MEDIA 21 ON WATER : A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Water: a matter of life and death Investigating the global sanitation and water crises

This Media21 journalist workshop was organized jointly with PATH, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, United Nations Office to Support the International Decade for Action 'Water for Life' 2005-2015, Water Advocates, Water and Sanitation Programme, Water Supply and Sanitation Colla- borative Council, World Water Council 5th World Water Forum, Istanbul, March 16-22, 2009 Fieldtrips India and Ethiopia: March 22-28, 2009

List of Participating Journalists

1. Mr.ADI PRABOWO Aryo Indonesia SCTV 2. Mr.AGMEGNIGNON François Koami Togo Radio Zephyr 3. Ms.AL-SAKKAF Nadia Yemen Yemen Times 4. Ms.ATYYAT Farah Jordan Al-Ghad Daily Newspaper 5. Mr.BAKKAL Ismail Turkey Ilhas Press Agency 6. Ms.DIMMOCK Jessica USA International Center for Photography 7. Mr.DOWELL William USA/Switz The Global Post online 8. Ms.EICHENSEHER Tasha USA National Geographic 9. Mr.FERGUSON Kevin USA Grist Mag./Ooska News, Business Week, New York Times 10. Ms.GREGORY Salome Tanzania Mwananchi Communications Limited 11. Ms.GUREZ Lilia Moldova Infotag news agency 12. Mr.ISLAM Saiful Bangladesh BSS News Agency 13. Mr.JAWOKO Kennedy Canada Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 14 Ms.KHALID HUSSEIN Khadija USA PBS, CNN, ABC 15. Mr.LA MARCA Chris USA International Center for Photography 16. Ms.METAXA Maia Moldova Imedia - Committee for Freedom of the Press 17. Ms.MEZINI Valbona Albania Albanian Public Television, TVSH 18. Mr.MUFTI Shehryar Pakistan DAWN News 19. Ms.MUNAWAR SHOHINOVNA Boeva Tajikistan Tajik Television, Furughi Oriono Studio, Radio of Tajikistan 20. Mr.OKONGO Edwin Kenya/USA Frontline World TV 21. Ms.ONYIMBO Winfred Kenya Trans World Radio 22. Mr.RAMOS BANEGAS Alberto Honduras Prensa Verde monthly 23. Ms.RAZZAQ Shabina Pakistan Jang Group 24. Ms.REHMAN Teresa India Tehelka Mag. 25. Mr.ROCHA REVILLA Alvaro Peru Somos/El Comercio 26. Ms.ROWLEY Jacqueline USA/Canada BBC, PBS, ZDF, Al Jazeera 27. Mr.RUBIN Joseph USA Frontline World TV 28. Mr.RUFFINO ARTAGNAN Frans Indonesia Trans TV 29. Mr.SAUER John USA online blogs 30. Mr.SAWYER Jon USA Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting 31. Mr.STONEHILL, Alexander USA Forex, Frontline World TV 32. Ms.TOURBE Caroline France Science & Vie 33. Mr.TREASTER Joseph USA Miami University, New York Times 34. Mr.WAITITU Ernest Kenya Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting 35. Mr.WEISER Matt USA Sacramento Bee 36. Ms.XIONG Manlin China Central China Television 37. Mr.ZANDI Reza Iran Shahrvand Merroz Weekly Newsmagazine

Editorial Board: Fabrice BOULÉ, Edward GIRARDET, Yoga RANGATIA, Daniel WERMUS. Coordinator: Flavio LUCCHESI Editorial Partnership: Crosslines Essential Media Ltd. 2

On Assignment #8, March 2009

2.5 Billion People World Water Council, PATH development assistance International , Water Advo- without involving the media Want to Use the cates , Water Aid, UN Office is not only irresponsible but Toilet (and 900 for the international 'Water missing the point. ―People for Life' Decade and the have the right to be in- million have a WSSCC , will bring in more formed and a media that drinking problem) than 40 editors, reporters, understands what is going photographers and produc- on represents the most By Edward Girardet ers from all over the globe. effective tool for achieving Sixteen of these will take this.‖ An estimated 2.5 billion part in two separate field The Istanbul workshop plus people (40 percent) of the trips, one to India, the other the field trips will have a world‘s population lack to Ethiopia, to provide them specific focus on health, but access to clean water, with a chance to report first- will also explore the impact of toilets or proper sanitation. hand the broader chal- water and sanitation on Another 600 million must lenges of providing people poverty, development, and survive without regular with clean water and ac- human rights. It will seek to water. At the same time, cessible sanitation. draw attention to relatively two in five childhood deaths The Media21 initiative, simple and inexpensive are caused by water-related which focuses on key global forms of intervention, wheth- diseases and infections. themes, such as climate er by governments, aid The Geneva-based non- change to peacekeeping agencies or the private governmental organization and security, humanitarian sector, for improving the Media21 is seeking to relief, human rights and quality – and use - of water. provide greater public access to health, is de- Another aspect is whether awareness of this dire signed specifically to pro- the planet will finally place a worldwide situation by vide journalists with a proper value on water, holding the first of its broader and more global increasingly viewed as the principal 2009 Global awareness of these issues. ―new petroleum,‖ but in a Journalism Network work- It also provides journalists manner that will achieve a shops next week in Istanbul with a practical platform to more equitable and sustain- (16-22 March) in conjunc- interact informally with key able distribution of this tion with the 5th World players, whether govern- increasingly scarce resource, Water Forum. Some 20,000 ment officials, UN agencies, whether for drinking, agricul- international aid, NGO, private sector, NGOs or ture or industry. government, private sector military. Media21 will publish online and other participants are Daniel Wermus, head of and in print a compilation of expected to attend this key Media21, maintains that it is selected articles, broadcast global gathering overlooking crucial to recognize the role reports and photographs in the Bosphurus. Over the of the media as a player. its next special edition of ON next several weeks, The ―Unless there is more ASSIGNMENT. This can be Essential Edge will highlight informed, critical and con- found on the Media21 some of these crucial issues sistent independent report- website. through its own reporters ing of these issues, there plus dispatches contributed will be no proper accounta- With Fabrice Boulé and Daniel by journalists participating in bility or transparency vis a Wermus the Media21 workshop. vis the public-at-large.‖ He The Media21 initiative on added that for the interna- the value of water, which is tional community to under- www.media21geneva.org being co-organized with the take humanitarian and www.essentialgeneva.com

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MEDIA 21 ON WATER : A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Foul Air In The Gardens former MLA Padmanath Kairee feels the tea estate management can do much Thursday, 14 May 2009 more in creating awareness about the

disease and clamping down on the By Teresa REHMAN, Tehelka online availability of spurious liquor and tobacco Tuberculosis is rife among Assam‘s on the estate premises. But what Kairee Adivasi tea estate workers, but everyone and the health officials miss in their is blaming the workers themselves. prescriptions is that winning the battle NOWHERE IS the scourge of tuberculosis against TB will require, above all, a cure crueler than in Assam‘s tea gardens. for the workers‘ wretched poverty. Barely a few meters from a government health centre that promises a free, six- http://www.tehelka.com/story_mai month ―100 percent‖ cure, the disease has n38.asp?filename=Ne290308foul claimed a young man‘s life after reducing air.asp him to a skeleton. Three years ago, it had killed his father. His 13-year-old sister has been taking the same medicines for the A novel method to shame past four months — despite the deaths, the shameless in Tripura she has seen them cure her mother‘s TB. Lakheswari Bhumij says her brother Ganesh would throw away the drugs The World Health Organization (WHO) Thursday, 14 May 2009 prescribed under the government‘s declared TB a global health emergency in By Teresa Rehman, Tehelka online Directly Observed Treatment — Short 1993, and its new Stop TB Partnership A hilarious cartoon put up in a village Course (DOTS). ―He found the medicines has formulated a plan to save 14 million square of a family found defecating in the nauseating and complained they made lives between 2006 and 2015. In Assam, complete with the names and addresses him even sicker,‖ she says. That has the Central government runs 65 specia- of the offenders. Well, this scenario is the made her even more careful about her lized TB centers and 332 microscopy labs reality for people in Tripura‘s S.N. Colony illness. ―I have segregated my utensils in addition to over 5,000 units that offer Gram Panchayat. This novel method to and bed sheets and I cover my sputum the DOTS package. But most officials shame people who s(p)oiled the village with soil.‖ claim they are hard-pressed to check the surroundings was part of a resolution Lakheswari‘s neighbor Sumitra Rajput is a disease‘s spread because the patients passed in 2004 by the panchayat in S. N. mother of five. She completed the DOTS don‘t follow the prescribed course, refuse Colony village in Jirania Rural Develop- course last year but Ganesh‘s death has to abstain from tobacco and alcohol, and ment Block in West Tripura district, 18 km left her apprehensive. ―I still feel weak and prefer treatments from witch-doctors and from Agartala. The panchayat‘s order there‘s a pain in my chest when I cough. I faith healers. Nakul Kurmi, an Adivasi who worked and this village with 670 house- don‘t know why I got the disease. Nobody teaches at a school in Sonitpur, says the holds was free from open defecation and in my family ever suffered from TB,‖ she tea workers live insular lives and haven‘t was also awarded the Nirmal Gram says. Assam‘s tea industry is extremely come to terms with modernity. ―Their Puraskar in 2005. labor-intensive, with as much as 95 standard of living is very poor and they The brainchild of the then village percent of the workforce comprising lack basic knowledge about hygiene and headman Bijay Karmakar, the panchayat manual workers. Adivasis, brought in by sanitation. So much so, they turn the both amused and alarmed the villagers. It the British as indentured laborers, toilets into storehouses for firewood, worked as nobody wanted to be caught dominate this community and have come preferring to defecate in the open,‖ he and shamed in front of the entire village. to be known as ―tea tribes‖. A number of says. ―As part of the Total Sanitation campaign studies have shown that TB is overwhel- MOST PATIENTS suffer a relapse, says (TSC), we provided squatting plates to mingly a disease of the poor, and the Dr Rajen Roy, medical officer at the every family so that they did need to commonest cause of death among them. Sonabeel tea estate. ―They don‘t complete relieve themselves in the open. We then In terms of income, tea garden workers the dosage nor take precautions, and conducted an intensive campaign through figure in the country‘s lowest ranks and spread the disease among their family public meetings and door-to-door are most vulnerable to TB. Almost every and neighbors. We have seen whole meetings. But, I think the resolution to put household in the ―labor lines‖ — as the families perish from TB.‖ The government up the poster was the real clincher,‖ workers‘ colonies are called — has a story has tried to both cajole and threaten Karmakar told Tehelka. to tell of the dreaded disease. The picture patients to regularly report for check-ups, The authorities implementing the TSC is as grim even on leading gardens like but to little avail. The stigma attached to were also bemused by this interesting the Harchurah Tea Estate owned by TB also complicates things. Casual worker step taken by the villagers which could, McLeod Russel India Limited in Sonitpur Durpoti Sabar, 18, visits the Harchura they felt, also strike the right emotional district. Kunti Gaur, who plucks tea leaves, health centre thrice a week for the doses chord. Deepak Das, Additional Chief contracted TB three years ago and but has kept her parents in the dark. Engineer, Drinking Water and Sanitation suffered a relapse last year. Now her Doctors say there are several reasons for department, Tripura feels that this husband wants their daughter to not take the high incidence of TB among the campaign should also be replicated in her Class X exams and start working. ―I laborers ,ranging from lack of nutrition and other villages in Tripura. ―People in am the sole breadwinner now. What can I too much tobacco and spurious liquor, to Tripura were used to defecating in bore- do?‖ he asks. Having the daughter work exposure to indiscriminate spraying of hole latrines. Though it is open, at least it on the tea gardens will also help in pesticides. is in one fixed place. We are now trying to retaining the living quarters in the colony. The state government, meanwhile, tell them about modern toilets,‖ says Das. Under the tea industry‘s conventional continues to claim success for the DOTS Convincing the masses in Tripura has not laws, the son or daughter can inherit the program. State Tuberculosis Officer D. been difficult because the TSC is a permanent worker‘s post, and thereby the Das says the basic objective of the comprehensive program to ensure company accommodation. program — detection of at least 70 sanitation facilities in rural areas with the percent of new TB cases and a cure rate broader goal of eradicating open of at least 85 percent among the newly defecation. The TSC is a part of reform detected infections — is being met. Last principles initiated in 1999 when the year, treatment was initiated on 36,766 Central Rural Sanitation Program was patients across Assam, and the success restructured, making it demand-driven and rate was 86 percent. ―We have achieved people centered. our target,‖ says Das. Adivasi leader and 4

On Assignment #8, March 2009

Interview of Teresa The Art of Marketing a Rehman, India Water Purifier

Wednesday, 13 May 2009 By Kevin Ferguson, The New-York Times ―I think we really need to break the glass online ceiling here, and we need more women at May 8, 2009 -- For eight years, Procter & the decision-making level.‖ Gamble has tried everything to market its Teresa Rehman is the principal corres- PUR disinfectant powder — a quick way pondent for Tehelka Magazine in to make filthy water usable and a potential The main goal of the Government of India northeastern India, a conflict-torn region boon for poor nations where unsanitary is to eradicate the practice of open with a high incidence of HIV/AIDS. She is water causes thousands of deaths each defecation by 2010. To give a fillip to this the 2007 recipient of the Sarojini Naidu year. The company has run TV and radio endeavor, the Government has launched Prize for best reporting on women and is ads, sponsored rock concerts and tinkered the Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP) to working on a Ph.D. on folk media. with its pricing, and yet for years, the recognize and give cash rewards to fully- Q: What is the state of press freedom in company said, sales were spot- covered PRIs and those individuals and your country? ty.Media21_Water_Sanitation_pur.jpg institutions who have contributed TR: India is a free democratic country. We That changed 12 months ago, P.&G. said, significantly towards ensuring full enjoy a great amount of press freedom. when for the first time demand outstripped sanitation coverage in their areas of Freedom of speech and expression are supply. In response, the company in operation. To put the spotlight on part of our fundamental rights in our August plans to triple annual production of sanitation the UN General Assembly constitution. We also have the press PUR to 150 million units, in a new factory declared 2008 the International Year of council of India, where we can appeal if near the port city of Karachi, Pakistan. Sanitation. The goal is to raise awareness there is any violation of freedom of press What changed? For starters, the company and to accelerate progress towards the and media. And media is a very powerful said it stopped marketing PUR like Millennium Development Goal (MDG) institution in India. Now there is almost a Pampers, Tide and its other brands. target to reduce by half the 2.6 billion revolution in terms of electronic media, Instead, it now uses social marketing people without access to basic sanitation print media and even the Internet – techniques — similar to those used to by 2015. cyberspace – has become a very, very promote condom use — that combine Talking about sanitation is a tricky affair. powerful tool. education and subsidized product pricing The fact that sanitation is a broad issue to encourage behavior change and with implications for a variety of develop- product use. ment areas was also stressed in the Third South Asian Conference on Sanitation, recently held in Delhi. Chris Heymans, Regional Team Leader of the Water and Sanitation Program of the World Bank stated that there was a need to usher in a behavioral change among people which would not be possible by merely pumping in money and resources. Innovative and compelling techniques were called for. Q: What are the biggest challenges for The Conference reiterated the need for women journalists in your country? local people to feel a sense of participa- TR: We have … soft news and hard news, tion and also to not feel repulsed or and women are supposed to cover the intimidated by any plan. soft news stories. …Like, you know, This tiny village in Tripura is spearheading fashion shows or some charity meetings, the campaign in a witty, innovative and something to do with children, and men effective manner. The state, with 1039 are usually talking about reporting on village panchayats has won 113 NGPs till defense or battles or maybe conflict or date. The panchayat of S.N. Nagar, a war. I think we really need to break the Nirmal Gram Puraskar awardee has also glass ceiling here, and we need more been trying to impart lessons on health women at the decision-making level. and hygiene to the villagers during Q: How do you and other women satsangs in the local temple. ―Almost journalists face these challenges? everyone here comes for evening satsang TR: If a woman has an important issue, I or community prayer. We use this think she should discuss it with her editor ―We‘ve learned to target our approach to opportunity to create awareness among or with the management. And I think we people that need it the most — people the people and tell them that defecating in really need to have more women‘s with really dirty water, people with the open causes diseases,‖ adds journalism associations or women‘s media HIV/AIDS, moms with newborns at health Karmakar. associations that can take up the issues clinics, and malnourished children,‖ said The villagers have vigilance committees to on a larger platform. We have a network Dr. Greg Allgood, a toxicologist who keep an eye on people breaking the of women in media in India. It is a nation- directs P.&G.‘s nonprofit Children‘s Safe panchayat‘s order. But this is one wide network of women associated with Drinking Water program. vigilance committee that does not have to media, and we have several local ―The use for people living with AIDS is a work too hard. The ―public caricature‖ chapters, but we need to activate these big part of this. We‘ll provide more than 20 resolution passed by the village pan- chapters. We need to be more active and million sachets to people living with AIDS chayat at S.N. Nagar village has worked vibrant and talk about our issues and this year, versus the three million sachets wonders: No poster of someone guilty of problems and maybe bring out some we provided commercially over four years soiling the village surroundings and policy changes if necessary. when we pursued a P.&G.-funded endangering public health has ever had to http://www.iwmf.org/article.aspx?id=896&c commercial approach.‖ put up in the village square. =voices Between 2001 and 2004, P.&G. spent $10 http://www.tehelka.com/dotnet/onestory.as million test-marketing the product in p?id=42 Guatemala, the Philippines, Morocco and

Pakistan. After deeming it a commercial 5

MEDIA 21 ON WATER : A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

failure in 2004, P.&G. began distributing Property owners say the requested Assistant City Manager Marty Hanneman and marketing the product through a access is overly broad and threatens said that in Sacramento, water is defined network of aid agencies and nonprofits, farming practices and enjoyment of the as "wasted" only if it runs off a property led by Population Services International , land. Some also claim DWR has not into the street. Which is impossible to a global health organization based in established the necessary legal authority determine when the street is already Washington. to begin studying a canal. coursing with rain. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for "The general feeling down here is that the "I don't see how that is enforceable," example, P.S.I. and a local aid agency, state, egged on by its (water) contractors, Hanneman said. Association de Santé Familiale , currently is just going to try to roll over the Delta," distribute PUR through 5,000 health said Tom Zuckerman, a property owner on centers, pharmacies, retailers and Rindge Tract, an island near Stockton, wholesalers. who is challenging DWR's access request. Health care workers widely praise PUR for DWR spokesman Matt Notley said about its efficacy in killing pathogens and half of the property owners it has removing pollutants, like arsenic and DDT. contacted have granted access. He said But they have often expressed frustration the department doesn't want to harm land at its price. Typically, a four-gram packet or property owners during the surveys. of PUR costs 3.5 cents to make, 4 cents "Any damage that occurs because of us, to distribute, and sells for an average of they'll be compensated," he said.

10 cents at retail — a price beyond the http://www.sacbee.com/latest/story/18397 Photo By: Chris LaMarca reach of the world‘s poorest. 62.html Other, less sophisticated water disinfec- Local water managers say the problem is tants sold under different brands by P.S.I., usually not willful neglect. Rather, people like WaterGuard , in Kenya, and Chlorin , Here comes the rain -- and and companies forget their sprinkler in Zambia, cost only a penny. the sprinklers? controllers are on, or forget how to control http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05 their timers. /08/the-art-of-marketing-a-water-purifier/ By Matt Weiser, The Sacramento Bee "I think most people want to do the right online thing," said Jan Gentry, spokeswoman for Land owners, state May. 6, 2009 - It's a classic urban outrage: Sacramento Suburban Water District. "It In a rare spring rain, your neighbor's lawn just catches them off guard." square off over canal sprinklers are flooding the gutter and Technology has a solution for the planning sidewalk, wasting a precious resource. forgetful. "Smart" irrigation timers adjust This scenario has been too common in watering schedules according to the recent days as Northern California enjoys weather. When it rains, they automatically By Matt WEISER, The Sacramento Bee a series of May showers that have helped, turn off sprinklers. No memory required. online but are nowhere near enough to get These timers are more expensive than the California out of a third-straight drought traditional variety, and somewhat more May. 06, 2009 --Dozens of property year. complicated to install. owners in the Sacramento-San Joaquin In many neighborhoods, sprinklers have Water agencies in Southern California Delta are challenging a state demand to been in bloom during or right after our have offered rebates on such devices for access land for studies related to a recent storms, when water piped to those years. controversial water canal. yards – at great cost to the environment Three districts in the Sacramento area are The state Department of Water Resources and the ratepayer – is least needed by the currently known to offer incentives: El has filed court petitions in five counties landscaping. Dorado, San Juan Water District and the seeking access to 36 properties whose And there's a chance of rain again today, city of Folsom. Yet the benefits can be owners have rejected the department's meaning more sprinklers will probably be huge. El Dorado Irrigation District's Fraser request for access. The first hearing on running willy-nilly. said they can save 20 percent to 40 those petitions was scheduled today in "It concerns me in that it just seems percent of the water typically applied by a Contra Costa County . The other affected ridiculous," said Theresa Sugden, who conventional sprinkler timer. counties are Sacramento, San Joaquin, has witnessed sprinklers working in the California water regulators are considering Yolo and Solano. rain at state buildings near her home on requiring advanced timers as part of the DWR is in the preliminary stages of Broadway, east of Stockton Boulevard, in governor's directive to cut statewide water investigating a modern-day version of the Sacramento. consumption 20 percent by 2020. peripheral canal, a concept rejected by "Water out of the sky works just as well as Fraser's agency offers vouchers of as voters statewide in 1982. The canal is water out of the sprinkler," she said. much as $650 to help 1,000 customers being considered anew as a device to Amazingly, few of the Sacramento area's install smart timers, with assistance from a avoid direct water diversions from the 21 water agencies specifically forbid $480,000 state grant. Delta, which serve 23 million Californians landscape irrigation while it rains. Many Everybody else, she said, should get in but also kill millions of fish and alter cover this abuse under a blanket ban the habit of turning off sprinkler timers aquatic habitat. against water waste . when they're clearly not needed. Many The proposed earthen canal would divert "You're just wasting money and wasting conventional timers even have a manual a portion of the Sacramento River's flow at water by irrigating after or during the "rain" setting that turns off sprinklers a point near Freeport and deliver it around significant rainfall we had over the without losing programd schedules. the Delta directly to water export pumps weekend," said Sharon Fraser, water "We want you to save that water for when near Tracy. The canal would be up to 50 conservation coordinator at El Dorado it can be put to beneficial use, and not just miles long and at least 600 feet wide, and Irrigation District, one of the few that run off with the rain," she said. would cost at least $10 billion to build. specifically ban irrigating in the rain. "It's http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/18 DWR wants access to hundreds of private just so unnecessary." 36996.html parcels for a three-year period to study Fraser's agency modeled its rules after soil conditions, habitat and wildlife. The those adopted by the city of Roseville. information would inform preliminary At the other end of the spectrum is the city studies on the canal. Some of the work of Sacramento, which is updating its water would involve trenches 12 feet deep and conservation ordinances. It does not plan 20 feet long, and drilling up to 200 feet to ban watering in the rain. deep.

6

On Assignment #8, March 2009

The Death of a Goddess blame the courts all we want, but we're people without access to a safe, clean under a shortfall of rain and snow and source, and 2.5 billion without access to

have been for three years. People who try adequate sanitation. [Read the National By Kennedy Jawoko CBC Radio Toronto to point the finger in other directions are Geographic News story: Lack of Toilets (radio documentary) ignoring the facts." Harming Health of Billions, UN Report The Yamuna River in northern India is There are some bright spots. Says .] much more than a river. In the Hindu Folsom Lake, for instance, has exceeded Policy makers, economists, scientists, religion, it is a she and she is a goddess. average capacity for the date due to engineers, development agencies, Every year, Hindu pilgrims take a holy dip adequate flow in the American River, and business leaders, and environmental into Goddess Yamuna to cleanse is expected to remain near full this organizations have convened in Turkey themselves of a lifetime of sin but when summer. Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which for the 5th World Water Forum to find a The Current's contributor Kennedy serves San Francisco, has similar good way to avoid water bankruptcy and Jawoko went for a look, as part of our on- fortune. These are relatively small achieve global water security. World- going series Watershed, he found that the reservoirs. Water-logo. goddess could use some cleaning up. The state's biggest reservoirs, including They face an enormous challenge. Here's Kennedy Jawoko's documentary Oroville and Shasta, are still well below According to a report the U.N. released The Death of a Goddess. normal at 70 and 76 percent of average yesterday, the future looks bleak. Link to the radio documentary: storage for the date. Population growth, the financial crisis, and http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2009/200905 Most major reservoirs continue to release poverty coupled with climate change put a /20090505.html water because officials are required to wrench in plans to provide basic water

maintain empty space for flood control. service, according to the report, which Final snow pack results: Those seasonal requirements, however, looked at water management in 25 not good; drought pers- have begun to taper off. countries. An unusually strong late-season storm African countries are in the worst shape. ists arrives today to confuse the picture In Sudan, where rainfall has decreased further. over the last several years, nearly 55 A winter storm watch is in effect across percent of all freshwater is used for By Matt Weiser, The Sacramento Bee high elevations of the Sierra Nevada. A agriculture, and water use for crops is online foot of snow is possible above 7,000 feet expected to double by 2025. Apr. 30, 2009 - The water content of the by Saturday morning, and travel over Asia and island countries in the Pacific are state's snowpack actually shrank in the highway passes could be affected. The home to almost 60 percent of the world final month of winter, from 80 percent of Sacramento Valley could see more than population, but only 36 percent of the normal on April 1 to 66 percent of normal an inch of rain, with more possible Sunday planet's freshwater. recorded Thursday in the state's final and Monday. World-Water-logo.jpgIn the decades snow survey of the season. The cause: a These storms aren't likely to improve the before 2000, China had an average of heat wave and high winds that essentially drought picture. about 66 billion cubic meters of renewable evaporated the Sierra Nevada snowpack, "We definitely didn't accomplish the water water resources. Today, because of the state's most important water supply . wish this season," Lynn said. pollution and other factors, the country We are also ending the winter in worse http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/18 has less than an estimated 49 billion cubic shape than 2008. The winter snowpack at 25046.html meters while demand has steadily risen. this time last year was recorded at 72 In Europe, climate change may cause sea percent of normal. level rise that floods two-thirds of the Elissa Lynn, senior meteorologist at the Nuggets of Hope in the Netherlands -- where 96 percent of the state Department of Water Resources, population lives below sea level. And said California needed 120 percent of Face of Bleak Outlook for Istanbul itself faces significantly dimi- normal snowfall to recover from the last Freshwater nished groundwater due to saltwater two dry years. intrusion from rising seas and unsustaina- "We way missed that mark," she said. By Tasha Eichenseher , ble extraction. "Things actually got worse in April." Blogs.nationalgeographic.com "Inaction is no longer an option, and Instead, the period since 2007 will likely stepping out of the single sector 'water rank as the 10th-driest three-year stretch Istanbul, March 17, 2009 -- More than box' is necessary to properly address in state history, she said. 20,000 people from at least 175 countries mounting problems," according to the A number of critics lately have tried to are buzzing around Istanbul this week report, referring to how water decisions make political waves by blaming talking about water. The freshwater that have traditionally not been linked to other California's drought on environmental forms Earth's rivers, lakes, aquifer, critical issues such as finance. regulations. Some have even claimed the glaciers, and wetlands --- the same water It is possible at this mega-conference to state would not be in a drought without that fills our glasses and toilet bowls -- drown in technical jargon and policy court-ordered water-pumping restrictions connects every one of the planet's 6.5 analysis -- talk of frameworks, capacity, to protect fish in the Sacramento-San billion citizens and myriad aquatic species. transparency, strategies and the Joaquin Delta . Water is embedded in every unit of energy millennium development goals. But that is not true, Lynn and others said. we use, meal we eat, and piece of But buried in the halls of the conference "We're actually in worse shape right now clothing we wear. center -- part of which is a renovated than we were last May 1 for snowpack, factory that once provided fez hats and and that's not about fish, it's about snow," clothing for the Ottoman army -- there are she said. success stories that can rise above the Fish protection rules have limited water gloom and doom scenarios. deliveries somewhat this year. State The U.N. report highlights a handful: Water Project deliveries from the Delta are irrigation efficiency improvements in expected to be reduced by 200,000 acre- Tunisia; decreased water use in Estonia; feet this year, or 14 percent, because of and legal rights to a minimum quantity of protections for the threatened Delta smelt. drinking water in Argentina. But Mother Nature is the real culprit. http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/ "It stuns me to hear people try to deny news/chiefeditor/2009/03/world-water- we're in a drought," said Chris Brown , forum-begins.html executive director of the California Urban It is essential for life, yet, according to the

Water Conservation Council. "We can United Nations, there are nearly 1 billion

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MEDIA 21 ON WATER : A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Sexy Marketing Aims to Oldfield said, are "making it acceptable to talk about shit." Boost Toilet Use http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/ 2009/03/090317-sexy-sanitation.html By Tasha Eichenseher for National Geographic News Critical Role of Women in Istanbul, Turkey, March 17, 2009 -- If a World Water Issues Is public toilet is good enough for Miss

Kenya, it should be good enough for the Missing, Advocates Say less glamorous citizens of her nation. "Many villagers [in Cambodia] can't read At least that's the theory behind a and think of waterborne diseases as part By Tasha Eichenseher, marketing campaign for public toilets in of life," said the video's producer, Mickey Blogs.nationalgeographic.com Nairobi's vast Kibera slum. At these "toilet Sampson, country director of Resource Istanbul, Turkey, March 20, 2009 -- malls," people can also shower, get their Development International Cambodia Finding water is usually the work of shoes repaired, shop for food, use the (RDIC). women and girls, according to Joke phone, and feel proud to be seen. RDIC also produces karaoke videos about Muylwijk, executive director of the Gender More than 2.5 billion people worldwide hand washing, bird flu, and sex slavery— Water Alliance, a network of more than a reportedly don't have access to a clean, many of them shown on national thousand people around the globe safe place to do their business. And in television. dedicated to equitable access to water many cultures, toilet-related words and With only 16 percent of people in resources and decision-making. actions are taboo—adding to the Cambodia having access to some sort of challenges faced by development and latrine or toilet, RDIC has started pushing sanitation workers, said Pete Kolsky, the toilet as a status symbol. senior water and sanitation specialist at "'It's cool to have a toilet. Be the first the World Bank. person on your block to have one.' That Nearly five million people annually die of seems to be more of a motivator than waterborne diseases, and more than 80 'This will make me sick,'" Sampson said. percent of the developing world's illnesses A similar approach is used to encourage are caused by unsafe water and hand washing. inadequate sanitation, according to the "We say, 'If you want that guy to think nonprofit group Water Advocates. you're beautiful, you have to wash your Traditional methods of building facilities hands,'" Sampson added. "There are some women who spend their and educating people about the connec- The Business Approach whole lives looking for water," Muylwijk tion between disease and exposure to Sampson and Ecotact's Kuria are said. fecal matter aren't enough to break engaging on social marketing, creating Gary White is executive director of through social stigmas, according to demand for a product by manipulating and WaterPartners, a nonprofit that aims to Kolsky. creating behaviors. Unlike profit-driven provide safe water and sanitation in The solution: selling sanitation the commercial marketing, social marketing developing countries. Madison Avenue way, with good old- generally aims to increase the greater According to White, 200 million hours are fashioned sex appeal and social pressure. good. spent every day walking to collect water. In Kenya, a nonprofit organization called "For decades, development organizations "It is a huge opportunity cost for women Ecotact has called on Miss Kenya, along and governments have simply imposed who could be working paying jobs, or with the country's vice president, a sanitation—a free latrine, say—on people children who could be in school," he popular comedian, and local religious and then counted that as a success," said added. leaders to promote, visit, and use the new Rose George, author of The Big Muylwijk and White said women are public toilets of Kibera. Necessity: The Unmentionable World of generally absent in water decisions, but Ecotact director David Kuria said he wants Human Waste and Why It Matters. should play a critical role. to link beauty and hygiene. "We asked, George has traveled the world to For example, Muylwijk said, the opening 'How do we make this topic sexy, document what works and doesn't work in ceremony of the 5th World Water Forum glamorous?'" the world of sanitation. was conducted by men only and out of 19 Singing for Sanitation and Health "For all sorts of complicated reasons, members on the forum steering committee Linking celebrities and toilet use is just people might not want to use a toilet even there are no women. one approach. if they have one," she said. At least in the developing world, women In Cambodia, where drinking water can be "They might be used to the outdoors, not are generally more invested in water dangerously polluted, one development want to be cooped up in a box, have some resources, and are more likely to carry an entrepreneur has started producing cultural resistance to it being near the improvement project through to comple- romantic karaoke videos about testing for house or in the courtyard. tion, White said. pollution and using soap. "Social marketing can overcome this by Fadia Daibes, an independent consultant One video features an attractive young addressing human psychology," George working on water resource management couple said. "It can make a toilet into an object of and policy in East Jerusalem, tells Video Red Well desire." National Geographic more about the role, The woman sings "You're a great husband For example, in the early 20th century or lack of a role, women play in delicate for giving me this well," and he responds "I soap manufacturers figured out that Israeli-Palestinian water negotiations. gave it to you because I love you." They people would buy soap because they Video interview by Tasha Eichenseher: go on to sing about the dangers of arsenic thought it made them more attractive, not Fadia Daibes video: —a potentially carcinogenic, naturally because it was good for them, Rose http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZBzV occurring element—in drinking water. explained. 3N8xc4 "If it's done successfully, and with the Meena Bilgi calls herself a gender proper infrastructure to back it up, people advocate. don't even know it's marketing." Based in Gujarat, India, Bilgi is employed The next thing you know the toilet taboos by governments, nonprofits, and are broken. development agencies to advise on how The new generation of sanitation and why to include women in water, promoters, Water Advocates' John agriculture, and health projects.

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On Assignment #8, March 2009

She said it may take years for men in rural Video: Delhi's Dark Waters part 1: problems Indian cities face today may turn communities, where she works, to accept http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeeQeQ out to be solutions for the entire world of women in official decision-making or komKA tomorrow. managerial roles. Watching city residents pull their cars over Video: Delhi's Dark Waters part 3: "Mainstreaming gender is a gradual on the bridge to gleefully hurl waste into http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qtKVF process," she said. the river, I wondered if it was a simple AcPc4 But, according to Bilgi, many development issue of awareness. But back in my air http://waterwars.pulitzergateway.org/?pag projects in India fail because they don't conditioned hotel room, I couldn‘t come up e_id=6612 include women, who are usually more with a waste disposal solution other than familiar with the available natural flushing a toilet that I now knew would resources because they are often the probably bypass one of Delhi‘s 17 Chris LaMarca in Ethiopia ones in the fields, grazing cattle in the overburdened treatment plants and pour forests, and fetching water. my own personal contribution directly into Media21/ICP - 06.04.2009 - Chris Bilgi tells National Geographic more about the river. LaMarca, independant photographer, her work and progress she and her The simplest conclusion is that the Delhi participated to the Media21 fieldtrip to colleagues have made. government is asleep at the wheel – Ethiopia on water and sanitation after the Video interview by Tasha Eichenseher: neglecting the public health needs of their World Water Forun in Istanbul, in March Development in India Fails When Women citizens and failing to sufficiently invest in 2009. He shares some of his impressions. Are Excluded, Says Gender Advocate: waste management infrastructure. But Chris LaMarca was awarded a grant by http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVY34 that same government has miraculously the International Center of Photography wLoIZo outdone America‘s most eco-friendly cities (ICP) . http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/ in the last few years, successfully s You can feel the rain in East Africa way news/chiefeditor/2009/03/women-and- implementing bans on both public before a drop hits the ground, it crackles water-issues.html smoking and plastic bags. in the air like a mix of pop rocks and coca Video: Delhi's Dark Waters part 2: cola, malaria waits in the cracks of the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBrgLS Delhi’s Dark Waters crimson concrete. There's something sQ4IM romantic, intoxicating to the senses about Sitting down at the desk of one of the the sweet smell of burning trash, wood Text and Video by Alex Stonehill with Delhi Water Board‘s head engineers, I got and rubber on the back of your tongue. A reporting by Ernest Waititu for the Pulitzer an earful on interceptor sewers, expanded taste that never leaves your palate, no Center treatment capacities, ―action plans‖ and matter where you return to, or where you Like many world cities, Delhi was born on the $500 million that has already been came from. This is the flavor of the taxi's the banks of a river. The Yamuna, a spent toward cleaning the river. But 30 to with their rusted out floors, bare transmis- tributary of the Ganges, originates in the 40 percent of the city – mostly slum areas sions and blown out speakers. pristine foothills of the Himalayas, and - still isn‘t served by the sewer system. At "You fine?" the cab driver asks."Yeah, I'm flows south through farmlands until it the current rate of expansion, he says fine, very fine"..And then he hit me, hit me feeds into the Indian capitol city. optimistically, all of these unserved areas with one of those smiles you can only get But as Delhi‘s population has exploded – will have been reached in a few short in Africa, all teeth (half of them rotted out) increasing sevenfold in the last 50 years, decades. so full of life, rocking you to the core. the river has become little more than a By which point, I shudder to calculate, if massive sewer, sucked dry of its clean current growth rates continue, Delhi‘s water just as it enters the city, and filled population will have swelled from the back up with mostly untreated waste water currently unmanageable 17 million, to an just a few hundred meters later. impossible 63 million. And if trends continue, most of these new residents will live in this same kind of unplanned settlements that already sprawl across the city and dump their waste directly into the river. This reminds me of something I heard a few days earlier from Dr. Bindeswar Photo By: Chris LaMarca Pathak, founder of Delhi‘s own Sulabh Toilet Museum, and inventor of the Sulabh Its 4:30am and the coolness of the moon Two Pit Toilet. He told me that India was reflects the translucent ivory cloth flowing down the street. Africans' define grace, home to the world‘s third modern when they walk they dance, when they The scene on the banks of the Yamuna, municipal sewer system – built by the speak they sing. Still reverberating from near the Waziribad Bridge, is one of tragic British Raj in Calcutta just a few years Istanbul my mind was racing, my nerves irony. Hindu worshipers, who believe it is after sewers were first built in London and like thorns. I decided to follow suit, my holy, ―wash‖ themselves in water that has New York. surroundings of shadow and form give officially been declared unfit for human or If India has been struggling to build way to an abyss of candle light and soft animal contact, while destitute migrants infrastructure that can keep up with prayer. My breath slows, my legs less sift through garbage and religious population growth and urbanization, rigid. The pathway felt ancient with roses offerings that have been dumped into the maybe this isn‘t a simple question of and barbed wire, beggars with wide eyes. river, in search of anything of value that ―development‖ — where third world cities I felt naked through their gaze, perhaps they can resell. like Delhi just need to follow down the they could feel my fear. It was getting Finding your way to the river isn‘t hard: same righteous path of America and colder now. Below an arch of okra painted you catch a sulfurous scent in the air, and Europe until they eventually reach concrete a group of woman wait, the sun follow one of hundreds of open drains – modernity. rises..It's the equinox, eyes come alive. slow moving streams of dark gray water Given the water shortages projected When the rain comes, there is no flanked by mountains of garbage – which around the world in coming years, it‘s hesitation. Its torrent of electricity quiets join together like capillaries, building size much easier to believe that the future the chaos, settling the thickness in the air. and speed until they finally pour into the cities of the West will look like Delhi does The streets become rivers of plastic and river itself. now, rather than the other way around. erosion, old sandals imported from China But finding a place to cast blame for And the alternatives that organizations like float within. Yamuna‘s dismal state isn‘t so easy. Sulabh are developing to deal with the

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MEDIA 21 ON WATER : A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

I started at the source, photographing the Apr. 26, 2009 -- Any doubt that California a group of villagers washed clothes and fresh water springs in the highlands above is hip-deep in an epic struggle for water gathered water at a natural spring. Many the city. Here the water of the Akaki river was put to rest earlier this month when an filled ubiquitous "jerry cans" – 6-gallon is deemed holy, people travel from all over estimated 10,000 farmers and farmwork- yellow plastic jugs used to fetch water congregating for its healing powers, to be ers marched 50 miles across the gasping from creeks or public taps. baptized by an Orthodox priest. People San Joaquin Valley. The goal was to As we approached, an older man ran up come for months, some stay even longer. heighten awareness about their water shouting and gesturing for us to leave. He Downstream the river gradually turned shortage, brought about by a third year of accused us of coming to steal the spring sapphire blue as it passes a textile factory. drought in California and environmental water, we learned through our translator. Winding through the city and its many problems in the Sacramento-San Joaquin The banks of the spring, deeply shaded urban farms it goes black, bubbling like a Delta. Their alliance is surprising, given a by trees, were littered with animal feces, hot tub, black as fresh tar. The point of long history of acrimony between farm the water cloudy and gray. A half-finished this work is not to point fingers, or make a owners and laborers. It demonstrates the wall surrounded the spring – an effort to case study. The point is that everyone in shifting alliances and simmering tensions cap the source and pipe the water to two this city eats the food that is irrigated from that emerge when people fight over water. villages. A contractor had been hired by this river. Rich or poor, slum or no slum. We're likely to see more struggles over the state government to develop the End of story. There is documented heavy water, both locally and worldwide. The spring to serve his nearby village and metals in the food, people are practicing next big conflict in California is a proposal another, 37 miles away. 'open defecation' on its banks and industry for a canal built around the Delta, Once construction began, the locals is not being regulated. I have seen designed to secure a water supply for learned that all the water would go to the watershed maps of the area and can Central Valley farms and Southern distant village. They would get none. So confirm that all the images here are in fact California cities while also improving the they kicked out the contractor, halted the part of the Akaki river watershed. It is environment of the West Coast's largest project and drove away a state official who important to note the river does split into estuary. Critics worry that it's simply a tool later tried to negotiate a compromise. two rivers at some point, both flowing to drain the Sacramento River. They told us the spring was holy and through Addis Ababa. Preventing a water grab paradoxically refused to let us take pictures or talk to Through all of this, human dignity rises requires us to set aside turf battles and anyone from the village. above any situation. People thrive and focus instead on how the so-called "If I were them, I would too," said survive with what they have, they wont peripheral canal will be managed. Who Shibabaw Tadesse, a local coordinator admit they drink the water or the coffee will be in charge of turning the water with WaterAid, a British charity that funds they serve you is from the same river. valves on and off? When and why? These projects in Ethiopia. "Such kind of Would you? The farmer doesn't want to questions, more than how much water is resource cannot be capped. It's amazing, know if his crops are toxic, he has to transferred south, hold the solution to really. Amazing." survive, he has to sell his harvest. The managing future shortages. An apparent bungling of the construction work I have here is just a tiny scratch on In coming years, 46 nations risk violent contract – a case of mismanagement – the surface, thanks again for including me conflict over water and climate-related sowed the seeds of distrust. on this adventure. I genuinely enjoyed crises, and 56 other countries face In the San Joaquin Valley, where 40 myself and have learned a lot. Africa political instability, according to a study by percent of America's produce is grown, always teaches how fragile and divine life International Alert, a British advocacy farmers have been told they'll get only 10 is all in the same breath.. group. The United Nations says water percent of their contracted federal water Chris LaMarca wars may be more likely in the future than supply this year. Cities in the Bay Area See Chris LaMarca‘s pictures here: wars over oil. and Southern California, which receive http://picasaweb.google.com/Media21Gen water from the state, expect only 30 eva/ChrisLaMarcaInEthiopia# percent of normal deliveries. UC Davis economist Richard Howitt predicts losses of at least 40,000 farm-related jobs and A Personal Story Of Water $1.15 billion in income. Thousands of In Yemen -Pulitzer Center acres of crops have already been fallowed. on Crisis Reporting http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story/1808 446.html Video interview of Nadia Abdulaziz Al- Sakkaf, editor of The Yemen Times says The Politics of Toilets walking long distances for water is just "Water will … become one of the defining one of many major water and sanitation limits to human development and a problems in her country. She spoke at the compounding factor in human misery," By Rose George, Washington Post online World Water Forum in Istanbul. Achim Steiner, director of the U.N. Visit the Yemen Times online at: Environment Program, said during the April 22, 2009 -- On Earth Day, let's not http://www.media21geneva.org/index.php World Water Forum, attended by more forget the dirt. The planet is soiled with ?op- than 30,000 government officials and sewage, on land and sea. Our waste is tion=com_content&task=view&id=572&Ite nonprofit leaders last month in Istanbul, the biggest marine pollutant there is, mid=381#mce_temp_url# Turkey. according to the United Nations Environ- See the video online on Pulitzer Center A key message at the forum: There is ment Program. In the developing world, Gateway: probably enough fresh water available to ninety percent of sewage is discharged http://waterwars.pulitzergateway.org/?p=6 meet human needs, despite climate untreated into oceans and rivers, where its 353 change and population growth. However, high nutrient content can suffocate the life the problem is poor management of water, out of seas, contributing to dead zones which results in scarcity and conflict. (405 worldwide and counting). Water controversies boil Fights over water – some small, others as There are dead zones on land, too. over large as California – are occurring across Human waste contaminates environments the globe. I recently visited a rural area in all over the world, rich and poor. Imagine Ethiopia, where a breach of trust left two getting up at 4 a.m. in darkness, trekking By Matt Weiser, sacbee.com villages without a secure water future. to a nearby bush or field, and going to the Near the mountainous town of Ticho, bathroom out in the open. Imagine then about three hours south of Addis Ababa , being hit by a farmer who doesn't like you

10

On Assignment #8, March 2009

toileting in his field, or being raped by spend hours finding somewhere private to Funds that have long gushed away to the someone taking advantage of the dark, do their business, or to fetch cripplingly cause of clean water, at the expense of which you need to preserve your modesty. heavy water. Diarrhea had dropped sanitation, should be diverted back. In The quarter of the world's population dramatically (a latrine can reduce disease financially straitened times, it makes without access to sanitation - not even a by 40 percent; a clean water supply economic sense to invest in the most cost- bucket nor a box - don't have to imagine reduces it by 20 percent.) effective health prevention mechanism we this. It's their daily reality. What's more, all Sanitation isn't a symptom of develop- have. With a new Global Sanitation Fund that excrement lying around has deadly ment. It can trigger it. "It's the hardest up and running, it couldn't be easier. Earth consequences. More children - up to 2 entry point," says Joe Madiath, whose Day is as good a day as any to remember million a year, or one every 15 seconds or NGO Gram Vikas had helped bring the that sewage may be dirt, but sanitation so - die of diarrhea, 90 percent of which is toilet revolution to Samiapalli. "But once shouldn't be treated like it. due to fecal contamination in food or you succeed with sanitation, you can do Rose George is a freelance journalist and liquid, than of TB, malaria or HIV/AIDS. anything." author of The Big Necessity , an eye- Diarrhea is the world's most effective opening report on the shocking realities of weapon of mass destruction. the world's sanitation crisis. That's the gloom. The good news is that http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/post it's solvable. And solving the world's glob- sewage mess would be such a bargain al/needtoknow/2009/04/the_politics_of_toi that it should appeal to politicians holding lets.html the purse strings even in these straitened times. Investing $1 in sanitation reaps $8 in health costs averted and labor days A Forgotten Glass Ceiling: saved. Look at it another way: not A Safe Drink of Water investing $1 in sanitation loses you $7. Last year the World Bank calculated that poor sanitation cost Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam between 1.4 By John Sauer, The Huffington Post and 7.2 percent of their GDP. When Peru online had a cholera outbreak in 1991, losses April 9, 2009 -- There is a photograph that from tourism and agricultural revenue Samiapalli's story, and those of other travelers inevitably take when they go to a were three times greater than the total sanitation success stories, makes the lack developing country -- a picture of a money spent on sanitation in the previous of international resources for sanitation woman carrying a large container of water decade. baffling. A target of the United Nations' on her head. The woman's posture is If numbers are too technical, let's get Millennium Development Goals (though it ramrod straight, the envy of runway practical: Installing latrines and clean was included late and against great models everywhere, and her face rarely water supply in a typical village has opposition), sanitation continues to lag far betrays the amount of effort and strength dramatic effects. behind access to clean water, an easier this task involves. Most times this photo is In the far reaches of Orissa, India, I visited topic to sell and publicize. Celebrities taken because it is a stunning and moving the leader of a village named Samiapalli, happily promote a village's shiny new image of a woman's strength and beauty. which until recently had no sanitation and faucets, preferably with a photogenic child Alluring as this image may be, what it truly endemic open defecation in nearby woods nearby, but fail to make the logical step portrays is the economic, physical and and along roadsides. over to the new latrines that have health burden that women and girls must lengthened that child's life and enabled endure everyday of their lives to provide her to go to school. water for their families - this is the These priorities persist behind the forgotten glass ceiling. cameras. The United Nations Human Whether a woman lives in Africa, South Development Report noted in 2006 noted America or Asia, one of her primary tasks that water and sanitation budgets in most is to gather water for her family. There is countries are less than 0.5% of GDP; and no convenience of indoor plumbing for of that pittance, 90% goes on clean water these women. Compare the trek you make supply. Things may be improving, but to your bathroom or kitchen for a glass of slowly: The times when much of the U.S.'s water to the journey women in the overseas water and sanitation budget developing world must make -- 3 miles a went toward restoring infrastructure in day on average -- to fetch dirty water from places it had helped destroy - notably Iraq mainly contaminated sources, such as and Afghanistan - are thankfully over. rivers, unprotected springs and shallow Paul Simon's Water for the Poor Act has wells. All this fetching for water uses up 40

actually been allocated proper money billion hours annually of women's time worldwide. It could be more productively Of course, those weren't the villagers' ($300 million), and the Reports to Congress about the act laudably mention spent on income-generating activities, only problems: they also faced rampant education and caring for their families. alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and "sanitation." But there are still 994 references to water in the report, and only The quality of the water women gather persistent caste discrimination. Today is greatly impacts their and their families' different. Although it took 162 meetings to 249 mentions of "sanitation." This is understandable, given how long health. Water from unsafe sources is get everyone to agree to install one (and contaminated with pathogens that cause to contribute to the cost), everybody has a sanitation has been in water's shadow. And the fact that sanitation is mentioned debilitating and deadly water-borne latrine, bathing room and running water. diseases (such as cholera, typhoid and With the confidence gained through those at all is cheering. But we must not let that semantic imbalance translate into an amoebic dysentery). Diarrheal diseases 162 meetings, women had kicked out the such as these kill more children under 5 illegal alcohol brewers (and tied the most imbalance of funds allocated for sanitation -- the most off-track target, after all, of all than AIDS, Malaria and TB combined. persistently violent men to a lamp-post). Only with safe and accessible water will Eighty percent more girl children now went the targets in the Millennium Development Goals. women and their families have a chance to school, the leader told me. Women to live and to lead productive lives. were earning money growing peanuts and The International Year of Sanitation ended selling other goods at market, with the free in December, but our pressure on time they had gained from not having to politicians and donor agencies should not. 11

MEDIA 21 ON WATER : A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

If people across the United States joined Toilets in the Stream together to support water and sanitation projects they could immediately help woman shatter the most basic of glass By John Sauer, One.org ceilings -- access to safe drinking water Mar 27th, 2009 -- This terrible irony just and sanitation. occurred to me at the World Water Forum Andra Tamburro from Water Advocates this week: in the United States, we flush co-authored this blog our toilets with drinking water, while 2.5 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john- billion people around the world who live

Photo By: Chris LaMarca sauer/a-forgotten-glass- without access to proper sanitation literally ceiling_b_184229.html have the toilet in their drinking water. The incongruity of this situation is that we know how to relieve women of this burden. Industrialized countries eradi- cated most water-borne diseases 100 Reporting From the World years ago by distributing chlorinated treated water through piped distribution Water Forum systems and treating sewage before it reaches our public water sources. That is By John Sauer, One.org why you don't think about contracting Mar 18th, 2009 typhoid when you brush your teeth in the As I was quoted in the Associated Press morning. While these large infrastructure-based the other day,―In America, diarrhea is bad Photo By: Chris LaMarca systems may not be the answer for all of takeout, in Chad, it‘s the difference the developing world, there are many between life and death.‖ I‘m here at the If you‘ve ever seen a picture of a hanging small-scale doable solutions that provide 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul to help toilet (a basic latrine constructed over a safe and sustainable water and sanitation. coordinate a journalist workshop on the river or stream) you‘ll understand exactly Even providing simple pit latrines, health aspects of water, sanitation and what I mean. If you haven‘t, you owe it to household water treatment and educating hygiene. Journalists have come from as yourself to see one. Click here. people on proper hand-washing can help far away as Indonesia, Laos and Peru to In countries where access to sanitation is stop the contamination of water sources learn about this massive, but surmounta- low—for example Angola, India and and reduce the cases of diarrheal ble, challenge. Yemen—the health care costs to treat diseases significantly. We want to bring attention to this under- sanitation-related diseases like diarrhea For example, in Bangladesh, WaterPart- reported issue, as more children die of can eat up 20% of a household‘s income, ners International worked with Ms. diarrhea and other water and sanitation according to Jack Moss from AquaFed. Rasheda Khatun, age 28, to provide her related diseases than die of HIV/AIDS, Globally, 1.5 million child deaths are community a new pit latrine with bamboo tuberculosis and malaria combined. attributed to the lack of access to lining. This intervention has stopped the Meanwhile, 80% of research and sanitation. Most developing countries are use of hanging latrines (a basic latrine development funding for diseases that far behind meeting their millennium constructed over a river or stream) and disproportionately affect the poor is spent development goal (MDG) targets for defecating out in the open. Hygienic on these ―big three‖ diseases. We aim to sanitation. latrines help prevent the spread of point out this disparity, not to take away I tried to understand why more wasn‘t disease. funding from the more well-known being done to address the sanitation crisis Throughout the developing world girls diseases, but to see that more resources while I listened to presentations at the often drop out of school when they reach go to solving the water and sanitation World Water Forum. puberty because they don't have a crisis. One of the participants, Edmund Cain, separate place to go to the toilet. What is also unique about preventing and from the Hilton Foundation pointed to the UNICEF's efforts in Malawi allowed treating diarrhea is that affordable fact that people in developed countries Eveless to go back to school again when solutions are available now. Ceramic like the U.S. fail to understand the they installed a water borehole and water filters seriousness of the problem. Another separate toilets for girls and boys. Two http://www.wsp.org/UserFiles/file/9262007 forum participant, Vandana Mehra from years before she had dropped out of 24252_eap_cambodia_filter.pdf, rope the World Bank‘s Water and Sanitation school and feared she would never realize pumps, and ecosan toilets are all effective Program, highlighted how difficult it is to her dream to become a nurse. In and sustainable solutions. change the mindset of people who are Guatemala, Water For People and the Sessions this week at the World Water used to doing some things a certain way, Global Water Challenge are helping to Forum are going to focus on vast array of such as defecating in the open. Other provide Magdalena 's school with safe topics, such as new technologies, challenges mentioned were the lack of drinking water, sanitation and hygiene entrepreneurship and child health. The demand and availability for sanitation education. In Cambodia RDIC works with issue of poor water and sanitation in products like soap and toilets, and the low teachers who act as sales people and schools will also be discussed by priority developing countries place on marketers to sell ceramic water filters, UNICEF. An astounding 50% of schools in sanitation programs. which have reduced diarrheal disease the developing world do not have access Still, some countries, like Thailand and amongst users by 46%. to water and sanitation. Malaysia, have succeeded in greatly Other non-governmental organizations PATH, WSSCC (Water Supply & increasing their populations‘ access to such as Action Against Hunger , Africare Sanitation Collaborative Council ), and sanitation. John Pasch from USAID and CARE work all over the developing Water Advocates are a few of the highlighted an ongoing study of what led world to help women get the safe drinking organizers of the journalist forum. We to Thailand and Malaysia‘s success in water they and their families deserve. hope that the workshop and forum will hopes that other countries can learn from So let's start thinking of that iconic image increase attention on the health aspects of their experience. of a woman carrying water on her head as the water and sanitation crisis. With 5,000 Small businesses and NGOs involved in the BEFORE picture and let's try to people dying each day due to dirty water, sanitation work are growing. For example, achieve the AFTER picture -- healthy and poor sanitation and hygiene, this David Kuria‘s toilet business in Nairobi women with access to safe drinking water cannot wait. and Wherever the Need (directed by for them and their families and girls in http://www.one.org/blog/2009/03/18/report David Crossweller) have been successful school. ing-from-the-world-water-forum/ and are now expanding.

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On Assignment #8, March 2009

Thankfully, ―Keeping Sanitation High on the world's most effective weapon of mass nine hamlets in India‘s Himachal Pradesh the Agenda‖ was not only the title of a destruction," Rose dubs state, is on the tipping point of climate major session - it also seemed to be a "That's the gloom. The good news is that change. major theme of the Forum. I heard it's solvable. And solving the world's On the peaks above, the Chhota Shigri journalists conducting many interviews on sewage mess would be such a bargain glacier has been receding at an accele- the issue. Author Rose George, who wrote that it should appeal to politicians holding rated pace; on the road below, the village a book last year on sanitation, presented the purse strings even in these straitened of Solan has morphed into a small city on several panels. times," she said adding "Investing US $1 replete with concrete office buildings and As I reflect on the week, I am hopeful that in sanitation reaps US $8 in health costs business lunches. Demand for water — to many of the challenges I heard discussed averted and labor days saved." spin hydroelectric generators, to irrigate can be overcome. Though I believe it will Look at it another way: not investing US crops and for residential use — is soaring take millions more people across the $1 in sanitation loses you US $7. Last throughout the area. globe to get involved at different levels. year the World Bank calculated that poor Baldev Singh Thakur, the Nauni- What will you do? sanitation cost in Cambodia, Indonesia, Majgoan‘s leader, is determined to see http://www.one.org/blog/2009/03/27/toilets the Philippines and Vietnam between 1.4 that the villages he oversees don‘t fall into -in-the-stream/ and 7.2 percent of their GDP. an ecological abyss — and he dotes over When Peru had a cholera outbreak in such environmental projects as solar 1991, losses from tourism and agricultural photovoltaic street lights, solar cooking, Diarrhea effective weapon revenue were three times greater than the rain harvesting, organic farming and of mass destruction total money spent on sanitation in the composting latrines. previous decade. Sanitation isn't a symptom of develop- By ISLAM, Saiful, Bangladesh, BSS News ment. It can trigger it. "It's the hardest Agency entry point," says Joe Madiath, whose BSS, Dhaka, April 25, 2009 -- Diarrhea NGO Gram Vikas had helped bring the that claims hundreds of lives across the toilet revolution to Samiapalli, Orissa of globe, especially in the developing world India. "But once you succeed with due mainly to consumption of contami- sanitation, you can do anything." nated water and food, has been termed as Samiapalli's story, and those of other the most effective weapon of mass sanitation success stories, makes the lack destruction (WMD), a term that legitimized of international resources for sanitation Bush administration to invade Iraq. baffling. A target of the United Nations' Solar photovoltaic lights now illuminate According to an article published this Millennium Development Goals, sanitation streets and homes in all nine of the week in the Washington Post, freelance continues to lag far behind access to panchayat‘s villages, thanks to generous journalist Rose George explains how poor clean water, an easier topic to sell and loans and subsidies arranged by the sanitation facility which paves ways for publicize. Indian Renewable Energy Development fecal-oral contamination can claim millions Agency . The street-lighting systems, built of lives every year in the world. by Indian companies, are sold for about As Rose George in her "politics of Toilet' 22,000 rupees ($437), half of which is article says "Let's not forget the dirt on paid for by the agency. Solar-powered Earth Day. The planet is soiled with generators cost about 100,000 rupees sewage, on land and sea. Our waste is ($1,988) and are eligible for a 40 percent the biggest marine pollutant there is, subsidy. according to the United Nations Environ- Plastic rain barrels, too, are visible on ment Program." most properties. And the toilets, costing In the developing world, ninety percent of about $30 to $150 and built with local sewage is discharged untreated into labor and materials, are now in every oceans and rivers, where its high nutrient village, though not in every home. Of content can suffocate the life out of seas, The United Nations Human Development these projects, the Nauni-Majgoan‘s contributing to dead zones, now 405 Report 2006 noted that water and biggest environmental — and consequent- worldwide. sanitation budgets in most countries are ly, economic — success has been its There are dead zones on land, too, less than 0.5 percent of GDP; and of that sanitation campaign. Because poor George says. Human waste contaminates pittance, 90 percent goes on clean water sanitation directly affects health, it is environments all over the world, rich and supply. This is understandable, given how increasingly seen as a lynchpin for poor. Imagine getting up at 4 AM in long sanitation has been in water's sustained economic growth throughout darkness, trekking to a nearby bush or shadow. And the fact that sanitation is South Asia. field, and going to the bathroom out in the mentioned at all is cheering. As of 2006, 74 percent of rural Indians open But we must not let that semantic and 17 percent of their urban compatriots Imagine then being hit by a farmer who imbalance translate into an imbalance of were still defecating in the open. The doesn't like you toileting in his field, or funds allocated for sanitation-the most off- practice fouls drinking water sources, and being raped by someone taking advan- track target, after all, of all the targets in remains the chief reason why 20 percent tage of the dark, which you need to the Millennium Development Goals. of Indian children who die before the age preserve your modesty. http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2009/04/25 of five succumb to water-borne diseases, The quarter of the world's population /news0343.htm according to the World Health Organiza- without access to sanitation-not even a tion . bucket nor a box - don't have to imagine It is such a huge problem that the Indian this. It's their daily reality. What's more, all Making the Most of Sun government 10 years ago began what it that excrement lying around has deadly calls its Total Sanitation Campaign, with consequences. and Water in Rural India meritorious behavior awards handed out More children - up to 2 million a year, or to districts by the country‘s prime minister. one every 15 seconds or so - die of By Kevin Ferguson, Green inc The New The Nauni-Majgoan Panchayat was diarrhea, 90 percent of which is due to York Times among them. ―The Total Sanitation fecal contamination in food or liquid, than April 06, 2009 -- Perched 4,200 feet in the Campaign is a new chapter for us,‖ said of TB, malaria or HIV/AIDS. "Diarrhea is southern Himalayas, the Nauni-Majgoan Mr. Thakur. Panchayat, a village council overseeing

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MEDIA 21 ON WATER : A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Nauni-Majgoan doesn‘t have all the Water Agencies. "We keep telling the constant attack from storms and tides. answers, however. It hasn‘t figured out world this system is in crisis. It's in crisis Recent studies estimate there is a 62 what to do with its wastewater. It for the fish and the water supply. So the percent chance many will collapse in an incinerates its solid waste (its possession more attention we can get ... the better off earthquake in the next 30 years. of an incinerator, in fact, is a source of we're going to be." A flood that size would draw a surge of pride). And changing weather patterns American Rivers, based in Washington, seawater into the Delta from San have kept farmers on their toes. ―The rains D.C., has produced its annual list since Francisco Bay, contaminating the are not coming at the proper time,‖ says 1986. The mostly subjective process freshwater supply for millions of Califor- Mr. Roop Lal, a farmer and shopkeeper in focuses on rivers facing imminent threats nians. Nauni-Majgoan‘s Kangahn village. or big decisions in the year ahead. Phil Isenberg, a former Sacramento mayor The snow melted early this year and by The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and state legislator, agreed the attention early March his peas and garlic crops certainly satisfies both categories. A from American Rivers could help the were in peril. And last year‘s rainy season, massive habitat conservation effort, called Delta. But he said its analysis seems usually late June to early September, the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan, is oversimplified. began early and ended late. During dry expected by the end of this year and aims Isenberg was chairman of the governor- spells villages must now pump groundwa- to both restore imperiled fish populations appointed Delta Vision Task Force, which ter from beneath the spring-fed Giri River, and improve water delivery. last year wrapped up two years of study to say local officials. More than 23 million Californians and 3 produce a set of comprehensive Meanwhile, the state has been aggres- million acres of farmland depend on Delta recommendations to heal the Delta. Those sively courting private investment in water. proposals are now being debated both by hydroelectricity, waiving foreign- A key proposal in that plan is a controver- state lawmakers and the Bay-Delta investment caps and promising to sial canal. Up to 50 miles long and 1,000 Conservation Plan. purchase electricity produced by new feet wide, it would divert a portion of the Basic water scarcity and the need to power plants. Forty-one hydroelectric Sacramento River's flow around the Delta improve governance of the Delta, plants, generating 6,370 megawatts, are to directly serve water diversion pumps Isenberg said, are key issues largely now in operation in the state, and 67 near Tracy. overlooked by American Rivers – and by projects are now underway or being The Delta and its two main rivers are the policymakers. planned. only California waterways on the group's That pits the panchayat‘s own water list of endangered waterways this year. "You have to face up to the question of needs against those of the state. The San Joaquin was previously listed at whether we have not reached the limits of ―Our job is to make sure we don‘t waste No. 4 in 1997. how much water can be exported from the one drop,‖ says Mr. Thakur. ―Not one "It was hands-down the most threatened Delta," he said. "Having us described as drop.‖ river (system) that was proposed this the most endangered puts a lot of http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04 year," said Steve Rothert, California additional focus on the debate, and I think /06/making-the-most-of-sun-and-water-in- director at American Rivers. "We're hoping that is immensely healthy. But behind all rural-india/ this will help elevate the profile and the recognition comes the tough political motivate federal interest and federal questions." support for a fix." Rothert acknowledged the Delta presents Delta rivers top U.S. most- The Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers a thornier set of problems than most troubled list drain about 40 percent of California's land waterways his group has highlighted over area and 50 percent of its precipitation. All the past 23 years. Yet he believes the

this water is funneled through the Delta attention can help. The Sacramento Bee, Matt Weiser, where the two rivers converge. As examples, the group points to San 07.04.2009 -- The Sacramento and San Environmental and water-supply problems Mateo Creek in Southern California, Joaquin rivers will be named today as the have created urgency at the state level to where a proposed freeway extension nation's most endangered waterways by reverse the Delta's decline. Federal threatened Trestles Beach, and a dam the environmental group American Rivers. interest, however, has waxed and waned. proposed on the Mattaponi River in It will be a news flash mainly for the other Nine fish species are in steep decline in Virginia. Both projects were shelved 49 states. the Delta, the largest estuary on the West thanks, in part, to attention prompted by Many Californians are already well aware Coast of the Americas. Leading the list is the "endangered" status. of the myriad problems in the Sacramen- the fall-run Chinook salmon, which "We don't have a choice but to develop a to-San Joaquin Delta and its two main migrate through the Delta to spawn in the workable solution," Rothert said of the rivers. They've lived for several years with Sacramento River and its tributaries. Sacramento and San Joaquin waterways. water shortages caused by the Delta's Once the largest salmon run on the West "The alternative is status quo and environmental problems, and with the Coast, a crash in the fall-run last year is stagnation, and in time that will certainly threat of its declining fish populations, likely to require a ban on commercial lead to catastrophe. We certainly can't aging levees and problem plumbing. salmon fishing for the second year in a afford that and I think people recognize Yet making the No. 1 slot on the group's row. Federal officials cite ocean conditions that." 2009 list of the 10 most endangered rivers as the main culprit, but problems in the http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/17 is a dubious distinction that both Delta also play a role. 60320.html environmentalists and water users say will This includes water pollution from farms bring renewed urgency to finally solve and cities, predation by foreign species these problems. and water diversions. Massive state and Victory against the State

federal pumps near Tracy reverse flows in the Delta, killing fish and altering the Tehelka, India, Teresa Rehman, April 3, aquatic habitat. 2009 -- A people‘s movement against There are also imminent threats to people. privatization of water in Assam has led to The Delta is a 1,100-mile maze of the redrafting of the state water policy waterways formed by weak levees first three times. carved out of the estuary shortly after the Picture this. Jadu Pegu, a farmer in Gold Rush. The levees form 70 islands remote Dhemaji district of Assam installing that host a rich farm economy and several a water meter in his small hut and having historic towns. to pay taxes for the water his forefathers Those levees don't meet modern have been using for the past several "It can't hurt," said Tim Quinn, executive engineering standards and are under director of the Association of California years. Ethnic groups in Assam would have 14

On Assignment #8, March 2009

had to pay tax for water to which they had Interestingly, the civil society groups also trip to the museum through the streets of free access till date if the draft state water ensured that enough space is created for Delhi, India. There, where 18 percent of policy was passed in its original for. women at the decision-making and the population still defecates openly and implementation levels. ―We tend to ignore where 20 percent of children who die the contribution of women in spite of the under the age of five do so from water- fact that women all around the world are borne diseases, the true purpose of the responsible for getting water and feeding museum becomes evident: It‘s a way to their families. When water is scarce, lure in visitors and introduce them to the women and children struggle everyday to Sulabh International Social Service get water from a distant water source. Organization and its Sulabh Sanitation Every woman knows the value of water,‖ Movement . says Bandita Acharya, one of the two Sulabh, which translates to ―simple‖ in women in the drafting committee of the Hindi, is the brainchild of Dr. Bindeshwar policy. Pathak , a Brahmin snoot-cum-egalitarian But a pro-active people‘s movement Acharya claimed that they could who has transformed the lives of millions against ‗privatization and co modification incorporate few things like no charges on of impoverished people across South Asia of water‘ led to the redrafting of the state natural water, an exempted category like with the introduction of low-cost compost- water policy three times in Assam. tax on farmers and small vendors and ing latrines. Because they require little or Succumbing to pressure from several community participation in each and every no water to operate, the latrines solve the NGOs, the leading one being Krishak aspect. The final draft of the policy would problem faced by poor cities and rural Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), the state hopefully be more ‗pro-people‘ and be areas alike: no sewage system. government removed several clauses on geared towards protection of the Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak displays a beaker the draft policy. The people‘s groups traditional rights of the people over their of colorless, odorless, pathogen-free liquid submitted a people‘s policy to the natural resources. The policy may also manure distilled from human excreta. The government. specify the need and approach for coping fertilizer is created using a low-tech, five- And for the first time the farmers were with the possible impact of climate. step process that includes sand and directly involved in protesting and http://tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filen charcoal filtering and exposure to consultative meets on the draft policy. ame=Ws110409victory_against.asp ultraviolet rays. Methane is captured and Akhil Gogoi of KMSS told Tehelka, ―I think burned as cooking fuel. Kevin Ferguson such a movement is unprecedented in any Sulabh has also rescued and retrained part of the country where the government In India, leading a lavatory more than 120,000 ―scavengers,‖ was forced to change the draft policy revolution members of the low-ranking Dalit caste in three times. We reiterated the primacy of Indian society whose lifelong job is to community rights over water. We are still empty household latrines, carrying the awaiting the final draft.‖ The original draft By Kevin Ferguson, Grist online contents away in buckets on their heads. aimed at ‗privatizing water‘ was rejected The practice is now illegal but continues in by the civil society. DELHI, India—Ah, the Sulabh Internation- many rural areas. Sulabh‘s organization ―The draft turned water, a traditionally al Museum of Toilets! How‘s that for a offers scavenger families vocational enjoyed natural resource into a commodity place to take the wife and kids on a training and formal education. on which the people of the state will have Sunday afternoon? ―I am a pragmatist,‖ says Pathak, when to pay taxes. We feared that the draft It‘s hard not to smirk when this museum‘s asked about the prospects of truly ending water policy was an attempt to curb name is first mentioned. It sounds like a the practice. ―What we are saying is that traditional rights of indigenous people and roadside attraction, something you find all castes are the same. Brahman can sit hand it over to the multinational corpora- just a ways down the road from the down with the Dalit.‖ That includes the tions,‖ he adds. World‘s Oldest Rug (St. Augustine, Fla.) dining room and the bathroom. It is a positive sign that the civil society and the World‘s Largest Ball of Twine Pathak‘s notions are, indeed, simple. The recommendations were accepted by the (Cawker City, Kan.) toilets come in 11 models , ranging from a government and even by senior bureau- handsome bamboo and mortar model that crats. Amrit Kumar Goldsmith, a costs 1,600 rupees ($31), to the crème de representative of the civil society in the la crème—a cement, brick and fiberglass Task Force to draft the water policy said dandy that costs about 14,000 rupees that they wanted to contextualize the ($275). Each uses the same basic National Water Policy 2002 and give a technology: two pits of varying size that voice to the people. are used alternately. When one pit is full, ―We wanted to protect them from the incoming waste is diverted into the economically-hard decisions like water second pit. In about two years, natural tax, In the consultation that followed there processes transform the sludge, leaving it were different tone and tenor but we tried almost dry and pathogen free, thus safe to bring about a policy that is acceptable for handling as manure. Pathak has also to all,‖ adds Goldsmith. designed biogas cooking systems, which The civil society groups were against capture the methane from human excreta privatization and reiterated that the and pipe it right back into the kitchen government should be the trustee and stove, and water filtering systems that take people into consideration at all points reclaim effluent for irrigation. of time when major decisions are made. Simple? Yes. But in India, a nuclear power They tried to ensure that the poor is not on one hand but also a place where it‘s nearly impossible to find around-the-clock taxed and government will make water service, simple is seldom easy. So, provisions to ensure safe drinking water to But when you visit the museum , the smirk any progress in water and sanitation takes the poorest of the poor. Emphasis was evaporates. It‘s not the museum itself—a on special meeting. also laid on medium-sized dams instead rather small collection of lavatory oddities The Stockholm International Water of mega dams, which do not create that includes a replica of Louis XIV‘s Institute (SIWI) recognized that much two problems in the areas downstream. Issues throne with a hidden commode that weeks ago when it awarded Pathak the relating to privatization of water was also allowed the monarch to evacuate his 2009 Stockholm Water Prize . SIWI is the debated at the World Water Forum held in bowels while giving audience—that world‘s pre-eminent research and Istanbul, Turkey recently. changes a visitor‘s mind. Instead, it‘s the

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MEDIA 21 ON WATER : A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

advocacy organization in the sector, and it's been bad enough to win a spooky These tradable entitlements provide for a winning the prize is comparable to name: the Millennium Drought. perpetual share of the resource. They're capturing a Nobel. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Australian leaders have responded not subject to review every three years. Sweden will present the Water Prize at a aggressively to what they view as a Have there been disputes over the royal banquet in August. permanent state caused by climate size of entitlements? Pathak models a low-cost toilet made of change. We went through a resource planning bamboo, mud and mortar. Price: 1,600 At the recent World Water Forum in process, first to determine the needs of rupees ($31), including jute door. Kevin Istanbul, Australian efforts were held up the environment, then any excess Ferguson ―The results of Dr. Pathak‘s as a model for regions pondering a available for people. It wasn't controver- endeavors constitute one of the most warmer, thirstier future. That resonates in sial. What was contestable was the amazing examples of how one person can California these days. science. We got our expert advice, and impact the well being of millions,‖ the At the forum, The Bee interviewed Greg some of the water users got their expert Stockholm Water Prize nominating Claydon, director of strategic water advice. In those cases where we did have committee states in its citation. All told, 1.2 initiatives for the state of Queensland, contested science, we set up what you million residences and buildings use the Australia. That state will spend $9 billion might call a "super sciences" panel to Sulabh pour-flush toilets, and more than on three wastewater recycling plants, a review that. 10 million people each day use Sulabh- desalination plant, two new dams and 120 What have you asked the public to design public toilets, including the one just miles of pipe to link them in a flexible new do? beside the museum‘s entrance. supply network. We started something called Campaign Similar solutions – desalination, wastewa- 140, to encourage residents to reduce ter recycling, dams and major diversions water use to 140 liters per person, per day of river water – also are on the table here, (about 36 gallons). They've more than met as California struggles through water- that goal. Many people have reduced their supply threats in a third year of drought. consumption as low as 120 liters per day. Australia's work has been sweeping, from Before the drought, the average person severe water rationing and new plumbing used 300 liters per day. (The average standards to rainwater catchment and Sacramentan uses about 1,000 liters ocean desalination. daily.) That's just the hardware. How did you get this message to Australia also assessed the true yield of all its watersheds and is buying back the public? water to protect the environment. We handed out egg timers to encourage It rewrote water laws to give agriculture a four-minute showers, and ran advertise- legal entitlement to water akin to a ments where people give tips on how they property right (as in California, farmers are do it. We offer subsidies for rainwater Australia's biggest water consumers). This catchments ($1,000 for a 3,000-liter or seems counterintuitive, but was necessary bigger tank), and for pool covers (now to ensure a supply for everyone. It also mandatory). In the last three years, we've installed more than a quarter-million created a cap-and-trade water market to prevent waste, similar to efforts to control rainwater catchments on existing Pathak‘s work remains just a drop in the properties. In new developments, it's now chamber pot, however. More than 2.6 greenhouse gases. Rather than use water for low-value crops mandatory. We also made water-saving billion people in developing countries—the toilets, faucets and other plumbing vast majority in South Asia—have no like cotton, some Australian farmers now earn a living selling water to cities or other mandatory. There was a directive to access to a toilet. And Sulabh‘s message power stations to go off the mains for their of urgency, though well known and lauded farms that grow high-value crops, like grapes. water usage. They all had to go onto by humanitarians, doesn‘t always recycled water. penetrate the hearts and minds of How would these changes fit in Califor- nia's water culture? Were there complaints? policymakers in India. The result, People were concerned about their according to the World Bank‘s Water and "They would be very radical," said Eric Garner, an attorney in Riverside and chair gardens. The nursery industry was Sanitation Program , is rank: 80 percent of concerned because of the impact it might surface water pollution in urban India is of the International Bar Association's water law committee. "Quantifying all have on sales. So we provided subsidies due to municipal sewage to consumers to buy drought-tolerant ―Enough with holding a candle in the (water) rights in California would be a very radical shift, and allowing them to be plants. darkness,‖ says Gaurab Chandra, a What about water rates? coordinator at Sulabh International, traded – to be bought and sold freely – The residential cost is now $1.20 referring to the exhortation attributed to would be a very significant change." (Australian) per kiloliter (about 10 times Mahatma Gandhi that it is better to light a Queensland's Claydon explained how more than metered customers pay in the single candle than to curse the darkness. they're doing it in Australia: Sacramento area). It will increase as the ―We need a Halogen lamp here. Twenty of These measures sound pretty additional infrastructure comes online. In them.‖ drastic. Is this a survival plan? 10 years' time, the price will double or http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-02- I think there's probably an expectation more. The cheap water sources have india-lavatory-revolution/ we'll come out of this drought sooner or been developed and now we're into more later. But in some parts of the country, all previous records have been broken. The expensive ones. Those cheaper sources Drought-weary Australia a climate change forecast for these areas is aren't reliable in a highly variable climate guide to California's less rainfall, less runoff, higher tempera- scenario. That's the reality. tures, which means higher water demand Are people upset about these future? and more severe droughts. We're getting changes? ready for these sorts of droughts before There hasn't been a big political outcry – Think California's drought looks bad? they even come. yet. No one likes paying more. But people Look to Australia for a reality check. How have people reacted to the don't like severe (water) restrictions either. If you want a more reliable supply, you've Sacramento April 4, 2009 The Scaramen- reform of water rights? got to pay for it. By early 2007, our water to Bee, By Matt Weiser -- The land of Farmers were certainly looking to get their supplies declined to only 17 percent of kangaroos and koalas is suffering its worst water access better specified. Farmers do storage. People began to recognize drought in history. It began in 2001, and want secure, tradable water entitlements. 16

On Assignment #8, March 2009

there's a real risk we'd even run out of About 3 billion people—nearly half the Bechtel. Within months, water rates rose water totally. For a number of reasons, world's population—have no tap water 300%, triggering street protests. there's been an embedded behavior and must lug heavy jugs of water miles to "Once they privatized water in Cocha- change. their homes every day. Even then the bamba, they raised the tariffs but made no http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/17 water is often contaminated with industrial improvements," says Bolivian Senator 54416.html pollutants or teeming with pathogens. Omar Fernandez. Protesters blamed The result is breathtaking. Of children who Bechtel for taking over community-dug die before their fifth birthday in Ethiopia, wells, while Bechtel blamed the govern- Water Mismanagement Bangladesh, India, and other developing ment for using rate hikes to pay off past Plagues the World's Poor countries, 17% do so from preventable debts, rather than funding the project. water-borne diseases, typically succumb- Amid rioting, Aguas del Tunari's manage- ing to dehydration from diarrhea. That's a ment fled, the contract was abrogated, By Kevin Ferguson, Businessweek online death rate greater than those for malaria and after years of litigation, all sides and AIDS, according to the World Health agreed to drop the matter. Companies, governments, and interest Organization. In India, just three miles outside New groups need to learn how to work together Mexico's Private Sector Shares Delhi, the Yamuna River is pitch black to supply the needy with clean, properly Costs with pollution. The Yamuna, one of distributed water Privatization is hardly the main culprit. Hinduism's most sacred rivers, provides Outside the World Water Forum in Even the term itself is misleading. With a drinking water to communities down- Istanbul last week, a sea of white- few high-profile exceptions, most water stream of the city. helmeted, truncheon-wielding Turkish sources aren't owned by private compa- A Toxic River of Corpses and police tear-gassed and manhandled 100 nies, such as Evian bottler Danone. And Sludge chanting demonstrators. Inside the halls, private contracts usually transfer Officially, the Indian government has been activists quickly made hay of their brutal ownership of pipes, treatment plants, and cleaning the river since 1993. Yet more mistreatment, citing it as another example holding tanks to public entities. than one-third of the raw sewage and of collusion between government and Mexico's Ministry of the Environment & industrial pollutants that pour into the business to use privatization contracts to Natural Resources, for example, will retain Yamuna bypass Delhi's 17 wastewater deny the world's poorest residents access ownership of one of the world's largest treatment plants, two of which are to clean water and basic sanitation. wastewater treatment plants in Tula, near operated by Degremont, a Suez affiliate. Throughout the conference much ire was Mexico City, when a private contractor The river water ordinarily appears to be directed at the privatization of utilities. completes it in 2012. Mexico, which has boiling because of millions of methane Some of it was justified. But antiprivatiza- doubled its annual water and sanitation bubbles escaping the sludge-lined tion protesters also misrepresented some budget to $3 billion since 2006, says an riverbed. The stench is overwhelming. On things that have led to problems in the additional $3 billion is spent annually by the banks, families gather daily to cremate world's water management. the private sector on water and sanitation their loved ones and dispose of some of The failure of developing world govern- projects. "The private sector is very the ashes in the water. It isn't uncommon ments to prioritize clean water has important for water and sanitation in to see partially charred remains floating in unquestionably contributed to many ills. Mexico," says Jose Luis Luege, director the water. Thousands of homeless bathe Understanding what has led to the failure general of the country's National Water in the toxic stew each day. of some public and private partnerships Commission. "It brings better efficiencies can help ensure that governments, private that would not be possible otherwise." companies, and nongovernmental That point is often lost on activists, organizations work better together in the concedes Canadian antiprivatization future. leader Maude Barlow. One reason may be No Tap Water for Three Billion that Barlow—in her frequent public People skewering of French water distributor Suez Environnement and other multina- tionals—calls for their removal from the public water business.

Speaking one-on-one, though, her tone Photo By: Chris LaMarca softens a bit. "The private sector has a very important role," she says. "No It's another case of the government and argument. I have no problem with Suez private sector working together—just not laying pipes or making infrastructure well. repairs. But I don't want them in charge of How then to bring water and sanitation to allocating water." the bottom billion, the poorest of the poor Hot Water for Bechtel in Bolivia in the sprawling slums in Asia, South Water is allocated quite badly in develop- America, and Africa? Any solution must ing countries—the fault of both govern- Privatization was a hot topic at the Water begin with accountable and cooperative ments and the private sector. More than Forum, a triennial event that this year governments at local, state, and federal half of all water collected in developing drew 27,000 water and sanitation levels. countries leaks from flawed pipes before it bureaucrats, hydrologists, people from That's a tall order. In India, bureaucracies can reach the tap. More than 70% of nongovernmental organizations, and and disputes between states stop rivers potable water that is successfully hundreds of vendors hawking portable from flowing across boundaries. In many transmitted winds up in irrigation ditches. toilets, low-cost water purifiers, and high- African countries, water and sanitation Another 20% is used by industry. That priced consulting services. All were ministers are weak, outmatched by leaves only 10% for residential use, and looking to address a global humanitarian finance ministers and parliamentarians. that's seldom enough. disaster that poses great market "The biggest problem in Africa today is Consider Cochabamba, Bolivia. In 1999 opportunities. governance," says David Ebong, a the financially strapped municipal At least 2.6 billion people have no access Ugandan legislator. "The political and government sold a water-management to a toilet. Half of them are forced to technical issues and priorities are clear. concession in a World Bank-backed deal defecate in the open, fouling their own But without governance, it all falls apart." to Aguas del Tunari, controlled by drinking water, according to the Water Planning in a Makeshift World engineering and construction company Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council. Improving water cleanliness and availability must also involve civic groups 17

MEDIA 21 ON WATER : A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

and NGOs, which act as watchdogs on be appointed the ―celebrity spokesman for government. In New Delhi, the Fountain of shit‖. It‘s a ridiculously good idea made Development Research and Action, a even better by the blunt and humorous local NGO, is building flushless toilets for way it was delivered. 25,000 homeless people who live in illegal A headline like ―Matt Damon Declares settlements along the border between War on Third World Poop‖ would probably Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Swechha, an do more to further awareness of sanitation environmental NGO, has brought related deaths then mountains of glossy international pressure to bear on the literature on the topic that was handed out

Indian government for its failure to protect at the Water Forum. the country's rivers. Water and Sanitation Literature at As one of our frustrated presenters The solution must also include better commented before handing out yet planning. That's a huge challenge for such the 5th World Water Forum another stat-filled pamphlet, ―If we‘re cities as Delhi, which accommodates vast ―Lack of media coverage has been a real lucky, it might end up as toilet paper.‖ numbers of poor immigrants, many living frustration for the development communi- Visit the Pulitzer Center's Water Wars in rubble-strewn, feces-littered, makeshift ty, specifically in the field of Water and Gateway "Your Stories" section to hear settlements. Sanitation,‖ said Ed Cain, President of the journalists and activists discussing the The private sector needs to bring its Hilton foundation, addressing myself and World Water Crisis and ways to address it. technical knowledge and capital to bear. forty some other journalists from around You can also share your own views on the Few municipal governments—even well- the world convened by Swiss global issues! funded ones—have the wherewithal to journalism network Media 21 to cover the http://pulitzercenter.typepad.com/untold_s design, build, or operate a wastewater or forum. tories/2009/03/getting-our-minds-into-the- water-treatment plant. When asked if His sentiments were echoed by officials gutter-.html#more Cochabamba's water services have from Rotary International, UNICEF, PATH improved since being returned to the and many others from the public and public, Bolivian Senator Fernandez shrugs private sector, who spoke to our group the India kills her goddess slightly and says "slowly." hopes we‘d help them bring public The same holds true for Delhi. Anjali Rai, attention to their cause. By Ernest Waititu, Pulitzer Center former Indian legislator and now the head Getting a development issue like water NEW DELHI India, March 30, 2009 – of Foundation for Change, an NGO that access, or worse yet, sanitation, into the Some hundreds of meters after Wazirabad advocates policy change to help slum news is no easy task, especially in the Bridge, a furious mass of darkened fluid dwellers, says more public-private place like the US, where few people tears through the huge concrete drain to partnerships are needed. perceive themselves as having a personal the valley where Yamuna River once used Given the tangled structure of Delhi's stake in the problem. Its easy to deceive to piously meander. According to Hindu governance, the crushing wave of rural yourself as to how compelling this problem mythology, Yamuna is the daughter of refugees, and the utter filth of the holy is to the average American when you‘re Surya, the sun god, and sister to Yama, Yamuna, I couldn't agree more. reporting from a slum in Africa, or sitting in the god of death. Goddess Yamuna is Kevin Ferguson is a freelance writer living the middle of a conference on water and associated with sanctity and purity. But in Arlington, Mass. He reported for this sanitation. not even godliness would have saved the column from Istanbul and Delhi. For a reality check, I like to picture the river from the twin evils of a poorly http://www.businessweek.com/technology/ cabin of an airplane flight I recently took managed sewage and a reckless disposal con- from Denver to Seattle as my imaginary of industrial waste. tent/mar2009/tc20090325_282423.htm audience. Most of my fellow passengers Dirty Drain have never left the country. They are, like And as India‘s industry rumbles and its most humans, primarily concerned with economy thrives, the world‘s largest the well being of their friends and family. Getting Our Minds Into democracy continues to fail in dealing with They work hard, so when they aren‘t its human waste. Delhi has 15 million the Gutter working they want to relax and be people and dumps 57 percent of its entertained. Most of them aren‘t ―feel bad sewage into this river. In an erratic march to feel good‖ people, but they might be Alex Stonehill, Pulitzer Center to join the league of developed nations, ―get mad to feel good‖ people – so they‘d not even the advice of Mahatma Gandhi – rather hear a story with a villain than one An estimated 35,000 people died last India‘s father of the nation and one of the with some complex, systemic problem. week as the 5th World Water Forum most revered citizens of the world – who And finally, if they‘re my age or younger, convened in Istanbul, Turkey. If you asked Indians to consider decent and they‘re surrounded by a mainstream youth didn‘t hear the news, don‘t be surprised; hygienic disposal of human waste central culture that is sarcastic, consumeristic, the 35,000 deaths the week before, and to their civilization, has been heeded. and emotionally detached. the week before that didn‘t grab any headlines either. Despite all this, they are at their core, One of the biggest challenges facing the compassionate people. Americans are thousands of delegates at the forum from unmatched when it comes to private relief water and sanitation NGO‘s is getting the donations for well-publicized natural media to take notice of the startling disasters like the South Asian Tsunami. If numbers of people dying each day from we could monopolize the in-flight water borne illness, and the billions entertainment for the next 3 hours with around the globe without access to clean presentations like the ones I saw at the water and sanitation. Water Forum, most of my fellow passen-

gers would get off the plane in Seattle as activists for global WATSAN improvement. But if we have to compete with 30 other Further downstream, we take a boat to channels of in-flight programming, there‘s experience the Yamuna first hand. no way we‘re going to get their attention. Methane gas bubbles from the river. Unless we fight dirty Weighed down by tones of polythene I recently heard Rose George, author of bags brimming with garbage and religious The Big Neccessity: The Unmentionable sacrifice that land down here from atop a World of Human Waste and Why it bridge above the river, the flow virtually Matters suggest that Matt Damon should stagnates. 18

On Assignment #8, March 2009

The stink intensifies, notwithstanding that flowers, your ―soul goes straight to the lake — will drastically reduce the the Indian government has spent $500 heaven.‖ inflow into the lake, increase the lake‘s million to clean the river. Delhi still gets In India today, rivers like Yamuna are not salinity and severely alter the lives of much of her water from the Yamuna just final resting places for the departed; thousands of people and millions of further upstream. But when the river they are also abodes to a concoction of animals dependent on the lake for survival enters the city, it is time for the city to give massive industrial waste, rivers of sewage in the drought-stricken northern Kenya, back, discharging millions of liters of from the many affluent neighborhoods not Ms Ikal said. sewage and industrial effluent back to the served by sewage networks, and loads of river. fecal matter washed from the fields where Rowing Raft millions of people still defecate openly. Anyone who has visited India quickly The poor of cities like Delhi, who continue appreciates the challenges of providing to defecate in the open, have taken a lot services to more than a billion people in all of flak for polluting the environment. Never its practicalities by just watching the cities‘ mind that much of the city‘s sewage crowded streets. But it seems that treatment system doesn‘t work, and the managing Rivers like Yamuna is not just a affluent have continued to send their question of services strained by enormous sewage down rivers like Yamuna, population, it is also a matter of corruption undoubtedly polluting the river more than in high places. the poor. Vimlendu Jha ,the founder and leader of As we leave the river, a new group of She was among hundreds of activists who Swechha - We for Change Foundation – priests take their turn for prayer by the held a parallel meeting to the week-long an organization that works with young banks of the river that Delhi seems to all World Water Forum, challenging the people on issues of environment and but have killed. They look, to me, like legitimacy of the forum. citizenship and has been championing the ordinary poor people, who would have The activists called for recognition of cleaning of River Yamuna since 2000 – done the least in adding the torrents of water as a human right and demanded an says that the government of India has chemicals and sewage to the river that is immediate end to the World Water Forum used a lot of money to clean the river yet now no more. The powerful smell of — the world‘s largest gathering on water nothing has happened due to corruption. industrial chemical is all about them. — saying that the forum was an avenue Says Jha, ―money has gone somewhere Yet they pray on, even when the water for private water companies to balloon else, money has not been utilized. There they clean their hands with has been their bottom line. is corruption.‖ carried down from cleaner sources The activists chastised the forum The corruption has all but killed life in the elsewhere, perhaps a pointer to the notion organized by the World Water Council, River. Jha says that, according to the that they could be paying their tribute not saying it was yet another avenue for Central Pollution Control Board in Delhi, to this goddess that lies lame before them, commercialization of water, while not the water quality in Yamuna‘s course but to a goddess whose grandeur only lies addressing the plight of the poor in Africa within the City of Delhi is ―E class, not in the history. and elsewhere who continued to suffer, even fit for animals…only fit for industrial And one cannot help but gather that for all even die, due to lack of access to the cooling.‖ the good that comes with industrialization, precious life sustaining fluid. Typically, people do not hate their gods or modernity and its attendant luxuries, their holy places. Three Hindu priests Yamuna‘s death is still a heavy price to spread their mats and pray at the banks of pay. the river. A man walks into the river, See all Water Wars related posts dresses down to his underwear and Visit the Water Wars Gateway to learn bathes – it is a pilgrimage many make to more and to share your story on the world this river on regular basis. For the ordinary water crisis. folks, it is time to offer sacrifices to the http://pulitzercenter.typepad.com/untold_s river goddess: they throw coins, wrapped tories/2009/03/india-kills-her-goddess.html polythene bags and valuables into the river, undoubtedly adding to the river pollution. Kenya seeks cheap power ―The Forum is about top-down solutions Cow Eats Garbage at the Expense of Turkana when we need bottom-up solutions,‖ said As the god thrives in the bounty, man too Ms Sheelu Francis of Tamil Nadu must live: homeless people who have By ERNEST WAITITU in ISTANBUL, Women‘s Collective, India, in a press found a home here by the side of Mother TurkeyPosted Wednesday, March 25 release to the participants in the forum. Yamuna take makeshift boats and fish out 2009 The forum, staged every three years to what belongs to the gods. Baij Naith deliberate on water issues, attracted more returns to the banks to open his bags – he Kenya‘s Lake Turkana, was in the than 20,000 participants from across the doesn‘t get more than worship parapher- spotlight in the just ended World Water world. Water and Irrigation minister, nalia: some dead flowers, a picture of Forum here, when a claim that the Charity Ngilu led the Kenya delegation. some god and dirt. But he must keep country's second largest lake faced the Fathered under the over-arching theme of trying, he makes 40 rupees a day from threat of extinction due to plans to dam ―Bridging Divides for Water‖, the Forum this job, he says. Ethiopia‘s River Omo — the lake‘s main was dogged by controversy right from its And just above where we stand, a metro inlet. Ms Ikal Angelei told the forum that first day on Monday, March 16, when cruises through an overpass transporting the Government of Kenya had ―traded off,‖ hundreds of water activists protesting the burgeoning Indian middle class to their the people of Turkana in exchange for against its authenticity got into a violent offices and businesses. hydro-electric power to be supplied from confrontation with police. Some two hundred or so meters away, Ethiopia after the damming of the river. Riot police used teargas to disperse the two families gather for the final rights of a Ms Ikal, the coordinator of Friends of Lake more than 300 protesters who threw rocks departed family member. The ashes will Turkana, said Lake Turkana, the world‘s and beat officers with sticks. later be sprinkled into the river on its way largest desert lake and lifeline for more The participants castigated the neo-liberal down to the Ganges – the most venerated than 300,000 Kenyans and Ethiopians, approach to water management, which of the goddesses. If you get your ash has lost several meters of its water in the they said espouses increased privatization sprinkled here says Rajesh Sharma, a last five years. of water. More than 17 protesters were manager in the Indian textile industry who Plans to build a dam along the Omo River arrested. has just offered his sacrifice of yellow — the source of more than 80 per cent of

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MEDIA 21 ON WATER : A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Two activists with International Rivers, a Moldovans use water with pollutants that development projects in Moldova for the group that opposes dam constructions on are harmful for their health. last eight years and proposes a different river courses, who unfurled a banner that solution to the population's access to read ―No Risky Dams‖ at the forum‘s water. Water provision should be opening ceremony were arrested and decentralized, the population's needs deported. should be estimated, and the community Mr Peter Bosshard, the policy director of should become actively involved in International Rivers, condemned the constructing aqueducts. deportation in a press release and Thierry Umbehr, a water and sanitation dismissed the Water Forum as ―a trade program coordinator with the Agency's fair of corporate interests.‖ Chisinau office, says that „when we try to The water justice activists later held a solve this problem we need to keep in one-day Peoples‘ Forum on Thursday mind the different needs of our beneficia- March 19. Only 55 percent of the country's popula- ries. We think that we have to get the ―The divide remains deep between the tion has access to centralized water water where it exists, if it does, and not to people who want quality water and systems. This number, however, obscures transport water from one end of the sanitation and the bankers and corpora- a big difference between rural and urban country to another. Most Moldovans live in tions who control the World Water settings. About 97 percent of the city- rural areas, so we need to avoid Council,‖ said Mr. David Boys of Public dwelling population is connected, complicated solutions when simple ones Services International, in a press release compared to only 18 percent of villagers. are sufficient. If the rural consumer does to the participants in the forum. Other data using different sources of not use a lot of water, why build a Ms Ikal travelled from Kenya to attend the information show that only 35 percent of sophisticated aqueduct system?‖ wonders alternative forum to bring the world‘s the rural population gets water from a Mr. Umbehr. attention to Ethiopia‘s planned Gibe 111 centralized system, and that only 5 The Agency's representative is of the Dam, which she says will all but alter the percent of villages have plumbing. opinion that Moldova's National Strategy livelihood of her Turkana community. Five Moldovan Ministries deal with water is „unfortunately utopian, unless an old The Kenyan government, Ikal told the problems and access – the Ministry of man with a million lei in his pocket shows Nation in an interview, is complacent in Ecology and Natural Resources, the up.‖ the scheme in its quest to buy cheaper Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Mr. Umbehr told Imedia that the problem electricity from Ethiopia. Protection, Families, and Children, the of plumbing in villages needs to be Ms Ikal said the Government was Ministry of Transportation and Construc- „urgently‖ solved. betraying the people of Turkana, making tion, and the Ministry of Local Public Imedia has found, however, that although them feel like ―second-class citizens.‖ Administration. The Apele Moldovei few and far in between, some places in http://www.nation.co.ke/News/- [Imedia: Moldova's Waters] State Agency Moldova are successfully working toward /1056/550906/-/u3n6fo/-/index.html also has some responsibilities in the area, solving their water problems. while the Apa-Canal company is an Galina Budu-Cazimir**: „It was a important decision-maker in Chisinau. democratic process. Nobody imposed this With few water resources Apele Moldovei data, cited by Infotag, new type of toilet...‖ as it is, Moldova facing show that in 2008, the government spent The village of Vorniceni, in the Straseni about 553 million lei (50.81 million lei) to district (about 30 km north-west of pollution and plumbing build aqueducts and plumbing systems in Chisinau) does not have a centralized problems 46 Moldovan localities. Only 18 million of water system or any plumbing. Recently, however, the village school installed an the total sum was provided by the budget, EcoSan toilet. By Maia Metaxa/Imedia, Chisinau, and 17.8 million came from the National Galina Budu-Cazimir, head of the Moldova Environmental Fund. The bulk of the European Solidarity for Water in Moldova money came from abroad. NGO, says the new technology has ISTANBUL / CHIŞINĂU (Imedia) – Last This year, the government has ear- numerous advantages. „The EcoSan toilet week, Moldova was one of the participants marked 43 million lei for the same separates human waste, which is then at the Fifth World Water Forum, the purpose. collected separately. Urine and fecal largest gathering to discuss problems Estimates show that Moldova has about matter were always a hassle for us related to water consumption and supply 6,600 artesian wells and over 123,000 because they would pollute the under- in the world. The Forum was attended by regular wells. The country has one of the ground water sources, so we said 28,000 participants that included officials, lowest water resources per capita in 'enough' and decided to use everything water experts, non-governmental Europe. that is bad for good purposes.‖ organizations, private companies, and Statistics indicate that the country One of these purposes, adds Ms. Budu- journalists. During the meeting, Moldova possesses 563 aqueducts, reaching a Cazimir, is the transformation of human was one of the case studies presented at length of 7,100 km. Only 465 (83 percent) waste into environmentally friendly a workshop about the decentralization of of these work. fertilizer, which can be used on farms as a sanitation and water provision. During the About 92.6 percent of the water distri- substitute for chemicals. workshop, representatives from the Swiss buted in Moldova goes to cities, with the Moreover, says the NGO activist, „children Agency for Development and Coopera- rest headed for villages. On average, are happy they don't have to go to the tion, the Skat Swiss Resource Center and every Moldovan gets a delivery of about bathroom outside anymore, they used to Consultancies for Development, and the 14.9 cubic meters of water a year. have to do it while it rained or when it was ApaSan Project Moldova spoke about In 2007, Moldova launched a National cold. They also don't have to deal with the their project achievements in Moldova. Strategy for the Provision of Water, which horrible smell.‖ In the European context, Moldova has the authorities hope will lead to the Ms. Budu-Cazimir told Imedia that she did severe problems with water quality since, construction of a country-wide network of not have problems with the villagers, who according to academic studies, well-water aqueducts. Experts say, however, that this are typically resistant to change. „It was a in the entire country (which most villagers is „an inefficient solution‖ at the very least. democratic process. Nobody imposed this and some city-dwellers use as their main Commentary: new type of toilet...‖ source of consumption) is not drinkable. Thierry Umbehr*: „We need to avoid Installation of the EcoSan in the school Almost 90 percent of the country's complicated solutions when simple ones cost between 30,000 and 50,000 Euros, underground water sources are polluted. are sufficient...‖ while individual families in the village Data from the Health and Epidemiological The Swiss Agency for Development and Service show that over 60 percent of Cooperation has been funding social

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On Assignment #8, March 2009 would have to spend a maximum of 500 Aquatic Species at Risk in South- Euros to get it. ern Africa File: The World Conservation Union (IUCN )-- The World Water Forum, held in Istanbul one of the definitive sources on endan- this year, is co-organized by the World gered and threatened species-- Water Council and the hosting country announced today at the World Water once every three years. Forum that many southern African Mexico hosted the Forum in 2006, Japan freshwater fish, crabs, dragonflies and in 2003, and the Netherlands in 2000. The may be sold at the local watering hole for aquatic plants risk extinction. first gathering was held in Morocco in some time to come. The biggest threat to survival: develop- 1997. Based in the capital, Dar es Salaam, ment. The Swiss Agency for Development and Tanzania Breweries Limited was worried Out of 1,279 freshwater species in Cooperation has built 16 aqueducts in the about the region's water supply. The southern Africa, 94 are threatened--78 of Moldovan districts of Nisporeni, Hincesti, company brought together citizens, these are found in South Africa . and Straseni, all of which allow individual environmentalists, and government "Here at the World Water Forum the trend connections. The Agency also created the agencies who are now working on large- is to think about water supply in terms of Water Consumers' Association, which scale infrastructure and efficiency projects irrigation, hydropower and drinking water," operates, collects payment, and provides to secure the city's supply into the long- said William Darwall, Manager of IUCN's maintenance for the systems. term future. Freshwater Biodiversity Unit, in a statement. "People tend to forget about It has also developed a series of water Tanzania Breweries, and its parent the species that live in the water but we distribution systems in eight villages, company SABMiller, were recognized in a can no longer afford to do this." whose city halls have now taken over report on corporate action the World IUCN goes on to explain that many of management. In addition, the Agency has Wildlife Fund-United Kingdom released these species are an important source of built 26 traditional toilets and 5 EcoSan yesterday at the 5th World Water Forum in food. ones, as well as small-scale plumbing Istanbul. Read more about this: Action Urged to systems. businesses--not all breweries--helped to Avert Extinction of Southern Africa's In 2009, the Swiss Agency for Develop- develop the United Nations CEO Water Aquatic Species ment and Cooperation plans to construct Mandate , a voluntary initiative to become three water purifying stations, three more water efficient. Schools in Kenya Secure Clean EcoSan toilets, and two water provision The Dar es Salaam region is subject to Water, a Better Learning Environ- systems. drought and crop failure, and is expected ment Along with Moldova's lack of water to become even more vulnerable as resources, few inhabitants know how to Much of Nyanza Province in Kenya is climate change intensifies. drought-prone. Women and children end use the scarce resource properly and The government isn't doing it's job to without waste. up walking four miles (six kilometers), or secure a water source, said report author three hours, a day to haul water. Nearly Experts say that every time a product is Stuart Orr. sold, the two parties are engaged in a 90 percent of the province's schools do African Countries Come Together not have a clean source, according to the virtual exchange of water. A farmer needs to Manage Groundwater 246 liters of water to grow one kilogram of nonprofit Global Water Challenge , based The Iullemenden Aquifer sprawls 193,000 potatoes, while the amount of water used in Washington, D.C. square miles (500,000 square kilometers)- for the production of a middle-sized car In the last three years teachers from 285 -about the size of California--below reaches 400,000 liters. schools in Nyanza have learned how to Mali,Niger , and Nigeria in Northwestern One paper page wastes about 10 liters. treat water with a chlorine solution. In Africa When we consume a slice of bread, we addition, they have installed hand- are enjoying the outcome of 40 liters of washing stations. water. The Sustaining and Scaling School Water, One cup of coffee costs 140 liters, and Sanitation, and Hygiene (SWASH) one glass of wine wastes slightly less – program is a five-year funding effort by 120 liters. U.S. businesses, government agencies, Clothing also wastes resources – factories and advocacy organizations and use about 11,000 liters of water to foundations to bring proper hygiene, and produce one pair of jeans. ideally better health and therefore better education to classrooms. (It is hard to concentrate when you're sick.) Tasha Eichenseher's attendance at the Africa's Water News: 5th World Water Forum is sponsored by

Green Beer, At-Risk Media21 -- a Switzerland-based journal- It is estimated that withdrawals have ism foundation that brings reporters and Aquatic Life, Clean Hands increased from 50 million cubic meters in producers from around the globe to work 1970 to 180 million cubic meters in 2004, together on coverage of major issues such By Tasha Eichenseher in Istanbul, Turkey mostly due to a population increase of 9 as human rights, climate change, and million in the region over that same period health. News from Africa for the 5th World Water of time. http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/ Forum:Tanzania Brewer Drafted into The area has been labeled one of the news/chiefeditor/2009/03/africas-water- Water Efficiency Effort most vulnerable regions to climate change news-green-beer.html To brew just one 250 ml glass of beer it as drought--which has persisted since takes 75 liters of water, according to the 1970---is expected to get worse. Water Footprint Network. Water is Recognizing the situation was potentially Water Forum Ends On primarily used for growing barley, but the explosive, government agencies in all brewing process itself also uses the three countries got together to form the World Water Day resource. Sahara and Sahel Observatory to assess Despite re-occurring drought in Tanzania , the situation and work on an agreement to By Joseph B. Treaster, Miami University Safari and Kilimanjaro Premium Lagers manage the aquifer. ISTANBUL, March 21, 2009 – The end is The U.N. has highlighted the project as a nearing for the week-long World Water model for other possible conflict areas.

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MEDIA 21 ON WATER : A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Forum. Formal statements are being The optimists point out that hundreds of issued on Sunday – World Water Day. government officials got together here and No breakthroughs are expected. And that that some of what they may have learned comes as no surprise to many partici- in the corridors and over lunches may lead pants. them to dedicate more money and energy The Forum, which is held every three to taking care of the world‘s water and the years, and World Water Day, an annual rest of the environment. event, are both ceremonial. They draw a The most certain thing, though, is the certain amount of attention to worldwide symbolism of the World Water Forum. ―It water problems. But they do not appear to shows the amount of interest invested in "It is scandalous that in 2009 [the be keys to fixing things. water,‖ said Lena Salame, a program diarrhea death toll] is like four jumbo jets More than 25,000 water experts, specialist in the Division of Water of children crashing every day. Human government officials and diplomats Sciences at the United Nations Educa- waste is a fabulous weapon of mass attended the Forum this year. Many of tional, Scientific and Cultural Organization destruction." them came for the networking and the in Paris. ―At the second Forum in the Brocklehurst called the lack of adequate private conversations. Netherlands in 2000 there were about sanitation for more than a third of the It is hard to measure progress on water 6,000 people. There are 25,000 here. The Earth's population "one of the biggest problems. But everyone I‘ve spoken with Forum is not going to change the world all scandals in the last 50 years." here said things move very slowly in this of a sudden. It‘s a long process.‖ field. Some problems are getting worse http://knight.miami.edu/blogs/joe/2009/03/ simply because the number of people in 22/water-forum-ends-on-world-water-day/ Front-line perspectives: the world continues to grow. Journalists on water Whatever may have been going on Lack of Toilets "One of privately here, there was very little BY Jon Sawyer, Pulitzer Center on Crisis evidence in the public sessions of original the Biggest Scandals in Reporting thinking. And that was part of the plan. the Last 50 Years" Saturday afternoon, I sat in on the final ISTANBUL March 23, 2009 – For session of the group working on ―Manag- Pakistani television journalist Shehryar ing and Protecting Water Resources,‖ one By Ms EICHENSEHER Tasha, National Mufti it‘s the underreported role of water of the main themes of the Forum. Geographic resources in his country‘s long-running conflict with India over Kashmir. Istanbul, Turkey March 18, 2009 -- Rose For Togo radio journalist Francois George , British author of the 2008 book Agmegnignon it‘s his government's failure "The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable to address the fact that so many of his World of Human Waste and Why It people lack access to clean drinking Matters," tells National Geographic Digital water. Media Science Editor Tasha Eichenseher For Munawar Shohinovnamov of why people should care about the 2.5 Tajikistan it's the fact that glaciers are the billion people around the globe who do not main supply of the country's water supply have access to a safe, clean place to do -- and those glaciers are melting fast. their business. These were among the journalists making Here are some of the points the group George--pixie-ish, and passionate--is a their voices heard this past week in agreed upon after three years of former editor at Benetton's Colors Istanbul, as part of the World Water discussions since the Forum in Mexico magazine, where she once worked on an Forum. Go to our WaterWars web portal City in 2006: art book showcasing feces. Now, whether to view them all – and to join the *Fresh water resources are very limited on consulting for the Gates Foundation or conversation yourself. our planet. writing op-eds for the New York Times, Media21 is a Geneva-based organization *The world’s growing population is putting she is the go-to girl for all issues related to dedicated to better global journalism pressure on fresh water resources. the toilet. through workshops and field trips on the *Global Warming will make it much more She explains that the lack of sanitation world‘s systemic challenges, bringing difficult to supply water for everyone. facilities--sophisticated or primitive--in journalists from diverse countries and *Before embarking on infrastructure developing countries is "a fundamental media platforms to engage those issues projects we should look at the cost- health crisis." first-hand. benefits. Nearly 20 percent of those without The Istanbul Forum was one of Media21‘s These are direct quotes. Here was a facilities practice open defecation, biggest initiatives yet, a group of nearly 40 group of water experts speaking to a room according to Clarissa Brocklehurst, chief journalists including four associated with full of water experts. Stimulating? A United of water, sanitation and hygiene at projects of the Pulitzer Center . It proved a Nations representative next to me dozed UNICEF , who spoke during a panel memorable exercise in group learning, off. I saw several people sleeping. discussion at the 5th World Water Forum and of putting a local face on water‘s Several members of the panel acknowl- yesterday. In India alone, there are global challenge. edged that their presentation was approximately 665 million people who Media21 and the Pulitzer Center are both uninspiring. It had to be that way, one of have no other options. dedicated to finding new ways of them said. It was the United Nations This is undignified and dangerous, engaging the public at a time when focused on water. What you saw on stage especially for women, who risk rape and traditional news media outlets are rapidly was theater. If you saw through the snakebite, George says. The resulting scaling back their ambitions when it facade, you saw how difficult it is to solve water pollution and fecal contamination comes to global coverage. The World water problems. also carry an enormous health risk, Water Forum was a case in point – an ―There are so many opposing views that, particularly for children, George adds. occasion that highlights one of the world‘s in public, you have to try to speak to most pressing issues, the 1 billion people reflect everybody‘s view,‖ one member of who lack access to clean water and the the panel said. ―In the private sessions 2.5 billion without adequate sanitation, there was no dialogue. No movement and yet one that virtually none of the forward. We just went around and world‘s major media organizations around.‖ covered first hand.

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On Assignment #8, March 2009

the simple dream of one Yemeni girl, welcome more – Email us at globalgate- named for a character in a television soap [email protected] This e-mail opera, to have time to watch the program address is being protected from spam herself. bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view Shehryar Mufti, the Pakistani journalist, it and we‘ll get you signed up for this said the surprise to him was a general innovative (and free!) opportunity to unwillingness at the Forum to talk about engage people around the world on water water as a potential source of conflict. He issues. said that in his view access to water One of those groups is Media21, a resources is clearly a root cause of the Geneva-based non-profit group that Kashmir dispute, yet Pakistan persists in organizes workshops and field reporting framing that conflict in terms of self- for groups of journalists drawn from determination while India insists on developing and developed countries. presenting it as an internal political issue. One reason neither side wants to address the water issues, he suggests, is that if ―people talk about it as a resource issue then it might get resolved.‖ http://pulitzercenter.typepad.com/untold_s tories/2009/03/frontline-perspectives- You could find excellent daily coverage of journalists-on-water.html#more the Forum, for example, from veteran New York Times correspondent Joseph Talking Water: Voices Treaster – not in The Times, however, but in the One Water website (1h2o.org) from Istanbul Here‘s Ed Girardet , one of the Media21 Treaster now edits in his new role as organizers, a specialist on Afghanistan journalist in residence at the University of By Jon Sawyer, Pulitzer Center on Crisis and other conflict zones around the world, Miami‘s Knight Center for International Reporting talking about the importance of bringing Media . together journalists from different ISTANBUL / Turkey, March 22, 2009 --An countries and backgrounds to explore The Knight Center‘s One Water initiative is international gathering devoted to water‘s complex issues like water. Bill Dowell , a partnering with the Pulitzer Center too, as dominant role in global disease and health former Time and Christian Science are groups like Water Advocates with an was rich in rhetoric and sparse on Monitor correspondent who has also interest in raising the visibility of the anything in the way of tangible policy worked in international communications sanitation and health aspects of water. breakthroughs. for CARE -- and now writes for GlobalPost John Sauer , a spokesman for Water But among the 25,000 people attending -- says initiatives like Media21 are even Advocates, helped raise money to bring the 5th World Water Forum were some of more important given the current crisis in journalists to Istanbul and then recruited the most passionate voices on water and traditional journalism. journalists to fill the spots. Other financial sanitation, making a compelling case that The World Water Forum has taken place sponsors include the Pulitzer Center, for much of the world the travails of Wall every three years since 1997. It began as Frontline/World and the International Street matter far less than access to clean a private initiative and still has the feel of a Center of Photography. drinking water and sanitary toilet facilities business/engineering trade show, with The journalists came here to learn, of at reasonable cost in money and time. dozens of booths hawking water filtration course, but they brought their own A UNESCO report released at the Forum systems, pumping stations and sanitation knowledge and experience, too – and captures the scale of the challenge: over 1 devices in a huge tent erected next to the hearing their stories gave insight into the billion people who lack access to clean brand-new Sutluce Congress and Cultural specific challenges of their home drinking water, 2.5 billion without flush Center in a matchless location – on both countries. toilets, 1.8 million deaths a year from sides of the Golden Horn, just north of the Manlin Xiong is a journalist with the state- waterborne diseases. That‘s 5,000 deaths Bosphorus, with a pedestrian bridge, also owned China Central Television, for a day, or one every 17 seconds, from new, that gave participants here plenty of example, but she said one of the most diseases like hepatitis, cholera and water-view opportunities as they shuttled striking aspects of the Forum for her was diarrhea. from session to session. the debate over the respective of state That‘s more than the toll from HIV/AIDS, The United States and other countries and business in supplying water and malaria and tuberculosis combined. And were represented here mostly by mid-level sanitation services. bringing that number down doesn‘t require development officials – no Hillary Clinton any medical or scientific discoveries, just or Gordon Brown, for example. The the political will and market ingenuity to private-sector World Water Council that bring proven, inexpensive technologies stages the Forum has a ways to go, within reach of populations now without meanwhile, in terms of marshalling its them – and in the process bring immea- message. The fee of 100 Euros a day surable improvement to the quality and kept many non-profits out and the productivity of their lives. exclusion of critics of business-based Over the next several days we‘ll be solutions to water and sanitation issues presenting voices of those engaged in this gave those critics an easy opportunity to Kenya radio journalist Winfred Onyimbo struggle, and the backgrounds of each, on bash the proceedings from the margins. said her biggest frustration is editors who Untold Stories . You can find the entire A few dozen protesters outside the see water and sanitation as "women's gallery – and join the conversation security checkpoints last Monday issues," not worth the attention devoted to yourself! – at the Pulitzer Center‘s provoked a heavy-handed response by politics and business. She says she has interactive web portal Water Wars , a Turkish police – clubs, tear gas and water struggled to reframe her coverage of collection of reporting sponsored by the cannon, plus the deportation of two these issues to get them the attention they Center and links to other organizations protesters. deserve. committed to raising the visibility of water Maude Barlow , a Canadian activist Nadia Abdulaziz Al-Sakkaf , editor of the and sanitation issues. Several dozen pushing to make water a universal human Yemen Times , spoke of the hours girls schools and universities have joined the right, was denied a spot in any of the and women spend fetching water -- and Water Wars discussion already. We official Forum sessions – but got plenty of

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MEDIA 21 ON WATER : A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

visibility at side press conferences where of its population still practice open she ripped ―the Lords of Water‖ for defecation. privatizing the water and sanitation realm. Clarissa said now the challenge of She made a compelling case -- but it Bangladesh is to bring the huge popula- would have been useful, and certainly tion to toilet. She said the world has to more instructive, to have made her part of understand the economic impact of a debate with someone like Angel Gurria , sanitation in national and international secretary general of the Organization for economy. Economic Security and Coooperation She said economic progresses in (OECD). Gurria made a persuasive case Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia is at one of the Forum panels that "free highly backed by the development of water" doesn't much help if it results, as sanitation and hygiene. As part of the actions, a group of 118 so often happens, in no service at all to She said the national governments as well organizations from 33 countries signed some of the world's poorest people - - as the donors should invest more money and issued a letter to United Nations most of whom would gladly pay a private in attaining the millennium development Secretary supplier for reliable access to clean water goals (MDG), a target that need more than General Ban Ki-Moon calling him to and healthy sanitation facilities. Read the 10 billion US dollars to be invested each withdraw his support for the CEO Water OECD's new water report. year. Mandate, a corporate driven water This dispatch was featured on the St. The UNICEF official said toilet and initiative that facilitates corporate control Louis Beacon's online publication on 3-23- housing culture in South sia has seen to on water resources under the UN Global 09 as an Editor's Pick. be a major barrier as people spend most Compact. http://pulitzercenter.typepad.com/untold_s of their Representatives of the letter's signatories tories/2009/03/talking-water-voices-from- budgets for building houses but spends have delivered a copy of the letter and istanbul.html#more the least for good toilets. This culture shared their concerns with the needs to be changed, she said. participants at a CEO Water Mandate On question on sustainability of Bangla- meeting in Istanbul at the 5th World Water Bangladesh progress in desh's low-cost sanitary latrines, the SDC Forum on Monday at the Congress and sanitation appreciated in official said things must be changed with Cultural Center. the changes of the economic and social, "Those who are dealing with corporate Istanbul status of Bangladesh. control of waters forget to recognize that He said it was very important at the the people are deeply affected by the By Saiful Islam Shamim, National News beginning to bring people to toilets built water crisis and the corporations' actions Agency of Bangladesh within their ability and in future this infra- will make it more vulnerable," said Mark structure might be replaced by improved Hays, organizer for Corporate Accounta- ISTANBUL, Mar 19 (BSS) - The achieve- ones. Its really encouraging that the poor bility International. ment of Bangladesh in improving the people have responded very positively in "Yet these same people, who are going sanitation coverage was appreciated at Bangladesh and changing their long thirsty, don't have a true voice at these the 5th practice to sanitary latrines both at rural meetings - their voices need to be heard, World Water Forum in Turkey today as a and urban areas. and they should be in the drivers' seat," number of donors, including Switzerland, He also said cheap solutions are being read the letter. The claim was, however, referred the success to be followed by proved to be practical as the first step to denied by the organizer, which said the other parts in the world. bring people from bush to toilet. The forum "Bangladesh can be projected as a second step, he said, will be the improved intends to accommodate voices of every successful example in a low income version of toilets in next 10 to 20 years, he quarter and make water available and setting for the rest of the developing hoped. affordable to all, especially for the poor. world," Thomas Zeller, focal point for http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php? The protest letter was delivered to the water of Swiss Development Cooperation, cat=8&id=23393&date=2009-03- Secretary General last Thursday, and it said at the editors panel meeting in 19&PHPSESSID=4f3aef6814b782d33c5c outlines the group's concerns about the Istanbul. 629bf78c53af transparency and legitimacy of the CEO Thomas said the success in sanitation has Water Mandate, launched in July 2007 as been made possible n Bangladesh a public private initiative to assist because mainly of its government's strong UN urged to stop promote companies in the development, implemen- commitment, which was backed by the life-threatening water tation and disclosure of water sustainabili- sincere civil society and the media voices ty policies and practices. as well as donors support. privatization Water justice activists, instead, are calling "The magic was simple," he said adding on the United Nations to take the lead in that only a 10 dollar toilet has changed the By Saiful Islam Shamim, National News creating transparent and democratic whole scenario of the country, where Agency of Bangladesh space to decide international water policy. thousands die from diarrhea and other But to date, they alleged, the UN water-borne disease every year. ISTANBUL / Turkey, 18 March 2009 continues to be in a contradictory position- Deputy Secretary of the Local Govern- (BSS) - As the 5th World Water Forum - on ment Division (LGD) Shams Uddin Ahmed (WWF) begins in Istanbul, social one hand it is raising awareness about attending the conference said the movement activists and non- governmen- world water crisis and calling for needed sanitation coverage has rose to 88 tal organizations from Turkey and around change, and on the other housing the percent this year from merely a 33 percent the world are holding counter events and CEO Water Mandate. in early this decade. actions against potential moves for Groups like the Polaris Institute and He also expressed the hope that things privatization of water as a public good. Corporate Accountability International are would be improved further through more challenging the CEO Mandate because motivation and government supports to they feel the UN allows corporations to ensure sanitation for all by 2010. undermine democratic control of water Chief of the UNICEF's Water-Sanitation under the aegis of the United Nations. The and Hygiene (WASH) program Clarissa Mandate's leading endorsers are currently Brocklehurst at a Media21 panel including water bottlers Coca-Cola, Nestle discussion added the Bangladesh and Pepsi, as well as Suez, one of the progress in sanitation, but said 18 million

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On Assignment #8, March 2009

world's largest privatizer of water services raising importance of water on political ment, inadequate cost recovery and and systems. agenda, support discussions towards political interference," states the report. Comments from the multinational solution of international water crisis, Gérard Payen, president of AquaFed , an companies were not, however, verified formulate international federation of private water immediately at the forum, which invited concrete proposals and bring world's companies, and an adviser on water 27,000 people from all over the world, attention to it, and generate political issues to the U.N Secretary General, where nearly one billion people still lack commitment at national levels. shifts much of the blame on governments. access to clean water and 2.5 billion to http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php? "There is plenty of water on the planet," sanitation. cat=8&id=23038&date=2009-03- says Payen. "Where increasing uses or 18&PHPSESSID=461c085d03acc6b597d climate change create scarcity, strong 924a76ad320e2 political will and commitment are needed to allocate and manage water satisfactori- ly." Three billion people -- nearly one-half of The glass half empty the world's population -- have no access to tap water in their home or in their

village. That means they must carry water By Kevin Ferguson, freelance journalist, every day or pay high prices for delivery. Water too often overlooked in develop- One of the reasons for that, says Payen, ment efforts, U.N. report says is governments' poor allocation of water ISTANBUL -- Fresh water and money between agriculture, industry and In Photo: Daniel Wermus, speaking to have one thing in common: Their domestic uses. journalist mismanagement has left billions of people The Organization for Economic Co- "All of these corporations have a vested without ready access to either, according operation and Development (OECD), a interest in ontrolling water resources and to policymakers, non-governmental Paris-based group of 30 relatively profiting from water scarcity, so there is a agencies and activists attending the World prosperous nations, has taken a similar great danger in leaving international water Water Forum here this week. line, saying that integrated water- policy in uch hands," said Richard Girard, It was one of the few things all parties resources management is needed to researcher for the Polaris Institute. seem to agree on; who is responsible for better allocate water between agriculture, "While the corporate endorsers of the that mismanagement and what should be other uses and environmental needs. Mandate will be discussed how corpora- done about it is where the attendees part Maude Barlow, Council of Canadians tions can be a part of the solution to water ways. national chairperson and senior adviser crisis, people around the world are A United Nations report, Water in a on water to the president of the U.N. speaking loud that corporations profiting Changing World , released here today, General Assembly, agrees that misma- from peoples' access to water should not spreads the blame around, chiding "water nagement is to blame. But Barlow, who be in driver's seat," said Bobby Ramakant, sector leaders," including government led activists here protesting the commodi- spokesperson for the National Alliance of ministers, private businesses and civil tization of water , blames private People's Movements (NAPM) of UP, society groups, for failing to take action. businesses and governments. India. Unlike the activists, Jaehyang So, Water management has also been given Manager of Water and Sanitation Program short shrift by economic stimulus (WSP) of the World Bank, said the private packages launched by the United States, sectors in the water and sanitation sectors China and Korea and other countries, must be invited as governments in many says Angel Gurría, secretary general of developing countries alone can not solve the OECD. "The green is being stressed the issue. She, however, suggested for but not the blue," he says. "Particularly for providing incentives to domestic private water-saving, shovel-ready projects" to sectors instead of hiring foreign compa- repair aged and damaged water pipelines. nies to solve watsan problems. The United Nations says the total cost of Photo By: Chris LaMarca Hiring big foreign firms is not a practical replacing aging water supply and approach for solutions. It has proven that sanitation infrastructure in industrial "Management of the world's water local companies should be promoted by countries could be as high as $200 billion resources requires reliable information national governments so that they can per year. about the state of the resource and how it understand local contexts well and solve Up to 20 percent of water in the devel- is changing in response to external drivers problems in line with local culture," she oped world is lost due to leakage; in the such as climate change and water and told journalist at a breakfast meeting at developing world, it is as high as 70 land use," the report states. "There is little Hotel Resadiye here. percent, he says. sharing of hydrologic data, due largely to Executive Director of Water Supply and Likewise, Jamal Saghir, director of energy, limited physical access to data, policy and Sanitation ollaborative Council (WSSCC) transport and water at the World Bank , security issues; lack of agreed protocols Jon Lane, Daniel Wermus of Media21 and says there are insignificant funds for sharing; and commercial considera- WSP Regional Communications Specialist earmarked for water investment in the tions. This hampers regional and global Vandana Mehra, among theirs, were stimulus packages of the United States projects that have to build on shared present. and other countries responding to the datasets for scientific and applications- The Korean-born Jaeh also said the economic crisis. oriented purposes." private sector needs to be invited as many The World Water Forum concludes on The result for the world's freshwater governments in developing world don't Sunday. supply is "bleak," the report concludes. have ability to provide services. But after Ferguson is a freelance journalist based in In Africa, poverty reduction efforts are certain period of time, she said, it is the Arlington, Mass. rarely coordinated with water policy or government who has to sit on the driving http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/3/17/21 take into account wise management of position to make programs sustainable. 4911/180 water resources, says the UN report, The world water forum is the main water despite findings of a strong correlation related event in the globe aimed at putting between investment in water infrastructure water firmly on the international agenda. Stop promote life- and economic growth. In many developing The forum, organized by the World Water countries, public utilities do not do well threatening water privati- Council after every three years, focuses because of low motivation, poor manage- on four main purposes. These include: zation

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MEDIA 21 ON WATER : A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Photo By: Chris LaMarca By Saiful Islam, The Independent/Dacca Groups like the Polaris Institute and ISTANBUL / TURKEY, 18 March 2009 -- Corporate Accountability International are As the 5th World Water Forum (WWF) challenging the CEO Mandate because begins in Istanbul, social movement they feel the UN allows corporations to activists and non- governmental organiza- undermine democratic control of water tions from Turkey and around the world under the aegis of the United Nations. The are holding counter events and actions Mandate's leading endorsers are currently against potential moves for privatization of including water bottlers Coca-Cola, Nestle water as a public good. and Pepsi, as well as Suez, one of the As part of the actions, a group of 118 world's largest privateers of water services The forum, organized by the World Water organizations from 33 countries signed and systems. Council after every three years, focuses and issued a letter to United Nations Comments from the multinational on four main purposes. These include: Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon calling companies were not, however, verified raising importance of water on political him to withdraw his support for the CEO immediately at the forum, which invited agenda, support discussions towards Water Mandate, a corporate driven water 27,000 people from all over the world, solution of international water crisis, initiative that facilitates corporate control where nearly one billion people still lack formulate concrete proposals and bring on water resources under the UN Global access to clean water and 2.5 billion to world's attention to it, and generate Compact. sanitation. political commitment at national levels. Photo By: Chris LaMarca "All of these corporations have a vested http://www.theindependent- Representatives of the letter's signatories interest in controlling water resources and bd.com/details.php?nid=119014 have delivered a copy of the letter and profiting from water scarcity, so there is a shared their concerns with the participants great danger in leaving international water at a CEO Water Mandate meeting in policy in such hands," said Richard Girard, Nor any drop to drink Istanbul at the 5th World Water Forum on researcher for the Polaris Institute. Monday at the Congress and Cultural "While the corporate endorsers of the By Kevin Ferguson, freelance journalist, Centre. Mandate will be discussing how corpora- Climate change stresses clean water "Those who are dealing with corporate tions can be a part of the solution to water supplies control of waters forget to recognize that crisis, people around the world are the people are deeply affected by the speaking loud that corporations profiting ISTANBUL -- The World Water Forum -- water crisis and the corporations' actions from peoples' access to water should not the largest gathering of water-sector will make it more vulnerable," said Mark be in driver's seat," said Bobby Ramakant, public policy makers, private-sector Hays, organizer for Corporate Accounta- spokesperson for the National Alliance of vendors and non-profit organizations -- bility International. People's Movements (NAPM) of UP, got underway here this morning with a "Yet these same people, who are going India. dash of glitz and a glut of gloom. thirsty, don't have a true voice at these Unlike the activists, Jaehyang So, "Everyday, thousands of children die as a meetings - their voices need to be heard, Manager of Water and Sanitation Program result of complications due to consump- and they should be in the drivers' seat," (WSP) of the World Bank, said the private tion of unclean water," Turkish President read the letter. The claim was, however, sectors in the water and sanitation sectors Abdullah Gul said in opening remarks. denied by the organizer, which said the must be invited as governments in many "There is significant discrepancy and forum intends to accommodate voices of developing countries alone can not solve injustice between different regions and every quarter and make water available the issue. She, however, suggested for countries around the world in terms of and affordable to all, especially for the providing incentives to domestic private daily water compensation." poor. sectors instead of hiring foreign compa- A throng 28,000 strong is attending the The protest letter was delivered to the nies to solve watsan problems. triennial event, including three princes, Secretary General last Thursday, and it "Hiring big foreign firms is not a practical three presidents, five prime ministers or outlines the group's concerns about the approach for solutions. It has proven that heads of state, 90 ministers, hundreds of transparency and legitimacy of the CEO local companies should be promoted by non-governmental organizations and Water Mandate, launched in July 2007 as national governments so that they can private-sector representatives -- and a a public private initiative to assist understand local contexts well and solve coterie of about 100 demonstrators who companies in the development, implemen- problems in line with local culture," she gathered today to protest the privatization tation and disclosure of water sustainabili- told journalist at a breakfast meeting at of public water and wastewater systems ty policies and practices. Hotel Resadiye here. and were forcibly removed by Turkish Water justice activists, instead, are calling Executive Director of Water Supply and police. on the United Nations to take the lead in Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) Few, if any, of the attendees question creating transparent and democratic Jon Lane, Daniel Wermus of Media21 and whether climate change is having an space to decide international water policy. WSP Regional Communications Specialist impact on water supplies. Evidence, from But to date, they alleged, the UN Vandana Mehra, among others, were withering vineyards in California to continues to be in a contradictory position- present. inoperable nuclear reactors in France to a on one hand it is raising awareness about The Korean-born Jaeh also said the rise in water-borne diseases and infant world water crisis and calling for needed private sector needs to be invited as many mortality, is inescapable. Indeed, climate change, and on the other housing the governments in developing world don't change's impact on fresh water supplies is CEO Water Mandate. have ability to provide services. But after in many ways easier to spot than other certain period of time, she said, it is the climate trends. government who has to sit on the driving "The rainy season used to start in late position to make programs sustainable. September, but over the past five years, The world water forum is the main water we've been witnessing delays," Samer related event in the globe aimed at putting Talozi, professor of Water Resources & water firmly on the international agenda. Irrigation Engineering at the Jordan University of Science & Technology, tells Grist. "This year it only started in mid- January. This has affected farmers and farming communities the most. The delay in the 26

On Assignment #8, March 2009

rainy season is shortening the growing sanitation. More than 800 million people and a number of private companies like season; reducing the amount of water worldwide lack access to clean water. Price Waterhouse are supporters of the available in the summer for irrigated The World Water Forum continues World Water Council which coordinates agriculture; and limiting the options of rain through March 22. the conference. Commercial bottlers of fed agriculture during the rainy season." Ferguson is a freelance journalist based in water, like Nestle, have added to concerns Arlington, Mass. over privatization by buying up rights to http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/3/16/16 bottled water in quantities that opponents 3136/991 insist could damage local aquifers. An attempt to allow Bechtel to privatize the Contemplating a Dry municipal water of Cochabamba, Bolivia‘s third largest city in 2000, ended in an Future open rebellion that eventually forced the government to reverse itself. By Bill DOWELL, The Global Post online At the opposite end of the spectrum, proponents of privatizing water argue that

Photo By: Chris LaMarca ISTANBUL, 17 March, 2009 --If you care without incentives much of the infrastruc- about water or sanitation--often referred to ture needed to provide safe water simply Likewise, manufacturing can be seriously in the NGO world as WASH, Istanbul is doesn‘t get built. Bottled water, they hurt by climate change. Eleven of the the place to be this week. argue, is the quickest way to provide safe world's 14 largest semiconductor Some 27,000 water experts, journalists as water in places where it is difficult to get manufacturers -- which require ultra clean well as representatives of NGOs and financing for more involved projects. And, water for manufacturing silicon chips -- are international organizations are here to finally, making the public understand the in the Asia-Pacific region, where water attend the week-long 5th World Water true cost of water is a crucial step to scarcity is a growing problem. A water- Forum, whose slogan is "Bridging the promoting badly needed conservation. related shutdown at a fabrication plant Divides for Water." The triennial event, Water is an especially sensitive issue for could result in a $100 million to $200 coordinated by the World Water Council Turkey, which sells water to Syria and million in missed revenue in a quarter, and other partners is the biggest gathering Iraq, but has problems supplying many of according to a report released this month of water and sanitation experts in the its own towns and cities. Despite the fact by Pacific Institute, Oakland, Calif., and world. Water is a subject that most of us that Istanbul prides itself for being a city Ceres in Boston. take for granted. ―We all know it is a built on water, conference participants The stakes for human health are problem," says Chinese television were advised against drinking water from particularly high. According to the World journalist Manlin Xiang, one of the many their hotel taps. Health Organization, climate change will reporters attending the conference, "but The UN report predicts that as the likely: you really don‘t notice it in the cities.‖ population explosion and climate change * contaminate coastal surface and That is not likely to be true for long. continue to put pressure on resources, the groundwater resources due to sea level According to a just published UN report, worldwide water crisis could eventually rise, resulting in saltwater intrusion into ‖Water in a Changing World,‖ which is dwarf today‘s financial meltdown in terms rivers, deltas, and aquifers; being presented at the conference, the of global disruption. According to the UN * increase water temperatures, leading future looks bleak. At least 60% of an estimated 2.8 billion people are now to more algal and bacterial blooms that Chinese cities are now experiencing experiencing stress over water, but that further contaminate water supplies; stress over water, and according to the figure is projected to increase to 3.9 billion * and contribute to environmental health UN‘s predictions, the world‘s food supply by 2030. Roughly 80% of disease in risks associated with water. could decrease by a third by 2030 as developing countries and 10% of water becomes a scarcer commodity. worldwide illness can be attributed to For instance, changes in precipitation Other countries ranging from the western problems with access to clean drinking patterns are likely to increase flooding, states in the US to Australia are also water. and as a result mobilize more pathogens becoming stressed over water. Climate change is both exacerbating and and contaminants. It is estimated that by Not surprisingly the debate over what to masking the problem. In many areas, 2030 the risk of diarrhea will be up to 10 do with such an essential commodity can melting glaciers create the illusion that percent higher in some countries due to inflame passions. A similar conference water is still plentiful, but those glaciers, climate change. Diarrhea kills 2.2 million three years ago in Mexico ended with riots which constitute a storehouse of fresh children every year, the vast majority of in the streets. Maude Barlow, an activist water, are disappearing at an alarming them under the age of five and living in who managed to get herself picked as rate. When they are gone, water Ethiopia, India and other developing senior advisor on water to the president of shortages will increase dramatically. At countries. the UN General Assembly, is planning to stake is not only drinking water, but also Access to sanitation has improved only join protesters here in Istanbul, despite water for agriculture, hence the projected marginally in recent years, according to the fact that the UN is a main sponsor of decline in world food supplies. Dave Trouba, communications director for the Forum. In some countries questionable policy the Water Supply and Sanitation choices are likely to accelerate the Collaborative Council (WSSCC) in approaching crisis. Saudi Arabia and Geneva, which operates under the Dubai have both been draining water from auspices of the WHO. The number of their aquifers to grow wheat and other those without basic sanitation has crops not suited to a Middle Eastern declined to 2.5 billion from 2.6 billion in climate. Dubai‘s aquifer has lost about the past few years. 40% of its water, and the danger is that "We're on track to reach the U.N. the water that remains will be invaded by Millennium Development Goals for access salty sea water. Choosing the right crops to clean water, but we're way off track the for the right climate can go a long way to increasing sustainability. Millennium Development Goals for sanitation," says Trouba. "Sanitation isn't The rising fascination with biofuels is rocket science. It's hard work." Opponents complain that the Forum is another controversial issue. The The U.N. goal is, by 2015, to halve the slanted in favor of private companies who International Energy agency estimates proportion of people without sustainable want to turn water into a business instead that the demand for energy will increase access to safe drinking water and basic of a basic human right. Their suspicions by 60% over the next 25 years. The use of are based on the fact that the World Bank biofuels—mostly ethanol—has tripled in

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MEDIA 21 ON WATER : A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

the last decade. But estimates are that it children die each day—mostly from much of the rest of the world has little or takes anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 diarrhea. The figures are roughly equal to no infrastructure to deal with water at all. gallons of water to produce one gallon of the total deaths from HIV/AIDS, tuberculo- The absence of sanitation means that plant-based ethanol. As the cost of water sis and malaria combined, yet clean water people are forced relieve themselves in increases, biofuels will look less only gets about 20% of the funding the water they drink. In the US, in attractive. One of the main problems in allotted to other health risks. contrast, water is often simply wasted. efficiently managing water, experts here Many of the deaths are from poor or non- ―Using fresh drinking water to flush a toilet say, is that decisions affecting water are existent sanitation that pollutes the water is ridiculous,‖ says Sauer, ―but 40% of the often made by different economic sectors that people drink. Jon Sauer, a spokes- planet still doesn‘t have a toilet. We all that are not specifically focused on water man for Washington-based Water need to rethink this.‖ as the main issue. Advocates, calls it the ―no-plumbing‖ http://essentialgeneva.com/Contemplating A major focus at the Water Forum is the disease. The problem, as Sauer sees it, -a-Dry-Future.html effect on health. An estimated three is different for different parts of the world. million people die from waterborne The U.S. is trying to cope with an diseases each year, and roughly 5,000 outmoded, collapsing infrastructure, while

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On Assignment #8, March 2009

Previous Media21participant‘s honored

Zhu Yan, China Central Television, won a 2009 journalism award from the British Council for his feature story, "The development gap in climate change" produced as a result of the first Climate Change workshop in 2007.

In 2008 George Thomas won the Lorenzo Natali Prize, awarded by the European Commission, and the Freedom of Word prize, awarded by Reporters Without Borders and Marseille Press Club Alps De Sud. His feature piece, 'Refugees of the Sea', resulting from the Climate II workshop, detailed the lives of fishermen affected by rising sea levels and the changing monsoons. The Indian state of Kerala reacted by initiating a strategic plan for catastrophe prevention, and also rehabilitation for those affected.

Ochieng Ogodo, a Media21 affiliated journalist and participant in the Access to Health workshop, has been selected as the regional winner for English-speaking Africa of the 2008 Reuters IUCN Environmental Media Awards. As a result, Reuters Foundation and IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, have in- vited Ochieng to attend the 2008 Global Awards Ceremony taking place in October 2008 in Barcelona, Spain, during the IUCN World Conservation Congress.

Yuri Eldyshev, Deputy Editor-in-chief, Ecology and Life, Russia, was awarded the ―best story‖ prize from the Russian Regional Environmental Centre for his series of articles published following his participation in the Climate II workshop.

Rosebell KAGUMIRE, journalist of AfricaBroadcasting Uganda NTV, won for her blog http://ugandanjournalist.vox.com/ the Waxal price as best blog in English

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