Clean, Running Water in Cambodia's Capital!

In the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, amidst the small, lean-to homes, people are able to drink water directly from their faucets. With a population of 1.7 million, the city has managed to provide almost the entire urban population with access to clean, running water.

It all started with 61-year-old Ek Sonn Chan, head of the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA). In 1993, when Chan was appointed head of the PPWSA, only 25 percent of Phnom Penh had access to running water. Today that statistic has changed to 92 percent.

Residents used to pay $1 a day for dirty water, and now they pay $4 a month for clean, safe water that comes from a faucet in their own home. Chan points out that almost everyone pays on time.

"It's not the problem of scarcity of water resources;” Chan explains, “It's not the lack of financing, but because of [the] lack of good governance." By gaining the city’s support, first with politicians, and then beyond, Chan has been able to bring good governance to Phnom Penh.

Another important part has been international aid. Chan explains that in his first meetings with international funds agencies in 1994, it took 5 days to get $10 million for assistance. Today, however, people come to him asking if he needs money.

Chan’s next step is the rest of Cambodia. He has written on a piece of paper above his bed that he will not rest until the entire country has clean running water.

-Sami Ressler

SOURCE: NPR

International World Water Day

Today we celebrate the International World Water Day. This event has been celebrated every 22nd March since it was designated so by the UN General Assembly in 1993, as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and sustainable management of water resources.

Each year the International World Water Day highlights one particular aspect of water. This year it regards water and urbanisation, with the motto "Water for Cities: responding to the urban challenge." In the past years, other subjects were treated, such as water scarcity, sanitation, water quality, transboundary waters, disasters, or water and culture. More than 800 events are taking place today to commemorate this day, being the main one located in Capetown, South Africa. A number of agreements and treaties are being signed this day too, like a Memorandum of Understanding to face water challenges between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick.

- David Nebreda

SOURCE: UN WATER

Improved Sanitation Could Prevent More than 2 Million Child Deaths a Year

A new series of studies on sanitation reveals that unsafe sanitation and drinking water results in nearly 20 percent of all child deaths in the world and at least 7 percent of disease across the world. The studies, published in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine Journal, found that this year 2.6 billion people, including over one billion children, lack basic sanitation, two-thirds of which live in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, at any given time nearly half of the urban populations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America have a disease linked to poor sanitation and hygiene.

The progress to improve access to better sanitation has been slow due to lack of national policies that establish clear institutional responsibilities, and population growth in urban areas of developing countries. Despite these constraints, international donors, United Nations agencies, and developing country governments can reduce this global disease burden. The Millennium Development Goal sanitation target calls for the amount of people living without access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation to be halved by 2015 from levels in 2000.

Although the main goal of improving sanitation is health, there are also social and economic benefits. Some of the main motivators for sanitation adoption among householders in developing countries are spurred by the desire for privacy, wanting to be modern, and avoiding embarrassment. In addition, for women, household sanitation reduces the risk of rape or attack when using public latrines, and for girls, school sanitation facilities results in fewer days missed from school due to staying at home during menstruation.

The economic benefits of improved sanitation could save some $7 billion dollars per year in health care costs and attribute to greater overall GDP due to a greater number of deaths averted. Furthermore, there would be fewer days lost at work or school due to illness or caring for an ill relative. The cost-benefit ratios of achieving the MDG sanitation target shows that every one dollar spent on sanitation generates about ten dollars worth of economic benefit, mainly by gains in productivity from not being ill.

The involvement of international policy is crucial to accelerating the achievement of universal access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation and hygiene. Paul Hunter, a leader of one of the PLoS studies, writes, “We know enough now about the importance of improved water supply, sanitation, and hygiene ... to consider universal access to these services to be an urgent imperative."

- Martina Georgieva

SOURCE: Reuters , PLoS Collections

African Development Bank Gives Tanzania Money for Water

On September 15, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved $98 million to go towards a Tanzanian program focused on increasing rural water supplies. Tanzania's long-term development plan was implemented to meet the MDGs in 2001. The first phase of the water project is already completed. It provided 8,250 operational water points serving 1.9 million people. Another part of the program involved building 370 demonstration latrines, through which 1.5 million people were educated about sanitation and hygiene.

The program is designed to sustainably improve health and quality of life for rural Tanzanians. Before implementation, half of all Tanzanians did not have access to a safe water supply. Those who did often had to walk long distances, negatively impacting economic development. Tanzania's aggressive program will reduce the spread of waterborne illness, help with poverty eradication, provide safe drinking water to almost 5 million people, and 10 million will benefit from the sanitation and hygiene program. Go Tanzania!

-Erica Stetz

SOURCE: African Development Bank

UN Declares Clean Water a Human Right

The UN passed a resolution declaring that access to clean water and sanitation is a fundamental right. The text of the resolution says that 884m people have no access to safe drinking water and more than 2.6bn lack access to basic sanitation. It urges the international community to "scale up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable water and sanitation for all". 122 countries voted in favor, zero voted against, but 41 countries abstained. The abstainers were mainly developing countries - including the United States, claiming that the resolution could undermine a process in the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva to build a consensus on water rights.
The right to clean water and sanitation is key in the fight against global poverty. Do your part to make this a reality by calling your senators and representative and urging them to cosponsor the Water for the World Act. Learn more on our Legislation page.

- Clara Hill

SOURCE: "UN declares clean water a 'fundamental human right'" - BBC

Water = Life

We all know it....water is essential for life.

But safe, abundant water that allows many of us around the world to prosper and fulfill our potential is not always available.

Across the continent of Africa, a third of the population has no access to clean water, and almost two thirds have no access to clean sanitation - causing widespread suffering from malaria, typhoid, and many other preventable diseases.

Despite these disturbing statistics, Africa is continuing to make positve strides in the area of agricultural development and water sustainability.

New technologies aimed at sustainable and efficient irrigation are transforming the way staple foods are cultivated.

To learn more, read the following article found on the Huffington Post.

- Tiffanie Depew

SOURCE: Huffington Post

MDG Progress Report: Mostly A's and B's

According to the 2009 United Nations Millennium Development Goal Progress Report, the developing world is making vast improvements in ensuring its environmental sustainability. Such efforts are in accordance with MDG #7 that seek to promote sustainability for current as well as future generations by halving the proportion of population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

The progress report states that most countries in the developing world are on target to meet the MDG target by the year 2015 - many countries are actually ahead of schedule. Despite these significant improvements, there are still a number of countries that are facing an uphill battle. Many countries still rely on unimproved water sources for their drinking, cooking, and bathing and other domestic activities.

To learn more, check out the 2009 United Nations Millennium Development Goal Progress Report.

- Tiffanie Depew

SOUCE: United Nations MDG #7

USAID and “The Real Thing” Bring Water Sanitation to South Africa

In accordance with the efforts of the Millennium Development Project, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has partnered with the Coca-Cola Company through the Water and Development Alliance (WADA) initiative to bring better water sanitation to the Ramotshinyadi village of South Africa.

This unique partnership seeks to promote better healthcare practices to the 12,000 residents of Ramotshinyadi. The WADA initiative has so far proven successful through education and exhibitions that show residents how to practice good hygiene and the unfortunate consequences of drinking dirty water.

- Tiffanie Depew

SOURCE: USAID

Overpopulated Regions Strain Water Resources

In a country with over 1.1 billion people, water is an important resource needed to grow huge crops that sustain the region. Nasa just released findings that water tables in northwestern India are falling at a rate of 4cm per year. The 100 million people in this region are using irrigation techniques that funnel 90 percent of the runoff from the Himalayas to fields around Delhi.

While technology can help to reduce water consumption with more efficient practices, reducing the population growth rate would provide a means for a more sustainable future. Providing education in family planning, and basic education for women would reduce the problem of overpopulation.
--Jessica Milstead

Source: bbc.co.uk

Displaced Somalis Need Water and Sanitation

Aid agencies in Somalia are asking for $11 million to give the hundred of displaced people, due to fighting in the capital, emergency water and sanitation, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Over 200,000 people have left Mogadishu since early May when violence erupted due to tensions between the Government and the opposition Al-Shabab and Hisb-ul-Islam groups.

OCHA reported that more than 600,000 displaced people, settled in the Afgooye corridor outside Mogadishu, desperately needed water, sanitation and hygiene services.

Currently, Aid agencies are only able to supply two to eight liters of water per person per day in that area, while between 7.5 and 15 liters—less than one flush of an average toilet—is considered the bare minimum required for survival.

There is also only one latrine for ever 212 displaced people in the Afgooye corridor.

A primary concern is that the lack of water may have adverse effects on the efforts to prevent the spread of communicable diseases in overcrowded situations.

-- Jaimie Hwang

Source: UN News Centre

Don't Eliminate Aid; Make it More Effective.

Geoffrey York uses the example of a recent Canadian-funded water project in Malawi to discuss the issue of effective aid. Since there is a lot of controversy going on currently with Dambisa Moyo's book, he argues that aid will never truly be stopped, so our task should be to focus on how to make it more effective rather than trying to eliminate it altogether as Moyo argues. The project in Malawi has been successful in providing clean water for people, but for its $13 million price tag, York says that it should have seen better results. A lot of the newly installed water taps worked well for the first year, but in the second year less than half of them functioned properly. In order for this situation to have been avoided, there should have been better training of the villagers and more communication between the decision makers and the workers in the field who were to respond to any issues with the water taps. Read the full article here.

Cholera Still a Risk

The worst cholera crisis in Zimbabwe is finally seeing significant improvement. Unfortunately, however, the upcoming rainy season poses a major threat to the eradication of the disease. Since cholera is a water-borne illness, the first rains might create problems when it causes contaminated water to flow towards the open sources where people go to drink. Hopefully, this year's $22 million grant from the World Bank will help the country in its struggle against the failing economy and cholera.

Source: CNN.com

Global Water Challenge

UNICEF, United Nations Foundation, and Water Partners International are just a few of the 24 organizations that make up the Global Water Challenge, a coalition that seeks to revolutionize water and sanitation throughout the world. As the chart above shows, many countries throughout Africa are lacking in clean water supplies. For more than 884 million people around the world, water is a major concern. The goal of GWC is to address these issues and implement lasting changes. Read more about them here.

Water Harvest

In the crater of Kenya's Mt. Suswa, locals have developed a simple yet effective way to harvest water during the drought seasons. Taking advantage of the steam vents around the area, they have set up contraptions which condense the steam in long plastic pipes. A large metal drum collects the water. The locals claim that these numerous ingenious contraptions produce about 30lt of water per hour, providing for a community of several hundred people and their cattle.
Source: AfriGadget

Bill Providing Safe Drinking Water

Several weeks ago, a new bill was introduced by the House of Representatives. Titled "The Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act 0f 2009 (H.R. 2030)", this bill is aimed at providing easier access to safe drinking water and improving sanitation for 100 million people by 2015. Currently, there are about 1 billion people in the world who lack clean drinking water, and 2.5 billion who live in unsanitary conditions which often result in a life-threatening disease. If this bill gets passed, the US will become a leading player in addressing the MDG concerned with water and sanitation. According to Patricia Simon, wife of the late Senator Paul Simon, "This new legislation is critical for bringing support- both financial and human- for the water and sanitation crisis to respectable levels." Read more about it here.

Remember to keep calling your congressional leaders every week, and add this bill to the list of legislature that we want them to support!

Sanitation Improvement Project

A lack of sanitation throughout impoverished countries can lead to severe cases of cholera and other diseases. Practical Action has been working to solve this issue by improving local conditions.


Source: PracticalAction.org

More Than Just One Good Cause

The first CarbonFree® Certified water on the market, NIKA water, is also the first to donate 100% of their profits to charities who provide clean drinking water to impoverished areas around the world. The certification was awarded after a rigorous assessment of the water's manufacturing process, distribution and consumption. NIKA has also pledged that for every bottle sold, they will take a bottle out of the environment and recycle it.

According to the company's co-founder, Jeff Church, “If we can shift just 1 percent of the annual consumption of bottled water to NIKA we would be able to donate more than $2 million per year to the impoverished world. Thus, even a small shift of bottled water consumers to NIKA will help make significant inroads around the world toward cleaner water and sanitation.”

Learn more about NIKA here.
Source: PR.com

High Demand for Water

On the first day of the World Water Forum, UNESCO reported that the rising production of biofuels as well as population growth are both contributing to an increasingly high demand for water. The forum is held every three years to promote water conservation ideas. This year the emphasis was on climate change, and the role that clean water plays in eradicating poverty. According to UNESCO, the number of people living under the poverty line of $1.25 a day is roughly the same as the number of people who lack access to clean drinking water. Water conservation cannot be ignored if poverty is to be alleviated.
Source: Associated Press

World Water Day

Today, March 22, is World Water Day, a UN project aimed at bringing attention to the lack of access to clean water worldwide. In observance, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is teaming up with Rotary International to bring clean water and basic sanitation to communities in selected developing countries. Dominican Republic, Ghana, and the Philippines will be receiving an estimated $2 million for the efforts. The results of the projects in these three countries will determine whether other developing nations will receive similar aid.
Source: USAID

Water is not Free for Everyone

We often take for granted the fact that clean tap water comes to us at no cost. Meanwhile, the lack of access to clean drinking water is destroying lives around the world. To bring light to this issue, UNICEF created The Tap Project. The awareness campaign will be holding World Water Week starting tomorrow until March 28, when participating restaurants will offer their customers the opportunity to donate $1 for ordering a glass of tap water. The money raised will go towards UNICEF's efforts to bring safe drinking water to the millions of children around the world who lack it. Every dollar raised will provide one child with clean water for 40 days. Learn more about the project here, and find out which restaurants are participating in World Water Week.