Towards water neutrality: Reducing and offsetting the impacts of water footprints

Hoekstra, A.Y. (2008). Towards water neutrality : reducing and offsetting the impacts of water footprints. (Value of water research report series ; no. 28). Delft, The Netherlands, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education.  36 p.

The report can be downloaded from the Water Footprint web site

During the past few years the concept of the ‘water footprint’ has started to receive recognition as a useful indicator of direct and indirect water use. The increased interest in the water footprint has prompted the question about what consumers and businesses can do to reduce their water footprint.

This report introduces the idea of ‘water neutrality’.

‘Water neutral’ means that one reduces the water footprint of an activity as much as reasonably possible and offsets the negative externalities of the remaining water footprint. Compensation can be done by investing in a more sustainable and equitable use of water in the hydrological units in which the impacts of the remaining water footprint are located.

The report critically discusses strengths and weaknesses of the water-neutral concept. The main conclusion is that, despite the possible pitfalls and yet unanswered questions, the water-neutral concept offers a useful tool to bring stakeholders in water management together in order to discuss water footprint reduction targets and mechanisms to offset the environmental and social impacts of residual water footprints. However, the concept can become really effective in actually contributing to wise management of the globe’s water resources only when clear definitions and guidelines will be developed. There will be a need for scientific rigour in accounting methods and for clear (negotiated) guidelines on the conditions that have to be met before one can speak about water neutrality.

Undoubtedly there will be a great market for water-neutrality and water-offsetting, but without agreed definitions and guidelines the term water neutral is most likely to end up as a catchword for raising funds for charity projects in the water sector. In that context, the term can also fulfil a useful function, but it would be ‘water neutrality’ in its weakest form. It will become a strong concept only when claims towards water-neutrality can be measured against clear standards.

Global Corruption Report 2008: Corruption in the Water Sector

Transparency International and Water Integrity Network (2008). Global corruption report 2008: corruption in the water sector. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press. xxix, 367 p. ISBN 978-0-521-72795-2
Download by chapter
Also available in Spanish and French
Information on ordering hardcopies is available here

In its thematic section, the report demonstrates that corruption is a cause and catalyst for the global water crisis which is likely to be further exacerbated by climate change. Corruption affects all aspects of the water sector from water resources management to drinking water services, irrigation and hydropower. Scholars and professionals document the impact of corruption in the sector with case studies from all around the world and offer practical suggestions for reform. The second part of the Report provides a snapshot of corruption-related developments in 35 countries from all world regions. The third part presents summaries of corruption-related research, highlighting innovative methodologies and new empirical findings that help to better understand the dynamics of corruption and devise more effective anti-corruption strategies.

Executive summary

Contents of Part one: Corruption in the water sector

1 Introducing water and corruption

• Water and corruption: a destructive partnership / Janelle Plummer
• Corruption in water: a matter of life and death / Charles Kenny

2 Water resources management

• Corruption and water resources management: threats to quality,equitable access and environmental sustainability / Kristen Lewis and Roberto Lenton
• Climate change: raising the stakes for cleaning up corruption in water governance / Transparency International
• Can integrated water resources management prevent corruption? / John Butterworth
• Afghanistan’s upstream powers, downstream woes / Drewery Dyke
• Corruption fuels housing boom and water stress along Spain’s coast / Enriqueta Abad
• Corruption without borders: the challenges of transboundary water management / Transparency International

3 Water and sanitation

• Water for the poor: corruption in water supply and sanitation / Muhammad Sohail and Sue Cavill
• Corruption in urban water use by the poor / Bernard Collignon
• Building water integrity: private water operators’ perspective / Jack Moss
• Water corruption in industrialised countries: not so petty? / Per Ljung
• The public and private faces of corruption in water / Transparency International
• Pipe manufacturers in Colombia and Argentina take the anti-corruption pledge / Virginia Lencina, Lucila Polzinetti and Alma Rocío Balcázar
• Clearing muddied waters: groups in India fight corruption with information / Venkatesh Nayak

4 Water for food

• Water for food: corruption in irrigation systems / Frank R. Rijsberman
• Power, bribery and fairness in Pakistan’s canal irrigation systems / Jean-Daniel Rinaudo
• Questionable irrigation deals ignore plight of Filipino farmers / Sonny Africa
• Sealing water aid against corruption: donor interventions, donor responsibilities / Grit Martinez and Kathleen Shordt

5 Water for energy

• Water for energy: corruption in the hydropower sector / Lawrence Haas
• Hydropower corruption and the politics of resettlement / Thayer Scudder
• The disappearance of homes and money: the case of the Three Gorges Dam / Gørild M. Heggelund
• Industry view: public-private hydropower – minimising the corruption risks / Kathy Shandling and Reinier Lock
• Grand projects – grand corruption? / Peter Bosshard and Nicholas Hildyard

6 Conclusions

• Fighting corruption in water: strategies, tools and ways forward / Donal T. O’Leary and Patrik Stålgren

Central Asia and South Caucasus Water Utilities Association-CASCWUA web page

CASCWUA is a new organisation of water utilities drawn initially from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. By forming this association, water utilities from Central Asia and South Caucasus are taking progressive action to tackle the widespread problems with inadequate drinking water and sanitation for the millions of poor people in the region.

The CASCWUA web page, maintained by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), provides information on the organisations activities, with a special focus on the Continuous Improvement and Benchmarking (CIB) Program.

WaterSISWEB: Social Bookmarking Water Website

WaterSISWEB is a free social bookmarking web site for water resources professionals. It is part of the SISWEBS (Scientific Information Syndication WEBsiteS) family of websites.

Registered users can post links to water resources content on the web, and other registered users have the opportunity to vote for or against them to appear more or less prominently on WaterSISWEB. These users also have the opportunity to comment on posts, reply to comments, vote on comments, bookmark posted links for later references, and recommend posts to non-WaterSISWEB members.

While the main focus is on USA/Canada, there are regional categories for Africa and Asia.

The content of WaterSISWEB is similar to that of the UNESCO-sponsored SAHRA Global Water News Watch

WASH Case Study Series

The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) has launched the WASH Case Studies Series which showcases the evolution, activities and impact of national WASH Coalitions. The first three case studies cover Ethiopia, Nepal and Madagascar. In Ethiopia, a strong WASH movement has dominated the awareness raising agenda in the country. In Nepal, media work has been at the forefront. And in Madagascar, the Diorano-WASH Coalition has become the main sector coordination body for hygiene and sanitation promotion. To download or read the case studies visit see the WSSCC list of publications.

Water Remunicipalisation Tracker

This new website, launched on Thursday 12 June, reveals how more and more water services are returning to public management, with news that water in the city of Paris will be returned to public control by 2009.

The site will track the “remunicipalisation” of cities, regions and entire countries around the world, providing case studies from places which have already returned to public control and information on campaigns in places around the world where private companies are failing to deliver.

The information for the web site has been compiled by the Water Justice project.

Water Remunicipalisation Tracker is a Corporate Europe Observatory and Transnational Institute initiative.

International Water Security: Domestic Threats and Opportunities

International Water Security: Domestic Threats and Opportunities
Edited by Nevelina I. Pachova, Mikiyasu Nakayama and Libor Jansky
ISBN 978-92-808-1150-6
308 pages; paper; US$35.00
March 2008
More information

National sovereignty and security considerations have long constrained the reasonable, equitable and sustainable utilization of international water courses. With post-Cold War democratization and globalization on the rise, domestic actors have an increasingly important role to play in national decision-making and traditional foreign policy debates. This volume presents case studies that analyze the multi-faceted and dynamic nature of the interplay between domestic and international water security.

Table of contents

Introduction:From domestic to international water security, Libor Jansky, Mikiyasu Nakayama and Nevelina I. Pachova

Part I: Treaties and institutions

* The Indus Water Dispute-Relations with domestic policies, Shuntaro Yamamoto
* Domestic issues of developing the water resources in a landlocked and water abundant state: Linkages of domestic security and basin security, Naho Mirumachi
* Domestic drivers of international water security in the Danube, Nevelina I. Pachova and Libor Jansky
* Transboundary cooperation vs. internal ambitions: The role of China and Cambodia in the Mekong Region, Marko Keskinen, Katri Mehtonen and Olli Varis
* The role of domestic security in the functioning of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, Virpi Stucki and Madiodio Niasse

Part II: Emerging security threats

* People’s encroachment onto Sudan’s Nile banks and its impact on Egypt, Mahmoud El Zain
* Inter-basin water transfers as technico-political option. Thai-Birman projects on the Salween River, Bastien Affeltranger
* Implications of domestic security policy upon international water issues in a virtual and real water context-Aral Sea and Mekong River Basins, Mikiyasu Nakayama

Part III: Opportunities for cooperation

* Water governance of the Mekong River Basin and Chinese economic development, Kayo Onishi
* Transboundary water issues in the Euphrates-Tiger River Basin: Some methodological approaches and opportunities for cooperation, Aysegül Kibaroglu, Anthi D. Brouma and Mete Erdem
* The politics of security in the Okavango River Basin: From civil war to saving wetlands (1975-2002). A preliminary security impact analysis, Jeroen F. Warner and Richard Meissner

Conclusion

* National sovereignty and human security. Changing realities and concepts in international water management, Nevelina I. Pachova, Mikiyasu Nakayama and Libor Jansky

A Community Guide to Environmental Health

Conant, J. and Fadem, P. (2008). A community guide to environmental health. Berkeley, CA, USA
ISBN: 978-0-942364-56-9
Available as paperback or CD Book (order information), and as a free download (both by chapter and as a complete publication)

“This comprehensive guide has twenty-three chapters which break down the broad overview of environmental issues and concerns into specific examples of how they affect peoples’ health, and how communities have organized to improve their environment and thus their own lives. These chapters include: Promoting Environmental Health; Environmental Rights and Justice; Health Problems from Unsafe Water; Protecting Community Water; Building Toilets; Health Problems from Mosquitoes; Mining and Health; Solid Waste: Turning a Health Risk into a Resource; Preventing and Reducing Harm from Toxics; Sustainable Farming; Restoring Land and Planting Trees, The False Promise of Genetically-Engineered Foods; and Clean Energy.

Eighty-two specific stories from communities around the world enliven the chapters, showing the environmental challenges faced, and what people and grassroots organizations have done to empower themselves and transform their communities. The book also includes 22 activities and 40 easy-to-build “how-to” projects.

Local Government and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) set of materials

The set of materials entitled “Local Government and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)” aims to assist Local Governments with active participation in IWRM. The information provided addresses both the theory and practice of developing and implementing a process through which the IWRM principles of social equity, economic efficiency and environmental sustainability can be applied.

The materials are primarily targeted at Local Government officials, but are considered equally useful for individuals and organisations that work with Local Governments in the management of water resources.

The IWRM set of materials consists of the following four parts:

Part I: Reaping the Benefits – How Local Governments Gain from IWRM
Part II: Understanding the Context – The Role of Local Government in IWRM [under development]
Part III: Engaging in IWRM – Practical Steps and Tools for Local Governments [under development]
Part IV: Making Water Work for Local Governments – Ten Top Tips for Integration in Water Management [also available in Portuguese]

The materials are an output of LoGo Water [1], a research project aimed at improving the capacity of Local Governments to implement IWRM, thus contributing to the achievement of waterrelated Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The complete set is available to download from the ICLEI LoGo Water web site.

[1] LoGo Water: Towards effective involvement of Local Government in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in river basins of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, EC Contract 003717

Waterlines edition on Knowledge management

In spite of the huge amount of research that is generated, finding ways to make knowledge useful to users in the field is a continuing problem. The April 2008 edition of Waterlines tackles this issue, describing innovative ways to make knowledge on water, sanitation and waste accessible to the people who can use it.

The contents list of the April edition is listed below. Individual articles can be downloaded online (cost US9 + tax ) here

Single copies of the whole issue can be ordered (cost £12.50 or $25) from publishinginfo@practicalaction.org.uk

Waterlines
Contents
VOLUME 27 NUMBER 2 APRIL 2008

Editorial
RICHARD CARTER

Crossfire: ‘Knowledge sharing should focus on learning culture, rather than the generation of knowledge’
JAMES WEBSTER and GEOFF PEARCE

Improving water and sanitation provision globally through information sharing
MARTIN MULENGA

Learning alliances for integrated and sustainable innovations in urban water management
JOEP VERHAGEN, JOHN BUTTERWORTH and MIKE MORRIS

Practical Answers: A platform for knowledge sharing
ROBERT CARTRIDGE, NEIL NOBLE and ZBIGNIEW MIKOLAJUK

The power of knowledge in executing household water treatment programmes globally
C. DOW BAKER, L. ROLLING, R. MARTINEZ, A. BARYAR, G. BULOS and M. LIPMAN

The challenge of servicing on-site sanitation in dense urban areas: Experiences from a pilot project in Dhaka
JONATHAN PARKINSON and MASUDUL QUADER

From our water correspondent
Webwatch

Reviews
Water Lifting Devices: A Handbook
Roofwater Harvesting: A Handbook for Practitioners