance), followed by ampicillin (7.8%). No resistance was detected to gentamicin, ceftriaxone, and ceftazidime and almost all the isolates were susceptible to ampicillin-sulbactam (98.4%), levofloxacin (97.8%), and trimethoprim-sulfametoxazole (96.1%).

Since these pigeons may harbor multidrug-resistant pathogens, their presence in an urban environment could be an important component of infection spread, with impact on public health.

Lebanon – Effect of Women's Perceptions and Household Practices on Children's Waterborne Illness

June 10, 2009 · 0 comments

Ecohealth. 2009 Jun 6.

Effect of Women’s Perceptions and Household Practices on Children’s Waterborne Illness in a Low Income Community. by El Azar GE, Habib RR, Mahfoud Z, El-Fadel M, Zurayk R, Jurdi M, Nuwayhid I.

An ecosystem approach to human health was adopted in a community-based study carried out in Bebnine, an underserved town in Lebanon. The objective of the study is to examine the association between women’s household practices and diarrhea among children in a setting where contaminated drinking water and intestinal diseases are common.

A total of 280 women were randomly selected and interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Data were collected on 712 children between the ages of 6 and 14. The study instrument included determinants of diarrhea such as sociodemographic characteristics, water, sanitation, hygiene practices, gender variables, and behavioral risk factors. Multivariate regression analysis was employed to examine the association between water handling practices and diarrhea.

The prevalence of diarrhea is 5%. Female children are more likely to suffer from diarrhea than male children (OR = 2.58; 95% CI: 1.19-5.62). Treatment of drinking water at the household level and the use of drinking water for cooking and the preparation of hot beverages are protective against diarrhea (OR = 0.15; 95% CI: 0.03-0.65). Female caretakers’ behaviors such as daily bathing and seeking medical care at times of illness are protective against diarrhea in children.

The findings suggest that diarrhea is a gendered health problem. Female children, who are generally more involved in household activities than male children, are at higher risk of suffering from diarrhea. Female caretakers’ personal hygiene, household practices, and perceptions of diarrhea are additional risk factors. Intervention activities would be more effective if based on a better understanding of gender roles and household power relations.

India – Urban malaria situation improves

June 10, 2009 · 0 comments

Margao malaria cases on the decline: UHC

MARGAO: Though health officials are clueless about what the malaria scene would be at the end of June – the month of malaria – statistics on malaria cases in Margao and Fatorda have revealed that intensive drives conducted by the Margao urban health centre (UHC) to combat the disease during the past two years has resulted in a considerable decline in the number of cases of the deadly disease.

According to figures presented to TOI by health officer Geeta Kakodkar on Friday, the total number of cases in 2008 were 1107 as compared to 1291 in 2007, while the total number of cases reported till May this year stand at 132. In 2005, the twin towns recorded a spurt in malaria with 1184 cases while in 2006, only 935 cases were reported.

However, according to Kakodkar, the statistics of 2005 and 2006 were obtained from the cases reported at the UHC alone. “From 2007, when I took charge of the UHC, we commenced the procedure of collecting samples from private labs and Hospicio which helped us to get more or less a fair picture on the prevalence of malaria at Margao and Fatorda,” she explained.

Cases of the deadly Plasmodium Falciparum last year showed a downward trend with 222 cases, while in 2007, cases reported were 291. In 2005, it was 134 and in 2006, 193 cases were reported. This year till May, a total of 18 cases of plasmodium falciparum have been reported.

Cases of plasmodium vivax reported last year were 885 as compared to 1000 cases reported in 2007. In 2005, a total of 1044 cases were reported and in 2006 it was 786. This year cases of plasmodium vivax reported till May stand at 114.

Though statistics show a steady decline in the cases of deadly plasmodium falciparum last year, Kakodkar warned that much needs to be done to bring down the figures further considering that plasmodium falciparum is the most dangerous of the serious febrile illness.

Nonetheless, health officials attribute the prevalence of malaria to the unmonitored influx of migrant labourers from malaria prone areas. The city, which has an influx of 600 (according to UHC figures) migrant labourers and over 169 construction sites (21 major), has been literally battling against the disease for the past several years. While Fatorda, KTC area, Mungul, Maddel, Borda and Comba areas face high risk of plasmodium falciparum, some areas of Khareband, Gogol, Housing Board, Malbhat and Aquem are sensitive to the less harmful vivax malaria.

Taking a major step towards combating malaria, the urban health centre, a nodal monitoring and preventing agency, has urged the 26 private laboratories to report cases to the centre. “We started this procedure from July 2007. Since the private sector has 60 to 70% stake in public health, their co-operation can be vital. Our workers collect the data from these labs which help us to take corrective measures,” informed Kakodkar.

Source – Times of India

IIED – Poverty Lines in Greater Cairo: underestimating and misrepresenting poverty

June 9, 2009 · 0 comments

Sabry, S. (2009). Poverty Lines in Greater Cairo: underestimating and misrepresenting poverty. Human Settlements Working Paper Series: Poverty Reduction in Urban Areas-21. London, IIED. (pdf, 473KB)

This paper engages with the global debate about the meaningfulness, validity and reliability of the poverty-line approach by examining the Egyptian poverty lines in relation to the reality of the lives of the urban poor in Greater Cairo. It reviews Egypt’s various poverty lines, and the data which inform them, and then questions their value in relation to the real costs of some basic living needs in eight of Greater Cairo’s informal areas in 2008. The paper concludes that the incidence of poverty is severely underestimated in Greater Cairo. This is because poverty lines are set too low in relation to the costs of even the most basic of needs, and because the household survey data which inform poverty-line studies under-sample people living in informal settlements, as they are based on census data which under-count the populations of informal areas.

South Africa – Wastewater management in informal settlements

June 9, 2009 · 3 comments

SOUTH AFRICA: Wastewater Is a Resource

CAPE TOWN, Jun 8 (IPS) – South Africa faces chronic water shortages, yet billions of litres are flushed away every year. Being one of the driest countries in the world, the conservation of water resources and managing wastewater should be a top priority for government.

In its 2008 Living Planet Report, which included a special chapter on water consumption, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said that water shortage is a genuine threat as 98 percent of the country’s water resources are already fully utilised. South Africa’s rainfall is almost 400 mm below the worldwide average of 860 mm a year.

The situation will worsen because of increased water demands and usage due to the expansion of both the economy and the population. In its report, the WWF estimates that by the year 2025 South Africa will have a water deficit of 1.7 percent.

One of the provinces expected to be badly affected is Gauteng, South Africa’s economic heart. Population growth, the mining industry and high levels of industrial activity will combine to produce water shortages in the region anytime from 2013.

Although the majority of South Africans do have access to water, figures by the South African Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) show that in 2008, five million people – ten percent of the country’s population – lacked adequate water supplies.

One of the ways to protect and conserve water is to focus on the recycling of waste water, according to water experts gathered in Cape Town for a water seminar in May.

The event was attended by water experts from Europe and South Africa and formed part of an economic and political mission of the Dutch governmental delegation comprising of minister of Development Cooperation Bert Koenders and deputy minister of Foreign Trade Frank Heemskerk.

“We should change our mindsets about wastewater,” said Brendon Meulman, project manager at Landustrie, a Dutch company that specialises in wastewater management. “We should stop seeing it as waste and a burden, but rather as a resource. A lot can be done with wastewater.”

“Toilet water for instance, is rich in organic material,” he explained. “If the concentration of this so-called black water is high enough, you can create energy out of this organic material. You can also turn it into compost and fertiliser.”

The system works as follows. While the urine is channeled away, the solid waste is stored in a separate wind-ventilated chamber where it is air-dried.

“The eventual result is pathogen-free human waste, which can be used as manure for vegetable gardens,” Meulman noted. “It can also be used as fuel, for instance to make fires.”

Apart from reducing the amount of wastewater and waste, the system does not require water to flush excrement. Similar systems are already in operation in South Africa, for instance in Durban were thousands of dry toilets have been installed.

“We work with so-called vacuum toilets that are already used on cruise ships,” he told IPS. “This type of toilet uses approximately one litre of water and 100 litres of air per flush. With this, you are saving many litres of water per person per day.”

On average, flushing a toilet uses ten to 12 litres of water. “According to our calculations, a vacuum toilet saves 36 litres of water per person per day,” said Meulman. “That is over 25 percent of your daily total water consumption.”

According to Meulman, this technology is not applicable only in high-income countries. “We have developed a low tech version which is specifically meant to service informal settlements and squatter camps,” he explained. “It is a self-contained system that is not dependent on energy sources. It basically comprises of a container that is equipped with toilets and urinals, which are vandalism proof, hygienic and clean.”

Developing new technologies to save, conserve, and recycle water is crucial in solving South Africa’s water problems, says Lungile Dhlamini, director of Cape Town’s water services department. “Sewage is part of us, if we want it or not. We need to look how we can treat wastewater in a more efficient way.”

The chances of the vacuum toilet system solving South Africa’s water problems are slim, as government figures show that domestic consumption accounts for just 12 percent of all water used in South Africa. Industry, mining, and power generation together consume another 12.5 percent and agricultural irrigation accounts for around 52 percent the country’s water use.

“We are not trying to save the world, but we do want to save and conserve water. And that is exactly what we are doing,” said Meulman. “Not only informal settlements, but regular households can also be equipped with a similar system.”

Koenders emphasised that it is not only toilet water that needs to be looked at. “The country’s water problems are further impacted by the fact that mines are contaminating rivers and other water bodies,” he told IPS.

“And according to local media reports, waste water is dumped on a regular basis. These and other matters can result in tremendous health issues. Better water management, purification, recycling, and conservation could provide an answer to the problem, as at the moment the country faces a shortage of water.”

The problems mentioned by Koenders were key focal points of a 2008 report presented by South Africa’s National Nuclear Regulator. The publication predicted serious problems with the country’s water supply, including radioactive pollution and waste dumping. It also suggested that wastewater from mines was seeping into the country’s groundwater.

The water and forestry department however, denied a looming water crisis. In a statement, forestry and water affairs minister Lindiwe Hendricks said that South Africa’s drinking water quality was rated among the best in the world.

Marius Keet, Director of Water Quality Management of Forestry and Water Affairs of the Gauteng province said he stands behind his department analysis, although he acknowledges the problem.

“Indeed, due to mining and other human activities, the water quality is affected in some parts of the country,” he said. “But it is not a crisis. It is a challenge, that needs to be addressed.”

Source – IPS News

Vietnam – Urban poverty higher than official figures

June 9, 2009 · 0 comments

Current official urban poverty rates are unlikely to reflect the real state of impoverishment in cities nationwide, according to a new report by non-governmental organizations ActionAid and Oxfam.

The government’s poverty line for the 2006-2010 period is an average monthly income of less than VND200,000 (US$11.10) per person in rural areas and below VND260,000 ($14.40) per person in urban areas.

In the context of inflation making the basic cost of living much higher in urban areas, this poverty line is no longer appropriate, as it is too low in comparison with the increase in prices, the report says.

The impacts of food price hikes in 2008 are shown to have particularly affected vulnerable social groups such as migrant workers, small traders and motorbike taxi drivers.

In many cases, a decrease of income or fear of losing work meant they were forced to move to cheaper accommodation, or to areas with poor infrastructure and uncertain land use rights.

Many people reported they had to cut down on spending, and reduce savings and remittances.

The existing data do not reflect the true state of urban poverty as no account is taken of unregistered migrants, said the report. Many migrant households are poor or near poor, yet they are not recorded in official statistics. The migrants are normally excluded from official poverty surveys as they are typically not registered citizens of the cities.

Meanwhile, local management of urban poverty is facing big challenges in terms of human resources, budget and working facilities.

The urban poor, especially migrants, often gather in recently urbanized and peripheral districts, where the basic infrastructure of power, roads, water supply and drainage is of poor quality. Existing policies are inadequate to improve the lives of these inhabitants, the report says.

The report stresses that to effectively address urban poverty, there is a need to thoroughly understand the scale and role of migration, design support programs for specially disadvantaged groups to increase their access to social services and secure safety nets, and give careful consideration to the livelihoods of poor people when developing urban management policies.

ActionAid, an international antipoverty agency, and Oxfam, a group of non-governmental organizations working worldwide to fight poverty and injustice, carried out their joint study in five wards of Hai Phong City and Ho Chi Minh City between May and July 2008.

In-depth interviews were carried out with 537 people and questionnaires were collected from 120 migrant workers.

Source

South Africa – Rodent control in informal settlements

June 2, 2009 · 0 comments

Ekurhuleni gets tough on rats

Gas, rat cages, owl traps and drowning buckets are being used in a deadly, five-phase plan to wipe out the rats infesting Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg.

The “integrated rodent control plan” is a collaboration between the local government, community and interest groups, said Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality spokesperson Zweli Dlamini.

Although the ridding of rodents on private property was primarily residents’ responsibility, the municipality believed that, if the region was to be rid of the problem, a collaborative effort would have to be forged, he said.

Residents were being asked to be on the look out for rats or mice “lurking around the yard, rodent burrows in the garden, the presence of tracks and rodent droppings, greasy trails on the walls or gnaw marks on any objects, he said.

People living in identified “rodent hot-spots” were being issued with rat cages and being visited by environmental health practitioners.

“They carry out inspections of premises, issue out notices where necessary, and then return for a second inspection to ensure that residents have complied – failing which the perpetrators are fined,” said Dlamini.

The first phase of the plan would involve establishing “inter-sectional collaboration committees” in participating wards.

“The second phase is identifying infested areas and factors which contribute to infestations in the wards, then baiting and trapping the rodents.”

The issuing of rat cages in hot spots like Tembisa, Thokoza, Katlehong and informal settlements had already proved useful, said Dlamini.

“A bucket method was piloted in Phomolong, Tembisa, which involves using a bucket half-filled with water and sunflower seeds to capture and drown the rats.

“The owl project has also been implemented in the Kathorus region,” he said.

The third phase of the project would focus on promoting environmentally healthy surroundings with community clean-up campaigns; the fourth phase would be a community education campaign and the fifth phase, enforcement of legislation, including the Environmental Conservation Act, Environmental Management Act, and public health and solid waste by-laws.

“We have gassed hundreds of thousands of rodents in the past, but the problem is not going away due to other factors mainly illegal dumping,” said Dlamini.

Dealing with illegal dumping in the area would eliminate the “biggest contributing factor to the growing rat problem,” added the municipality’s environmental development executive director Mandla Sithole.

Source – IOL News

Kenya – Improving Water Utility Services through Delegated Management

June 1, 2009 · 0 comments

Improving Water Utility Services through Delegated Management: Lessons from the utility and small-scale providers in Kisumu, Kenya. May 2009. (pdf, full-text)

Utility partnerships with small-scale providers (SSPs) are becoming increasingly important as utilities struggle to serve a growing population and the poor in particular. This article explores a delegated management approach as one type of partnership and introduces a case study from Nyalenda, an informal settlement in Kisumu, Kenya.

South Africa – Poor performance of household water filters

June 1, 2009 · 0 comments

Tapping into the water filter scam, May 30 2009

Shocking new findings on water purification systems released this week have sounded alarm bells for owners of home filters.

Test results of samples taken from more than 100 homes in the Durban area revealed that:

– More than half did not meet the SA national standards for drinking water;
– The number of normal live organisms in the water was four times higher than in normal tap water; and
– The filters’ decrease or removal of chlorine had increased the growth of bacteria.

The voluntary tests were undertaken by eThekwini Municipality’s water department in the last few months. Samples were taken from a variety of table-top and under-counter home purifiers, which included most of the country’s leading brands. Domestic water filters range in price from about R950 up to R6500.

Neil Macleod, head of the city’s water and sanitation department, said many of the samples were also not on par with international standards for drinking water.

Macleod said the filter’s removal or reduction of chlorine in ordinary tap water left it unprotected and provided “a breeding ground” for bacteria.

Water purification companies, meanwhile, blamed the poor results on dirty filters, lack of maintenance and cross-contamination of the filter spout.

Macleod said the acceptable limit for normal live organisms in drinking water was 100 cfu/ml (colony-forming units per millilitre).

“We found 310 cfu/ml in some samples. The average was 170 cfu/ml in filtered water compared to an average of just 0.43 cfu/ml in unfiltered water,” said Macleod.

“It shows this water is not protected and organisms are growing at a hell of a rate.”

One sample, from a home in Durban North, revealed an organism level of just 1 cfu/ml in the family’s normal tap water, compared to a staggering 120 cfu/ml in its filtered water. “This family is literally making bacteria in their tap,” said Macleod.

He said the quality of the city’s tap water was within the South African standard, which is in line with the World Health Organisation’s standards. If home purifiers were used, he said, it was vital that filters were changed regularly and that filtered water was drunk immediately or kept refrigerated to stop bacterial growth.

Rand Water quality expert Karl Lubout said filters did not improve the quality of tap water. The results revealed very little change in the mineral content, he said.

“There is no advantage to the consumer, certainly not for those who live in metropolitan areas.”

Independent water expert Carin Bosman said the findings confirmed the general opinion of the use of home filters.

“If filters are not regularly replaced, the bacteria in the filters can end up in the water, known as bacterial ‘break-through’.”

Alessandro de Grandis, spokesman for H2O International, one of the country’s leading home water purifier suppliers, said regular maintenance and service of all water purification systems was vital. He said the kitchen had the highest chances of bacterial contamination in the home, which could lead to cross-contamination of the filter spout.

“So even if a water purification system is working correctly, this type of easily occurring scenario could introduce enough bacteria to show excessive levels of bacteria in an analytical report,” said De Grandis.

Source – The Times

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