International Water and Development Weekly

JULY 28, 2010, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 28

WATER NEWS FROM THE DEVELOPING WORLD . E V E R Y W E E K .

FOCUS THIS WEEK UN Assists Ukraine With Water Sup- 15 ply Renovation Projects Payments for Watershed Protection an 2 Emerging Market Niche, Says Report Turkmenistan to Complete Water Res- 15 ervoir This Fall 3 Iraq: Violence, Death and Water EC to Provide $650 Million USD to Water Shortages Affect Millions in 16 Serbia for Danube Strategy 4 Manila Kyrgyzstan Moves Uranium Tailings Investigation Launched Over Alleged 16 to Protect Water 5 Corruption in Dam Projects in LOCAL PRESS REPORTS Romania Ukraine to Establish National Water ALBANIA of Baptism Site 25 MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 17 Supply Tariff Regulator • German, Israeli Minis- • World Bank Discusses Water Levels Decrease in Eastern tries Launch Research Mugabe Calls on Parliament to Craft New Country Partner- 7 Water Development Policies 17 European Rivers ship Strategy for Project 25 Albania 21 JORDAN South African Water Supply Project LATI N A M E R I C A & 7 Under Way C ARIBBEAN ARMENIA • New Penalties for Water • Lake Sevan Commis- Theft 25 Egypt Starts National Water-Saving Uncertainty Over Collection of Fines 8 Program 18 sion to Discuss Hydro- LAOS in Tabasco power Plant 21 • Progress Report on 8 Liberian Border Town Gets Water 18 Biodegradable Antiscalant to Help AZERBAIJAN Nam Theun Project Supply Allay Environmental Concerns • 11 Facilities Penalized Notes Environmental Chinese Firm Delays Botswana Dam 19 Chile Will Not Change Water Code for Water Violations 22 Challenges 26 9 Project MALAYSIA IADB, Spanish Fund Give $50 Mil- BULGARIA Kenya’s Dam Clean Up Making Prog- 19 lion USD in Grants to Haiti • Soﬁa to Host Second • New Study Needed on 9 ress, Says Ngilu Environmental Interna- Petroecuador Oil Spill Will Take 75 Water Supply, Demand SOUTHERN & EASTERN 20 tional Forum Event 22 26 Days to Clean Up A SIA CHINA POLAND OOSKAnews Weekly Water Digest, Wa- U.S. to Spend $187 Million USD on ter news from the developing world. • Oil Spill Threatens • 128 Polish Districts Sus- 10 Lower Mekong Initiative Water Quality, Marine ceptible to Drought 27 Life 22 ROMANIA ADB Lends Indonesia $35 Million Weekly Water Reports: 11 USD for Sanitation Improvement GERMANY • Gabriel Resources Res- • Middle East & Africa • Algae Bloom Found in urrects Rosia Montana South Korea’s Four Rivers Project • Southern & Eastern Asia Baltic Sea 23 Mining Project 27 11 Draws Environmentalist’ Ire • Eastern Europe & Former Soviet Union GHANA RWANDA Goa Orders Paint Company to Sus- • 75 Percent of Rwandans 12 pend Operations Over Pollution • Latin America and the Caribbean • Tariff Hikes Could Lead • Water Weekly to Lay-Offs 23 Have Access to Clean Three Gorges Dam Withstands Flood Water 27 12 Published by OOSKAnews,Inc. • 37 Main St. • INDIA • New Reservoir to Ease India Allows Pakistan to Inspect Warrenton, VA • USA • 20186 • World Bank Loan for Shortages in Nyaru- 13 Hydropower Plants For subscription information, telephone (+1) 540 North Karnataka Sup- genge District 28 428 3440 or email your contact details to sales@ ply 23 North Korea Releases Water to Ease UGANDA 14 ooskanews.com INDONESIA Pressure Following Floods • Egypt Dismisses • Indonesia to Face Copyright © 2010 OOSKAnews, Inc. Reports of Nile Basin EASTERN EUROPE & FOR- All rights reserved. No part of this publication Water Crisis 24 Crisis 28 MER SOV I E T U N ION may be reproduced, redistributed, or ISRAEL otherwise copied without the written ZIMBABWE Hradec-Kralov Wastewater Plant permission of the authors. This includes internal • Erdan Questions Water • Authorities in Masho- 14 Project Proceeds Without EU Support distribution. Authority Campaign 24 naland West Dump Raw • FoEME Urges Closure Sewage 28 JULY 28, 2010 WATER NEWS FROM THE DEVELOPING WORL D . EVERY WEEK. 2 F O C U S T H I S W EEK

Payments for Watershed Protection for watershed services and water quality trading programs globally. an Emerging Market Niche, Says The total transaction value of active programs is estimated at $9.3 billion USD. Report NAIROBI, Kenya (OOSKAnews) Payment for watershed services and water quality trading are the leading financing instruments that have given water users incen- tives to adopt practices that protect watersheds. nnovative financing programs to restore water-related ecosys- Items are bolstering efforts by governments, businesses and The report said “a growing constituency” has called for “valuing non-state actors to find lasting solutions to global water scarcity, water-related ecosystems services in the context of overall ecosys- according to a recent report by international NGO Forest Trends. tem health.

The report, “State of Watershed Payments. An Emerging Market “That expanded lens would incorporate watershed services with Place,” launched late last month, describes the potential of market other ecosystem services such as biodiversity or carbon offsetting,” mechanisms to conserve fragile freshwater ecosystems, leveraging it said. competing demands from a wide array of users. The report urged “governments, the private sector [and] NGOs to Research carried out by Ecosystem Marketplace, an afﬁliate of embrace market-based mechanisms to keep water clean and shield Forest Trends, indicated that there are an estimated 300 payments it from effects of climate change.”

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The report argued that “water scarcity drives not just price, but The report identiﬁed cases in France, Ecuador and Tanzania where perceived value, hence the need to explore innovative avenues that a set of private sector-driven projects have supported efforts by the promote sustainable use of shrinking resources to meet varying government and local communities to reclaim waterways. needs.” It stressed the need for governments to create legal and policy Consequently, governments in countries including China, the Unit- structures that support water quality trading regimes popular with ed States, Brazil and Australia are investing billions of dollars in the private sector. programs that reward communities for protecting water resources. These regimes are aimed at curbing pollution of waterways by Mexico, Costa Rica and Ecuador are also using government rev- chemicals and microbial agents and work similarly to carbon trad- enue to pay for watershed conservation. ing.

China and the United States have the biggest government-funded The report suggested that the market for water quality trading is watershed conservation programs in the heavily polluted Mekong likely to be smaller both in geographic scope and in dollars when and Mississippi river basins. compared to carbon trading.

The report said Latin America is an emerging leader in experiment- However, it reiterated that large watersheds such as the Missis- ing with government payment for watershed services. sippi, the Rhine, the Mekong, the Nile and the Amazon are viable for water quality trading. The region has the highest number of active payments for watershed programs -- 101 -- which contribute $31 million USD to Protection of freshwater ecosystems is both an ecological and an watershed conservation measures. economic imperative, said Kim Kasten, head of the Fresh Water Division at the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Several countries in Latin America have established a trust fund to channel money coming from both the public and private sources Kasten pointed to a compelling body of research that illustrated towards water resources conservation. the potential beneﬁts countries, communities and even businesses would accrue from adopting unsustainable management practices Africa, despite experiencing severe water resources depletion, lags for available water resources. behind in the scope of investments that seek to reverse this challenge. He noted that conservation of freshwater ecosystems is climbing to the top of the corporate agenda, as businesses regard it as a strate- Out of 20 payments for watershed conservation programs in Af- gic issue that can either undermine or boost growth. rica, only 10 are active. “Businesses that fail to make sustainable management of water However, the report noted that “in most cases, watershed man- resources as part of their business risk [are] out of step with market agement activities in Africa are part of national ecosystem con- dynamics,” Kasten said. servation programs that include investment in watershed service enhancement and rehabilitation.”

It highlighted successful programs such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) projects at Table Mountain in South Africa. Iraq: Violence, Death and Water In Kenya, the Green Water Credit Program, funded by the government and donors, has created a viable mechanism to pay rural BAGHDAD, Iraq (OOSKAnews) farmers to protect watersheds, the report noted.

Private sector payment for watershed services is gaining momen- orking for Iraq’s irrigation department, located in Abu tum at local, national and regional levels. W Ghraib city, has become a treacherous and sometimes deadly occupation. Coca-Cola, Nestle and SAB Miller are among the corporations that have ﬁnanced innovative programs to compensate communities Three employees in recent months have been killed in this city adjacent to their operations for conserving water resources. only 32 kilometers west of Baghdad, merely because they partici- pated in supervision of water distribution.

The latest and perhaps most senseless kill- The perpetual presence of the Tigris and Directorate said, “Salinity levels started to ing occurred last month, when 40-year-old Euphrates rivers has given Iraq an area of increase more than a year ago in the Shat Faisal Hassan and his wife and two children superior agricultural fecundity. However, al-Arab waterway due to low water levels in were killed by two gunmen who broke into the marshlands alongside the rivers are now the Tigris and Euphrates and the changing the family home. The gunmen had one mo- drastically reduced. course of the al-Karoon and al-Karkha rivers tive only -- that Hassan worked for the local coming from Iran. This has led to a fall in irrigation department. During the late 1970s and into the 1980s, the fresh water flow rate, allowing salty Gulf dam construction upstream in Iraq, Turkey water to pour in. Green Prophet quoted Mohammed Khud- and Iran curtailed supply of fresh water to hair, a police investigator, as saying: “All the point where farmers have suffered huge “The salinity level has made it impossible these employees had nothing to do with losses and the once-prolific reeds and papy- to use the water for drinking and irrigation, politics or anti-militant activities, but instead rus have shrunk catastrophically. animals and agriculture. This is a real and were victims of the nature of their work, serious catastrophe and it will probably af- which has become a risky one.” Further devastation occurred during Saddam fect the down-town area of Basra soon.” Hussein’s drainage operations in the early Conflicts among tribes and clans throughout 2000s, when the marshlands were reduced to Calling the situation an “environmental cri- the farmlands of Iraq have put the weakened 10 percent of the original area. sis,” Jabbar Amin, head of Basra Provincial and increasingly ineffectual national govern- Council, has declared the affected areas “di- ment at a disadvantage. More recently, the two rivers have seen the saster areas with no-life due to the displace- water levels fall far below average, with new ment of humans and damage to agriculture.” This lack of official oversight, combined dams being built in Turkey and Syria. with water supply shortages, leads to all-out clashes among tribes over access to water Over long years of internal conflict, the agri- resources. cultural center has borne a large share of the troubles attached to insecurity, underinvest- Water analyst Jaafar Moahmmed Ali was ment and unfettered timber cutting. Water Shortages Affect quoted as saying: “Today, we don’t have a Millions in Manila fully functioning government, as it is totally Without trees, the soil’s salinity has risen; preoccupied by the security situation and po- deserts now exist where trees and flora once MANILA, Philippines (OOSKAnews) litical wrangling, so we don’t have a strong flourished. role to deter any possible widespread conflict. Besides, we have an acute shortage of Unfortunately, resistance from farmers, ater supply shortages have hit at water nationwide and a very bad economic who refuse to take the view that short-term W least 2.8 million people or almost situation that makes it very hard for farmers regulation will lead to long-term stability, one-fourth of residents in the Philip- to do other work.” have thwarted efforts by the government in pine capital and surrounding areas, as the instituting procedures to regulate water use. water level in the sole dam supplying water Green Prophet quoted tribal Sheikh Ali to Metro Manila fell to its lowest in more Ismael Al-Zubaidi as saying an upstream “The farmers didn’t adhere to the water than two dozen years last week. tribe has had “tough negotiations” over distribution regulations. We advise them to water allocations with his own Diwaniya follow the regulations this year because we The lack of water is largely confined to governorate. cannot guarantee the amount of water we’ll the western half of Metro Manila, which is have,” IRIN quoted Mahdi al-Qaisi, under- served by Maynilad Water Services Inc. “Government officials can’t control the secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, as regulation of irrigation and stop those who saying. There, 600,000 people, or a tenth of the violate their regulations, either because of company’s customer base of 6 million, do corruption or because they fear for their In Basra, where Iraq’s Shat al-Arab water- not have water at all or are getting it for less lives. So we have to solve this issue our- way -- formed from the proximity of the than six hours a day. selves.” Tigris and Euphrates rivers -- has elevated levels of salinity, farmers are leaving their Up to 46 percent of Maynilad customers are Despite a willingness to negotiate, Zubaidi farms out of necessity. They no longer are experiencing varying levels of interruptions said, “We will act swiftly to secure the water viable agriculturally. in water supply. we need for our land even if we have to take up weapons.” Amer Salman, head of Basra Agriculture In contrast, Manila Water Co.’s 5 million

customers in the eastern half continue to several small-scale water projects that could But the impact of the shortage has been less enjoy water service, though at a lower pres- be completed in a few years rather than one, severe in Manila Water’s eastern zone be- sure. big project such as the 1,900 million liter per cause the shortfalls were offset by big reduc- day dam in Laiban, in Rizal province west tions in water losses, exclusive use of a huge The big difference is explained by Manila of Manila. reservoir and other mitigating measures. Water’s much lower non-revenue water level of only 13 percent compared to Maynilad’s He said the Metropolitan Waterworks and A spokesman for Manila Water said the 53 percent. Sewerage System (MWSS), the government company was reaping the fruits of an early water agency in the capital, was firming up a and aggressive investment to cut water Though both companies suffered almost list of projects from proposals submitted by losses. 30 percent cuts in their raw water supply, private companies. Manila Water enjoys a buffer from losing Maynilad, which defaulted on its debts in minimal volumes to leaks. The Philippines has just been through a 2003 and was acquired by new owners in severe drought arising from El Nino weather early 2007, began a serious program to cut The three-week old government of new pattern, but the onset of the rainy season has non-revenue water only three years ago President Benigno Aquino III, who assumed not bought enough rainfall to the watershed when water losses peaked at 69 percent. office only on June 30, is scrambling to craft around the Angat Dam in Bulacan province, a strategy to deal with the water shortage, about 60 kilometers northeast of Manila. Also, Maynilad says the water mains in its which is beginning to create unrest and law- area are older, some of them dating back lessness in some severely affected areas. In February, water authorities and compa- more than a century. nies were bracing for a prolonged drought On July 21, residents in a Manila suburb that they predicted would cause water levels busted a water main that was being repaired at the Angat Dam, which supplies 97 percent and helped themselves to the free water, of Metro Manila’s needs, to fall from 201.4 prompting calls for soldiers and policemen meters above sea level in the middle of to escort leak repair teams. January, to the year’s low of 158 meters by Investigation Launched June. Over Alleged Corruption The government has deployed dozens of fire trucks to help bring water to elevated With the end of El Nino and the coming of in Dam Projects in communities where the water pressure is too the rains, they expected water levels to rise weak, and has eased the release of construc- to 168.2 meters by the end of July and begin Romania tion permits to allow the private water com- a steady climb to almost 200 meters by the panies to repair leaks or install new pipes end of the year. BUCHAREST, Romania (OOSKAnews) under public roads. The rains have come, including a couple of omanian Minister of Environment and But it has not issued orders to curb demand typhoons so far in July, but the water level in R Forests Laszlo Borbely ordered an such as prohibiting the watering of golf Angat Dam continued to drop and reached investigation into allegations by Secre- courses and gardens, car washing or chang- 157.56 meters on July 18, lower than the tary of State for Parliament Liaison Valentin ing water on swimming pools. previous low of 158.15 meters in September Iliescu that millions of dollars meant to be 1998, when the country was in the midst of used to build and reinforce dams have been Aquino and his spokesman insisted there another El Nino weather phenomenon. “stolen” by officials in federal and local is no water crisis, even though the capital’s administrations. water supply had been severely cut because Weather forecasters said not enough rain of the low water levels at the dam. was falling over the watershed of the An- Iliescu referred to funds the government gat Dam, though the dam level has since allocated after damaging floods in 2008, That contradicts Aquino’s public works sec- climbed a bit to 158.6 meters on July 21 af- when hundreds of homes were destroyed in retary, Rogelio Singson, who described the ter the government did some cloud-seeding eastern Romania. shortage as a “crisis” and called for tougher to induce rains. measures. Until Aquino recruited him to the The secretary of state said the funds dis- Cabinet at the beginning of July, Singson Metropolitan Manila and surrounding areas tributed to build and rehabilitate dams were was the president of Maynilad. are now getting just over 2,900 million liters stolen, and as a consequence, he said, the per day compared to the normal allocation heavy rain in the last two months has again Singson had outlined plans to develop of 4,000 million liters per day. caused floods that have seriously affected

communities in that region. In addition, it found that negotiations between state officials and construction companies over the value of the projects took place “If the dams were built as planned in 2008 we could have prevent- before feasibility studies were carried out. ed the floods this year,” said Iliescu. “All these findings highly question the correctness of spending the “I have already sent the Ministry’s Control Department to the Na- money and of the evaluation process of how much money should tional Administration on Romanian Waters to verify these accusa- be allotted for these works aimed to counteract the effects of the tions. We hope to have a complete report in the next few weeks floods and to protect the population in the future,” according to the when we will know exactly how this money has been spent. Until Court of Accounts report. then I will not express any opinion on this subject,” said Borbely. Immediately after the 2008 floods, the first report of the dam- He said he would persuade the government to approve a $129 mil- ages created on Tisa River in Sapanta village, Maramures county, lion USD program to build and reinforce dams that were destroyed showed that 38 meters of riverbank were destroyed, with repair or partially affected by the floods this summer. work estimated at $153,000 USD.

“We wish to make a plan in which we prioritize the projects that Later on, a second report, which formed the basis of the govern- should start and complete first,” said Borbely. ment’s funding allocation, said that 1,200 meters of the Tisa River’s bank were affected, with estimated repair costs of $3.5 Iliescu’s allegations were based on conclusions of a report drawn million USD. up by the Court of Accounts, the Romanian institution that has jurisdiction over verifying the accounting of all state institutions. In a similar example, the initial cost estimation for building a dam on the Jijia River, in Iasi county, was $264,000 USD, but later on, “I do not understand why the Court of Accounts wishes to keep in the final report, state officials asked for and have spent $5.3 mil- silent this report that shows how the funds to reconstruct and build lion USD. new dams to protect infrastructure and the population have been spent. It is a devastating report that underlines that the money has The Court of Accounts did not formulate a complete estimate of been stolen, has been misplaced and divided [up] instead among the total amount of state funds that were overspent or misused. communities that not only have not been affected by the 2008 floods but which do not even have a river flowing close by,” Iliescu A total of 22 people have died in the floods this year, and almost said. 7,000 people have been evacuated.

According to local press agency Mediafax, the Court of Accounts’ Three thousand homes have been flooded and another 200 have report on the floods in 2008 shows irregularities in the way nego- been completely destroyed, according to the most recent report tiations between local authorities and construction firms took place, made public by the Ministry of Interior and Administration. with regard to the estimated value of damages. The ministry has mobilized 7,000 forces to help the victims. The document ultimately indicates possible violations of the law. The floods have also seriously affected 13,000 hectares of agricul- The Court of Accounts’ probe into spending on flood control infra- tural land, seven national roads, 19 county roads, 21 communal structure took place between March 11 and April 9, 2010, and the roads and 28 small bridges. In total, 109 large communities in 18 report was completed shortly after. of Romania’s 41 counties have suffered effects of the floods.

The report found that, based on a proposal by the National Admin- According to Iliescu, if state funds had been properly spent on istration on Romanian Waters, the leadership of the Ministry of infrastructure against ﬂoods after 2008, the devastation caused by Environment awarded projects to build and rehabilitate dams to a heavy rains this year could have been prevented. small number of construction companies without public tender.

Harare has started a water pipe replacement program in and around Mugabe Calls on Parliament to Craft the capital. Under the program, the city is replacing old, metal Water Development Policies water pipe with plastic. The government allocated $17 million USD in funding for the HARARE, Zimbabwe (OOSKAnews) project.

imbabwean President Robert Mugabe has tasked the coun- “Our wish is to cover the whole city if funds permit and the pro- Z try’s parliament with “channel[ing] resources toward rehabili- gram is ongoing,” said council spokesperson Leslie Gwindi. tation and upgrading of urban and rural water supplies” and systems. In his 2010 Mid-Term Fiscal Policy Review Statement this month, Ofﬁcially opening the third session of the country’s 7th parliament Finance Minister Tendai Biti called on local authorities in the this month, Mugabe -- who heads Zimbabwe’s coalition govern- country to contribute to restoration of water and sanitation infra- ment that also includes Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister -- structure and services. said the parliament was being asked to “accord immediate attention” to the country’s major urban centers, as well as some rural areas.

The country’s water sector has been dogged over the years by acute shortages of clean water and sanitation services along with limited South African Water Supply Project supplies of water puriﬁcation chemicals. Under Way Mugabe also called on the legislature to channel resources towards “the completion of ongoing dam and allied projects construction.” POLOKWANE, South Africa (OOSKAnews)

Water and sanitation experts welcomed Mugabe’s move, saying it demonstrates a shift toward increased focus on the sector. outh African water supply project, the Mokola and Crocodile SRivers Water Augmentation Project (MCWAP), is “well under “At last the water situation in the country has been recognized at way and progressing,” according to mining company Exxaro’s the highest level and this should pave the way towards enhanced business growth general manager, Ernst Venter. development of this sector,” said a development ofﬁcer with a local non-governmental organization in Harare. The project in the Waterberg region in Limpopo, will provide freshwater for Exxaro’s coal-mining activities, for petrochemi- This comes amid revelations from Harare Mayor Muchadeyi cals group Sasoi’s large-scale coal-to-liquids fuel activity and for Masunda that Harare’s water banks are running low. electricity utility Eskom to develop more power stations, Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly reported. Masunda said the city would soon commission the Kunzvi and Mazowe dams to supplement existing water sources that supply It includes several phases, with the ﬁrst producing between 14.6 Harare and surrounding cities and towns. million cubic meters to 29.4 million cubic meters per year from Mokolo Dam to the Groote- geluk mine, the Lephalale municipali- However, he warned that the water supply situation in the capital ty and Eskom’s Matimba and Medupi power stations. It is expected would remain critical even if the two new dams were to be com- to be completed by April 2013. missioned. The second, third and forth phases will bring water from Thaba- “Even if Kunzvi Dam is to be commissioned today, it will not give zimbi’s Crocodile River, the Gauteng North Bosxhkop weir and us enough (water) for the city,” he said. the Vaal River catchment to the Steenbokpan area of the Waterberg region. Masunda said demand for water for Harare remains high relative to current supplies pumped from Lake Chivero and other minor Phase 2 should be completed by 2016, while the third and forth dams. Current demand for water was 1,300 million liters per day, phases will be completed between 2017-2018. In total, the project while the council could only supply around 640 million liters per is expected to supply 168 million cubic meters of water a year. day. As a result, some parts of the Harare go for days without water supplies. The project is being managed by the Department of Water Affairs

and the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority. damaged meters with new ones,” Alfi said. timated at 20 percent of total drinking water However, Exxaro operates and maintains production (around 28 million cubic meters several water supply systems in the region, Many of the country’s artesian treatment per day). including the infrastructure from Mokolo plants and desalination plants do not have Dam to Lephalale, Grootegeluk and Mat- water meters to gauge the amount of water A huge amount of the waste is blamed on imba power station. output, according to agency officials. the poor conditions of water pipelines, as well as poor maintenance of mains. It also has a potable water supply agreement In an attempt to curb the amount of drinking with Lephalale municipality. water wasted in the country, the government Irrational use in households is another rea- also revealed a plan to increase drinking son for the increase in the amount of drink- “Working in consultation with the local water prices by 10 percent. ing water wasted. communities and authorities, Exxaro ensures that it manages the ecobiosphere in the The increase will be applied to those who Waterberg in a responsible manner. We have consume more than 10 cubic meters per had numerous interactions and public par- month. ticipation processes,” Mining Weekly quoted Liberian Border Town Venter as saying. Water prices for the category of consumers who use more than 10 cubic meters per Gets Water Supply He added, “We are certain that the whole month are still cheap. The cost of a cubic community in the Waterberg area will gain meter is about quarter of an Egyptian pound MONROVIA, Liberia (OOSKAnews) owing to these developments. Exxaro will (about $0.04 USD). also ensure that it makes sound investment he water supply system has now been decisions related to Grootegeluk and, in the The cost of producing a cubic meter of Trestored in the border town of San- process, the town and secondary industries drinking water ranges from $0.18 USD to niquelle, the main town in Nimba in this area will grow substantially. $0.20 USD. County where the country’s 14-year civil war started in December 1989, the Liberian According to officials at the Holding government said. Company for Drinking Water and Sanitary Sewers, there is an increase in the cost of The town, which has a population of over drinking water production and in operation 24,000, according to Liberia’s Census Egypt Starts National and maintenance of treatment plants, as well Report of 2008, has not piped water supply Water-Saving Program as an increase in salaries of employees at since the civil water started. water companies. CAIRO, Egypt (OOSKAnews) “With assistance and technical support from Company officials said continued drink- our partners at the Liberia Water and Sew- ing water subsidies would negatively affect age Corporation (LWSC), we have opened funding for a general plan for sanitary sew- the first valve of piped water supply in gypt’s Executive Agency for Drinking ers projects nationwide. E Water and Sanitary Sewers (EADWSS) Sanniquelle, Nimba County,” Jesefu Keita, spokesman for the Liberian Ministry of Pub- announced the start of a national program Meanwhile, the company prepared a paper aimed at conserving drinking water. lic Works, told OOSKANews on July 20. aimed at raising public awareness about the importance of rationalizing drinking water This is the third rural town to receive safe “The first phase of the program will consist consumption. of fixing water meters at drinking water drinking water since 2008. treatment plants,” Mohamed El-Alfi, direc- Awareness departments will be established tor of the EADWSS, said earlier this month. Piped water supply to Zwedru is the second at every affiliated water company nation- post-war rural water supply program after wide. The program will also include revision of the LWSC successfully connected the com- household water meters, since a number of mercial city of Kakata, Margibi county, 35 The departments will issue leaflets to be kilometers north of Monrovia, in July 2008. buildings do not have meters for each apart- distributed among water users to show them ment. the best ways to decrease water use. The LWSC rehabilitated five water pumps in “This phase will also include replacement of Kakata at the cost of $175,000 USD and the The amount of water wasted in Egypt is es- water treatment station in the town has the

capacity to pump 110,000 gallons daily. “The construction is underway on the $300 nize and accept that there is a finite sup- million USD Dikgatlhong Dam and it is ply of water,” local media quoted Samson Liberia’s infrastructure was severely dam- expected to be completed in 2012,” said Moyo, a member of parliament for Tati East, aged by the country’s civil war that ran from Jeffares & Green the project’s South Africa- as saying of the country’s water crisis. 1989-2003 and significantly undermined the based consulting engineers. delivery of water and sanitation services. “The consensus is that the growing water Botswana authorities expected to increase scarcity and misuse of freshwater pose seri- Monrovia’s water supply fell from 18 mil- the annual yield from the water storage facil- ous threats to sustainable development.” lion gallons daily to just 1 million gallons. ity, located on the confluence of the Shashe and Tati rivers, by 170 million cubic meters, Since 2008, the Liberian government has making it the fourth-largest dam in the coun- said it aims to extend piped water supply in try after Gaborone, Bokaa and Letshibogo. seven urban towns of the country’s 15 coun- Kenya’s Dam Clean-Up ties in the hinterlands. According to contract details from Sino- hydro, the dam, which was listed as a top Making Progress, Says The government will provide piped wa- infrastructure undertaking by the Ministry ter systems to Robertsport, [southwest- of Finance and Development Planning in the Ngilu ern region], Voinjama [northern region], 2010/2011 fiscal year, will bring raw water Greenville [southeastern region], Buchanan to the existing national north-south carrier NAIROBI, Kenya (OOSKAnews) [southern region], Kakata [central region] pipeline that transports water from the Letsi- and Zwedru [eastern region] with other cit- bogo Dam near Selebi Phikwe to Gaborone. ies to follow. overnment efforts to clean up toxic Last month, Finance Minister Kenneth Gwaste from major Kenyan dams are Thousands of refugees who fled those areas Matambo offered assurances that con- making progress in Nairobi and Coast as a result of the war are returning, and struction of Dikgatlhong Dam, along with Province. access to safe drinking water for them is a two others, is being fast-tracked to ensure priority for the government. completion and to enable Botswana alleviate Five dams are already undergoing extensive the current water shortages. repair work in different parts of the country, Water Minister Charity Ngilu confirmed in “Three major dams, namely, Dikgatlhong, an interview. Thune and Lotsane, with capacities of 400 Chinese Firm Delays million cubic meters, 90 million cubic me- “The water capacity in Kenya, especially in ters and 40 million cubic meters, respective- urban areas, will be greatly improved,” Ngi- Botswana Dam Project ly, are being constructed in order to alleviate lu said. “We hope to complete this clean up water shortage for domestic and industrial exercise in several months to come. We have GABORONE, Botswana (OOSKAnews) consumption,” said Matambo. already launched a cutting-edge technology that is currently being used in Netherlands. “Construction of Lotsane Dam is expected inohydro Corporation, China’s leading “The technology involves cleaning heavily dam builder, will delay by five months to be completed in October 2011, while S Dikgatlhong Dam is expected to be com- polluted water to clean drinking water. The completion of the $300 million USD use of a mobile purification churn can purify Dikgatlhong Dam, in Botswana. pleted in February 2012. Tender evaluation for Thune Dam was done in 2009 and its up to 60,000 liters of water each day and construction is expected to be completed in several units are already being used to sup- Construction of the dam, which will have a ply the Kibera slums with water,” she said. capacity of 400 million cubic meters, started March 2013.” two years ago and was initially set for She added that unsafe drinking water, espe- completion by October 31, 2011. Unexpected heavy rains with accompanying floods pushed back progress on the project cially in slum areas, contributed to 80 per- by several months last year, with Botswana’s cent of waterborne diseases such as cholera, However, the date was pushed back to diarrhea and dysentery. February 2012 after several months’ delay leaders warning of stagnation in the coun- due to seasonal floods and labor disputes try’s economic development on account of diminishing water resources. “The mobile purification churn costs as between the contractor and locals and the much as $75,000 USD,” she said. “There government. “Of principal concern is our failure to recog- was a time when people used to dream of

drinking water from the once heavily polluted Nairobi Dam; it is She said the company’s puriﬁcation unit would eliminate the now a reality and people are already using it for domestic purposes need for Kibera residents to boil water and would cut incidences such as drinking,” said Netherlands-based Multi-Purpose Indus- of water-borne disease. Nairobi Dam will undergo more changes tries CEO Bart-Jan Rozeboom. compared to other major dams in the country because it has the most damage, according to the government. The company was contracted by the Kenyan government for the dam clean-up project. Ngilu urged hotels and hospitals to use the Dutch technology to guarantee a supply of clean water. City and town governments in different parts of the country are partnering with the company and purchasing its machines for use Nairobi Dam, covering more than 350,000 square meters, can hold in water puriﬁcation. The total cost of the project, being funded up to 100,000 cubic meters of water. The dam was commissioned mostly by the Dutch government, is estimated at more than $50 in 1953 as reservoir for potable and emergency water supply. In million USD for all the major dams in Nairobi and the Coast area. recent years, it has been reduced to marshlands.

Dutch Ambassador to Kenya Laetitia van den Assum said her There are four other major Kenyan dams near the coast that are government had set aside the $50 million USD to improve access undergoing similar changes, Ngilu conﬁrmed. to clean, safe water in the country. “We are happy that the proposed constitution recognizes access to clean water as a fundamental A total of almost 800,000 cubic meters of water is being puriﬁed in right of every Kenyan,” she added. different parts of the country.

SOUTHERN & EASTERN AS I A

U.S. to Spend $187 Million USD on on water resources, food security and livelihoods. Lower Mekong Initiative The United States allocated $3 million USD for the program’s ﬁrst year, and anticipates spending the same for the other two years. WASHINGTON, DC, United States (OOSKAnews) Another environmental program is the “sister-river” partnership .S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed on July 22 to between the Mekong River Commission and the Mississippi River Uspend approximately $187 million USD on projects in the Commission. The commissions signed a memorandum of under- four Lower Mekong River basin nations of Cambodia, Laos, standing at the second U.S.-Lower Mekong Ministerial Meeting Thailand and Vietnam. held in Hanoi on July 22.

The projects will focus on environment, with $22 million USD; “This MoU will allow the commissions to conduct expert exchang- public health, with $147 million USD; and education, with $18 es, share expertise and best practices in areas of climate change million USD. adaptation, ﬂood and drought management, hydropower impact assessments, water resource management, and food security,” Clinton was quoted at America.gov as saying, “Managing this according to a joint press release by the United States, Cambodia, resource and defending it against threats like climate change and Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. infectious disease is a transnational challenge. The other two environmental programs include further develop- “Regional cooperation is essential to meeting that challenge, to ment of a forecast modeling tool to analyze the effects of climate preserving the ecological diversity and fertility of the Mekong change on the basin and a regional university two-year research region. We expect to continue similar levels of funding for the next program into persistent organic pollutants. two years.” The Lower Mekong Initiative was established last year by the There are four environmental projects including a three-year pro- Foreign Ministers of the Lower Mekong countries and the U.S. gram to develop strategies to address the effects of climate change Secretary of State.

It is a “vehicle for addressing regional challenges, particularly in cal Assistance Special Fund to be used in the strengthening of local the areas of environment, health, education, and infrastructure,” the government capacity and management capabilities. An additional joint press release said. $1 million USD grant is coming from the Australian government and will be administered by ADB.

The $35 million USD loan has a 25-year term, with a ﬁve-year grace period and an interest rate determined by Libor.

ADB Lends Indonesia $35 Million The Indonesian government will provide $14.2 million USD, with regional governments contributing $13.5 million USD and provin- USD for Sanitation Improvement cial governments some $500,000 USD. This brings total project Project ﬁnancing to approximately $63.2 million USD. MANILA, Philippines (OOSKAnews) The project has an expected completion date of December 2014, and the Ministry of Public Works is the executing agency.

he Asian Development Bank (ADB) on July 20 announced it Twas extending a $35 million USD loan to Indonesia for sanitation improvement works. South Korea’s Four Rivers Project The loan will ﬁnance the Metropolitan Sanitation Management and Health Project, which will extend and repair sanitation services in Draws Environmentalists’ Ire Medan, capital city of North Sumatra province, and Yogyakarta, capital city of Yogyakarta province. SEOUL, South Korea (OOSKAnews)

It will provide ﬁnancing for the construction of 280 communal outh Korean environmentalists stepped up opposition to the sanitation facilities in poor areas of both cities, two wastewater Scountry’s massive Four Rivers project, saying it would endan- treatment systems in Medan, as well as expanding the cities’ sys- ger wild animals and plant life, as well as contaminate drink- tems to add 28,000 new household connections. ing water sources used by a majority of the country’s population.

The project will also mobilize community involvement, particu- The release of plans for the $17.7 billion USD water supply man- larly from women, in planning, operating and maintaining the agement system, which were finalized early this month by the Min- facilities. istry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs and the ministries of environment, culture, sports and tourism and food, agriculture, “A gender action plan in the project design will ensure women forestry and fisheries, highlighted public divisions over the water fully participate in the decision-making process for the develop- project, which is expected to be implemented in 2012. ment of facilities, and that they benefit equally with men from improved communal services,” said Rudolf Frauendorfer in ADB’s Opposition leaders in the country are keen to mobilize perceived Southeast Asia Department. public discontent in recent elections over the massive project.

Indonesia’s sanitation networks have improved but are not on par Dong-A Ilbo news portal quoted Democratic Party leader Chung with many of its neighboring countries, the ADB said. Also, the Sye-kyun as saying, “The people showed a yellow card to the four- ﬁnancial crisis in the region in 1997-1998 caused many sanitation river project in the June 2 local elections. We must show a red card projects to be put on hold, resulting in system disrepair. Therefore, in the upcoming by-elections.” many poor people living in informal settlements suffer greatly due to lack of sanitation services and polluted water. First announced as part of a “Green New Deal” in January 2009, the ﬁnal plan was unveiled by the government earlier this month “This project will sharply reduce pollution of surface and shallow and aims to improve four major rivers -- the Han, Nakdong, Geum, groundwater in the two cities, resulting in improved health and and the Yeongsan -- with a view to providing 1.3 billion tons of quality of life particularly for women, children and the elderly who water resources in preparation for water shortages and abnormal suffer the most from unclean environments,” Frauendorfer said. drought.

The ADB will also supply a $500,000 USD grant from its Techni- The goal of the project is to provide “clean water sources to...next

generations,” according to a July 12 govern- operations will remain suspended. The issue has also been discussed in the ment press release. The statement went on State Assembly last week, with Environment to deny environmentalists’ claims that the The move followed a hearing conducted by Minister Aleixo Sequeira stating before project would be an ecological disaster, say- the GSPCB after residents of Saipem village lawmakers that the authorities will take strict ing it had identified areas needing pollution filed a complaint under the Water and Air action against the manufacturing unit in ac- control. Pollution Act, saying that chemicals being cordance with law after the hearing as part discharged by the company were contami- of official procedure. Once the project is completed: “...Korea will nating the groundwater. have secured extra reservoir space that can Over-exploitation and pollution of ground- contain 1.3 billion cubic meters of water. The suspension order for Berger Paints unit water is rampant across India. More water will mean less water pollution, was issued by the GSPCB chairman Simon even during the dry season,” the statement de Souza after conducting a hearing on the A World Bank report released in April this said. issue. year had warned that 60 percent of all aqui- fers in the country could run dry or will be Projects like dredging up mud from the river This is one of the several cases in which the in a critical condition in 20 years. bottom can also have the same effect of state government has come down hard on eliminating pollutants. The government has alleged polluters of water resources. The selected 34 out of 66 regions close to the riv- GSPCB earlier also issued closure notices to ers that need intense pollution control. The several industrial units for alleged pollution. government also has plans to pursue over Three Gorges Dam 1,300 kinds of pollution-reduction projects With groundwater in India already depleting and install a total phosphorus (TP) facility at an alarming rate, a number of state gov- Withstands Flood on some 250 wastewater systems.” ernments have decided to get tough against polluting industrial and commercial units. BEIJING, China (OOSKAnews)

India remains the largest user of groundwater in the world, with an estimated use of hina’s massive Three Gorges Dam has 230 cubic kilometers of groundwater every C withstood the biggest flood in its short Goa Orders Paint year, more than one-fourth of the world’s history, with Chinese media lauding its total. ability to manage previously deadly water Company to surges. Suspend Operations The use of groundwater has been steadily increasing over the past few decades and State television carried live pictures as flows Over Pollution in some areas the water table has fallen to through its sluices reached 70,000 cubic meters per second, with huge plumes providing VANCOUVER, BC, Canada (OOSKAnews) dangerous levels due to digging of wells. Pollution is adding to the problem. a dramatic backdrop to reports. manufacturing unit of India’s second The state’s pollution control board also But while the immediate threat of wide- largest decorative paint company, spread flooding was held back, lower and A Berger Paints, has come under scru- directed the manufacturing unit to clear the solvent, which was being discharged in the middle stretches of the Yangtse River and tiny by the Goa state government for alleged tributaries remain at danger levels, with no groundwater pollution. stormwater drains, and report the action taken to the board within seven days. Paint end in sight to the heavy rainfall. The state’s pollution control board last week manufacturing remains a water-intensive activity in India. The flood level of the giant reservoir could ordered suspension of the operations of the also rise again to new record highs of around manufacturing unit at the Pilerne industrial Berger Becker Industries manufactures 159 meters after falling slightly over the estate in Goa for polluting groundwater weekend. resources. industrial paint, industrial color powders, whitewash colors and paint pigments. State news agency Xinhua said after the The Goa State Pollution Control Board peak flow was reached, the dam had offered (GSPCB) directed the management of The GSPCB order also directed the district collector to seal the unit’s premises and a “buffer” for the worst flood in decades, Berger Becker Coatings Private Limited to blocking 40 percent of upstream water. “manage, handle and dispose off all the haz- disconnect its water and electricity supply in case of inaction. ardous waste stored at the unit;” until then, Referring to 1998, when more than 4,000

people died in floods, Yuan Jie, a director designs. resolving issues. of the Three Gorges Corporation said: “The biggest difference is the...dam. Without it, During the periodic talks between the Indus India and Pakistan last week rejected the thousands of soldiers and rescuers would Water Commissioners of the two countries names suggested for three neutral umpires have been needed to fight the floods.” in May, Pakistan had demanded that its of- from each side to resolve the dispute be- ficials be allowed to visit the sites of Nimmo tween them over a hydroelectric and water- Cai Qihua, chief of the Yangtse River Water Bazgo and Chutak hydropower plants. Both diversion project in Indian-administered Resources Commission, told Xinhua the countries agreed to discuss the matter in Kashmir. flood control will store about 7.6 billion July. The visit is expected to take place next cubic meters of water and reduce the water month. This paves the way for international involve- level in Jingjiang, a 360-kilometer section of ment in the appointment of the three neutral the river most prone to flooding in the Hubei The use of the water flowing down riv- umpires -- a chairman, a legal expert and a and Hunan provincial plains, by 2.5 meters. ers that arise in the Indian-administered technical expert -- to the International Court Kashmir and flow into the Indus River basin of Arbitration to resolve the Kishanganga But by July 25, new flood warnings were in Pakistan is governed by the 1960 Indus Dam dispute. in place as the rainfall showed no signs of Water Treaty. easing. The water diversion planned in the Kishan- Under the accord, India has the use of water ganga Dam, on a tributary that flows into the Some of the country’s other major rivers, in- from three rivers in the east -- the Sutlej, Jhelum, would have a serious impact on the cluding the Jialing, Hanjiang and Huaihe are Beas and Ravi. Pakistan was awarded use of Pakistani side, said Syed Jamaat Ali Shah, at danger levels the country’s flood control the waters of the western rivers -- the Indus, the Indus Water commissioner of Pakistan. headquarters said. Chenab and Jhelum. Accusing India of breaching the treaty, The Yangtse’s main tributaries are at their The two sides agreed in principle to put in Pakistan sought international arbitration in highest levels in 60 years, Xinhua reported place a telemetry system on the western May this year after the two countries failed on July 25. rivers to record and transfer real-time data to to resolve the issue bilaterally for over two remove the confusion over water flows into decades. The Dajiang River, the second largest Pakistan. tributary to the Yangtse, has “sent a deluge” Under the treaty, the two countries were to to the Danjiangkou reservoir in Hubei and Pakistan blamed India for inflows of pol- appoint three umpires, including a chairman, Henan provinces, the agency reported. luted water from India and asked Indian before the court of arbitration would be set officials to take effective measures to stop up to decide on the issue. China’s premier, Wen Jiabao has also been contamination of the waters of the Hadiara visiting affected provinces urging local au- and Kasur drains and Jhelum River. India The names for the neutral umpires were thorities to be on their guard against further agreed to a joint inspection of the polluted exchanged during a meeting in Islamabad. floods, which have so far killed 742 and left water under the Indus Water Commission. But after rejection of the names, India and 367 missing this year. Pakistan are likely to discuss the next step in The two teams also discussed proposals to New Delhi by the end of July. make the commission more effective to allay a perception that the water pact is losing its The treaty stated that once the process of utility. arbitration is initiated by any of the two countries, the umpires and the chairman India Allows Pakistan They reviewed issues related to sharing of have to be appointed within 60 days. to Inspect Hydropower flood data with the Indian officials, denying that they released floodwaters without giv- As the deadline for firming up the three Plants ing prior information to Pakistan. neutral umpires by mutual consent ended on LAHORE, Pakistan (OOSKAnews) July 16, the neutral umpires would now be India’s Indus Water Commissioner, G. Au- made final through a draw of lots. ranga Nathan, said both sides had exchanged ndia has agreed to allow Pakistan to in- views “in an atmosphere of goodwill, friend- The draw of lots will involve the United Na- I spect two hydropower plants on the Indus ship and cooperation.” tions, the World Bank and some institutions River in Indian-administered Kashmir of international repute as per the provisions to allay Islamabad’s concerns over their He said the commission was still effective in of the Indus Waters Treaty.

discharge plans, the ﬁrst occurring earlier in the week when an North Korea Releases Water to Ease estimated 1,000 tons of water per second was released from one of Pressure Following Floods its border dams.

SEOUL, South Korea (OOSKAnews) “Discharges of water from dams north of Imjin River are expected to begin at 6 a.m.,” news agency Yonhap quoted the North Korean notice as saying. outh Korean authorities have been informed by their northern S counterparts of the republic’s intent to release water from its The incident has occurred amid ongoing tensions between Seoul border dams following heavy flooding. and Pyongyang, with the south warning of heightened water disputes. Seoul’s unification ministry, which handles communications with the north, passed on the information to other government agencies In September last year, North Korea released 40 million tons of including K-Water, the agency tasked with South Korea’s water water into the Imjin River into South Korean territory from its management, control of water supply and flood control. Hwanggam Dam without any prior warning, killing six South Korean campers. The rains have dangerously flooded the dams on the North Korean side, and North Korean officials appear to have made the decision The incident heightened cross border water tensions, causing yet to release water to the south to ease pressure on the region’s water more division with the South. Seoul warned Pyongyang following supplies. the incident that it must send a warning before doing so, a warning it appears to have heeded this time. Water reportedly is expected to be released from major rivers on the north’s side of the border to prevent dangerous flooding. The secretive republic is thought to rely on its main rivers running from the mountain ranges, though its border dams have been The notification on July 22 was the second time in a week that the inundated in the past week by torrential rains from the summer wet North Korean authorities have notified the south of their water season.

EASTERN EUROPE & FSU

receive support, including making changes to the company’s activi- Hradec-Kralov Wastewater Plant ties that both the administration of the municipality and the man- Project Proceeds Without EU agement staff of the company thought would lead to inefﬁciency of operations at the local water management company. Support As a result, they decided to carry out the project using funds from PRAGUE, Czech Republic (OOSKAnews) the municipal budget and from water company Vodovody a Kanali- zace Hradec-Kralove (VaK).

radec-Kralove, a city located in the northern part of the Frantisek Barak, the head of VaK, told Vodarenstvi.cz earlier this H Czech Republic, is carrying out a $7 million USD project month that carrying out the project without European co-funding to reconstruct a municipal wastewater treatment plant even was much cheaper. though the city has not received any funding under the European Environment Operational program, which offers ﬁnancial support “European projects have their own rules,” Barak said. “You are of- for water management projects. ten forced to include things you don’t need in projects; it’s a rather typical situation. It could be requirements to connect additional The city applied for European Union co-funding for the project agglomerations to the networks [or] to carry out reconstruction in four years ago, but it was not approved. The municipality and a parallel when it is more efﬁcient to do it later.” local water management company had to meet strict criteria to

According to Barak, EU-funded projects put a lot of additional from 2008-2010 amounted to $1.03 million USD, which allowed obligations on administering companies, including frequent audits, implementation of several projects to improve water supply man- excessive data collection requirements, various legal services, etc. agement, Eho newspaper reported. All of these cost money and make work more expensive, he said. Since 2008, the UNDP implemented 15 small water supply renova- The reconstruction project for the Hradec-Kralove wastewater tion projects in Ukraine’s Nikolaev region via local communities treatment plant was launched in late 2008. within the framework of the same program, accoding to Business News of Nikolaev. The national Ministry for Agriculture allocated some $2.5 million USD in grants for the project, and $3.1 million USD worth of The newspaper quoted Manager of the UNDP in Ukraine Jay Singh credit was offered -- the national budget refunds the interest on it. Sakh as saying that the program scope in the Nikolaev region will The rest of the funds were contributed by shareholders in the water be expanded in 2011, with 65 percent of expenses funded by the management company. program, 30 percent by the state budget of Ukraine and the remaining 5 percent by local communities. Barak said the project is being carried out 30 to 40 percent more cheaply than European-funded projects.

A signiﬁcant portion of the EU funding for water management projects is being used for unnecessary things and in inappropriate ways because funds are treated as “free money,” he said. Turkmenistan to Complete Water Reservoir This Fall The management staff of VaK plan to raise water and wastewater tariffs in the future, based on the inﬂation rate. ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (OOSKAnews)

project to build a new water reservoir with a capacity of A 632,000 cubic meters near the Turkmen capital, will be completed this fall. The reservoir will supply drip irrigation UN Assists Ukraine With Water to nearby agricultural land and reduce consequences of possible Supply Renovation Projects mudflows. KIEV, Ukraine (OOSKAnews) Constructed near the Bagir village, the reservoir of the same name will accumulate and refine torrent water. It will be 600 meters long n July 20, officials of the UN Development Program (UNDP) and 277 meters wide and have an average depth of 3.8 meters. Osigned a cooperation agreement with the government of Odessa on implementing the second stage of a program to The Bagir reservoir will supplement the network of small reser- renovate water supply and infrastructure in the region for 2011- voirs in the area, including Archabil Lake, an artificial water body 2013. spreading across 5 hectares near Ashgabat and holding 300,000 cubic meters of drainage water. The program supports renovation projects initiated by local communities, as the UN is pursuing a policy of encouraging the com- However, ecologists said runoff collected by Archabil is the reason munities to organize themselves and develop small civil initiatives for toxic fumes in the surrounding area. aimed at improving the social and economic development in their districts, Revisor newspaper reported. The Golden Age Lake, also known as Altyn Asyr or Turkmen Lake, in northwestern Turkmenistan has provoked even more According to the newspaper, the first stage of the program was im- controversy over its influence on the environmental situation in the plemented in the Odessa region in spring 2008, with funding from region. the European Commission within the framework of the European Union’s Technical Assistance to CIS Countries and partial funding That artificial reservoir, officially opened by Turkmen President from the UN Development Program in Ukraine. Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov last year, spreads across 3,460 square kilometers in the Karashor depression of the Karakum Des- The program’s investments in infrastructure in the Odessa region ert, not far from the border with Uzbekistan.

It collects 130 to 150 billion cubic meters of Tisa-Danube river system and Belgrade “The consequences could be catastrophic.” drainage water from fields in the Turkmen wastewater processing strategy within its provinces of Lebap, Mary, Dashoguz, and own Danube Strategy draft, according to The final EU strategy is planned for adop- Ahal through the Trans-Turkmen Collector Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Božidar tion in December, while implementation has canal and the Dashoguz Collector. Turk- Đelić. been set for the middle of 2011. men Lake holds 132 billion cubic meters of water. Being accepted into the EC’s Danube Strat- Belgrade will host an international confer- egy means Serbia will be able to draw sev- ence on the Danube this September. Euro- Turkmen authorities said Turkmen Lake will eral billion dollars from the EU for Danube- pean Commissioner for Regional Policy help to improve water quality in the Amu related projects during the EU’s next large Johannes Hahn and European Investment Darya River and reduce water logging and budget cycle of 2014-2020. Bank President Philippe Maystadt will open land degradation, while critics have warned the conference. that the volume of the river will decrease, The projects now being included in the ultimately reducing the volume of the draft strategy, as well as several others, will shrunken Aral Sea. receive nearly $650 million USD from the European Union as soon as 2013, said Đelić. The largest river in Central Asia, the Amu Darya runs 2,400 kilometers from the junc- The EC is currently holding individual talks Kyrgyzstan Moves tion of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers to the with all 14 Danube nations -- Germany, inland Aral Sea. Austria, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Uranium Tailings to Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Ser- Protect Water The roughly 68.1 billion cubic meters of bia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, water in the Amu Darya are used by five Romania, Bulgaria, the Republic of Mol- countries -- Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajiki- dova and Ukraine, of which only eight are BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (OOSKAnews) stan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan -- with EU members. the Turkmen share at around 21 billion cubic meters. Bulgarian Regional Development Minister project to move uranium mine tail- Rosen Plevneliev was quoted by the Sofia A ings in the Mailuu-Suu River Valley Although Altyn Asyr improves the quality News Agency as saying, “Each country will to another location, which had been of the Amu Darya’s water, it may decrease receive a leading role in one of the priorities delayed because of the change of power in its volume, said Usman Buranov, techni- of the Danube Strategy. Bulgaria wishes to the country and other factors, has now been cal director of the Tashkent-based Agency be a leader, especially in the sphere of tour- launched in Kyrgyzstan. for Implementation of the Aral Sea Basin ism.” Projects. The Kyrgyz Ministry of Extreme Situations Cooperation among states is stressed as be- said tailing sites No. 3 and No. 18 will be ing essential to reach development goals and taken to No. 6 tailing site in Mailuu-Suu, a combat possible effects of climate change. town in the Jalal-Abad province of central- western Kyrgyzstan. Giorgos Kremlis, a spokesman for the EC’s EC to Provide $650 Environment Directorate-General, said, Under the framework of a project carried out Million USD to Serbia “Especially in regard to floods, it is easy for by the World Bank in Kyrgyzstan, the two problems from one country to leak into the radioactive tailings in the area of a former for Danube Strategy neighbor country. Primarily, measures must uranium plant in the Mailuu-Suu River Val- be taken against the illegal dumping grounds ley were supposed to have been moved to a safer place in 2009. BELGRADE, Serbia (OOSKAnews) on the Danube River valley.

“During ﬂooding, the waste could contami- The start of the operation was postponed he European Commission (EC) on July nate the entire river valley and Black Sea. until early April 2010, but the project that T 21 decided to renew Serbia’s Danube- has already absorbed $242,300 USD started

in May. greatly in different regions, depending on Ukraine to Establish the policy of the regional authorities. A total of 23 tailings and 13 waste rock National Water Supply dumps in the area of the former uranium For example, water supply tariffs in the Kiev plant are under threat of earthquakes, floods Tariff Regulator region are 700 percent higher than the water and landslides -- a strong earthquake or a supply tariffs in Crimea autonomous repub- landslide can cause the contents of the stor- KIEV, Ukraine (OOSKAnews) lic of Ukraine, RealNest agency reported. age area to spill into the river, triggering a catastrophe. he Ukrainian legislature, the Supreme Former Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chu- T Rada, adopted a new law on forming a dinov said a few years ago that in the event national commission for regulating the of a natural disaster, tailings and waste rock market for communal services, which came Water Levels Decrease could threaten the whole of Central Asia into force on July 22. with radioactive contamination. in Eastern European The new law stipulates that the national The Mailuu-Suu is a tributary of the Naryn regulator of the utility sector will start op- Rivers River, feeding the Syr Darya that flows erations in 2011, RBC business news agency some 2,000 kilometers through Uzbekistan, reports. CHISINAU, Moldova (OOSKAnews) Tajikistan and Kazakhstan to the Aral Sea, and if the radioactive substances are washed According to RBC, the law establishes the commission as the state supervisory body he water levels in the Prut and Dniester downstream to the densely populated Fer- rivers fell by 0.1 to 0.3 meters every ghana Valley and the Syr Darya River basin, overseeing operations of the nation’s natural T monopolies such as water supply utilities. day on the average after recent flood- millions of people in the region would be ing, Director of the Moldovan State Hydro- endangered. The commission is entrusted with providing Meteorological Service Ilie Boian said in mid-July. “We do not want a dirty object to be opened transparency and openness in these monopo- in a clean place, so it was decided to move lies’ operations, as well as detailing pricing and tariff policy in these markets. Scientists warned that floods can worsen wa- them (the tailings) to an existing tailing ter quality in those Eastern European rivers deposit,” Deputy Director of the Department that run partly through Moldova. for Monitoring and Forecasting Extreme The utility tariffs will be developed by regu- Situations Anarkul Aytaliev said in 2008, lating tariffs and encouraging competition in the utility markets, RBC reported. “About 10 serious floods have been reg- adding that the ministry chose tailing No. istered in Moldova for the last 70 years,” 6 because it is located far from the Mailuu- Boian told the country’s working group on Suu River and faces no threat of landslides. In addition, the new regulator will issue licenses to water supply, transportation and extreme situations on July 16. In 2004, the World Bank started a disaster sewerage companies and impose penalties on housing and communal services sector “This year’s flood is one of the most long- hazard project in Kyrgyzstan to “minimize lasting and serious.” the exposure of humans, livestock, and riv- companies that violate laws and regulations. erine flora and fauna to radionuclides associ- He emphasized that 70 to 80 percent of the ated with abandoned uranium mine tailings RBC quoted the president of All-Ukraine Association of Private Investors in the annual precipitation rate fell in the fist six and waste rock dumps in the Mailuu-Suu months of 2010 in most of Moldova’s terri- area,” the bank said in a statement. Housing and Communal Services Sergey Bulbas as saying that establishing the na- tory, while in the north of the country 90 to tional regulator for utility tariffs is the main 115 percent of the annual precipitation rate Out of the total project cost of $11.76 mil- fell. lion USD, $6.9 million USD is allocated by task needed to improve the utility sector in the bank’s International Development Asso- Ukraine, as current tariffs set by the local legislatures are unprofitable. “Such an amount of precipitation was regis- ciation, $1.95 million USD by the Japanese tered in Moldova for the first time in the last Ministry of Finance, $1 million USD by the 100 years,” he said. Global Environment Facility and $1.91 mil- Meanwhile, the Ukrainian press reported lion USD by the Kyrgyz government. that tariffs for water supply currently vary

Floods hit Moldova this summer, destroying at least 500 houses bic meters per year, according to U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and social and cultural facilities; thousands of hectares of farmland statistics. were affected and many roads and bridges were damaged. One man died in the flooding and another was reported missing. Fifty-eight percent of water consumed in the country is used for industrial consumption, 33 percent for agriculture and 10 percent According to Ludmila Cunicean, head of the surface water moni- for domestic consumption, the CIA said. toring center, water quality in rivers has not posed a danger up until now, but “with the increase in temperature, the level of pollu- The Dniester River has its source in Ukraine and runs about 1,360 tion in rivers may increase as water washes out everything -- cattle, kilometers through Moldova and Ukraine to the Black Sea. domestic structures, garbage.” The 953-kilometer-long Prut, flows from the Carpathian Mountains “Biogenic contamination may reach the critical level,” she noted. in southeast Ukraine, forming the border between Romania and Moldova, and then joins the Danube River in Ukraine. “That is why it is necessary to use the population to clean garbage from the water.” Both rivers are used for drinking water supply; the Dniester is the main source of drinking water in Moldova and a significant part Moldova’s total renewable water resources come to 11.7 billion of Ukraine, particularly Odessa, a city of 1 million people on the cubic meters, and total freshwater withdrawal is at 2.31 billion cu- Black Sea.

LAT I N A M E R I CA

Uncertainty Over Collection of Fines according to Tabasco Hoy. in Tabasco He also accused Conagua head José Luis Luegue Tamargo of protecting those involved. MEXICO CITY, Mexico (OOSKAnews) A report of Tabasco’s public accounts in 2008 by government auditor ASF, released last March, found irregularities of more he Mexican National Water Authority (Conagua) has not than $36.4 million USD in various projects for Tabasco’s Integral Tannounced whether it has collected fines from 10 companies Hydrological Plan (PHIT), the newspaper reported. that failed to deliver dredging and flood protection works in Tabasco state. Luegue recently admitted that Conagua only carried out 50 percent of budgeted flood protection work in the first half of the year, According to Tabasco Hoy newspaper, 11 projects worth a total of which is the country’s dry season, according to La Jornada news- $6.7 million USD, paid in advance, were due to be completed dur- paper. ing February and March of 2009.

An internal investigation found that they had not been carried out in time, and two of Conagua’s management staff were removed from ofﬁce for fraud. Biodegradable Antiscalant to Help

The amount of the ﬁnes varies from 10-15 percent of the total cost Allay Environmental Concerns of the projects, and is about $770,000 USD total, including interest GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (OOSKAnews) and other costs, according to Agua.org.mx.

Federal Deputy Adán Augusto said the lack of work led to ﬂood ith Caribbean nations relying more and more on seawater damage. He warned of a civil lawsuit to punish the guilty parties, W reverse osmosis plants as a source for domestic water, and

with governments tightening environmental In another test, done in natural seawater ing water a national resource for public use, standards, a biodegradable anti-scalant made in Penrhy Point, North Wales, the PCA according to La Nación newspaper. of polycarboxylic acid (PCA) could be a performed well in the dissolved oxygen test. solution for the region. Lack of oxygen in water is a signal of severe The new code would have covered water pollution. in all its states, and would have also estab- Suresh Patel, a senior scientist at the lished limits and obligations in regards to research and development laboratories of The testing also found that the PCA had water rights. Manchester, UK-based BWA Water Addi- good scale control properties with high re- tives said that the biodegradable products covery and controlled formation of calcium The head of the DGA’s legal division, will be the ones to survive in the market. carbonate, calcium sulphate and barium Sandra Alvarez, was quoted by Chilean sulphate crystals compared to traditional paper Estrategia as saying the reform was Accumulation of salts during the desalina- antiscalants. unnecessary, as water has been recognized tion process is referred to as membrane scal- as a national good for public use since 1857 ing. It occurs when feed water is converted According to Patel, PCA could be a good in article 595 of the Civil Code, as well as in to brine. The accumulation of salts can affect choice of antiscalant for Seawater RO plants Article 5 of the Water Code. the operation of seawater RO plants. where environmental concerns are an issue. She said that passing the code could take According to Robin Kluck, senior technical “The RO pilot plant tests shows that the four years of discussion. adviser for GE Power and Water, strategies PCA can control calcium carbonate and must be developed for maintaining produc- magnesium hydroxide scales under sea wa- Alvarez said the government has made water tion efficiency by minimizing deposits in ter operating conditions,” he said. issues a priority, and is focusing its resourc- operating desalination plants. es on three key areas -- improving informa- Recent studies by coral expert Dr Andy tion, carrying out modernization studies and To avoid scaling difficulties, it is essential Bruckner noted that sites that had 60-80 hiring capable new technical staff, Estrategia to restrict the fractional recovery of purified percent living corals now have between 5-15 reported. water below a threshold at which there is a percent living corals due to pollutants from risk of scale precipitation. human activities in the Cayman Islands.

The effective solubility limits of scaling “Natural stresses are being compounded salts and hence the allowable water recovery by human disturbances; my research has are usually extended by antiscalant treat- focused on understanding the role of these IADB, Spanish Fund ment. natural stressors in reef decline and what we Give $50 Million USD can do to minimize their impact,” he said. Antiscalants currently on the market gener- in Grants to Haiti ally contain phosphates and nitrogen, Patel said. WASHINGTON, DC, United States (OOS- KAnews) “Our objective was to produce a phospho- rous- and nitrogen-free biodegradable anti- Chile Will Not Change he Inter-American Development Bank scalant for seawater RO plants,” he said. Water Code T(IADB), together with the Span- ish Cooperation Fund for Water and When tested in an external laboratory the Sanitation in Latin America and the Carib- antiscalant, which is still experimental, BOGOTA, Chile (OOSKAnews) bean (Spanish Fund), on July 21 announced fared well under Organization for Economic $50 million USD in grants for construction Cooperation and Development (OECD) he General Water Directorate (DGA) and repairs of drinking water and sanitation test guideline, scoring 306 on the aerobic Tof Chile’s Public Works Ministry has services in Haiti. biodegradation of seawater. decided against modifying the nation’s water code to make water a public good. The Spanish Fund is granting $35 million The product’s biodegradability was tested USD and IADB is providing the remaining for 28 days; the antiscalant has not shown In January, then-President Michelle Bachelet $15 million USD. The funds will focus on evidence of accumulating in aquatic organ- oversaw an urgent government submission rehabilitation of water and sanitation ser- isms, which other antiscalants have been to congress of a constitutional reform declar- vices in Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince. doing over time.

Some $29.5 million USD of the Spanish Fund grant will be for high-priority repairs and service expansion projects. Petroecuador Oil Spill Will Take 75 Days to Clean Up Repairs cover damage to reservoirs, pumping states and water mains and wells resulting from the devastating January 12, 2010 QUITO, Ecuador (OOSKAnews) earthquake.

There will also be projects to repair leaks, provide water to re- tate-owned Petroecuador announced last week that it needs settlements, install water meters, purchase generators and install San estimated 75 days to clean up a heavy diesel fuel spill on water kiosks where connections are not available. the Teaone River in Ecuador’s northern coastal Esmeraldes province. A second component includes a $17 million USD grant to strength- en the institutional capacity of Haiti’s National Water and Sanita- The July 10 spill of 1,300 barrels of fuel from overflowing holding tion Directorate (DINEPA). tanks entered a canal that flows into the river, contaminating water, flora and fauna. These funds will support day-to-day operations, prepare and imple- ment investment programs, help establish basic administrative Of the 1,300 barrels, 1,150 “were deposited into the (refinery’s) ca- and commercial systems and assess viable options for improving nals and contingency pit,” while the remaining 150 spilled directly services, the IADB said. into the river, the company said in a July 22 statement.

Haiti’s Ministry of Health will receive a $500,000 USD in grant The heads of Petroecuador’s health, safety and environmental funds to help with combating waterborne diseases like Lymphatic departments toured the contaminated areas “where cleaning crews Filariasis (elephantiasis) and parasites known as Soil-Transmitted were manually weeding out and cleaning the vegetation affected,” Helminthes. the statement said.

This is not the ﬁrst grant program for Haiti on which the IADB and The company will continue providing local communities with the Spanish Fund have cooperated. In April, the IADB approved “medical assistance” for health problems associated with the spill, a project for rural water and sanitation improvement, backed by a it added. $10 million USD grant from the Spanish Fund. “Technicians determined in a preliminary evaluation that, based In October 2009, the Spanish Fund gave $20 million USD in on the characteristics of the fuel oil and the land surrounding the grants, while IADB gave $19 million USD, for improvement and Teaone River, a clean-up technique using re-circulated water from expansion of water and sanitation systems in Saint-Marc, Port-De that same river with biodegradable products should be employed,” Paix, Les Cayes, Jacmel, Ouanaminthe and Cap-Haitien. it said.

The IADB is also currently working on a $15 million USD project However, vegetation needs to be cleaned manually and organic for water and sanitation in rural areas of the departments of Grande waste will be processed at a reﬁnery and then used later on for Anse, Nippes, Artibonite and Ouest. composting.

IADB and the Spanish Fund have teamed up eight times for water The company said they have collected about 100 barrels thus far, and sanitation projects in Latin America since the fund’s creation while 50 barrels are thought to be on the banks of the river and in 2008 by Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, in- under-vegetation. cluding projects in Peru, Bolivia and Guatemala. The Esmeraldes reﬁnery is the country’s largest, with a capacity of The two institutions are also reviewing several more projects in 110,000 barrels of crude oil a day. Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras and Uruguay.

MEDIA BRIEFS FROM THE REGION ALB ANIA

World Bank The new World Bank-Interna- management and increasing in the Southern Europe and tional Finance Corporation disaster preparedness.” Central Asia Department of Discusses New (IFC) joint CPS envisages the International Finance Country Partnership ﬁnancing up to $275 million “Building on the previous Corporation (IFC). Strategy for Albania USD from the International successful cooperation of Bank for Reconstruction and IBRD-IFC joint interventions Albania is among the Euro- WASHINGTON, DC Development (IBRD) and up in critical sectors, such as en- pean countries most vulner- to $120-150 million USD from ergy, the IBRD and IFC have able to the effects of climate The World Bank Group’s the IFC over the four-year cooperated since the inception change, and it needs to better Board of Directors discussed period. of this strategy for a program- manage water resources and a new Country Partnership matic approach, with a focus water use to address changing Strategy (CPS) for Albania. Jane Armitage, World Bank on important sectors for the climatic conditions, according Country Director and Region- sustainable development of to the bank. The strategy will provide the al Coordinator for Southeast the country, including energy, framework for the bank’s Europe, said the strategy “… roads, water supply and waste This is one of the strategic assistance to Albania for will assist Albania to meet management sectors, as well objectives of the joint World 2011-2014, in line with the the new challenge of climate as improving the business Bank Group CPS program. country’s National Strategy change, through improv- environment,” said George for Development and Integra- ing water conservation and Konda, principal economist Source: World Bank Group tion.

ARMENIA

Lake Sevan for stable development. riverbed may considerably Armenia’s Ministry of Nature reduce the rate at which the Protection has acknowledged Commission to The Argichi ﬂows into Lake lake water is rising. that a hydropower plant could Discuss Hydropower Sevan. not legally be constructed on Plant In addition, 30,000 resi- the Argichi; it gave permis- “I am totally against chang- dents of ﬁve communities sion for construction of the YEREVAN ing the Argichi riverbed for -- Gegharkunik-Geghovit, plant on the Yeghegis feder, the sake of the new hydro- Madina, Vaghashen, Nerkin which runs through the Vayots The Commission for Lake Se- power plant, as after that Getashen and Verin Getashen Dzor region. van on July 23 was to discuss it will be directed to Vayots -- will be left without irriga- construction of a hydropower Dzor region, bypassing Sevan. tion water if the Argichi riv- However, the plant construc- plant on the Argichi River, ac- One should not permit it,” she erbed undergoes changes to tion project has been moving cording to Karine Denielyan, said. accommodate the hydropower forward regardless. chair of the Lake Sevan Com- plant. mittee and of the association Experts said changing the Source: ARMINFO News Agency

A Z ERB AIJ AN

11 Facilities nizations were fined $5,260 during routine monitoring by mandatory instructions given. USD for violations of water Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Ecol- Penalized for Water resources protection laws. ogy and Natural Resources Source: News.az (Azerbaijan) Resources Violations this month. Altogether, five The violations were detected acts were compiled and five BAKU Eleven facilities and orga-

BULGARIA

Sofia to Host Second The 2010 Forum served as a Netherlands. Decentralized Energy. market and networking venue Environmental for providers of technol- The event was held under the Bulgarian branch partners International Forum ogy and expertise in waste auspices of the Bulgarian included the Bulgarian As- Event and water management and Ministry of Environment and sociation of Recycling, Energy recycling. Water and the Energy Effi- Agency of Plovdiv, Informa- SOFIA ciency Agency. International tion Group Passive Buildings It included over 250 par- partners included the German Bulgaria, Bulgarian Associa- The Environmental Interna- ticipants and speakers from Water Partnership, the Euro- tion for Construction Insula- tional Forum SAVE the Planet Austria, Australia, Belgium, pean Water Partnership, the tion and Waterproofing and – Waste & Water Manage- Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Netherlands Water Partner- the Bulgarian Water Associa- ment, Recycling will be held Ireland, Norway, Spain, The ship, the Netherlands Waste tion. in Sofia, Bulgaria on April Netherlands and the United Management Partnership, 13-15, 2011. Kingdom. the European Organization Source: Via Expo Ltd. of Strategic Planning, and The focus country was the WADE - World Alliance for

C HINA

Oil Spill Threatens spread to 430 square kilome- Maritime Safety Administra- China Central Television had ters, and threatens water qual- tion, said on July 21. Forty reported that an estimated Water Quality, ity and marine life. “The oil oil-skimming boats and 800 1,500 tons of oil had spilled. Marine Life spill will pose a severe threat ﬁshing boats are being used to The oil slick originated when to marine animals, and water clean up the spill; in addition, a pipeline at a busy northeast- BEIJING quality and the sea birds,” a 15-kilometer oil barrier has ern port exploded. Huang Yong, deputy bureau been set up to stop the slick China’s largest oil spill has chief for the Dalian, China spreading. Source: TodayOnline (Singa- pore)

GERMANY

Algae Bloom Found weather gave cyanobacteria ﬂammation,” and swallowing Microbiologist Klaus Jürgens the chance to form the largest water containing algae could of the Institute for Baltic Sea in Baltic Sea algae carpet seen in the sea cause gastro-intestinal prob- Resarch in Rostock, said the SCHWERIN since 2005. lems, said Karin Stein, head algae outbreak was a man- of the environmental analysis made problem. Germany’s Ofﬁce for Environ- departments. A blue-green algae bloom cov- ment, Nature and Geology in The northern and central ering about 377,000 square the northern state of Mecklen- The carpet of Algae stretches parts of the sea off the coasts kilometers has formed on the burg-Western Pomerania sent from Finland down to the of Finland, Sweden, Russia surface of the Baltic Sea. an observation ship on July 22 Curonian spit on the coast and parts of the Baltic states, to take water measurements. of Lithuania, over to the Bay were most affected he said. The algae threatens marine Early indications are that the of Pomerania on the coasts life and could pose a risk to bloom include the Anabaena of Germany and Poland and “The satellite pictures are be- humans, according to authori- and Nodularia types. across to Rügen, a German ing analysed at the moment,” ties. island off the coast of Meck- he said. “The types are potentially lenburg-Western Pomerania. The long heat spell and calm toxic and can cause skin in- Source: The Local (Germany)

GHANA

Tariff Hikes Could Ghana Industries (AGI) Nana years. connections, recovery of Owusu Afari. public institutions’ unpaid Lead to Lay-Offs “This mechanism ensures bills and to reduce corruption ACCRA At a July 21 press conference, regular increment on gradual and improve power supply. Afari said that in order to save basis, instead of leaving a He called for a suspension Recent increases in water and industries from collapsing, long gap and suddenly im- of the implementation of the electricity tariffs of 36 percent “the Public Utilities Regula- posing high utility rates on adjusted tariffs until a review and 89 percent, respectively, tory Commission (PURC) consumers.” was completed. could result in some indus- [should] consider re-instate- tries closing and employees ment of the tariff adjustments He said utility service pro- Source: Public Agenda being laid off, according to mechanism that has been viders should put measures (Ghana) President of the Association of suspended for the past three in place to improve illegal

INDIA

World Bank Loan additional $150 million USD state. million people in 1,650 villag- for a water supply project in es, including Beglaum, Bidar, for North Karnataka 11 districts of North Karna- The new funds will help Bijapur, Dharwad, Gadag, Supply taka, under an agreement extend the $172.3 million Gulbarga, Koppal, Raichur signed last week by the bank, USD Karnataka Rural Water and Uttara Kannada. BANGALORE the Indian government and Supply and Sanitation Project The World Bank will lend an the government of Karnataka (KRWSS) to an additional 4 The project will be imple-

mented between July 2010 to drinking water to about 5 mil- the form of a credit from the with 35 years’ maturity and a June 2012. lion people. International Development 10-year-grace period. Association (IDA), which It has already provided clean The $150 million USD is in provides interest-free loans Source: PTI (India)

INDONESIA

Indonesia to Face “Sulawesi and East Nusa population at a rate of up to supply available in reservoirs, Tenggara’s deficits will stand 1.53 percent per year. lakes and rivers.” Water Crisis at 42.5 billion and 4.5 billion cubic meters, respectively.” “The government must Continued environmental JAKARTA increase its water production degradation could even lead Indonesia is on the verge of “Irreversible deforestation capacity to accommodate the to deterioration of water water crisis due to environ- has played a huge role in ever-increasing population of resources on islands thought mental destruction and rapid climate change, which will Java,” Sutopo said. to have abundant water re- population growth, accord- inevitably have an impact sources, like Kalimantan and ing to both water experts and on water catchment areas or According to Dr. Gadis Sri Sumatra. governmental officials. resources, such as rivers and Haryani of the Indonesian lakes,” Sutopo told attendees Institute of Sciences, noted An official with state-owned “Java and Bali will experi- at a seminar in Jakarta on that because of environmen- water company PDAM said ence shortages of 134 billion July 21. tal degradation “ …the dry coal mining along the Taba- and 27.6 billion cubic meters, seasons will be longer, which long River along with defores- respectively, of fresh water He said Indonesian forests means there won’t be enough tation had seriously damaged by 2015,” said Sutopo Purwo were disappearing more rainwater absorbed in catch- the river basin and polluted Nugroho of the Agency for quickly than any other part of ment areas. At the same time, its water. Assessment and Application of the world. a definite temperature rise will Technology (BPPT). speed up evaporation, and this Source: Jakarta Post (Indo- Meanwhile, the country’s will seriously reduce the water nesia)

ISRAEL

Erdan Questions conservation will only be nec- term “is not a rude word for has invested and will continue essary for another three years times of crisis only, but a way to invest in education and PR Water Authority until new desalination plants of life that takes into account campaigns about wise use of Campaign were completed. natural resources and does water all the time. Since the not destroy them,” he said. middle of 2008, a campaign TEL AVIV In a letter to National In- has been running along the Environmental Protection frastructures Minister Uzi Erdan said water conserva- same lines that the minister Minister Gilad Erdan called Landau and Water Authority tion should be emphasized all presented, under the banner into question the Water Au- head Professor Uri Shani, the time. ‘Israel is drying out.’ And in thority’s new ad campaign, Erdan said the message of fact, the Israeli public reduced which suggests that water the campaign was not in line For its part, the authority its water consumption by 20 with “sustainable” living; the said, “The Water Authority percent.

“During the current PR FoEME Urges of attempting to lower health University, the Ben-Gurion campaign, the Water Authority standards to keep the baptism University of the Negev in is continuing the exact same Closure of Jordan site open. Israel and German membrane message and is continuing to Baptism Site and ultrafiltration company ask the public to conserve. At The Health Ministry said no inge watertechnologies AG. the same time, the Water Au- TEL AVIV decision had yet been made thority sees as its responsibil- Environmental group Friends about closure, because results The project aims to find ways ity to report to the public what of the Earth Middle East of samples taken by the to reduce fouling and scaling steps it is taking in parallel to (FoEME) urged the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority in membranes, especially in the public’s efforts to conserve government to close down had not yet come back. It said treating municipal wastewater, water: erecting essential de- a baptism site at the lower it would not change existing and to make the plants using salination plants that will be Jordan River until water qual- guidelines. The environmental Multiple Integrated Mem- completed within three years ity standards for tourists and group called on Israel and brane System (MIMS) more and will remove the danger pilgrims were met. Jordan to work on rehabilitat- efficient in the long term. of Lake Kinneret drying up; ing the river. rehabilitating polluted wells; “…the lower Jordan River According to estimates, the drilling new wells; increased has long suffered from severe Source: Ha’aretz (Israel) cost of desalinating second- pumping; and more.” mismanagement,” the group ary wastewater is only about said in a statement. a third of the cost of seawater “The campaign does not desalination, as long as the permit the destruction [of the It said Israel, Syria and German, Israeli strain placed on the mem- Kinneret], but rather reflects Jordan were diverting 98 branes by the wastewater does to the public the situation percent of its water and were Ministries Launch not lead to significantly higher of the water economy and discharging untreated sewage, Research Project fouling rates in both the even specifically points out: ultrafiltration and RO (reverse agricultural run-off, saline GREIFENBERG In three years ‘the Kinneret water and fishpond effluent osmosis) membranes. will emerge from the danger into the river, causing serious The German Federal Ministry of drying out,’ but until then, health risks. of Education and Research The project will conduct tests and after then, the public must (BMBF) and the Israeli Min- in the lab and in a water treat- continue to conserve,” it said. FoEME’s Israel Director istry of Science and Technol- ment plant in Israel near Beer Gidon Bromberg also accused ogy (MOST) launched a $1.9 Sheva. Source: The Jerusalem Post the Tourism Ministry and million USD research project (Israel) Nature and Parks Authority involving Dresden Technical Source: inge AG

J ORDAN

New Penalties for A new amendment to Penal If the crime is repeated, He added that an ongoing Code No. 16, Article 456 was violators will be imprisoned field study carried out by three Water Theft cancelled and replaced with between four and 24 months companies in Amman to mea- AMMAN a new one, Paragraph B, and fined $280 USD to $1,400 sure water loss in the capital stipulating that those found USD. “…indicated that water loss is guilty of stealing water from highest in the south of Amman People found guilty of water main or domestic networks, “These people should end because some people illegally theft face new penalties sabotaging such networks, or their violations and rectify pump water from water net- including jail and fines under illegally pumping or tamper- their situation because there works to irrigate their crops.” new amendments to the penal ing with water meters will be are stricter regulations now code that went into effect on imprisoned for three to 12 that lead to jail and we will “There are nine areas in south July 1, according to Minister months and fined $140 USD to be serious about enforcing Amman where water loss is of Water and Irrigation Mo- $700 USD. them,” Najjar said. the highest, estimated at 20 hammad Najjar.

percent out of the total water campaign in August to end all security authorities,” he said. not monitored by authorities loss in Amman of 35 percent. violations on water networks, or designated for irrigation Faulty meters and pipes will he said. Najjar also warned that and sell the water to people, be ﬁxed, and violations will be “Some people take advantage which causes health prob- prosecuted,” he said. “If the ministry’s teams face of the hot weather during lems.” resistance or violence from summer and ﬁll up their tanks The ministry is launching a violators it will seek help from from water sources that are Source: Jordan Times

LAOS

Progress Report on Bank and Asian Development that pressure on natural A monitoring program is con- Bank, which provided funding resources has been growing tinuing to watch for unantici- Nam Theun Project for the project. as a result of local population pated impacts downstream. Notes Environmental growth as well as of extrac- Challenges The report noted that the tion of timber, mineral and Laos received its first revenues project’s environment protec- fish resources by commercial of $600,000 USD in June from VIENTIANE tion and social development interests. sales of electricity to Thai- program in Nakai Plateau, land. As Laos begins to see its first Nam Theun and Xe Bang Fai It said that downstream on the revenues from the Nam Theun Downstream Areas and the Xe Bang Fai River, the report Source: International Water 2 hydropower plant, the coun- NT2 Watershed were overcom- said most of the impacts of Power and Dam Construction try still faces challenges in ing some obstacles to imple- increased water flow had been terms of safeguarding natural mentation. anticipated and mitigation resources, according to a proj- measures put in place. ect update report by the World However, the report warned

MALAYSIA

New Study Needed Water Resources Study there now but due to climate cause a major water crisis,” (NWRS) had failed to take change, the wind can just he said. on Water Supply, into account climate change, blow and shift the rain clouds Demand which had caused ﬂoods and to other areas. That will make Santiago was commenting on droughts at some locations. the dam useless,” he said. the back-and-forth currently KLANG taking place between Selangor “The El Nino phenomenon we With 97 percent of Malay- Menteri Besar (Chief Minis- The federal government encountered in 1998 is one sia’s water resources coming ter) Khalid Ibrahim and En- should carry out a new study good example. Take the [$2.8 from rivers and streams, the ergy, Green Technology and on water supply and demand billion USD] Kelau Dam government should work on Water Deputy Minister Noriah in the country, according to project in Pahang. Climate diversifying water resources, Kasnon on Klang Valley water Klang MP Charles Santiago. change was not taken into he said. “Can you imagine issues. consideration when the gov- what will happen if it doesn’t Santiago said reports pro- ernment mooted the project. rain much anymore and our Source: Free Malaysia Today duced by the Malaysia Water There is plenty of downpour rivers get polluted? That will Association and the National

POLAND

128 Polish tricts in Poland are vulnerable The institute issued a state- been issued for 128 districts, to drought this summer, ac- ment warning of the potential mainly in the western provinc- Districts Susceptible cording to the Institute of Soil for drought between May 10 es of Wielkopolska, Western to Drought Science and Plant Cultivation and July 10. Pomerania and Lubusz. (IUNG). WARSAW Warnings of drought have Source: PAP (Poland)

One hundred twenty-eight dis-

ROMANIA

Gabriel Resources Toronto-registered Gabriel concern is that the cyanide extraction is completed. Resources owns 80 percent used to extract the gold could Resurrects of the stakes in the Rosia pollute land and water in the A resolution voted by the Rosia Montana Montana Gold Corporation area, according to a study by European Parliament in May Mining Project (RMGC), while Romanian the Romanian Academy. The asked for a complete ban on state-owned Minvest Deva Academy has advised against cyanide-based mining. The TORONTO, ON holds most of the remaining the project. EU Water Framework Direc- shares. tive said “cyanide mining ... Canada’s Gabriel Resources The RMGC, for its part, runs the risk of causing enor- resurrected a cyanide-based The project has faced opposi- claims the project will stop mous cross-border damage, gold mining project in Rosia tion since 2002. One reason pollution and protect the the cost of which is usually Montana that was declared il- is that it would involve the environment. The ﬁrm said it not met by the responsible legal and is opposed by many resettlement of all villagers would clear existing pollution operating companies.” Romanians. from Rosia. The most pressing and clean up everything once Source: IPS

RWANDA

75 Percent of had access to electricity, but Rwanda Water and Sanita- Nzove Water Treatment Plant now it is 15 percent, while tion Cooperation (RECO/ in Nyarugenege District. Rwandans Have currently, 75 percent of Rwan- RWASCO) to expedite current Access to Clean dans have access to clean projects so additional projects Director General of RECO/ Water water,” Karega said. can be financed to meet this RWASCO Yves Muyange said goal. that by December 2010, the KIGALI He said the ministry aims to plant will double production have the entire population RECO/RWASCO management to 30,000 cubic meters per Seventy-five percent of Rwan- accessing clean water from as said the country still has a day. dans have full access to clean close to home as possible by deficit of 20,000 cubic meters water, according to Infrastruc- 2015. of water per day. Source: The New Times ture Minister Vincent Karega. (Rwanda) He called on the Rwanda Karega was speaking during a “Before 2003, only 4 percent Electricity Cooperation and visit to the $24.7 million USD

New Reservoir to sioned a new water reservoir Director of Water at the to maintain this water tank that will ease water shortages Rwanda Electricity Corpo- because it’s very expensive to Ease Shortages in in the Nyakabanda, Kigali, ration and Rwanda Water construct and the more you Nyarugenge District Nyamirambo and Mager- and Sanitary Corporation protect it, the more it will be agere sectors in Nyarugenge (RECO-RWASCO) Theoneste of beneﬁt to you” Minani said. KIGALI District. Minani said construction was completed in ﬁve months. Source: The New Times The Rwanda Water and Construction of the reservoir (Rwanda) Sanitary Corporation commis- cost $165,000 USD. “We urge residents of the area

U GANDA

Egypt Dismisses countries over the sharing of and cooperation. and Uganda were bound to- River Nile. gether inseparably by the Nile Reports of Nile Basin He said there was no need for and hoped all parties would Crisis Egyptian Ambassador to international arbitration in work to resolve all outstand- Uganda Sabry Magdy Sabry the Nile Basin dispute. ing issues. KAMPALA said his country was commit- ted to work for Nile Basin Ini- Ugandan Foreign Affairs Min- Source: New Vision (Uganda) Egypt dismissed reports of tiative goals through dialogue ister Sam Kutesa said Egypt a crisis among Nile Basin

Z IMB A B WE

Local Authorities in The agency said it will be In Kariba, the Nyamhunga EMA Mashonaland West pro- forced to prosecute the local sewage pond near Lake Kar- vincial environmental quality Mashonaland West authorities to enforce compli- iba has not been de-sludged ofﬁcer Simbiso Pedzisai said Dump Raw Sewage ance with environmental laws. for eight years; its water jets local authorities would be Into Water Bodies are no longer functioning and issued orders to address the For their part, the local raw sewage is being dis- problem this week. HARARE councils said the sewage charged directly into the lake, infrastructure in their areas is according to the agency. “Some of the local authorities dilapidated and beyond repair. are not that bad but attention Most local authorities in In Kadoma, raw efﬂuent from is lacking in making sure that Mashonaland West Province A recent inspection by the Rimuka and Visser treatment the problems, which could discharge their raw sewage environmental watchdog plants is being discharged into cause an environmental haz- into major rivers and dams, found that sewerage treatment Hoffman Dam and Mshuma ard are attended to,” she said. posing a threat to the environ- facilities in Kadoma, Chegutu, Stream. In Chegutu, raw sew- ment, according to the prov- Kariba, Karoi and Chin- age is being directly released Source: The Herald (Zimba- ince’s Environmental Manage- hoyi were operating without into Mupfure River from bwe) ment Agency (EMA). licenses. the decommissioned Heroes ponds.