Sanitation Updates

BY CHRISTINE KRALY. ckraly@nwitimes.com, 219.662.5335 | Sunday, April 20, 2008

In addition to the industrial complexes dotting the lakefront, municipal sanitation sites also expel millions of pounds of chemicals and treated wastewater into the Lake Michigan basin every year.
And some Calumet Region and Chicago-area municipalities are allowed to discharge far greater volumes of pollutants into the lake and its waterways than the more criticized industries, an eight-month Times investigation of Lake Michigan pollution shows. (…)

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Only 3.5% of Costa Rica’s wastewater is treated before being discharged into the country’s rivers, water utility AyA chairman Ricardo Sancho said. Costa Rica has only five operating wastewater treatment plants, which can only serve one-third of the population. The San Isidro treatment plant, in Choluteca municipality, has collapsed while Limón province only has a sea outfall pipe.

Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 7 Apr 2008

Industries in Peru will have to accommodate environmental standards for wastewater treatment set by developed countries, otherwise they cannot export their products, said José Salazar, president of Sunass, the national water authority. To comply with the free trade agreement with the USA, Peru also needs to raise industrial water use rates. A study on water rate revision must be ready by the end of 2008.

Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 1 Apr 2008

Ecological management of human excreta and urine would not only help keep the environment clean and the people safe from many diseases but also meet the entire need of fertiliser for agriculture, a workshop on water supply and ecological sanitation was told in Dhaka yesterday.

The workshop, organised by the Bangladesh Water Partnership (BWP) in observance of the World Water Day 2008, at the LGED auditorium, was attended by leading water experts and representatives of government, non-governmenal organisations and international agencies involved in the water sanitation sector.

Read More - The New Nation

BULAWAYO, 14 March 2008 (IRIN) - To get to Sinikiwe MaKhumalo’s doorstep in Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Bulawayo, visitors have to step on a thin plank perched precariously over a trench that prevents sewage from flowing into her house.  The 57-year-old grandmother has endured this arrangement to access her home in the city’s Old Magwegwe working class suburb for the past five months after a sewer burst close to her residence.

The city’s unsanitary conditions has left residents fearful of a fresh outbreak of cholera. The last outbreak occurred at the height of a water crisis in 2007 when close to 300 people were hospitalised and 11 died as a result of drinking contaminated water.

Most families can no longer afford standard toilet paper and instead use newspapers or torn pieces of cardboard boxes. They also river sand to clean their pots instead of commercial, soluble, scouring powders. Both practices lead to sewer blockages.

Read more: IRIN, 14 Mar 2008

“Ecological Sanitation: Concept to Practice” is the first course offered by ENPHO (Environment and Public Health Organization) in the SHIT series. This three day course runs from 26-28 March 2008 in Kathmandu, Nepal (application deadline 22 March). Four other courses are planned: Constructed wetlands; Solid waste management; Biogas for sanitation; and Total sanitation campaigns. Costs are Rs. 3,000 per person, students Rs 2,000, international participants US$ 100.

For more information contact:

ENPHO Resource Centre
Tel: 977-1-4468641, 4493188
Fax: 977-1-4491376
Email: rc[at]enpho.org

The department of water affairs, local government, waste management and pollution control, crop production, environmental health and the University of Botswana have agreed to work together to achieve global sanitation targets.
They made the  pledge at a press conference at Cresta Lodge on Monday, marking the National Week on Sanitation celebrations, which will be held countrywide.

The main issue was to make a concerted effort in educating the nation about reuse of wastewater to avoid shortages in the future.

“People need to see wastewater as a resource, not a waste,” said Enoch Naane, director of waste management and pollution control.

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SANAA, 5 March 2008 (IRIN) - Sanitation services in Yemen are limited. Almost all villages in rural areas, where 75 percent of Yemen’s 21 million people live, still use traditional means: Sewage is either dumped in watercourses or piped onto open ground.

Officials at the Ministry of Water and Environment said the government was striving to improve sanitation services, but lacked funds.

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AMMAN, 4 March 2008 (IRIN) - A crumbling sewage system in the city of Zarqa, 30km east of Amman, could trigger the spread of diseases on a large scale, according to community leaders and residents.

“We warned officials at the Ministry of Water on several occasions that the city’s sewage network is collapsing at a rapid pace under the mounting pressure of the population,” city mayor Mohammad Ghweiri told IRIN.

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BEIJING, Feb 28 (Reuters) - China heightened pressure on polluters on Thursday, passing legislation that allows for stiff fines against heads of companies that foul its scarce water resources.

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