Sanitation Updates

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

UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / 07 April 2008. Conagua, Mexico’s national water authority, recently approved a budget of 1.8bn pesos (US$168mn) for sanitation and infrastructure projects along the Balsas River.

The river flows through eight states in the country’s central region. It is one of the country’s longest rivers. It is used as a source of hydro-electric power and irrigation.

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El Salvador’s government is making sanitation a national priority and increasing coverage throughout the country, national aqueduct and sewerage authority Anda sanitation department director Rubén Alemán told BNamericas.

Although sanitation has not been a priority in this country for many years, we are beginning to incorporate it in a nationwide policy,” he said.

“In 2008 we are getting ready to design a national sanitation agenda, based on the country report presented at the first Latin American Sanitation Conference [Latinosan] that took place in Cali, Colombia, in 2007,” he added.

A UN regional report presented at Latinosan found that only 81 of El Salvador’s 262 municipalities have sewerage systems. In addition, only 3% of the country’s wastewater is treated before being discharged into natural waters.

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El Salvador: Sanitation is a national priority in 2008 « WASH news Latin America and Caribbean

The Virginia Hospital Center Medical Brigade (VHCMB), through its Remote Village Project, has partnered with Engineers Without Borders (EWB) to provide potable water and sanitation to the community of Valle Bonito. The village of Valle Bonito consists of various neighborhoods only some of which are served by the water distribution system. Recently renovated by the VHCMB / EWB artnership, this system now provides chlorinated drinking water to those homes connected. Unfortunately, more than half of the Community remains to be served by this system.

Further information about the project and instructions on how to donate funds for the project are at ewb-honduras.pdf

Mexico’s national water authority Conagua approved a budget of 1.8bn pesos (US$168mn) for sanitation and infrastructure projects along the Balsas river, which flows through eight states in the country’s central region, the entity reported in a release.

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Most people in the Cayman Islands regard sanitation as a norm, something rarely meriting thought.

But maybe we should occasionally pause to consider what Cayman would be like if we lacked human waste disposal facilities, laws and regulations. Many places across the globe offer neither proper sanitation nor access to clean drinking water.

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Poverty and Sanitation: An Analysis of the Linkage between Poverty and Basic Sanitation in Honduras, Water Sanitation Program, 2008.

This document presents an analysis of poverty levels mong rural and urban households of Honduras and their access to sanitation solutions. It identifies key spects for improving services and contributing to ector policies, strategies and investment plans that arget the poor. The analysis is based on a broad eview of available documentation and data.

This study shows that the low income population in Honduras is mainly rural (74%) and that the rest resides in urban areas (26%). The highest levels of access to sanitation services in cities corresponds to household connections to piped sewerage networks, but this option mainly serves the non-poor. Only 31% f the moderately poor and 12% in extreme poverty in urban areas have achieved access to sewerage networks.

Link to the report (pdf)

A paper reporting on two cohort studies which looked at the effect of a city-wide sanitation programme on rates of childhood diarrhoea in northeast Brazil has been shortlisted for the Lancet Paper of the Year Award 2007.

The paper, from a team including DCVBU’s Professor Sandy Cairncross and colleagues from the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil, reveals how diarrhoea prevalence in children under 3 in the areas studied fell by more than a fifth following a drive to improve sewerage coverage from 26% of households to 80%. The findings show how important urban sanitation is as a health measure and provide timely support for the launch of the 2008 International Year of Sanitation.

The paper was highlighted in Science magazine on 8 February, and the team who produced it were personally congratulated by the Brazilian Minister of Health, Jose Gomes Temporao.

The Lancet award will go to the paper that, in the view of the International Advisory Board, has made the greatest potential contribution to clinical research in the past year.

Medical Research News - Feb 18, 2007

Programme Organiser: The EcoSanRes Programme at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)

The programme has three parts: a 3-week course in Sweden, a period between courses for project work back home, and a 2-week course in the region. The language requirement is English. Costs are covered by Sida. The deadline for applications from Africa and Latin America is 1 April 2008. The deadline for applications from Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia is 1 May 2008.

ITP 99a “Ecological Alternatives in Sanitation” - for Africa and Latin America:

• For all Africa and Latin America participants: a 3-week course in Sweden from 11-29 August 2008
• For Africa participants: a 2-week course in South Africa in February 2009
• For Latin America participants: a 2-week course in Mexico in March 2009

ITP 99b “Ecological Alternatives in Sanitation” - for Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia:

• For all Asia and Eastern Europe and Central Asia participants: a 3-week course in Sweden from 15 September - 3 October 2008
• For Asia participants: a 2-week course in Asia in April 2009
• For Eastern Europe and Central Asia participants: a 2-week course in the Ukraine in May 2009

Full information