Water Privatization

Every day, millions of women and young girls are vested with the responsibility of collecting water for their families. With a growing list of governments choosing to vest responsibility for providing a life-sustaining service, such as water, in the hands of large companies, how do citizens, especially women, ensure that they receive access to affordable, high-quality and reliable water services.
Like many countries in Latin America, Uruguay courted private sector participation in its water and sanitation sectors in order to improve efficiency and service quality. One example of a city where private companies took over the responsibility of water provision is Maldonado. In Maldonado, the majority of residents are workers and their main concern was maintaining community standpipes in the city. The standpipes were the result of efforts made by the public water and sanitation ministry (OSE) to ensure potable water reached those households that lacked piped water. The municipalities had assumed the cost of these standpipes and they were particularly vital for the poor – especially poor women – who relied on this source to meet their household needs. However, after the private companies assumed responsibility for water provision in Maldonado, they pursued a policy of systematically eliminating community standpipes. Instead, the private companies encouraged people to install household connections, even when this required paying hefty fees.


The situation was particularly tense in the district of San Antonio III, an area located slightly to the North of the city of Maldonado, where corporate takeover of water provision was almost immediately followed by the cessation of water to community standpipes. This was in turn followed by water connection cut-offs as a result of people's inability to pay the high water rates. With approximately 90 families in the area, 60 per cent of which were headed by women, the community standpipes were a crucial source of water for many households – particularly in the face of connection cut-offs. In protest, the neighbourhood commission of San Antonio III, which was primarily run by women, mounted a successful campaign to maintain the community taps.


As a result of these and other campaigns, as well as a private sector track record of inflating water tariffs and poor service quality, the government of Uruguay passed a constitutional amendment in October 2004 prohibiting private sector participation in the water sector, thus making it mandatory for all corporations in the water sector to be state-owned. This resulted in the withdrawal of the concession to major private companies that same year, followed in 2005 by legislation to ensure the participation of users and civil society in the planning, management and control of activities in the water sector.

(Source:http://www.unifem.org)

Water shortage hits Sankhuwasabha

Sunday, 28th March 2010
Sankhuwasabha: A litre of unpurified water is being sold at Rs.1 at Khandbari following the acute shortage of drinking water hit the area. The Sushma Construction has been selling the unpurified drinking water, which is directly taken from the Shaba and Arun River.
From the past few years, the locals of Khandbari have been suffering from tremendous scarcity of the drinking water so from this year the Kriti Swastika Construction has started to provide the drinking water to the locals. As the problems of water tremendously spiralled, the employees of Sutlez Company who has got the contract of constructing the Arun Third Hydropower Project, and local Bhim Nepali have been found selling the unpurified drinking water at Rs.1 per litre.


Construction Manager, Kiranbabu Udas, stated that they started the selling of water after the water scarcity was seen at Khandbari. According to the construction, daily 500 liters was being sold to the locals of Khandbari. He informed that at first they brought water from the Malta River but as the water was not sufficient for the Khandbari locals, they had started to bring additional water from the Arun and Shaba River.


The Khandbari Municipality that has the responsibility for supplying drinking water of Khandbari has failed to manage water in the municipality. It said that it failed to supply water to the locals as it had no resource to carry water from. But the consumers of Khandbari claimed that though the drinking water was being wasted at the street, the Municipality couldn’t manage the water for the area.


Technician of the Khandbari Municipality informed that at first around 100 water taps were installed at Khandbari on the basis of the distribution of the census of the area which was taken around ten years ago. According to the recent data, total 800 water taps have been installed at the municipality but the scarcity is increasing every passing day at Khandbari.


(Source: The Rising Nepal, March 23, 2010)

Business and development

26th Friday, March 2010
By: Ashutosh Tiwari
From the hills to the Tarai, 14 million Nepalis do not have proper toilet facilities. They have no choice but to defecate in open spaces every day. The needless deaths of 154 Nepalis in Jajarkot last year were due to their using contaminated water, which inflamed the cholera epidemic in the mid-western hills of Nepal.
Likewise, an estimated 600,000 Nepali women still suffer in silence from uterine prolapse, a preventable reproductive disease, which significantly diminishes their quality of life. It's fair to wonder why this information is in this space. The answer is straightforward.

Since 1951, such social concerns and others have been addressed in piecemeal fashion by various government bodies, donor agencies, NGOs and community organisations. Though much progress has been made, these and other problems are still with us, sixty years later. The longer they stay with us, the more they slow down our collective ability to benefit from the productivity of a healthy population that can go to school, go to work and contribute to community development.
Helping address such problems need not be the exclusive province of government, NGOs and donor agencies. It's time for both big Nepali businesses and entrepreneurially minded individuals to start using some of their skills, resources and contacts to visibly rethink how they can speed up the process.

Big business: Most trekking trails are littered with instant noodle and snack food plastic wrappers. There is no reason why some of these foodstuff companies cannot, in cooperation with local communities, start a campaign for cleaner cities and villages by providing incentives to customers to return or dispose of used wrappers.
Such an attempt need not be on a grand nationwide scale from the word go. Interested companies could start small, see what works where, and gradually scale up efforts by roping in like-minded partners. This requires patience, persistence, an ability to deal with ambiguities and a range of people with diverse interests. But in these politically fractured times, such visible attempts to do good do pay off in that they strengthen Nepali companies' institutional abilities to get things done by engaging a wider group of internal and external stakeholders.
Some multinational soap companies are running a national media campaign about the importance of hand-washing. That is good, but not enough. They need to think beyond selling an extra cake of soap by actively engaging local civic institutions to make community cleanliness a matter of pride. True, it's not the job of a private company to push the issue of sanitation. But from a business standpoint, if such companies do not find effective ways to work with local health posts, politicians and women's groups, how do they expect customers to emotionally relate to their products as opposed to a competitor's?
Entrepreneurs: Most NGOs are started by socially minded entrepreneurs, who seek to solve a specific problem. Over time, they may receive funding that enables them to grow in terms of staff size and program range. Their growth correlates with a diffusion of their earlier idealism and a loss of measurable goals, which is often accompanied by "this is just a job" mentality.
Nepali entrepreneurs who want to work on social problems are likely to be more effective when they stick to a single concrete issue with clear goalpost - say, providing complete and sustainable access to toilets in a particular set of VDCs or eradicating uterine prolapse in specific development regions by a certain date. Such a focus may be the best way to eradicate the social problems that continue to hamstring Nepal's progress - rather than the usual NGO mode of nibbling away at lofty, vague goals.

(Source: Nepalitimes.com, 19-25 March 2010)

On the nexus of HIV/AIDS and safe drinking water and sanitation

These webinars are very helpful whether you are a funder, a practitioner, a policy wonk, or simply a sentient human who wants development to work better and in a more integrated fashion:__
You are invited to a webinar hosted by the USAID Hygiene Improvement Project (HIP) on Meeting the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Needs of People Living with HIV/AIDS, on April 8, 2010, at 10 am Eastern Daylight Time (New York time, or GMT-5).
People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are at increased risk for diarrheal diseases, and are far more likely to suffer severe and chronic complications if infected. Recent evidence demonstrates the efficacy of hand washing, safe water and sanitation in reducing diarrhea among PLWHA by 25% or more.
This webinar will highlight why WASH matters for people living with HIV/AIDS, give an overview of HIP's approach to reducing diarrheal disease by promoting improvement in key hygiene practices for PLWHA and their families and care givers, and share WASH-HIV integration resources HIP has developed.
To register for the webinar, go to: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/947962744
If you can't join us for this event, a recorded version of the webinar will be available on HIP's website at http://www.hip.watsan.net/page/4105.
Questions? Contact Patricia Mantey, USAID-HIP, tel. 202-884-8960, pmantey -at- aed.org
Please forward this invitation to other colleagues who may be interested in this topic.

Renowned musician from Nepal releases sanitation song

Ani Choying Drolma

A famous female musician from Nepal has released a sanitation campaign song on World Water Day 2010.


Ani Choying Drolma (1971) is a Buddhist nun and musician well known for her rendition of Tibetan Buddhist chants and feast songs. With the proceeds of her concerts and CDs she established the Nuns’ Welfare Foundation, which helps educate young girls in Nepal. Read an article about her by Keri Douglas in Ode.
In 2006, with support from Water for the World, Germany, Ani Choying built a water reservoir to improve the lives of the women of Seti Devi village in Nepal.
Listen to Ani Choying’s sanitation song here. The lyrcis are by Durga Lal Shrestha and Nhyu Bajracharya wrote the music.

Pre-Melamchi project in the offing to ease Valley water woes

Monday, 22 March 2010
Kathmandu: Valley denizens waiting for the much-hyped Melamchi Water Project to address their water woes will get a respite, albeit temporarily, for the next two-and-half years. This was revealed during a programme organised here by the NGO Forum for Urban Water and Sanitation.

Technical manager Chandra Lal Nakarmi, Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL), responsible for supplying water to the Kathmandu Valley, said if everything goes as planned, Valley residents will get their dry tap flowing for two and half years.


He said that if only the harried consumers’ committees and the government extended full and unconditional support to them, the project will come into operation in the next 2.5 years. He was speaking at an interaction programme organised by NGO Forum for Urban Water and Sanitation here in Kathmandu. "More than 60 per cent of the project has been already completed at the cost of Rs 1.21 billion. We have now fallen through for want of an additional Rs 650 million. If the government provided us this amount, we would be able to supply additional 50 million litres of water in the Valley per day," Nakarmi argued.


Also in the pipeline, according to KUKL, are five more power generators within the next one month to ensure that Valley denizens are not deprived of water for consumption and sanitation even during the dry season and load shedding.


Tilak Mohan Bhandari, Acting Manager at KUKL said plans are afoot to reduce the water leakage from the current 38 per cent to 30 per cent. "We are doing groundwork and a survey being done for maintenance of pipelines for smooth water supply," he said, adding that many of the pipelines are up to 70 years old and some are even 100 years old.


Admitting that Melamchi Water Supply Project alone cannot fill the yawning gap between demand and supply, Bhandari underlined the need of maximum utilization of local sources of water and promotion of rainwater harvesting technology. According to a statistics, Kathmandu Valley is in dire need of about 230 million litres of water a day against 100 million litres KUKL is supplying. Valley has an ever-increasing scarcity of water.


(Source: The Himalayan Times; The Kathmandu Post; The Rising Nepal, March 18, 2010)

Countering menstrual hygiene taboos in Nepal

A renowned contemporary artist is taking her form of menstrual activism to the streets of Kathmandu.

Ashmina Ranjit's performance. Photo: Cor Dietvorst

All eyes at the Alliance Française in Kathmandu were on Ashmina Ranjit when she entered the grounds in a dress made entirely of sanitary napkins. From a thin tube she squirted blood on the napkins, one at a time, folded them and deposited them in a waste basket. Besides her performance, the visual artist and activist had transformed the women’s toilet at the Alliance Française into an installation by fully covering its interior with sanitary napkins. Ashmina Ranjit’s performance took place on 12 March during the “Week of the Women” organised by the Alliance Française to celebrate International Women’s Day (8 March).

In many countries like Nepal, women are considered to be “impure” during their menstrual cycle and are prohibited to take part in social life. With her performance, Ashwina Ranjit attempts to remove the taboos surrounding menstruation. In her eyes, menstruation is a natural phenomenon that should be celebrated as a feminine force.

During Ashmina Ranjit’s performance, leaflets on menstrual hygiene management were handed out to the audience. Many girls who drop out of school do so because they do not have access to sanitary napkins and separate toilets, the leaflet said. Neglecting menstrual hygiene can also lead to chronic health problems. WaterAid Nepal and other local NGOs are raising awareness about the importance of better menstrual hygiene practices especially in rural areas. In 2009, WaterAid Nepal published a study on menstrual hygiene in four schools.

Meanwhile, Ashmina Ranjit will continue her own artistic form of menstrual activism. The next venue for her controversial performance will be the streets of Kathmandu.

Water quality: theme of World Water Day 2010

It is still a reality that an estimated 1.1 billion people rely on unsafe drinking-water sources. Therefore the theme of World Water Day 2010 is focusing on raising awareness of water quality under the theme "Clean Water for a Healthy World". IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre offers a wide selection of documents looking at the different aspects of water quality such as water treatment, health and technology. This information is for instance, available via the IRC digital library, the Source Newsletter and on the IRC web site.
In the digital library 22 documents show up after typing water quality and health in the search box. You can click on the links to access the publications. Go to the digital library documents
The Source Newsletter also regularly publishes articles on water quality and you can do a search in the most recent issues to find information on this topic from around the world. Source news items selected
There are a number of practical publications on the IRC web site that you can download and read. There is an FAQ sheet on household water treatment.
The booklet Smart Water Solutions gives examples of small-scale innovative technologies to increase access to safe drinking water.
The popular publication ‘Small Community Water Supplies: Technology, people and partnership’ links water supply science and technology with the specific needs of small communities in developing countries. It has one chapter dealing with water quality and quantity and gives guidelines for different levels of service (Chapter 4). And another chapter deals with water treatment (Chapter 12 ).

Kapilvastu folks fall ill from garbage

Wednesday, 10 March 2010 Kapilvastu: The residents of Kapilvastu Municipality have been falling sick due to unmanaged garbage and sewage system. According to District Hospital Taulihawa, patients infected with cholera, jaundice, common cold, malaria, typhoid, diarrhoea have been increasing. Dr. Raj Kumar Chaudhary of the district hospital informed that at least 70 patients visit hospital daily for treatment. The entire vicinity of the municipality is stinking because of piling heaps of garbage on the streets and market places and lack of proper drainage. A local Ramakant Gupta said pedestrians were compelled to walk covering their nose. "Many people have fallen sick due to increasing garbage in the street," he added. Meanwhile, employees of the municipality said that they could not resume their job, as the government was not serious towards their demands. Employees of local bodies had halted all the activities of their offices demanding permanent status, providing salary and other benefits at par with employees of bureaucracy last month. Though the agitating employees had resumed offices after stern instruction by the government, they have been indifferent in carrying out their responsibilities and duties. Local Gopal KC complained that their repeated pleas to the municipality for garbage and sewage management had fallen on deaf ears. Human rights activist Rabindra Thakur blamed that Kapilvastu was lagging behind in development and construction due to incompetence of the municipality's projects and strategies. However, executive officer of the municipality Niranjan Shrestha mentioned that it was not possible to keep the city neat and clean with municipality’s solo efforts. "All the residents of the municipality have to be responsible to keep their areas clean," he added. Shrestha revealed that municipality was mulling over devising master plan for the garbage and drainage water management. (Source: The Himalayan Times, March 4, 2010)

Water week begins on Mar 17

Friday, 05 March 2010
Kathmandu: The government is all set to celebrate the National Water Week 2010 in March. The twenty-one member National Water Week Organizing Committee 2010 has been formed under the chair of Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) secretary Kishore Thapa this week.
The committee is comprised of members from different organisations— government as well as non-government— to celebrate the week-long (17-23 March) event titled “Nepal National Water Week 2010” with the theme — Communicating Water Quality, Challenges and Opportunities. “The water week has been designed to commemorate the World Water Day (March 22) and World Meteorological Day (March 23) in order to disseminate the message of the importance of water quality and water scarcity to life and the risk that is growing along with them,” said Dr. Ravi Aryal, Joint Secretary, WECS.


According to Aryal, the main objective of the programme is to raise awareness and sensitize politicians, policy makers, development planners, bureaucrats, environmentalists, researchers, advocacy groups, students and the society as a whole on water quality and proper management and utilization of water.


(Source: The Himalayan Times; the Kathmandu Post; Naya Patrika, March 1, 2010)

Name of Melamchi project to be changed

Monday, 01 March 2010

Sindhupalchok: The government is going to change the name of the much hyped Melamchi Water Supply Project to Hyolmo Water Supply Project. The document related with the changed name is in the process of submission to the Ministry of Law. Though the project name has been changed, the Melamchi Water Supply Project Development Board will retain its existing name. The project’s name is being changed to address the demands of the Helambu folks. Construction works of the project is underway in the name of Melamchi Water Supply project for the last one decade. “Preparation to change the project’s name is in final phase,” said Bharat KC, deputy executive director of the project, adding, “The project will get a new name as soon as completing legal formalities.” The locals had been demanding to change the name of the project since its construction. They had stressed to change the project’s name to Hyolmo Water Supply Project as the project source was located at Helambu. Few months ago, the ministry of Physical Planning and Works, project officials and locals had made an agreement to change the name of the project. The project stated that the name change will not affect while dealing with the donor. The Asian Development Bank, the major donor of the project, has been investing in the name of Melamchi for the past 11 years. “The financial transactions with the donor will be made in the name of Melamchi board,” said KC.   (Source: Naya Patrika, February 21, 2010)

Water testing service unavailable for public

Monday, 01 March 2010 Kathmandu: Public are deprived of water testing facility in the modern laboratory brought into operation by the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage (DWSS) three years ago. DWSS stated that it has been unable to test the water brought by the public, as the government is yet to formulate long-term strategy for operating the laboratory. The department had prepared a proposal for beginning water-testing facility for the public. “We had made preparations to submit proposal to the ministry of Physical Planning and Works with the minimum charge for the public for water test but we did not submit proposal in the absence of policy on lab operation and its sustainability,” said Birendra Man Shakya, chief, Water Quality Improvement and Monitoring Section, DWSS. “We did not submit proposal as it cost a lot to operate the lab but the fee collected from the public for water test would be deposited in the revenue office for being a government organization,” Shakya adds. The department stated that it will begin its services for the public as soon as the government prepare directives and provide necessary support to operate the laboratory. At present, the department has been testing water samples brought by different projects. Similarly, the department has been testing water samples bought from different districts before commencing a drinking water project to find out whether the water is potable or not. Shakya informed that the department has been testing such water samples free of cost. He told that the department had prepared a proposal to test water samples brought by the public at a minimal cost but it did not worked out. Staffs at the department told that the laboratory constructed at an investment of millions of rupees is not functioning in full capacity due to negligence of the government. “Public is deprived to know the quality of water they have been drinking,” said a staff, adding, “Public come here with water samples but we send them saying that the service is not for general public.” (Source: Naya Patrika, February 20, 201)