Sanitation Updates

Imroving sanitation and wastewater treatment in Ghana’s cities and towns is the focus of a week-long event being led by a De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) researcher.

Parneet Paul, of the University’s Water Software Systems Research Group, has organised the workshop, which will be held in the West African country’s capital, Accra and will be attended by local scientists, researchers and engineers.

Wastewater is water which has been contaminated while being used for a specific purpose. Contaminants typically include sewage, biological materials or industrial by-products.

The workshop will focus on the use of new sanitation methods to treat, reduce and reuse wastewater generated on-site by large facilities, such as hospitals, public slaughterhouses, city markets and local businesses.

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Lack of pit latrines and general toilet facilities in the northern regions of the country is likely to compromise health officials’ efforts in curbing cholera, a disease that has since early this year claimed more than 37 lives.

Regional Health Director for the Ohangwena Region Dr Naftali Hamata has said if no drastic measures are taken to address the situation, the affected areas should be prepared to have cholera cases every rainy season.

Since Friday, 1 406 suspected cholera cases were recorded in the Ohangwena Region with 17 confirmed laboratory cases and 19 deaths, Dr Hamata said.

Read More - New Era

By Anita Nyarko, Sat, 10 May 2008, General News

THE Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, Mr Kwadwo Adjei Darko, has advised Ghanaians to change their behaviour and attitudes towards environmental sanitation.

He said environmental sanitation must be a collective effort of all, and not for the government alone adding that ‘we must ensure compliance with sanitation regulations and enforcement of bye-laws to promote a healthy environment’.    (…)

Read all The Ghanaian Times

Programme Officer-Sanitation & Hygiene

Candidate will lead our research in the sanitation and hygiene sector to strengthen our policy and advocacy work. And will support the development and evaluation of pilot sanitation and hygiene service delivery models and strengthen WaterAid’s contribution to the sanitation and hygiene sector.

Candidate will bring excellent organizational, planning and report writing skills to the team and 3 years work experience of which at least 1 must be in the water & sanitation sector. Experience in desk research is also a requirement.

Programme Officer-Urban Water & Sanitation

Candidate will conduct research on urban water and sanitation to strengthen WaterAid’s policy and advocacy work and support the development and evaluation of pilot urban water and sanitation service delivery models. He will also strengthen WaterAid’s sanitation to the urban sector.

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The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) has invited public comment on the Strategic Framework on Water for Sustainable Development: Discussion document. The deadline for written comments is 30 May 2008.

Source: Participation Junction

The discussion document is quite frank about current failures/shortcomings in water and sanitation service delivery. Some quotes:

“When 77 WSA managers surveyed for the 2007 Masibambane II evaluation were asked whether those who were served would in future be rejoining the backlog queue as a result of defective infrastructure in recently completed projects, 51% said this was happening already. 16% of beneficiaries in settlements with recent water projects said they now had to walk more than 200 meters to fetch water”. [chap. 3.2.2, p. 17]

“A growing number of new flush toilets malfunction, particularly those built swiftly to meet bucket eradication targets. The number of sewage spills from overloaded systems is rising steadily. Some houses have two new VIP toilets, built by parallel programmes. Many VIPs are built badly, some are not being used at all, and unusable full pits means people are reverting to unimproved toilets or open defecation, with little net gain in health or hygiene behaviour”. [chap. 6.3.5, p. 41].

Organised by: Regional Capacity Building Partners (RECABIP), Nairobi, Kenya

Many development institutions have done very little to understand the contextual impacts of HIV and AIDS on Water, Hygiene and Environmental Sanitation programmes and have not integrated programmatic actions to halt the spread of HIV and AIDS, and mitigate its impact in their programmes. Similarly, AIDS service organizations have not analyzed the role of safe water, sanitation and Hygiene in fostering quality care, prevention, treatment, impact mitigation services at individual, household and community level. The Course focuses on strengthening skills, knowledge and understanding practical mainstreaming tools and processes.

Course fees: US $1,000 (excluding international travel, accommodation and food).

RECABIP is a network of professional organisations and individuals engaged in capacity building workshops, seminars, conferences and consultancy services in the fields of HIV and AIDS, Climate Change, Governance and Leadership issues. [ Note: the website provides no list of names with CVs of individual members of RECABIP, no names of clients, no annual report etc.]

Full information and application details are available on the RECABIP web site

For more info on HIV/AIDS and WASH see the IRC web site

Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, India, revealed in an interview published in April 2008 in the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) “Water Champion” series, that his organisation plans to open branches in 50 countries. Sulabh has already constructed and is maintaining public toilets in Afghanistan and Bhutan and has provided training to professionals in 15 African countries, Dr. Pathak said. Other plans include publishing Sulabh literature in all the 22 languages of India, and distributing 5 books each to 600,000 villages.

Sulabh International is well known for pioneering the “Sulabh Shauchalaya”, a self-composting two-pit, pour-flush toilet, and for liberating scavengers or “night soil workers”.

Nigeria requires more than 120 million dollars (about N14 billion) to provide 62 million citizens access to basics anitation and hygiene by 2015.

The statistics were provided by the UNICEF”D” Field Office in Bauchi in response to anational survey on sanitation and hygieneundertaken by the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN). The target is in line with the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on sanitation.

According to the UN agency, the country alsoneeds to build more than eight million toiletsbefore 2015 to achieve sustainable sanitation and hygiene.

Read More - This Day

RUHAAMA county in Ntungamo district celebrated this year’s International Women’s Day in style by introducing a domestic health and sanitation competition among its 40,000 homesteads.

MP and wife of the President Janet Museveni organised the competition. The judges looked out for a clean house, kitchen with a katandaaro (cutlery rack), clean toilet or latrine, mosquito nets, well made beds for the parents and children.

Other yardsticks were a well-maintained walkway or driveway to the home, boiled drinking water, a granary and a minimum source of income.

Read More - New Vision

Below are links to interesting WSP reports from the WSP May 2008 Newsletter:

1 - Title: Lessons from a Low-Cost Ecological Approach to Sanitation in Malawi (pdf, full-text)

Low cost Ecological Sanitation programs in Malawi have led to the building of over 11,000 compostproducing toilets since 2003. While the toilets are affordable and simple to construct, the fact that they convert human waste into valuable odor-free compost, enables cost recovery for households and is a prime driver in popularizing EcoSan designs.

2 - Title: Economic Impacts of Sanitation in Southeast Asia-Summary (pdf, full-text)

This document is published in light of the International Year of Sanitation 2008. It is a summary of a four-country study in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam under WSP’s Economics of Sanitation Initiative (ESI). This study examines the major health, water, environmental, tourism and other welfare impacts associated with poor sanitation in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. By examining the economic impacts of poor sanitation, and the potential gains from improved sanitation, this study provides important evidence to support the need for investment in sanitation.

3 - Economic Impacts of Sanitation in the Philippines-Summary (pdf, full-text)

This is a detailed individual country report that delves into the major health, water, environmental, tourism and other welfare impacts associated with poor sanitation in the Philippines. The report shows decision makers at the country how the negative impacts of poor sanitation can be mitigated by investing in improved sanitation.

4 - Economic Impacts of Sanitation in Vietnam-Summary (pdf, full-text)

This document looks into the major health, water, environmental, tourism and other welfare impacts associated with poor sanitation in Vietnam. The report shows decision makers in Vietnam how the negative impacts of poor sanitation can be mitigated by investing in improved sanitation.