[wsnews] W&S News

[Water and Sanitation Issues]

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"Water for the Poor" is Critical to Global Development, National Security
Congressman Blumenauer Discusses New U.S. Law at the Wilson Center

WASHINGTON, D.C.-A groundbreaking new law authorizes the President to
redouble foreign aid efforts to promote access to clean water and
sanitation. The Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act--honoring the
late Democratic senator from Illinois, an early advocate of worldwide
access to safe water--was signed into law in December 2005 by President
George W. Bush. Co-sponsored by 101 House members and passed unanimously in
the Senate, this bipartisan legislation directs the Secretary of State to
develop a detailed strategy for integrating water and sanitation programs
into U.S. foreign policy. The law also calls upon the United States to
fulfill its commitment to the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to halve
the percentage of people without access to safe water by 2015--the first
time that an MDG has been adopted as part of U.S. law.

Please join us as Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), the bill's primary
author in the House, discusses the next steps for implementing this timely
law. "This bill is a critical first step in the bipartisan efforts to fight
poverty, protect the environment, promote national security, and save lives
through clean water and sanitation," said Blumenauer in a statement. "The
time is right for the United States to act on water and sanitation while it
is a low-cost and high-return investment on foreign assistance," the Wilson
Center's Geoffrey Dabelko testified in hearings on the bill. "It is
critical to act now before the negative security impacts become more
apparent, and while the benefits are still within reach."

You can access a video of the webcast directly at:
mms://66.100.89.134/ECSP/ECSP_20060214.wmv

or via this page:
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.event_summary&event_id=168642

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Call for abstracts

IRC together with UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education is organising a
Symposium on Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation: Strengthening Capacity
for Local Governance, which will take place from 26-28 September 2006 in Delft,
The Netherlands.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 Apr 2006
Decentralisation has shifted roles and responsibilities from national government
to local government and other intermediate level bodies. Many of the actors who
have emerged at this level struggle with their new responsibilities and with
roles for which they are not fully equipped in terms of financial resources,
knowledge, methodologies, tools and experience.
More information: http://www.irc.nl/symposium/capacitydevelopment
Contact: symposium at irc.nl

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US: Louisiana a step closer to control over its levees

The US Senate Transportation Committee endorsed an amendment to the Louisiana
state constitution needed to meet a congressional stipulation that the state
must take control of its levees before it can obtain the funds for a $12M
flood-control study. If adopted, the changes would make a significant change to
the existing practice, in which over a dozen local boards manage and inspect
levees. The board system has been criticised as leading to inspection failures
and of harboring incompetence. However, some senators have pledged to oppose
the bill when it comes before the full Senate. It requires a two-thirds
majority to pass.


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ARAL: World Bank announces major replenishment success

The World Bank has announced that the Northern Aral sea, which had shrunk to
half its original surface area, has filled up just months after the Kok-Aral
dam was erected between it and the Southern Aral sea last August. Bank experts
originally believed it would take five to 10 years to fill up the northern sea,
but with water levels high, a sluice can now begin operating to allow excess
water to flow into the water-short Southern Aral. The sea began to shrink in
the 1960s, when massive diversions for cotton cultivation under the Soviet
Union drained the two rivers that feed it, the Syr Darya and Amu Darya.


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CHINA: Suez outlines expansion plans

Suez has told a press briefing that it intends to double its business in greater
China to nearly one billion euros ($1.2 billion) over the next two years as it
expands its sewage and water treatment networks. Company executive
vice-president Yves-Thibault de Silguy said that the country?s need for
modern water distribution and waste facilities in major municipalities would be
likely to mean a doubling of revenues by 2008 from around ?450M ($536M) at
present.


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US: Gleick refuses to make Schwarzenegger?s day

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is promoting a strategic growth plan
for the state that would involve raising $35 billion to provide levee and flood
control systems and reliable water supplies. His office quoted him as saying:
?Our plan commits $3 billion to support regional water plans so we get the
smartest, most efficient water use possible, $800M will go to new technology
for water quality and the environment, $1.25 billion will build new storage
capacity so our families, businesses, and farms can have the water they need
and $2.5 billion to strengthen our levees and flood management system to give
the people California the flood protection they deserve.? However, the
Pacific Institute's Dr Peter Gleick testified about the plan before the State
Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water last week that water efficiency
was a ?cheaper, easier, and less destructive way to meet California's current
and future water supply needs?.


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CITIZENS? ACTION: promoting a rights-based approach to empower the poor,
WaterAid

By collecting data themselves, the poor can hold governments and service
providers accountable if their entitlements to water and sanitation remain
unmet. In 2005 UK-based NGO WaterAid launched Citizens? Action, a
sustainable, rights-based approach to empower the poor rather than mediate
on their behalf [1].

The first Citizens' Action projects are underway in Ghana, India, Nepal,
and Uganda, with others in Ethiopia and Bangladesh at an early stage.
Projects are soon to start in Mozambique, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Mali.
Projects are implemented by citizens and facilitated by partner
organisations alongside WaterAid country programme staff.

The first step is to make local people aware of their rights to water and
sanitation, their current water and sanitation service situation, and who
is responsible for policy and service delivery. They can then choose
different data collection methods like community scorecards, community
mapping or report cards to assess the state of water and sanitation service
provision in their area. With these data local people are in a better
position to negotiate their demands with implementing agencies.

WaterAid will launch the first of its annual, detailed Citizens? Reports
on World Water Day, 22 March 2006.

[1]. Ryan, P. (2006). Citizens?Action for water and sanitation.
(Discussion paper). London, UK, WaterAid. 4 p.   PDF file
[http://www.wateraid.org/documents/citizens_action_low_res.pdf](143 KB)
Contact: Peter Ryan, Policy Officer, WaterAid, UK,
mailto:wateraid at wateraid.org


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BOLIVIA: news on government's water budget, project funding and WWF
declaration

Bolivia's newly inaugurated water ministry is awaiting the assignment of
10mn bolivianos (US$1.25mn) to fund ministry operations. Project financing
will be sought through international cooperation organisations. Solving the
conflict with capital La Paz's water concessionaire Aguas del Illimani
(Aisa) and resolving Cochabamba department's water supply issue (see
related news items) have been named the ministry's priorities and are
considered emergencies.

Furthermore government signed a joint declaration on water, issued to
contribute to the debate in the run-up to the World Water Forum in Mexico
in March. Main elements of the declaration include: the human right to
water; responsibility to protect access to water for all forms of life; and
- in the light of recent calamities provoked by disasters caused by water -
the need to strengthen policies and actions of prevention; demand to
withdraw water from GATs negotiations and any free trade treaties; call for
a profound change in the organisation of the World Water Forum to allow
majority and decisive participation in the negotiations by the poorest and
those who most need water.

Related news: Bolivia, Cochabamba: public pressure forces Bechtel to drop
water case, Source Weekly [http://www.irc.nl/page/27840], 7 Feb 2006;
Bolivia: former El Alto activist Abel Mamani new water minister, Source
Weekly [http://www.irc.nl/page/28093], 16 Feb 2006; Bolivia, La Paz, El
Alto: protests against 'secret' government talks with Suez, Source Weekly
[http://www.irc.nl/page/25480], 23 Aug 2005


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UGANDA: Output-based aid in Water Supply in  Small Towns and Rural Growth
Centres

Local private sector providers have been operating water supply systems in
many small towns in Uganda over the past few years through management
contracts. These operators have brought clear efficiency gains to the
sector. However, the challenge for the Government of Uganda is to scale up
service delivery in small towns and expand into rural growth centres in
order to meet its poverty reduction targets. Global Partnership on
Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) will be working with the government to design
Output-Based Aid (OBA) schemes in small towns and rural growth centres that
will provide targeted subsidies to the poor for access to piped water
supply, while allowing private operators to expand their role providing
much needed financing and expertise. GPOBA has approved funding for
technical assistance to support the design of the OBA scheme.

Contact: Yogita Mumssen, World Bank, e-mail [mailto:ymumssen at worldbank.org]