MALNUTRITION: Developing solutions for sustainable water management

22 November 2011
Water resources are under pressure from increasing populations, growing economies and poor management
 Flickr/World Bank Photo Collection

This policy brief, published by the International Project Office of the Global Water System Project and produced to inform the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), outlines how scientists and policymakers can advance water security by focusing on interdisciplinary research, and ensuring that all stakeholders are involved in developing sustainable solutions to water problems.
Rio+20 is an opportunity to strengthen commitment to integrated and sustainable management of water resources, which are coming under increasing pressure, say the authors. Water stress is a reality in many parts of the world and human activities are changing the global water system without adequate knowledge of the consequences.
Scientists can offer knowledge, information and technical tools. But this is only part of the solution: governments must set up frameworks for better water management, and many other stakeholders — including decision makers, managers and technical personnel — must be involved to foster commitment and facilitate conflict resolution.
As water crosses natural and political boundaries, governments must consider the water needs of all sectors. Better information will help to evaluate needs and prioritise water allocations between them. But the unavoidable compromises and trade-offs should be assessed based on scientific evidence — not influenced by lobbying and pressure groups.
Water management should be integral to climate change adaptation, and vice versa. To ensure water use stays within the planet's natural limits, interdisciplinary science should be complemented by ethical water governance and management practices.
Research shows that good governance depends on having multiple centres of control, effective legal frameworks, reduced inequalities, free access to information and meaningful participation by stakeholders. In turn, good governance can help attract needed funds for clean water and sanitation.
The future should be seen through a water 'lens', say the authors. They conclude that, in order to develop solutions for sustainable water management, it is important to go beyond technical solutions to understand the complexities of the global water system — including the social and political dynamics, as well as human behaviours related to water use. This is a huge challenge, say the authors, but it is the only way forward.
This policy brief was compiled by the International Project Office of the Global Water System Project based in Bonn, Germany. It was commissioned by the international conference Planet Under Pressure: New Knowledge Towards Solutions.
http://www.scidev.net/en/science-and-innovation-policy/science-at-rio-20/policy-briefs/developing-solutions-for-sustainable-water-management--1.html

POVERTY: ZIMBABWE: Making the water safer

HARARE, 1 July 2011 (IRIN)

 Photo: IRIN
Progress towards fixing Zimbabwe's water infrastructure

A combined effort by donor agencies, foreign governments, local organizations and the Zimbabwean government is slowly improving the water infrastructure while reducing the chances that cholera will return.
The UN Children’s agency (UNICEF) agreed to supply water treatment chemicals until the end of June 2011 but this has been extended until March 2012, by which time it is hoped that the local government authorities will be able to purchase their own water treatment chemicals.
“Thus far, water treatment chemicals worth over US$10 million have been procured, including over 25,000 tonnes of aluminium sulphate, 700 tonnes of chlorine and 230 tonnes of high test hypochlorite,” UNICEF said in response to written questions from IRIN.
A cholera epidemic began in August 2008 and lasted for a year before it was officially declared at an end in July 2009, during which time it caused the deaths of more than 4,000 people and infected nearly 100,000 others.
The outbreak was attributed to dilapidated and broken sanitation and water infrastructure. Since then, there have been isolated outbreaks of the waterborne bacterial disease, which infects the gastrointestinal system, causing vomiting and diarrhoea. The resulting acute dehydration can kill within 24 hours if left untreated.
Supplying water treatment chemicals will ensure the continued provision of safe water to 20 urban councils and over 100 rural growth points, UNICEF said.
“We are grateful to UNICEF, who positively responded to our request for the extension and gradual withdrawal of the chemicals supply scheme,” Water Resources and Development minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo told IRIN. “This provides our local authorities an opportunity to start planning for the procurement of the chemicals, using their own funds.”
The treatment works continued to struggle to produce enough water to meet the city’s [Bulawayo] water demands
The Federal Republic of Germany, through its development arm, German International Cooperation, is carrying out a US$12 million infrastructural rehabilitation at four urban centres: Gweru, the third largest city; Kariba on the northern border with Zambia; Norton, 40km south of the capital, Harare; and Kadoma, about 130km south of Harare.
“The two major components of the project provide, on the one hand, assistance to the municipalities with the procurement of key inputs and equipment for water supply, sanitation and solid waste collection,” the German embassy said in a statement. “The second component consists of support to the municipalities regarding the improvement of procedures and management in the areas of finance, accounting, billing and revenue collection.”
The funding will also help rehabilitate water supply and sanitation infrastructure such as treatment plants and pumping stations. Health and environmental activists have warned that the continued discharge of sewage and industrial waste into water systems will create environmental and health disasters in the near future.

Raw sewage discharge
Raw sewage and industrial waste is still being discharged into Lake Chivero, Harare’s main source of water, and an US$18 million rehabilitation of its two main sewerage treatment plants is underway.
However, Bulawayo, the country’s second largest city, has failed to attract the US$1 million funding it needs to repair water infrastructure at one of its large dams, Ncema, and rehabilitate water treatment plants.
“The treatment works continued to struggle to produce enough water to meet the city’s water demands,” the minutes of a recent council meeting noted. “For example, Ncema waterworks can only produce 39,000 cubic metres per day, against a design capacity of 81,000 cubic metres per day.”
Poor rainfall in recent years has added to pressures on water supply and some businesses have relocated to other parts of the country.
“We are working well in partnership with the donor community, but treasury has provided us with money to build new dams or to improve water supply," water resources minister Nkomo told IRIN.
“We are almost done with building a 40km water pipeline from Mtshabezi Dam, which will improve water supply in Bulawayo. Construction has already started on the construction of Kunzvi Dam [near Harare], which we hope will improve water supply.”

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=93119

POVERTY: Cholera in Haiti: "a disease of poverty"

Photo: United Nations
By Peter Costantini
Ansel Herz has filed three stories so far for Inter Press Service on the cholera epidemic in Haiti.
His reporting has given voice to the perspectives of some of the estimated 1.3 million internally displaced people stuck in over 1,350 tent camps, who are now threatened by the disease. He has visited hospitals that are treating cholera patients, and draws on several frontline medical-care providers as sources.
These stories look through the eyes of people confronting a horrifying yet preventable public-health breakdown. They also put the epidemic in the wide-angle context of underlying systemic crises dating back long before the January 12 earthquake.
For example, Herz reports that the percentage of Haitians without access to safe drinking water actually increased 7 percent from 1990 to 2005, according to Partners in Health. This international medical organization, which has a long history in Haiti, observed in a 2008 report: "Combined with unsanitary conditions, the lack of water is a major factor in exacerbating Haiti's health crises."
As PiH Chief Medical Officer Joia Mukherjee put it, cholera is "a disease of poverty" . During the previous government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, she pointed out, Inter-American Development Bank loans for a public water supply in the Artibonite Valley, where the cholera originated, were blocked by international donors on political grounds.
In rural areas, where most of the country's population lives, fewer than 8 percent have access to safe drinking water, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
The dearth of potable water and sanitation facilities not only in the camps, but also in many permanent communities, are now major factors contributing to the spread of the deadly disease.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/crossover-dreams/cholera-in-haiti-a-diseas_b_776565.html