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SOURCE WATER AND SANITATION WEEKLY

Issue no. 28-29, 26 July 1999

Source Weekly is part of the Source News Service, a joint endeavour of
the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and the
IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. Other products are the
bi-monthly Source Bulletin and Source Archive:
http://www.wsscc.org/source/

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US WATER EXPERTS BRIEF CONGRESS

Leading water experts have briefed congressional staff in Washington on
the risks for disease and conflict as a result of water scarcity.
Timothy Ford and Mary Wilson of Harvard University highlighted the fact
that there was an increased risk of waterborne diseases in developing
countries because their water and sanitation systems could not cope with
the rate of urbanization. Sandra Postel, of the Global Water Policy
Project, told how water scarcity was contributing to political
instability in parts of the world, especially the Middle East. She also
called for the provision of safe drinking water for all who lack it.
(UN Wire, 6 July 1999
http://www.unfoundation.org/unwire/archives/UNWIRE990706.cfm#14)

VACCINE FOR DYSENTERY DEVELOPED

Scientists from France's Pasteur Institute have developed a vaccine
against dysentery, an intestinal disease that kills nearly one million
people each year. The vaccine has proved effective against a strain of
dysentery prevalent among young people in developing countries. Further
tests are being carried out in Bangladesh.
Contact: Philippe Sansonetti, Pasteur Institute, fax: +33-1-43069835,
http://www.pasteur.fr
(Pasteur Institute Press Release, 6 July 1999,
http://www.pasteur.fr/actu/communi/communiques/vacshig.html)

WEDC TO EVALUATE WATERAID PROJECTS

WaterAid have selected the Water, Engineering and Development Centre
(WEDC) to undertake a participatory evaluation of past projects. It will
provide an impact assessment of its programmes on the communities
affected and inform future strategic thinking and advocacy messages.
Contact: Darren Saywell, mailto:D.L.Saywell@lboro.ac.uk
(WEDC Bulletin, July 1999,
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/cv/wedc/bulletins/july99/july99.htm)

AFRICAN AND EUROPEAN CITIES COLLABORATE TO FIGHT POVERTY

At the end of June 1999, mayors from cities belonging to the World
Alliance of Cities Against Poverty (WACAP) met in Algiers to discuss
increased cooperation for the provision of basic social services,
including sanitation, in urban Africa. UNDP set up the WACAP network in
1996 as part of its Urban Management Programme. One example of
cooperation can be seen in Lomé, Togo, where the French City of Lyon has
provided garbage collection trucks, trained local personnel and helped
organize waste collection.
(UNDP Newsfront, 6 July 1999,
http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/july99/6july99/secondpage.html)

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: OPIC LAUNCHES US$ 350 MILLION INVESTMENT FUND

The US Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC) has a new US$ 350 million
(EUR 333 million) investment fund for Sub-Saharan Africa. The fund will
finance telecommunications, transportation, electrical power, water and
sanitation projects and create at least 7,000 jobs. The Sloane Financial
Group will manage the fund. OPIC is a US federal agency that sells
investment services to small, medium and large American businesses
expanding into some 140 developing nations and emerging markets around
the world.
Contact: OPIC, http://www.opic.gov/
(IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 3-9 July 1999,
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/wa/weekly/19990709.htm)

ALGERIA, ALGIERS: WATER RATIONING ENDS

The water authority of Greater Algiers, Epeal, has announced the end of
water rationing which had been in effect since 2 April 1997. During the
rationing period households only received water every three days during
specific hours. Authorities warned residents that the end of rationing
concerns only drinking water, and that legal action would be taken
against those using this water for non-potable purposes such as
gardening of car washing. Local authorities fear the return to normal
water supply will increase water losses along the existing old
distribution network. They are therefore seeking a World Bank loan for a
three-year project, starting in 2000, to renovate the water distribution
system.
(North Africa Journal, 20 June 1999,
http://www.africanews.org/north/algeria/stories/19990624_feat2.html)

BENIN, COTONOU: 400,000 DRINK POLLUTED WATER

Some 400,000 residents, more than half the population of Cotonou, drink
water from wells polluted by household refuse and septic tank effluent,
according to Ministry of Health official, Dr Moussa Yarou. Most of
350,000 tonnes of waste which the city produces each year, is buried
underground where pollutants leach into the groundwater.
Contact: Ministère de la Santé Publique, BP 882, Cotonou, Benin
(Panafrican News Agency, 5 July 1999,
http://www.africanews.org/PANA/environment/19990705/feat1.html)

KENYA: DUTCH GOVERNMENT STOPS BILATERAL AID

Citing lack of good governance, the stalled constitutional reform
process and the failure to take action against corruption, the Dutch
government has cut its US$ 25 million (EUR 23.8 million) bilateral
development assistance to Kenya as of 26 June 1999. The affected
projects include the rural water supply and sanitation programme (EUR 1
million) and the drought monitoring programme (EUR 1 million). The
Netherlands would try to find other donors for its most important
projects, while it would continue to support the activities of Dutch
co-financed agencies which amounts to US$ 8 million (EUR 7.6 million)
(Panafrican News Agency, 9 July 1999,
http://www.africanews.org/environ/stories/19990709_feat2.html)

UGANDA: DROUGHT FORCES THOUSANDS TO MOVE TO TANZANIA

Thousands of farmers from southwestern Uganda are reportedly moving into
northern Tanzania following a severe drought facing the region. The
drought, which began in March 1999, has caused most of the water sources
to dry up. The acute water shortage had also led to a cholera outbreak
in the region. Worst-affected were Mbarara, Ntungamo, Lukungiri, Kabale
and Sembabule districts.
(IRIN, 12 July 1999)


THESE ITEMS AREN"T about Africa, but are relevant....

INDIA: WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY STUDIES HAVE BEEN INEFFECTIVE

Although research had shown that households were willing to pay higher
tariffs for improved water and sanitation services in rural Kerala,
rural Punjab, and the cities of Baroda and Dehradun, a World Bank
follow-up study* revealed that these findings had not convinced
government to change charging policies. By contrast, in Hyderabad City
and rural Maharashtra, significant policy reforms had taken place
without the intervention of willingness-to-pay studies. The complex and
expensive contingent valuation method (CVM) used in such studies is
often not an appropriate tool to bring about policy reform, especially
when there is no political commitment to do so.
Contact: mailto:bevans1@worldbank.org
* UNDP-World Bank Water and Sanitation Program - South Asia (1999).
Willing to pay but unwilling to charge : do "willingness-to-pay" studies
make a difference? (Field note). New Delhi, India, UNDP-World Bank Water
and Sanitation Program - South Asia, 1999. 8 p.: 1 fig. 7 ref. URL:
http://www.wsp.org/English/sa_willing.pdf (732 KB)

BRAZIL: ENGINEERS WANT PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS, NOT PRIVATIZATION

"Less politics and better management" rather than privatization is way
ahead for Brazil's state-owned water companies, was the message that
emerged from the 20th Congress of the Brazilian Association of Sanitary
and Environmental Engineering (ABES) in Rio de Janeiro from 10-14 May
1999. There was support for public-private partnerships as long as the
responsibility for coordinating services remained with the public
sector, because that was "the only way the poor would have safe access
to water." Since 1998 municipalities are authorized to manage their own
water services, and therefore are no longer obliged to rely on
state-owned water companies.
Contact: ABES, mailto:abes@abes-dn.org.br, http://www.abes-dn.org.br/
(Water & Wastewater International, June 1999,
http://www.wwinternational.com/cgi-bin/MagCurrIssDet.cfm?ArticleID=0799-
155&MagazineID=1&img=wwwi_ciss_i.gif)


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Editor: Cor Dietvorst, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre,
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      Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
        and Editor, World Rivers Review
           International Rivers Network
              1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
                  Tel. (510) 848 1155   Fax (510) 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org
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