Pakistan - Underlining water and sanitation problems through theatre

The theatre on water and sanitation problems attracted community members in the fishermen locality Ibrahim Hyderi on Sunday evening. In an effort to highlight the sanitation and water problems of the fishermen locality, the performance was given by Murk Theatre, Hyderabad.

The event was organised jointly by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), Pakistan Institute of Labour, Education and Research (PILER) and Interactive Resource Centre (IRC) to motivate the community to use water carefully and keep a strict watch over manipulation by the service-providing agency — the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB). The theatre mirrored the stark reality of Karachi in general and Ibrahim Hyderi in particular.

Read More - The International News

Pakistan - World Bank Citizen Report Card on water and sanitation

KARACHI: Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Gulberg towns are best served and Gadap and Bin Qasim towns are worst served in terms of water and sanitation services.

These are the findings of the Citizen Report Card on the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board that surveyed 4,500 households of nine towns under the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program South Asia. The data was analyzed by the Public Affairs Foundation of India.

At the launch of the report card at a local hotel on Thursday, KWSB Managing Director Suleman Chandio conceded the findings and said that a CRC Cell would be set up to make it a routine exercise. “I would like to give preference to low-income settlements and katchi abadis for new water and sanitation lines,” he said. “I would like the Asian Development Bank’s Mega City Project to give special attention to these areas.”

Read More - Daily Times

China: Which toilet to use? Squat vs sit-down in Beijing

BEIJING - Among all the protests, pollution concerns and talk of boycotts surrounding the Beijing Olympics, a more basic problem has arisen for organizers: the toilets.

At the more than 30 test events held by organizers, the presence of squat toilets at many of the new and renovated venues has drawn frequent complaints.

(Copyright Associated Press) Read all 9news.com

Myanmar: Finding ways to address urgent water and sanitation needs

More than three weeks after Cyclone Nargis tore across Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta, assessments still place the provision of clean water as one of the top priorities for survivors.

The International Federation, in close cooperation with the Myanmar Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continues to explore ways of trying to meet these needs.

An ICRC water purification unit was deployed to Dedaye, a town in the delta, on 21 May, manned by five Myanmar Red Cross volunteers. The unit has been set up and has started to produce 72,000 litres of water a day.

Read More - ReliefWeb

Myanmar: send in the latrines

Cyclone Nargis destroyed not only houses and killed people and livestock. The storm also devastated toilets.

So what? There are other priorities, aren’t there? Food, shelter and clean water are what aid agencies emphasize. But human excrement is a weapon of mass destruction. A gram of human feces can contain up to 10 million viruses. At least 50 communicable diseases — including cholera, meningitis and typhoid — travel from host to host in human excrement.

The priority is containment. That’s as fancy as it sounds: With the water table only 20 centimeters below the surface in Myanmar, it is little use to dig pit latrines, so buckets or tanks for human waste are needed instead. Providing such things is made harder by the refusal of Myanmar’s government to accept help. And it is also hampered by our unwillingness to even talk about it.

Humanitarian aid agencies use the shorthand “watsan” to stand for “water and sanitation.” There’s a reason those two words aren’t in alphabetical order, and it’s not poetry. When it comes to prioritizing aid, water has always received the lion’s share of attention and money.

Read more - Rose George, NYTimes.com

Solomon Islands - Proper Sanitation in Villages Required

The Coalition for National Unity and Rural Advancement Government would like as many villages as possible in Solomon Islands to have access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation during its term.

Prime Minister, Dr. Derek Sikua, made the statement while addressing villages he visited on North-East Guadalcanal during his current seven-day constituency tour.

Read More - Solomon Times Online

Malaysia - Starting them young, teaching children how to stay away from germs

Teaching children how to stay away from germs can be a powerful tool to help prevent some communicable diseases.

ABOUT 30 minutes into the interview with Cheng Chee Fong, director of a language enrichment centre for children, four-year-old Christopher poked his head into the room. Spotting me, a stranger, he veered a little towards us on his way out of the centre’s washroom trying to figure out what was going on.

But his curiosity did not make him forget to practise the proper hygiene habits ingrained into him by his teachers.

Stealing a glance at us, he picked up a tissue from a basket outside the washroom and wiped his hands, still dripping with water from washing, before throwing the tissue in a wastepaper basket and hurrying off to listen to his teacher tell the story of germs next door.

Read More - thestar

Philippines: San Fernando’s Dry Alternative

Three years ago, residents of coastal and upland villages in San Fernando City polluted their drinking water with their own excreta. Today, they take pains to practice safe hygiene and sanitation. An innocent looking dry toilet (UDDT - urine-diverting dehydration toilet) and an untiring city mayor propelled this shift through a 2-town ecological sanitation pilot project that has evolved into a citywide movement. Can the city carry the momentum forward to the entire province and neighboring towns?

Read more: ADB, Mar 2008

China: Rising Eco-Town Boasts “No-Flush Toilets”

A big housing development project is bringing ecological sanitation toilets that do not require water, to a water-scarce municipality in the northern region of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The largest urban project of its kind in the PRC, the project also boasts of an onsite eco-station complete with greywater treatment and thermal composting of organic materials. Will there be enough takers to ensure the sustainability of this project and the concept of ecotown?

The Erdos Eco-Town Project (EETP) - a collaborative enterprise of the Dongsheng District of the Erdos Municipal government, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and a private real estate developer (Daxing Co. Ltd.)- is the world’s first major attempt to build an entire town with onsite ecological sanitation (ecosan).

Read more: ADB, Apr 2008

Water Sanitation Program (WSP) - New sanitation reports

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.