Lifeline: Kathmandu’s Stone Water Spouts

Wednesday, 05 May 2010

Across the Kathmandu valley one encounters stone water spouts beautifully carved in the form of water deities- a crocodile head representing the carrier of the Goddess Ganga, or a serpent head. The divinely engraved hitis also serve a more earthly purpose- a vital source of drinking water to the valley’s Parched populace. In the Lalipur sub-metropolis, for instance, the water demand of 43 million liters far outstrips the government water supply of 27 million liters, much of it made up be the stone spouts of the area.  The Alok Hiti Conservation and Drinking Water Committee then devised a simple scheme to conserve the historical stone spouts, boost water supply to their homes, and reclaim the community’s sense of pride. READ MORE and Watch!!!! http://downtoearth.org.in/dte_slideshow/nepal/nepal.ht (Source:  http://www.ngoforum.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8523&Itemid=1)

 

Indonesia, Jakarta: slums struggle with sanitation

May 7, 2010

In Jakarta’s northern Muara Angke coastal area, a lack of access to piped water has forced people to bathe and wash clothes using murky grey water from fish ponds.

“I don’t feel disgusted at all. I’ve gotten used to it,” Ibu Nunung, who shells mussels for a living, told IRIN outside her house in Muara Angke Blok Empang, a slum in the area.

Nunung said residents, many of whom live on less than US$2 a day, had to fork out the equivalent of up to $1 daily to buy clean water for drinking and cooking from vendors transporting water in jugs.

She admitted that itchy skin was a common problem among locals.

Jakarta, a city of 10 million people, is dotted with slums like the one in Muara Angke.

Many people live without running water in shanty towns built in the shadow of gleaming skyscrapers, and gutters are clogged with rubbish, causing foul smells.

“Poor sanitation, lack of access to clean water, overcrowding and poor nutrition are among [the] major problems in Jakarta, and the government’s commitment is needed to address these problems,” said Erlyn Sulistyaningsih, a project manager with Mercy Corps Indonesia.

Less than 50 percent of Jakarta’s residents have access to piped water, according to the NGO, which runs water, sanitation and health programmes in the city.

More than 75 percent of the city’s residents rely on shallow groundwater, but an official study found that 90 percent of shallow wells are contaminated with coliform bacteria or heavy metals, Mercy Corps said in a 2008 publication entitled Urban Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Jakarta produces 6,000 tons of waste each day, but can only manage 50 percent of it, it said.

Sulistyaningsih heads a project aimed at increasing access to sanitary facilities, including toilets, providing access to clean water, and educating child caregivers about nutrition in several villages in Jakarta and neighbouring Bekasi District.

“Our programme seeks to prevent diseases which are spread by the faeces-to-mouth route, and we hope it can be replicated by other communities,” she told IRIN.

Premature deaths

A study released by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Programme in 2008 revealed that only 57 percent of Indonesian households had easy access to a private and safe place to urinate and defecate in 2004.

Poor sanitation, including poor hygiene, causes at least 120 million disease episodes and 50,000 premature deaths annually, the report said.

The study also found that poor sanitation costs the Indonesian economy $6.3 billion per year, or equal to 2.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

Nugroho Tri Utomo, head of the subdirectorate of drinking water and waste water at the National Development Planning Agency, said part of the problem was a lack of funding, with spending on sanitation accounting for only 1 percent of the city’s budget.

“Both the general public and authorities have yet to realize the importance of sanitation, not only to health but also to the economy,” he said.

Improvement plans under way

The government last month launched a programme to provide access to adequate sanitation to 80 percent of urban households by 2014.

The Settlement Sanitation Development Programme, estimated to cost $5.5 billion, aims to develop waste water services in 226 cities, build sanitary landfills serving 240 urban areas, and stop inundations in strategic urban locations covering 22,500 hectares.

Under a separate programme called the National Strategy for Community-Based Total Sanitation, launched in 2008, the government aims to provide access to sanitation and introduce more effective water treatment methods in 10,000 villages by 2012.

See also:

• Mercy Corps Indonesia - Ibu Rumyati, Making Behavior Change Possible in Urban Slums
• Community-led Total Sanitation – Indonesia
• Portal Sanitasi Indonesia

(Source: IRIN, 16 Apr 2010)

Striking Maoists contract dysentary, diarrhoea

May 4, 2010
KATHMANDU: Change in the Kathmandu weather, stale food and vegetables, contaminated drinking water, dirty dishes and lack of sanitation facilities in the shelter camps are beginning to take a toll on the UCPN-Maoist cadres involved in the general strike.

Hospital sources said up to 400 demonstrators had to be rushed to different hospitals in the capital city for treatment as they suffered from water-borne diseases like dysentary and diarrhoea. The UCPN-Maoist put the estimate at 300.


The sick include women, children and the elderly citizens, brought to Kathmandu from several parts of the country, according to hospital sources. Health workers, who had cautioned the Maoist party to ensure supply of hygienic food and safe drinking water to the demonstrators mobilised into Kathmandu, have also warned of an impending outbreak of water-borne diseases.


The UCPN-Maoist has reportedly assembled an estimated five lakh cadres for the protests and demonstrations aimed at marshalling the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government that completes its first year in office this week.


The demonstrators are having to live in congested rooms in the shelters, including schools and public places.


Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Diseases Hospital, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital and Bir Hospital have reported increased number of diarrhoea cases in the past two days.


Dr Saroj Prasad Rajendra, Director, Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Diseases Hospital, said they had recorded around 18 cases of water-borne diseases among the cadres living in Kirtipur. Most of the patients are critical and have been kept under observation, said Dr Rajendra.


“Contaminated drinking water, unhygienic food and an increasing temperature are the main reasons behind the outbreak,” said Dr Rajendra, urging UCPN-M to show seriousness towards the health of its cadres.


She added that repeatedly consuming beaten rice with stale vegetables at polluted places is also behind the transmission of disease. She urged the cadres to drink safe water and to maintain minimum personal hygiene.


Dr Basu Dev Pandey, consultant physician of the hospital, said most of the patients admitted there were in the age-group 15-45 years and lived in squalid conditions in the camps. He added that they were being provided with free treatment and medicines. Dr DP Singh, Chief, Emergency Ward, Bir Hospital, said most of the cadres were admitted in the emergency ward suffering from gastritis and food poisoning.


TUTH too has admitted a number of critical cases of water-borne diseases. Chandra Kumar Rai, Chief, Administration Department, TUTH, said the hospital admitted patients in critical stage. Non-serious patients are given treatment by the primary health service providers, he added.
Mangal Bishwokarma, president of the All Nepal Progressive Public Health Workers’ Association, said they had recorded around 300 patients suffering from diseases like diarrhoea, common cold, fever and throat pain.


“We are giving preventive as well as curative treatment to the ill cadres” added Bishwokarma. He said the party was taking care of its cadres and has directed them to drink water that contained chlorine.

(Source: The himalayan times)


Timor-Leste: water supplies running on empty

May 4, 2010
Despite significant donor investment in the water sector in Timor-Leste, sustainability remains the biggest challenge. Much of the country’s rural water systems fell into disrepair years ago. The government has made water a national priority for 2010.
According to Timor-Leste’s National Statistics Directorate, almost 40 percent of the country’s 1.1 million inhabitants lack access to an improved water source.
The problem is most evident in rural areas where approximately 75 percent of the population lives – 44.4 percent do not have access against about 15 percent in urban areas.
In the eastern districts of Baucau, Lautem and Viqueque, and Oecussi District, an enclave inside Indonesia, that figure tops more than 50 percent.


One community’s story

Of Lisapat’s 800 households, only 18 have access to piped water, with the rest relying on a nearby spring. Before 2002, everyone had access.
“It’s a big problem and one that we need to fix,” said Julio do Rosario Lemos, 34, who was recently elected the village’s head.

Between 70 and 80 percent of the country’s water system was destroyed in the violence and displacement that occurred after Timor-Leste’s indepence in 199.

“In many villages there are pipes with no water. In others there never have been,” Bishnu Pokhrel, a water and hygiene specialist with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN, citing poor management, lack of awareness, low institutional capacity and the impact of the 1999 political crisis.

Sustainability
“Sustainable water systems is the key goal,” Keryn Clark, programme team leader for the Timor-Leste Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme (RWSSP), an AusAID-funded project working with the Timorese government to improve water supplies, told IRIN.
On some projects in the past, the focus had been more on laying pipes that on community management, she said. It was critical that the community, which ultimately will be managing the system, is fully on board from the very beginning.
Maintenance of the infrastructure is also critical and outside Dili, the capital, few spare parts are available.


While many of the country’s community water management groups are well organized, others are less so and may not have the knowledge or means to undertake necessary repairs.
“You need to determine what the community can realistically manage and what they can’t, and then how you can support them,” Clark said, emphasizing that community training is key.

Institutional capacityUntil recently, each district had just one non-technical rural water supply and there was only one fully trained water engineer in the whole country.
Now with support from AusAID, another district level technical person has been added, as well as one or two community facilitators at the sub-district level, focusing on community management and sanitation.
“These are all key points in making the system more sustainable,” Clark said. “If we can actually make the systems that have been built, or are in the process of being built, work properly and [be] more sustainable, more people will have access to water.”
(Source: IRIN, 08 Feb 2010)


With access to the toilet came access to dignity


May 3, 2010

There have been encouraging increases in the number of poorer people who are able to access toilets in Deoghar and Pakur districts of Jharkhand, India, thanks to the Total Sanitation Campaign. While this is a reason for optimism, questions do arise: “Who benefits? Is this programme really catering to ALL?”
This Government of India programme offers incentives for families below the poverty line to construct toilets with technical designs approved by the District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM) responsible for sanitation.
However, the evidence is that people with special needs, or the differently abled are being left out, since even if their families have toilets, these are not user friendly or appropriate. This means that, despite the programme designed to be ‘total’, there is not really universal access and not all people can live with dignity.
To enhance the inclusiveness of access and to sensitise the service providers and the community on the need for inclusive approaches in planning, design and implementation, several initiatives were undertaken by the Regional Office East for the state of Jharkhand along with Gram Jyoti, a partner of WaterAid. All this was possible because of one person, Jitendra Turi of Sisanathur village, Jharkhand who proved to be really special.
Jitendra suffers from multiple disabilities, with locomotor, visual and mental impairments. He comes from a Scheduled Caste (‘lower caste’ in India) family and lives with his parents. Even at the age of 25, he is still dependent on his mother for most activities. He is not a child and cannot go to school and he cannot participate in village activities.
The family did not have a toilet at home, unaware of its importance in reducing dependency and increasing dignity for their son so that he could lead as normal a life as possible. For defecation, his mother usually took him to the outskirts of the village. Sometimes, when was unable to take him out, she would ask him to defecate in a corner of the village lane, which earned him the ridicule of children and villagers. “I felt such shame in telling my mother to help me for defecation. I am grown up but how can I go out? I cannot see, nor am I able to walk,” recalls Jitendra.
Jitendra’s family has a small land holding. Burdened with poverty and looking after the needs of their son, his parents did not participate in village meetings. They were unaware of government incentives and entitlements, or of toilet options which could help their son.
Gram Jyoti was working on sanitation in this village when Jitendra was spotted by the programme team. He brought up Jitendra’s case at a village water and sanitation committee that had formed to work on sanitation and hygiene related issues. His family was approached, and the benefits of having a toilet at home explained. The family contributed labour and the mason charges for constructing a toilet.
Jitendra’s toilet is made of mud and bricks, with a raised squatting platform fitted with a rural pan, which can be used as a commode. The walls are fitted with a supporting rail for easy movement. To help him with his visual disability, a bamboo pole leads from the main door to the toilet.
After a few rounds of demonstration and practice with Gram Jyoti village motivators, Jitendra now locates and uses the toilet on his own. He is more self reliant and motivates others saying, “If I can use toilet why can’t you?”
Locating toilet with help of bamboo.
Pix: Jitendra in his toilet
Extending the campaign for disability rights
Gram Jyoti has taken up the cause of disabled people on other fronts as well. Abha the project coordinator says that the organisation is advocating for the restoration of pension for people with special needs, provisioned under the Swami Vivekananda Scheme, but now discontinued. The organisation is also helping his family with activities/ benefits under the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Jitendra’s family has been provided with an irrigation well under this scheme.
Key lessons from the community process:
- People with disabilities like Jitendra should not be limited to being the recipients of charity. They need to be brought into village forums, where they can also have a say in village processes.
- The environment surrounding people with disabilities is a problem, not the people who have these special needs. In case of Jitendra, his disability was a result of social shortcomings in terms of awareness, attitude, approaches and accessibility to services.
- Sometimes what is required is not a new hardware technology per se, but new and sensitive ways to implement technology, with appropriate modifications. In this case, the adaptations were such that the toilet can be used by all family members.
Linking Community processes to District forums at Deoghar and Pakur
The work supporting Jitendra to live his life independently and with dignity was used to influence and reach out to more people with disabilities.
A district consultation was organised in Deoghar and Pakur on “Influencing WASH Service delivery for people with disabilities” in collaboration with DWSMs, and this was attended by representatives of NGOs working on water, sanitation and hygiene, and governmental departments for Women and Child Development, Education and Drinking Water and Sanitation.
This led to the following actions at the government level:
- Restructuring village water and sanitation committees (VWSC) to ensure representation of people with disabilities.
- A promise to revise district project implementation plans so that they include special needs.
- Raised awareness of district officials on WASH provisions for people with special needs.
- Incorporation of technical modifications to existing water and sanitation facilities to make them more user-friendly
-Design and cost estimates to make government institutions in Pakur and in Deoghar districts accessible for people with disabilities.
Meeta Jaruhar (Water Aid India)

"लौन अब त केहि गरौ"

WAKE UP!!!!

"लौन अब त केहि गरौ"

 "लौन अब त अर्को महामारी फैलन नदिऔं

"सामान्य कुराहरु जस्तै सुरक्षित खानेपानी, व्यक्तिगत सरसफाई तथा  सुरक्षित बानीबेहोरा आदिमा बिशेष ध्यान दिन सकिएमा नै बच्न सकिने झादापखालाजन्य सामान्य रोगहरुबाट नै नेपालमा ३०० भन्दा बढी नेपालीहरुको अकालमै ज्यान गुमाउनु परेको तितो यथार्थ हामी सामु आज पनि ताजै रहेको छ / र साथै यो वर्ष पनि यो एक महामारी को रुपमा फैलन खोज्दै छ/ तसर्थ हामीहरु समस्थ सुभेक्षुक एवं सचेत युवा तथा अन्य समुदायहरु समक्ष यो आह्वान गर्न चाहन्छौ/
हामी फेरी अर्को महामारी देखन चाहन्नौ/
त्यसैले, "लौन अब त केहि गरौ"

 "लौन अब त अर्को महामारी फैलन नदिऔं"


-"पश्चिम पाइला"

Safe water campaign
Friday, 30 April 2010

Kathmandu: Experts have pointed out that the majority of people residing in the municipalities of Nepal are deprived of safe drinking water. Making a presentation at a dissemination workshop on ‘Partnership for safe water program’ at Hotel Everest on April 27, Bhushan Tuladhar, Technical Advisor of Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO) said, “Though drinking water facility has increased satisfactorily, people still are deprived of safe drinking water.”
The programme was organised to inform about the activities and achievements of the programme ‘Partnership for safe water’ launched in March 2008 in five municipalities of Nepal. In order to provide access to safe drinking water at community level the government of Nepal together with UN HABITAT, Coca Cola Company and ENPHO had implemented the project in Lalitpur, Bharatpur, Hetauda, Butwal and Nepalgunj municipalities. The programme had promoted various methods of water purification – boiling, chlorination, SODIS and filtering – in the communities, and had also provided training in schools and communities regarding methods of making drinking water safe.


Krishna Prasad Acharya, Joint-Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works said, “If the government, private sector as well as the general people cooperate with each other in the improvement of the water quality, the programme will be effective.”


Roshan Raj Shrestha, Chief Technical Adviser of UN HABITAT South Asia said, “All stakeholders should take initiatives to bring improvement in drinking water and sanitation aspect in Nepal.” It was also informed during the event that the majority of people in those areas have started purifying water before use. Thirteen different communities have already been declared as model ‘safe water zone’.
(Source: The Himalayan Times, April 30, 2010)



HIV infected people need to have access to safe drinking water
Experts and participants agreed that People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are the most vulnerable group to the infectious diseases caused by unsafe water so unified and common action is needed to tackle it.
Workshop on “The Importance of Safe Drinking Water for People living with HIV/AIDS” held on 28 April 2010 in Kathmandu to highlight the importance of safe drinking water for PLWHA. Around 55 participants from different Governmental, International and National NGOs working on water and sanitation and HIV AIDS sector participated on the program. Presentation from experts was followed by the group work and possible future activities and joint actions were drafted.

 
(Source: Clean Energy News Vol. 10, Number 14, April 28, 2010‏)Workshop was jointly organized by National Center for AIDS and STD control, CAWST Canada; ENPHO; CEN and RCNN.