Southern Africa: Too Much Water and Not Enough to Drink

By Letuka Mahe

This article is from the country of Lesotho, which the article says is one of the world’s poorest countries. Lesotho gains much of its revenue (about 30 million dollars yearly) from the sale of water to surrounding South Africa. Meanwhile, there are many people within Lesotho who do not have access to clean water. The article describes one woman, Mmankosana Letsoela, who has to wake up early in the morning and wait in line at a pump for hours before she can fill up her two 20-litre containers. However, a dam is being built near the capital city of Maseru as part of the Lesotho Lowlands Water Supply Scheme (LLWSS). The new project, the Metolong dam, is supposed to give one million people access to clean water by the year 2020.

The title of this article, “Too Much Water and Not Enough to Drink” raises an important point about the distribution and ownership of water. In this situation, the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) sells water and raises much-needed income for the country while its own citizens are still not having their water needs met. Clearly, Lesotho cannot stop the sale of water to other countries without adversly affecting its own economy; neither would this be fair to other countries who might depend on receiving this water. However, I think Lesotho should focus on improving access to water for its own citizens with the profits from selling water. The Metolong dam project has the potential to help many people, but like other dam projects, it could have unintended environmental impacts. As this article demonstrates, water management is a vastly complicated issue with the interests and livelihoods of many people at stake.

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=48709

 

Getting poor people access to clean drinking water means reforming U.S. foreign assistance. Really.

By Porter McConnell

In his post, McConnell discuss the fact that even though U.S. funding for water programs increased between 2007 and 2008, the U.S. needs a better strategy for providing aid. He mentions the fragmentation of government agencies, saying there are currently 15 helping with water and sanitation abroad. He also points out that aid is not being distributed effectively, citing Jordan and Niger as examples. In Jordan, 98% of people had access to clean water in 2008 compared to 42% in Niger. However, Jordan was given $41 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) while Niger was only granted one-fiftieth of that for its water and sanitation programs. McConnell also explains that it is not easy to find information on the amount of aid given by the U.S. to certain countries for water programs because it is channeled through so many different agencies. He advocates for the U.S. to create “a single strategy for fighting global poverty” that includes water programs and other types types of aid.

Before reading this, I had never thought about how much other countries could be affected by inefficencies in the U.S. system of government. It is encouraging to see that U.S. funding for water programs in foreign countries had been increasing but it is not being managed well as McConnell showed with the Niger and Jordan example. Maybe if only a small handful of agencies or just one, like USAID, was responsible for foreign water assistance, aid would be sent to where it could be best used and there would be more documentation how the U.S. is distributing funds. People should not be denied aid because our government cannot coordinate its efforts. As McConnell points out, “lives hang in the balance.”

http://www.one.org/blog/2009/09/16/getting-poor-people-access-to-clean-drinking-water-means-reforming-us-foreign-assistance-really/

 

In Malawi, No More Sharing Water With Goats

By William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

William Kamkwamba, a student from Malawi describes the water situation in his own village. He said there were long lines at the village’s water pump and the water was often contaminated becasue of the animals that drank there and the other waste that would get into the water when it rained. People also suffered from diarrhea and cholera because of the dirty water. William Kamkwamba wanted to solve his village’s water problem and was able to attain funding to buy solar pumps which helped water flow to six faucets, instead of the two that were there before. To help other villages, he wants to create a drill that is easy to use to make a hole, “a borehole,” to access water, and use wind power to move the water.

William Kamkwamba presents a more grassroots response to the water problem than, for example, the Metalong dam project in Lesotho. I think providing villages with ways to develop their own pump systems is better than them having to rely on large-scale expensive water projects like dams which may or may not be successful. Using solar or wind power for the pumps seems like a good solution because it is sustainable and does not require villages to have electricity to make their pumps run. Implementing this new technology does have an initial cost, but it could be an investment for the U.S. aid that Peter McConnell discusses.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-kamkwamba/in-malawi-no-more-sharing_b_309907.html

 

Yemen water crisis builds

By Haley Sweetland Edwards

It is estimated that in Sana, the capital of Yemen, there will be no drinking water available by 2025. Water is being used quickly because of the number of people moving into the city from rural areas in search of work and basic necessities like water. However, the article says the water problem is not being addressed because of other issues such as armed conflict and piracy that have plagued Yemen. Poverty is preventing many people from being able to afford water which is usually brought into the city by privately-owned trucks. The World Bank helped the government of Yemen build ten new large wells but even so, the article says that groundwater levels are decreasing rapidly and it is not raining enough to make up for the amount of water being used.

It is shocking to think that a whole city can run out of water and in Sana’s case – in less than twenty years. I think this article shows how poverty plays an important role in water issues. The article says that Yemen is the poorest Arab country. It did not seem like the government had the resources to manage water very well, especially when it was faced with other problems. The article also shows how population growth puts a huge strain on water availability, particularly in areas where it may already be scarce. I do not know if there are ways Yemen can address the water crisis that would make the water support Sana’s large and growing population. If a sustainable solution is not found soon, the water could run out as predictions indicate, and Sana could become uninhabitable.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-yemen-water11-2009oct11,0,3024021,print.story

 

Laliberte Broadcasts Water Conservation Show From Space

The founder of Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberte recently made a trip to the International Space Station to draw attention to the world’s water problems. From space, he hosted a show that included sections filmed in 14 cities around the world where there were speakers and live performances. Famous people involved in the show include Al Gore, Bono, Shakira, author Yann Martel, and many others. Conserving clean water is an issue that is important to Guy Laliberte who founded an organization called “One Drop.” The article says Laliberte spent $35 million in order to go into space and that he has received criticism for not spending the money on water projects.

Guy Laliberte’s trip to the space station and worldwide show was a creative idea to raise awareness about having access to clean water, but I think there are better ways to reach people than to spend $35 million to broadcast a show from space. Raising awareness is an admirable goal and an important part of addressing a problem, but I think the money could have been used more effectively by funding projects that would directly help to improve people’s lives. However, it is encouraging to see that a lack of clean drinking water is a problem that is being discussed and is not going under the radar unnoticed.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1767858/laliberte_broadcasts_water_conservation_show_from_space/

 

World Bank warns of water shortage

By Vesela Todorova

This article says that forty representatives of Arab countries are in Abu Dhabi as part of an Arab Water Academy meeting to discuss “water diplomacy” and how water is managed when a population depends on a water source that crosses through multiple countries. The World Bank released a report before the meeting that says in the Middle East and North Africa, where water is already scarce, the amount of water available per person will decrease by half by 2050. However, this report says that climate change could cause droughts and heat waves which would further limit water availability. Experts at the Arab Water Academy meeting talked about how to manage water more effectively in their countries.

This article treats water availability as stemming from the larger problem of climate change in the way that it combines the discussion of the World Bank’s Development and Climate Change report with the recent Arab Water Academy meetings. I think that water access is very relevant to climate change because climate change will exacerbate problems with water availability by the irregularities it can create in weather like the droughts and heat waves the article mentioned. I thought it was interesting that the article also draws attention to the fact that in arid regions such as the Middle East and North Africa water can become an issue of diplomacy because more than one country could rely on the same water source so that one country’s water management policies can affect the availability of clean water to the population of a neighboring country.

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091012/NATIONAL/710119855/1138

 

Jessica Biel To Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro For Clean Water

By Sandy Cohen

According to this article, a group of celebrities are going to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in January to bring public attention to the problem of the lack of access to clean water faced by people all over the world. The event was the idea of singer Kenna whose father did not have clean water when he was growing up in Ethiopia. Other celebrities involved in the climb, called “The Summit on the Summit,” include Jessica Biel, Lupe Fiasco, Isabel Lucas, and possibly Justin Timberlake. Kenna is encouraging people to donate and says that a gift of one dollar is 1,000 liters of water.

This event, like the space voyage of Guy Laliberte, is designed to spread awareness about clean water but seems more reasonable than his $35 million endeavor. Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro will still be costly but will be little compared to Laliberte’s spending. Even so, I think the event will be effective at raising awareness because many people follow the lives of these celebrities. Something I found surprising in the article was Kenna’s claim about the amount of water only one dollar could provide. I wonder where the donations will go that the groups collect and what projects the money will fund. I am also curious if there is a specific reason they chose to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro – if it is linked to the water crisis in some way – or if they thought climbing it would just be a good way to attract attention to the cause.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/24/jessica-biel-to-climb-mt-_n_298199.html

 

SPX Global Delivers 325 Solar Powered Water Systems to Provide Clean Water for over 300,000 Iraqis

Cory Cunningham

A California company called SPX Global has created a water purification system, the SPX Tracker UF, which runs on solar power. They brought 325 of these units to Iraq which will clean 1.8 million gallons of water a day, enough water for 300,000 people. According to the article, the SPX Tracker UF kills 99.9% of bacteria in the water. The system has nine stages total to purify the water and is said to cost only about three cents per person. The solar panels move to follow the sun as it moves across the sky during the day, ensuring the system absorbs enough sunlight and does not need any outside source of energy to run.

The “SPX Tracker UF” seems like a helpful solution because it only relies on solar power and can be used in remote places. This technology can guarantee clean water to more people but it does not help the problem of water scarcity because it cannot give more people access to water unless the water is already available and only needs to be purified. Also, this press release was clearly meant to promote SPX Global and does not discuss the price of the SPX Tracker UF. It mentions that it costs less than three cents a day per person but does not actually give the cost of purchasing the system. I am curious who paid for the 325 systems that went to Iraq. It seems that this technology could benefit many people but people might need outside assistance in purchasing the systems.

http://www.prlog.org/10378649-spx-global-delivers-325-solar-powered-water-systems-to-provide-clean-water-for-over-300000-iraqis.html

 

Indian arsenic clean-up ‘working well’

By T.V. Padma

The article says that around 140 million people living in Asia use water that contains arsenic. However, six plants in Kasimpore, a village in West Bengal, India are using a recently developed method of taking the cancerous arsenic out of the water. The new process does not use chemicals. Instead, it freezes the arsenic in the water source using oxygen. This also kills most bacteria that cause diarrhea. The six plants currently process 2,000 liters of water a day, with the cost of building one plant at $2,200.

This article shows how innovation can help solve water problems. There is definitely potential to develop new technologies to purify water that are inexpensive and effective for the areas in which they are used. I liked that the article said the parts needed for the plants could be purchased locally and installed by local workers. Instead of buying a product from abroad, like in the article about the water purification systems designed in California, building these plants will help local economies as well as providing them with clean water.

http://www.scidev.net/en/news/indian-arsenic-clean-up-working-well-.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_news

 

Water flows into Bangledeshi slums

By Anna-Katarina Gravgaard

This article says that an NGO called DSK from Bangladesh recieved money from the organization water.org to grant microloans to help people in Dhaka’s slums have better access to water and sanitation. The loans can help buy latrines and water pumps. They also encourage education about sanitation issues becasue in order for a community to receive the loan, they must have have a committee that helps to name prevalent water and sanitation related diseases in the community and to educate others about prevention.

It seems like these microloans could be effective in improving availability of water and general health in Dhaka’s slums. The loans not only help with infrastructure but also get more people in the community involved with making the area a better place to live. The article also says that the loans even help empower women because women are put in positions of leadership in the committees. These microloans are a creative solution to helping people get access to clean water but help to build stronger communities as well. I wonder if microlending will be expanded to other areas as a way for those in poverty to confront water and sanitation problems.

http://pulitzercenter.typepad.com/untold_stories/2009/10/water-flows-into-bangladeshi-slums.html