Water is essential

May Sule Water Security

Copied from https://www.un.org/en/events/waterdecade/index.shtml

International Decade for Action on
Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028

Water is essential

Access to water and sanitation is a precondition to life and a declared human right. Water is vitally important to sustainable development – from health and nutrition, to gender equity and economics. Over the coming years, our water-related challenges will become more urgent. The increasing demands of a growing population and rapidly developing global economy, combined with the effects of climate change, will exacerbate lack of access to water and sanitation for domestic uses. In fact, many experts argue that an unpredictable supply of water could constrain socio-economic progress in the future.

In order to accelerate efforts towards meeting water-related challenges, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2018-2028 as the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development”. The Water Action Decade will commence on World Water Day, 22 March 2018, and will end on World Water Day, 22 March 2028.

#EveryDrop Counts

The objectives of the Decade focus on the sustainable development and integrated management of water resources for the achievement of social, economic and environmental objectives and on the implementation and promotion of related programmes and projects, as well as on the furtherance of cooperation and partnership at all levels in order to help to achieve internationally agreed water-related goals and targets, including those contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Decade also highlights the importance of promoting efficient water usage at all levels, taking into account the water, food, energy, environment nexus; and stresses the importance of the participation and full involvement of all relevant stakeholders, including women, children, young people, older persons, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and local communities.

Take action

Help inspire action to achieve the 2030 Agenda by joining thousands of other people on World Water Day (22nd March) and World Toilet Day (19th November) to raise awareness of the water and sanitation crises and exert public pressure for change.

Learn about the importance of advancing sustainable development by reading the latest stories from around the world about what countries and organizations are doing to solve the global water crisis. This will help you make sense of what is happening and shape the debate.

Help energize the implementation of existing work by sharing stories and information through your social networks. Spreading knowledge and evidence will help you and others to raise awareness of progress and to hold elected representatives to account.

World Water Day 2018

May Sule Water Security

http://worldwaterday.org/

What is World Water Day?
World Water Day, on 22 March every year, is about focusing attention on the importance of water.

The theme for World Water Day 2018 is ‘Nature for Water’ – exploring nature-based solutions to the water challenges we face in the 21st century.

Damaged ecosystems affect the quantity and quality of water available for human consumption. Today, 2.1 billion people live without safe drinking water at home; affecting their health, education and livelihoods. Sustainable Development Goal 6 commits the world to ensuring that everyone has access to safe water by 2030, and includes targets on protecting the natural environment and reducing pollution.

How can we use nature to overcome the water challenges of the 21st century? Environmental damage, together with climate change, is driving the water-related crises we see around the world. Floods, drought and water pollution are all made worse by degraded vegetation, soil, rivers and lakes. When we neglect our ecosystems, we make it harder to provide everyone with the water we need to survive and thrive. Nature-based solutions have the potential to solve many of our water challenges. We need to do so much more with ‘green’ infrastructure and harmonize it with ‘grey’ infrastructure wherever possible. Planting new forests, reconnecting rivers to floodplains, and restoring wetlands will rebalance the water cycle and improve human health and livelihoods.

http://worldwaterday.org/

Let’s Talk About Poo….

May Sule Hygiene, Sanitation, Sustainable Development Goals

What comes to your mind when you hear the word poo? It seems more of a posh word. How about we call it what it really is – excrement, faeces, excreta or to be very frank…shit!

I love my toilet or, any other name you would prefer to call it – loo, lavatory, restroom, ladies, gents or whatever….it sure does have a lot of names. So, be it at home, at work, at the shopping mall or anywhere else I find myself in desperate need of the natural process of off-loading the waste in my human system, a decent place is very welcomed. The dignity and convenience of using a clean toilet is always a delight for me, as I struggle anytime I am faced with a dirty toilet. It is just such an unpleasant experience for my system and quite repulsive. Why is that? Could it be as a result of my upbringing, education, culture, exposure, or simply a deep rooted human instinct? My grandmother in the village has no formal western education and is not exactly exposed, but she had a clean ventilated pit latrine which I clearly remember using while visiting as a child, until she was upgraded to the water closet system. Consequently, whether it is an expensive flush system or a simple pit latrine, it makes no difference toilet wise, as long as it is well maintained. Though, I must confess, that given a choice, the electric toilet is just it!

Basic sanitation involves safe disposal of faeces so that it does not contaminate the environment, water, food or hands and is of utmost importance to our health. Yet, today there are over 2.5 billion people in the world (2 out of every 5) that do not have a safe and decent place to go to toilet. Water and sanitation related diseases kill about 2,000 children daily, more than HIV and malaria combined. Girls are forced to drop out of school when they reach puberty and start their menstrual cycle. Sadly, the Millennium Development Goal target on sanitation was one of those that was not met and is still far from being achieved. Even some animals seem to know sanitation is fundamental – cats for example would not use their soiled litter box or tray if it has not been emptied, cleaned and replaced. They would rather find an alternative place to do their business.

Then, why is there such a huge problem with sanitation? It seems that sometimes it is not because of economic reasons but, a complete misplacement of priority. There are millions more with mobile phones compared to those with access to a decent toilet in developing countries. Urban slums especially have completely fallen foul of this. Open defaecation seems to be entrenched as the accepted norm. How do we get out of this predicament? Is it through regulation, policy, governance, advocacy, influence? Or is it simply value reorientation and behavioural change? There is no doubt that a sustainable and integrated intervention is urgently needed through political will. Governments need to start making provision for sanitation in both urban and rural areas through some form of shared or fully funded schemes. NGOs are meant to complement the work of governments and they have done a lot but, more is needed.

Value reorientation cannot be over emphasised in this case. For over six years, I have enjoyed my volunteering work with #WaterAid as a Speaker and Workshop Facilitator. This role involves going into schools and organisations, usually on invitation, to talk about the excellent work that #WaterAid is doing and solicit for support. My best moment is usually when I show films to school children on some of the horrible sanitation situations in the most affected areas of the 37 countries WaterAid works in. You can clearly see the utter disgust written over their innocent faces – and this makes me almost certain that they would be organising some wonderful fundraising ideas for the organisation, which they usually do with such admirable dedication. Children in developed and developing countries have one thing in common, they are by nature easily influenced and, can be the ultimate agents of change desperately needed to make a difference. I strongly believe sanitation and hygiene education should be signed into law as a compulsory school curriculum by the United Nations.

My take on this is, unless there is a radical change in governance and attitude, the sustainable development goal on sanitation will still be a failure, which would be a real shame. But, I have hope that change is on the way!

Photographer credit: WaterAid/Suzanne Porter

 

Re: Water Security for All in a World of Scarcity (World Bank Spring Meetings 2015)

May Sule Water Security

Water Security is a problem that is at the heart of The World Bank’s two very important goals: ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. It is therefore timely to bring together all the global knowledge to solve the water agenda. Water is more than people versus profit versus planet; it is life, and the most important, precious resource available to mankind. But how do you get people to value water? It is interesting how scarcity forces the question to be answered. In moving forward, there must be a fundamental rethink about ways to safeguard and guarantee water for future generations. Very useful measures have to be taken to tackle dryness and properly address water scarcity before it becomes a crisis situation.

Wastewater reuse by industries and utilities should be encouraged, like the example of Windhoek, Namibia, where wastewater is reused for water supply. There may be some social resistance, but then, you can never underestimate the power of persuasion as has been shown in this case. Wastewater can be reused for irrigation, gardening and sports fields. Greywater can be reused for activities that do not require high quality water, like flushing toilets and watering lawns, while conserving freshwater. Treated wastewater should be discharged for groundwater recharge by industries and utilities. In regions where polluted rivers cannot be used for ground water recharge, tackling sanitation and regulation for industries disposing wastewater into rivers should be uppermost in reducing pollution, while allowing the rivers to regenerate over time.

Groundwater over abstraction has to be dealt with through proper governance, and ensuring high levels of groundwater recharge. Utilities need to be very efficient, and implementation of regulation uppermost, notwithstanding resistance from big time water consumers. Irrigation for food production is the greatest source of water consumption at about 80%, so the trade-off must be managed. There should also be more research into micro-irrigation schemes to improve yield with minimal use of water.

Behavioural change to use less water should be addressed in schools, furthermore, engaging the media to play a vital role in projecting water saving measures. For example in Southern Nevada, 93% of wastewater is recycled, and aggressive conservation campaign succeeded in reducing the amount of water used by a third, despite an increase in population of 400,000. Improved pricing should also be introduced with penalised billing for overuse. Concessions can be made to cater for the economically disadvantaged in society by introducing a minimum charge, as they are usually willing to pay a token for reliable service delivery, and this would prevent abuse of water. Political influence has to be properly managed through better water governance that responds to public interest.

A coherent and structured approach to water management is needed. Institutionalisation along with governance systems, policy development, regulation and implementation has to be addressed. Utilities have to do more to tackle the issue of unaccounted for water resulting from waste and leakages. It is highly irresponsible practise to have values as high as 50% loss reported. I remember an instructor at Osaka Municipal Water asking someone, “How would you feel if 50% of your take home pay is lost?” That is the enormity that most utilities have failed to come to terms with.

Technology should be harnessed in the most useful way and overall service delivery has to be very efficient. What would work in a particular region depends on the specifics of geography, water sources, industrialisation, level of urbanisation etc. Regions along the coastline could explore the option of desalination technology which is widely used in Australia, Spain and Israel. With the carbon footprint from energy intensive desalination plants, one might wonder if this should be an option. Perhaps the use of renewable energy for desalination should be spearheaded for a more acceptable carbon footprint.

Overall, a conscious effort is needed to reduce demand for freshwater, improve service delivery, and address water scarcity through political will and public awareness. The entire water life cycle, which is the whole cradle to grave approach, should also be considered. You can watch The World Bank Spring Meetings 2015 on water security http://live.worldbank.org/ensuring-water-security-for-all