Demand and Consumption

The historic UN General Assembly Resolution declaring Water and Sanitation as a Right, was passed on the 28th July 2010. 

What is surprising is the complete silence to this UN Resolution from some of the countries who have been traditional champions of human rights, in terms of celebrating it as a historic achievement in advocating a basic right to water and sanitation. Instead some of them went one step short of openly opposing and vetoing the UN Resolution and have heaped criticism on Bolivia for tabling this UN Resolution.

This manual has been prepared by the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO), a department under the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and aims at meeting the professional needs of practising engineers dealing with the sanitation sector in the country, that focuses on achieving the goal of 'sanitation for all' within a reasonable timeframe.

The manual  is a revised version of the earlier one, which was developed in 1977 and was widely used by field engineers engaged in sewerage and sewage treatment. However, a need was felt to revise and update the earlier manual taking into consideration the advancement in technology.

This manual has been developed by the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO), a department under the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and is intended primarily for the managers and technicians in-charge of the O & M of the urban drinking water supply systems.

The aim of the manual is to serve as a guide for strengthening the technical, operational and managerial capabilities required of the concerned personnel to operate and maintain water supply services as per acceptable norms of quantity, quality, sustainability, reliability and cost.

This link on the CAG website provides the details of an international conference that was held on 15-16 March 2010, in the backdrop of the environmental audit proposed by the the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, for management and conservation of the environment .

The purpose of this conference was to deliberate on the causes of pollution, action taken by governments and civil society to address this and environmental, management and legal interventions needed to put lakes, rivers and ground water on the path of sustainability.

More than 20 experts on water and water pollution issues were invited to share their views as panelists during the conference. Apart from these distinguished panelists, the heads of supreme audit institutions from countries like Austria, Maldives, Bangladesh and Bhutan were also present to share their experiences regarding audit of water pollution in their countries.

This report by the World Commission on Dams begins by arguing that the debate about dams is a much broader issue and is important for everyone since it is a debate about the very meaning, purpose and pathways for achieving development. It is complex because the issues are not confined to the design, construction and operation of dams themselves, but include a range of social, environmental and political choices that define development.

Dams fundamentally alter rivers and the use of a natural resource, frequently entailing a reallocation of benefits from local riparian users to new groups of beneficiaries at a regional or national level. At the heart of the dams debate are fundamental issues of equity, governance, justice and power. The report argues that the main challenge lies in reconciling the competing needs between different groups of actors and provides a framework to deal with these fundamental issues in the dam debate.

This study by the National Institute of Hydrology deals with simulation of soil moisture movement and determination of groundwater recharge from rainfall in Barchi watershed in the hard rock region of Karnataka using the numerical model, Soil Water Infiltration and Movement (SWIM).

• WIO demands the Government of Orissa to come out with a White Paper on water first and then decide on new allocations.
• No new industries should be allowed to draw water unless this White Paper prepared and made public.
• That Orissa is a ‘Surplus Water’ state is a ‘myth’.

WIO Urges the Government of Orissa to come out with a While Paper on state and availability status of water resources in the state. The demand comes in the wake of the government's consistent claim that the state is water surplus even though water scarcity hits us all every day.

Sambalpur, 5th August 2010 -  As the industrial overdrive of Orissa continues with signing of MoU after MoU with water guzzling industries, there is no clarity on the exact water available in the state.  The government has been propagating that Orissa is a water surplus state. However, statistics used by the various reports of the government are dated to 2001, from when the real industrialization boom has taken off in the state.  It is time that the government comes out with a transparent position paper on the exact water availability in the state or else water conflicts will aggravate.

We see this newsletter as a platform for independent credible voice in the water and sanitation sector. Our emphasis is on bringing together critical news and information with analysis. In this issue we share news and analysis on topical issues and developments.

The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation(DDWS) has simultaneously invited inputs to Discussion Papers on Drinking Water and Sanitation, circulated on Solution Exchange. Inputs given by India WASH Forum, on this, is enclosed in this Update. We have pointed out the missing elements of sanitation improvement strategy that include, criticality of providing water as an inseparable component to household sanitation, the tendency to see behavior change as a lifestyle issue and not linked to the hardware components, peoples livelihoods and living conditions. Suggestions for what needs to be done to strengthen the implementation mechanism of the flagship sanitation programme(TSC) and partnerships.