Safer water, better health : costs, benefits and sustainability of interventions to protect and promote health

Prüss-Üstün , A. … [et al]. (2008). Safer water, better health : costs, benefits and sustainability of interventions to protect and promote health. Geneva, Switzerland, World Health Organization. 53 p.
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By depicting country-by-country estimates of the burden of disease due to water, sanitation and hygiene this WHO report highlights how much disease could be prevented through increased access to safe water and better hygiene.

It provides the epidemiological evidence and economic arguments for fully integrating water, sanitation and hygiene in countries’ disease reduction strategies — a pre-requisite to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It also provides the basis for preventive action by all relevant sectors managing critical water resources and services in support of public health efforts.

From the Introduction:

“This document summarizes the most recent water-related findings on global health impacts; presents recent information on effective interventions ; summarizes information from economic evaluations; and describes recent insights on financing.

The global health impacts presented are based on both rigorous assessments (for diarrhoea, trachoma, schistosomiasis and intestinal nematode infections) and reviews of expert opinion (all other addressed diseases). The scientific rigor of the estimates based on expert opinion is not at the same level as that of the estimates based on rigorous assessments; nevertheless, the opinion-based estimates are the best ones currently available”.

Communication, water, and sanitation in Latin America

Obregon, R. … [et al.] (2008). Communication, water, and sanitation in Latin America : the contribution of communication for development in water resource management and service implementation projects. Washington, DC, USA, Water and Sanitation Program. 32 p.
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This report summarizes the results of a study on the role played by communication for development (CfD) in water and sanitation projects and programs in Latin America based on a review of 39 case studies and on documented experiences in this field. The 39 cases correspond to different types of intervention and levels: local community, national, institutional and regional levels, 72% of which are from Latin America. The report centred on three study categories regarded as critical to the strengthening of CfD in the water and sanitation sector:

• types of intervention and communication strategies employed
• experiences based on the achievement of results and measurable goals, with an emphasis on monitoring and evaluation processes, and
• the added value of CfD in sector interventions.

Food & Water Watch releases Biwater brief

US consumer and anti-water privatisation activist group, Food & Water Watch, has released a new brief on water multinational Biwater in its corporate profile series. This brief details the “failures” of Biwater’s global activity, giving particular reference to the recent Initial Public Offering (IPO) of their Cascal subsidiary. It provides a summary of Biwater’s canceled contracts (including the Dar es Salaam contract, Tanzania), challenges to existing contracts (e.g. Nelpsruit, South Africa) and the numerous withdrawal and rejection of project proposals (Philippines, Ghana, Ecuadaor etc.).

Other corporate profiles of water multinationals are available for:

American Water
Suez
Veolia
Bechtel
American International Group
Saur

The Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), UK, maintains a database of companies involved in the private provision of public services, focusing on multinationals and their subsidiaries in water, energy, waste management, and healthcare.  Some of the information in the database is available to the general public. Full access is normally only available to trade unions affiliated to Public Services International (PSI).

Water Financing and Governance

Rees, J.A., Winpenny, J. and Hall, A.W (2008). Water financing and governance. (TEC background papers ; no. 12). Stockholm, Sweden, Global Water Partnership. 56 p.
ISBN: 978-91-58321-70-4
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Traditionally, within the water sector, financing issues have not had a high profile and are mostly related to supply side investments. This is no longer sufficient as population growth, urbanisation, greater wellbeing and a higher quality of life puts the world’s fragile water resources under increasing stress. With the added threat from climate change the situation is set to deteriorate even more.

Supply side issues and the financial architecture for providing essential domestic services was addressed by the Camdessus Report in 2003 and the issue of demand management was covered by the Gurria report in 2006. These two landmark papers have prompted a wealth of interest in water financing. However, this has mainly focused on service provision and there is very little that covers the issues of financing for the overarching water resource management and governance systems that are critical for all users and for environmental protection.

Many commentators have stressed that financial needs will not be met without major reforms in water governance. By improving water governance the enabling environment for investment will improve as risks, commercial and political, will be better understood and addressed.

Over the last fifteen years an integrated approach to water resources management (IWRM) has evolved as the means to manage water more holistically and sustainably, and overcome the fragmented decision making and purely supply side approach common to the past uses and abuses of water resources.

There is a very close link between the integrated approach, good water governance and financing but, to date, there has been little discussion about this relationship. This paper aims to bring together these different strands so that a more coordinated, coherent approach to water financing is adopted. It focuses on the need to fund the water resources functions that are essential for security and sustainability and to examine the relationship between the different governance and organisational structures in the sector and their ability to secure funding for essential goods and services.

Effective Utility Management tools released

Water and wastewater utilities now have access to a new package of tools designed by their peers in six collaborating associations and the US Environmental Protection Agency to advance effective management practices to achieve long-term sustainability.

As recently announced by the Effective Utility Management coalition, which includes AWWA, the package of tools includes the downloadable Effective Utility Management Primer for Water and Wastewater Utilities. The free primer aims to help water and wastewater utility managers make practical, systematic changes to achieve excellence in utility performance.

The primer details five phases for improving utility management – from assessing current conditions, ranking the importance, graphing results, and choosing attributes through developing and implementing an improvement plan.

The document distills the expertise and experience of participating utility leaders into a framework intended to help other managers “identify and address their most pressing needs through a customized, incremental approach that is relevant to the day-to-day challenges utilities face.”

It also reiterates the 10 attributes of effectively managed water utilities and five keys to management success first identified last year in a report released by the group, which also produced a series of suggested performance measures that allow a utility to establish a baseline against which to measure its progress.

The coalition also launched a new Web site that serves as a hub for accessing relevant resources available from each organization.

Other coalition members include the American Public Works Association, Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, National Association of Clean Water Agencies, National Association of Water Companies, Water Environment Federation, and USEPA, which has made better utility management a major focus.

Source: AWWA, 1 Jul 2008

Tanzanian Children’s Perceptions of Education and Their Role in Society

Research and Analysis Working Group (2008). Tanzanian children’s perceptions of education and their role in society : views of the children 2007. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Research and Analysis Working Group (REPOA) and MKUKUTA Monitoring System, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs. ix, 41 p.
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This study is the result of participatory research with children, a developing field of research in Tanzania, and in many other African countries. The research methodology is explained in chapter 2 and the annex of the report.

The survey involved 512 children aged from 7 to 14 years from ten regions in Mainland Tanzania.

As the ‘consumers’ of education, children provide useful information for those working for and with children – from policy makers to teachers. This report contains their opinions on a range of issues relating to education, such as school services (including healthcare, water supply and food), textbooks, performance by teachers, discipline, extra charges, and their desired improvements to education.

Researchers also asked for their opinions on their social and economic contributions to their families and communities, their desire for and access to information, formal and informal ways they are listened to, and their aspirations for the future.

Children were well aware of the contradiction between a curriculum that teaches the importance of clean water and good nutrition and what they actually receive at school.