[rwsn] RWSN Newsletter - October 2015 (English/Anglais)
Sean Furey
Newsletter – October 2015
If you are having trouble reading this then download the more readable PDF version: ENGLISH / FRANÇAIS. Pour les francophones - Si vous souhaitez recevoir le bulletin trimestriel en français, veuillez nous écrire un e-mail à ruralwater @ skat.ch intitulé Bulletin Trimestriel en français.
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English |
Sustainable Development Goal 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all
Late 2015 Webinar series – register now!
2015 Member Survey – thank you!
World Water Week in Stockholm update
Investing in rural water supply delivers results
Equality, Non-Discrimination and Inclusion (ENDI)
Sustainable Groundwater Development
UPGro – Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor
RAIN - Rainwater harvesting for rural water supply and food security
WORD FROM THE CHAIR
New Horizons: towards universal water access by 2030
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The world has signed off on the Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 6 is the big water and sanitation goal and includes targets for water services and water resources: universal access to a safe and affordable water supply, but also targets for water quality, water use efficiency, water related eco systems and water resources.
On top of that there is a target to increase community participation and a goal to expand international cooperation and capacity building support. Compared with the MDGs the ambition level has gone up enormously. Imagine these goals will be achieved, than we may be the last generation to witness people having to take water from rivers and people dying of diarrhoea.
Achieving these targets is not just a counting exercise; these targets cannot be achieved by tweaking here and there, spending a bit more money, building capacities here and there, adapting policies. These targets will force governments and development partners to do business differently. They will force governments to take public service delivery seriously, take citizens and their demands seriously and invest public finance in water supply. Not only in the hardware but in particular in the systems to keep the hardware going.
That is not news, intellectually we all know that. And actually looking at the economic growth figures of many countries in Africa and Asia, it should be feasible in the 15 years to come. But do governments really care? Are they really willing to take up the responsibility and invest in water and sanitation, in the institutions, the people, the systems to ensure sustained water supply from sustained water resources? Will we really see economies grow simultaneously with reliable access to water for everyone?
Will Development Partners reserve parts of their funding for the national systems, for building capacities of people and institutions and engage with country sector reform for 10 years and more? Will they challenge but align with government priorities and planning? Or will they continue counting boreholes in projects of 5 years or less?
This is not to say that this is not happening already, but it is a moment in time to do more and overcome institutional hurdles. Goal 6 and its targets offer great challenges and great chances. In fact, the targets are an extra push to transfer from water supply driven mainly by aid funding and aid directives to water supply driven by confident and motivated governments planning a prosperous and healthy future for their citizens - jointly with critical but engaged Development Partners. That may be a dream, but that is the great thing about the Goals: they not only show the real values of mankind and what mankind potentially is capable of achieving, they also trigger the imagination and our creative forces to make this happen. Have a great 15 years and let us know what you encounter and learn on the way. |
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Ton Schouten, Chair
HEADLINES
The Millennium Development Goals are yesterday’s news – for better or worse. At the Sustainable Development Summit at the end of September, the new Sustainable Development Goals were agreed. For Goal 6 on water sanitation there are the following targets:
n By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all
n By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations
n By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally
n By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity
n By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate
n By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes
n By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies
n Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management
Details on all the goals can be found at: www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment
RWSN is launching its next series of ten webinars (online seminars) on topics related to rural water supply, among them equality, sustainable services, groundwater, self-supply approaches, rainwater harvesting and human rights. Presenters from more than 15 different organisations, working in over 15 countries will share their practical experiences and research findings. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and meet others with similar interests.
You can register for one or several webinars by following the link: http://tinyurl.com/nephass
The webinars will take place every Tuesday from 6th October to 8th December. Nine of the ten webinars will also be in French and one will be in Spanish (see table below). Except for the first webinar, there will be a French webinar at 9.30 (GMT) and an English one at 13.30 (GMT). The sessions will last 90 minutes. Please note that all times are indicated in GMT, so your local starting hour may be varying throughout the series.
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Date |
Time/Heure |
Title/Subject |
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Oct 06 |
8:00 GMT |
ENGLISH: From building infrastructure to creating support mechanisms for rural water supplies |
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16:00 GMT |
ESPAÑOL: Desde el desarrollo de infraestructura hacia la creación de mecanismos de apoyo a sistemas de agua potable en zonas rurales |
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Oct 13 |
09:30 GMT |
FRANÇAIS: Des forages qui durent toute un vie |
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13:30 GMT |
ENGLISH: Boreholes that last for a lifetime |
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Oct 20 |
09:30 GMT |
FRANÇAIS : Les conceptions inclusives et les habitudes de travail inclusives 1 |
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13:30 GMT |
ENGLISH : Inclusive ways of working and inclusive designs 1 |
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Oct 27 |
09:30 GMT |
FRANÇAIS : Les citoyens s'expriment sur l'eau |
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13:30 GMT |
ENGLISH : Citizens speak out on water |
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Nov 03 |
09:30 GMT |
ENGLISH : Inclusive ways of working and inclusive designs 2 |
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13:30 GMT |
FRANÇAIS : Les conceptions inclusives et les habitudes de travail inclusives 2 |
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Nov 10 |
09:30 GMT |
FRANÇAIS : Dépasser le scandale de la corrosion des pompes manuelles dans l'approvisionnement rural en eau |
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13:30 GMT |
ENGLISH : Overcoming the Rural Water Supply Scandal of Handpump Corrosion |
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Nov 17 |
09:30 GMT |
FRANÇAIS : Déployer la collecte des eaux de pluie par les toitures domestiques |
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13:30 GMT |
ENGLISH : Domestic Roofwater Harvesting at Scale |
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Nov 24 |
09:30 GMT |
FRANÇAIS : Les droit de l'homme et l'auto-approvisionnement – un paradoxe? |
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13:30 GMT |
ENGLISH : Human rights and Self Supply – a paradox? |
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Dec 01 |
09:30 GMT |
FRANÇAIS : La magie et le mystère des données sur les eaux souterraines |
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13:30 GMT |
ENGLISH : The magic and mystery of groundwater data |
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Dec 08 |
09:30 GMT |
FRANÇAIS : L’eau pour les bergers et les troupeaux |
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13:30 GMT |
ENGLISH : Water for Pastoralists and Livestock |
We look forward to meeting you on-line.
Please note that you will need to register for the events to be able to take part. The process takes one minute: http://tinyurl.com/nephass
Thank you to everyone that took part in the 2015 RWSN Member Survey. Responses were received in three languages, from 70 countries and from across government, NGOs, academia, the private sector and development partners. From it, we have a much better idea of who you are, what problems you are facing and how well (or not) we are doing. There were many great examples of how information, publications, films and webinars have been used to improve the quality of rural water supply training, consulting and implementation.
The number one challenge being faced by members is the sustainability of rural water services, in all its diverse forms, from maintaining the physical quality and quantity of water supplied to the challenges around financing, management and regulation.
What would you say is the main problem that you are currently facing, in relation to rural water supply? (most common words)
What is RWSN doing well? (most common words)
What could be strengthened in RWSN?
We got 279 ideas! We can’t respond to all them individually, but we are taking them seriously and generally the feedback focused on extending what the network already does – Expanding member engagement and outreach to others; Advice & support
for funding / fundraising; More training; Expanding thematic content & scope; Expanding Geographic Scope; Provide information in more languages; More publications and to Update manuals.
You can download a 2-page summary and a full report from the RWSN website
At the 36th WEDC Conference, in Loughborough, UK, the lead from RWSN was taken by Andrew Armstrong (Water Missions International) who organised two side events:
“I want to thank you all for the opportunity to collaborate on these events and for your support (particularly from André Olschewski) during their development. I felt that the solar pumping workshop was especially valuable to the participants and WEDC, and have received much positive feedback. I have even received a request from one of the workshop participants to co-organize a solar pumping workshop in Zimbabwe.”
Andrew has prepared a synthesis report on both sessions, which you can download the from the RWSN website:
§ Elements of Sustainable Solar Water Pumping System Design
§ Managing Cash Reserves for Capital Maintenance Expenses
Thanks to Andrew, André, Richard Carter for organising and facilitating these workshops, and to the speakers: Kwabena Nyarko (KNUST), Paul Hutchings, (Cranfield University) and Jim Gibson (Maluti GSM Consulting)
Your can find many useful papers and abstracts from this year’s WEDC conference on their website
This year, we decided to take the plunge and have a stand at the World Water Week in Stockholm. This was made possible thanks to funding and support from the UPGro (Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor) programme and from UNICEF, through the RWSN collaboration on professionalising water well drilling. Unsurprisingly then, the dominant theme for the stand was groundwater. However, we designed the stand in such a way as to be a networking and presentation space.
Throughout the week we hosted a number of mini-presentations from Prof. Richard Carter (Richard Carter & Associates), Dr Jenny Grönwall (SIWI), Susan Davis (Improve International) [watch her film], Fabio Fussi (University of Milano Biococca), Maria Bestemann (Basic Water Needs), André Mergenthaler and Craig Williams (Water Missions International) [watch their film] ,Virgina Roaf and Hannah Neumeyer (WASH United). Sadly, we couldn’t always guarantee the audience as there was a lot going on, but the people that came were really engaged and there is a lot of potential for interesting collaborations in the future.
Over the course of the week we met several hundred RWSN members – and recruited many new ones (welcome!). We learned so much from colleagues from Zambia, Jordan, Argentina, Cambodia, Lebanon, India, Nigeria, Ghana and many other diverse places and organisations – a huge thanks to everyone!
“The number of people without access in rural areas has decreased by over half a billion” (1990-2015), concluded the Joint Monitoring Programme of the UNICEF and WHO. We have produced a 2-page graphic summary of latest JMP report results that relate to rural water supply. Overall the message is of positive progress, but 4 out of 5 people who lack access to safe water live in rural areas. Under the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the push will be for universal access by 2030, and a lot more focus on water quality. This is a challenge for all of us.
THEME NEWS
Join at: dgroups.org/RWSN/equality_rwsn
Theme Leaders: Louisa Gosling, WaterAid (LouisaGosling @ wateraid.org)
Jane Wilbur, WaterAid (janewilbur @wateraid.org)
Reducing inequalities in WASH
Under the equality, non-discrimination and inclusion theme there is a work stream on reducing inequalities in WASH. Project aims are to 1) find out what information, guidance, and support is available on practical ways of working and designs of infrastructure that can be applied to reduce inequalities in WASH; 2) generate shared learning and discussions on approaches and solutions with RWSN members with the intention of assisting members to ‘do inclusion better’.
We will be holding e-discussions on:
§ Practical ways of working for more inclusive WASH (Week of 12th October)
§ Design of infrastructure that can be applied to reduce inequalities in WASH access and use (Week of 26th October)
§ Information, guidance and support for inclusive ways of working and infrastructure design. (week of 9 November)
Plus, 2 webinars on the 20th October and the 3rd November.
The webinar topics will cover:
1. Integrating gender dialogue mechanisms in community mobilisation processes
2. Small scale private water and sanitation enterprises in Indonesia, Vietnam and Timor-Leste. The focus is on economic inequalities in in remote locations in rural Vietnam
3. inclusive ways of working from the perspective of a Disabled Persons Organisation
4. Applying the rights based approach in WASH with a focus on menstrual hygiene management and people with disabilities in Nepal
5. How training people with disabilities to collect survey data enhanced responses from disabled respondents
6. School WASH in Tanzania
We hope that you’ll be able to engage in the e-discussions and the webinars. There’s so much scope to reducing inequalities in WASH so we’re looking forward to a really rich and stimulating discussion on the subject.
Please register here: http://www.rural-water-supply.net/en/projekts/details/79.
If you would like to present or want more information please email janew...@wateraid.org.
Putting Women at the centre of development for achieving hygiene behaviour change
7th October, 12.45-4pm, side event at the PHASA (Public Health Association of South Africa) Conference 2015, in Durban, South Africa. Hosted by Dr Juliet Waterkeyn of Africa Ahead. www.phasaconference.org.za
Join at dgroups.org/RWSN/groundwater_rwsn
Theme Leaders: Kerstin Danert (kerstin.danert @ skat.ch) Cost Effective Boreholes & Manual Drilling; Sean Furey, Skat, (sean.furey @ skat.ch) Handpumps and Water Source Protection
For UPGro see page 10
“A borehole that lasts a lifetime” RWSN films are hits
The RWSN collaboration between UNICEF, Skat and WaterAid has made ground with the two animated films in English and French on professionalising drilling. As well has being viewed over a thousand times in the first couple weeks since being launched, through the membership survey you have been telling us how you have been using the films:
“I had to educate a client on the need for proper siting of borehole and the need to use the right expertise using the informative and educating Video of RWSN released in the first quarter of this year on borehole siting.” Moshood N. TIJANI, Department of Geology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
“I did a presentation [of] a video of drilling well to our WASH partners”, anon. Afghanistan
“The videos explaining the need for proper well locations using geologists and surveyors, as well as the need for a quality controller were good resources.” Christelle Kwizera, Water Access Rwanda, Rwanda
You can find the films in both languages together on our “Professional Drilling - animated series” channel. We are looking at getting more produced soon.
Evaluation of Hand Augered Well Technologies’ Capacity to Improve Access to Water in Coastal Ngöbe Communities in Panama
Panama is not a country that comes up in RWSN discussions very often, so it is great that this MSc thesis has shown that affordable access to groundwater is important in Central America as well. Young researcher, Sarah Hayman, compared different low cost drilling and water lifting technologies, including the EMAS pump: “Evaluation of Hand Augered Well Technologies’ Capacity to Improve Access to Water in Coastal Ngöbe Communities in Panama”.
Join at dgroups.org/RWSN/selfsupply_rwsn
Theme Leader: André Olschewski, Skat (andre.olschewski @ skat.ch)
For Rainwater harvesting see page 11
TAF 2.0?
Interest in the Technology Applicability Framework (TAF) for assessing new WASH technologies has been growing steadily, with it being used by more organisations in a growing number of countries, including Zimbabwe, South Sudan, and Afghanistan.
Through this learning process, ideas are coming back for an update to the TAF. Efforts are even underway to adapt the TAF to renewable energy technologies. If you have any ideas or feedback, then please contact André Olschewski
Tanzania TAF
One major achievement is that in Tanzania the TAF has been formally adopted and been included in the Project Implementation Manual (PIM), which is the formal guideline for the implementation of the rural water and sanitation development plan. Every WASH project in rural areas should use the PIM and its tools during the relevant stages of project planning and implementation.
The TAF is an open-source tool available at washtechnologies.net/, along with interesting case studies of where it has been used.
SMART Centres are growing
SMART Centres are active in promoting smart, affordable water technologies through market based approaches. In Tanzania, about 45 Rope pump producers and well drillers have been trained by SHIPO in past 8 years. Their drilling companies have drilled over 2000 hand drilled wells. Meanwhile rope pump producers installed over 10,000 pumps - of which some 4,000 pumps were sold to families for self-supply.
Better documentation and exchange between SMART Centres and similar initiatives such as in Sierra Leone by Welthungerhilfe is needed to support initiatives for further development of local private sector in providing WASH products and services. Please follow up on www.smartcentregroup.com a new initiative supported by Aqua for All and with MetaMeta as lead parties.
Join at dgroups.org/RWSN/sustainable_services_rwsn
Theme Leader: Marieke Adank, IRC (adank @irc.nl)
Conference on improving water security for the poor, 9-11 December 2015
REACH is a new 7-year research programme to make at least 5 million poor people water secure. Oxford University leads the programme with UNICEF and heavy input from RWSN, Skat, IRC and many more. The initial focus will be on three countries: Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Kenya.
To get things moving, there will be a conference on water security held at Oxford University between 9-11 December 2015. Part of this will include the launch of a funding opportunity for innovative water security and poverty collaborations. To find out more visit: www.watersecurity2015.org
E-discussion: the role of local government in rural water supply
Thank you to everyone who participated in the lively e-discussion on local government and rural water supply. The synthesis report is currently being compiled by IRC and Water for People. To access all contributions and the weekly summaries of the discussion, joint the Sustainable Services D-group and see: https://dgroups.org/RWSN/sustainable_services_rwsn/library.
New resource: Developing micro-finance products for WASH
This summer Water.org and MicroSave completed a series of toolkits to provide information and tools for financial institutions to develop microfinance products for WASH investments. The suite consists of five individual toolkits that present step-by-step information, principles, and practices for the successful development of WASH financial products. The toolkits are designed to be applicable across a variety of markets, lending methodologies, and business models. You can find our toolkits here: www.WASHmicrofinance.org
New resource: Benin – Innovative public private partnerships for rural water services sustainability - A Case Study
Over the past decade, the Government of Benin has made great strides to professionalize the management of piped water systems (PWS) in rural areas and small towns. This case study provides evidence of the possibilities for attracting private sector engagement in piped rural water systems, and also clearly lays out some of the on-going sustainability challenges. It can be found on:
New blog: Understanding water services in India, house by house
How much does the support and community mobilisation work cost that is needed to make community-managed rural water programmes work? That’s the question that the Community Water Plus Project is trying to answer, as addressed in the blog on IRC WASH.
Join at dgroups.org/rwsn/mapping_rwsn
Topic Leader: Joseph Pearce (pearce @ircwash.org)
Comparing successes and failures in rural water services
Over the past twelve months WaterAid, Itad and IRC have been conducting desk research and analysis to better understand why some ICT initiatives improving water supply in rural areas succeed where others don’t. Download the report “Testing the Waters: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of the Factors Affecting Success in Rendering Water Services Sustainable Based on ICT Reporting”
These research findings were presented at a webinar on 8 September. Download the webinar presentation.
“What Can Your Data Do For You? Moving Beyond Reporting”
You can find the recordings and presentation slides of the all three webinars, including Using Data for Learning and Sharing, and other resources here from SustainableWASH.org
PROGRAMME NEWS
Knowledge Brokers: Sean Furey, Kerstin Danert, Richard Carter, Bertha Camacho
UPGro – Unlocking the Potential for Groundwater for the Poor is seven year research programme that takes a social and natural science approach to enabling sustainable use of groundwater for the benefit of the poor. During 2013-14 there were 15 ‘Catalyst’ projects that are one year studies. This year five ‘Consortium’ projects will get underway for the following 4-5 years. UPGro is funded by the United Kingdom through the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Department for International Development (DFID).
Smart handpump for groundwater monitoring wins at Stockholm
Patrick Thomson, from the Oxford-led UPGro project “Gro For Good”, has won the prize for the best poster at World Water Week 2015 for the work that he and colleagues at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Oxford have been doing on shallow groundwater monitoring using Smart Handpumps in Kenya. This work will continue under the UPGro Consortium phase.
A briefing note based on the information presented in the poster can be downloaded here: Thomson P., Greeff H., Colchester F, Clifton D. and Hope R. A.(2015): “Distributed Monitoring of Shallow Aquifer Level using Community Hanpumps” Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Water Programme, August 2015
Hidden Crisis: Borehole failure highlighted in Uganda Sector Performance Report
The UPGro Hidden Crisis project, led by Prof. Alan MacDonald at BGS, has already made an impact in its first study country – Uganda. Each year, the Ministry of Water and Environment coordinates a Joint Sector Review (JSR) and produces a Sector Performance Report (SPR) which reports on progress in the water and environment sectors and identifies the priorities head. The 2014 report picked up on the work in the Catalyst phase and the further investigations by WaterAid into the problem of high iron levels in borehole water – largely due to inappropriate pump and pipe materials. The installation of cast iron or galvanised iron materials in acidic groundwater (ph <6.5) is largely preventable but all too common in many areas of the world. It leads to premature failure of the pump and makes the water unpalatable, or even unusable.
► Read the Hidden Crisis catalyst phase final report
►Register for the RWSN webinar (10 Nov): “Overcoming the Rural Water Supply Scandal of Handpump Corrosion”
T-GroUP gets underway in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda
Lead, by Dr Jan Willem Foppen at UNESCO-IHE, in the Netherlands, the T-GroUP study is looking at novel, non-linear ways of how urban groundwater use and management can be improved in slum and peri-urban areas. To date, the project has had exploratory visits to Dodowa and Arusha and a kick-off meeting in Delft.
► Visit t-group.science to find out more
UPGro Catalyst Researcher recognised as a leading ‘Innovator under 35’ by MIT Technology Review
Dr Sharon Velasquez Orta (Newcastle University) has been recognised by the MIT Technology Review as one the leading “Innovators under 35” for 2015 for her work on developing a low-cost biosensor of measuring groundwater quality. In the UPGro Catalyst project (INGROUND), she and colleagues from Newcastle University and Ardhi University have been developing the sensor in the lab and trialling it in Tanzania.
Collecting Water With Roads – ground-breaking research wins Global Environment Award
Water is short in many places but roads are everywhere – and when it rains it is often along these roads that most water runs, as roads unknowingly either serve as dike or a drain. By harvesting the water with these roads, water shortage can be overcome and impacts of climate change can be mitigated. This was the idea behind the UPGro Catalyst Grant research[1],[2] project undertaken in 2013-2014 in Tigray Regional State in Ethiopia, which has been really successful. MetaMeta of the Netherlands, together with its partners Mekelle University and Tigray Government have been awarded the prestigious Global Road Achievement Award for Environmental Mitigation[3] by the International Roads Federation.
RAIN
- Rainwater harvesting for rural water supply and food security
Co-ordinators: Robert Meerman (meerman @ rainfoundation.org), Hans Merton (hans @ merton.nl). Join the rainwater harvesting community on Dgroups: dgroups.org/rwsn/rainwater and follow on twitter at @rainwater4food.
Webinar 29 September: Water-Smart Agriculture in East Africa
RAIN and TWC are organizing the first webinar within the upcoming webinar series (RAIN/RWSN/TWC) on 30 September. Alan Nicol (IWMI) will present the major outcomes of the sourcebook on Water-Smart Agriculture in East Africa published in March 2015 with contributions from IWMI, FAO, SEI and WaterHealth.
The presentation will be followed by a panel discussion on the Addis Ababa Symposium Declaration on Unlocking the Potential of Rainwater. There will be room for input from the participants during the panel discussion.
Please go to http://www.thewaterchannel.tv/produce/webinars to find out how to attend the webinar and other useful information.
Annual Report RAIN 2014
This Annual Report sheds light on RAIN’s progress made in 2014. It has been a very exciting year for several reasons: a merger took place; new services were developed; we decided to continue our work in the Dutch WASH Alliance beyond 2015; and we expanded to a new region. We are very proud to present our results of 2014 in this report, click here to read the full annual report 2014.
Rainwater discussions are in full flow!
There are now around 700 members in the Rainwater Harvesting community and it has become one of the most active and supportive sharing spaces in RWSN.
Trick #1: For those who are finding their inboxes getting filled, the best way to manage email group discussions is to set a rule in your email software so that any email with [rainwater] in the title is moved to its own folder. That keeps your main inbox clear and but you can still follow the discussions.
Trick #2: (1) Log on to https://dgroups.org/rwsn/rainwater; (2) go to “My account” in the top right on the web page; (3) select “Preferences” (4) Select the email frequency that suits you – immediate, daily, weekly or monthly. For more help on getting the most out of Dgroups download the RWSN quick guide in English or French.
RAIN is evaluating its projects under the Dutch WASH Alliance programme (2011-2015)
RAIN and five other Dutch NGOs work together in the Dutch WASH Alliance (DWA) with local partners in eight low-income countries in Africa and Asia. Its five-year programme, funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign affairs, started in 2011 with the aim to achieve increased sustainable access to and use of safe water and sanitation services and improved hygiene practices for women and marginalised groups.
With the end of the programme in sight, RAIN has hired a consultant to carry out an external evaluation of its programme results during the past 5 years (2011-2015) within the DWA. The purpose of the evaluation is to look at RAIN’s contribution to the implementation of the FIETS sustainability criteria (Financial, Institutional, Environmental, Technical and Social), in particular Environmental and Financial sustainability, of RAINs country programmes in Nepal, Uganda, Ethiopia and Mali.
RAIN's Country Brochures
RAIN has published six country brochures on Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Mali & Burkina Faso, Nepal and the Andean region. These publications show RAIN’s work and the potential on rainwater harvesting within these specific countries or regions
MEMBER NOTICE BOARD
RWSN Member and Member Organisation news, jobs, surveys & requests of for help
Please note that RWSN Secretariat passes on requests for help community organisations and local NGOs in good faith but we don’t have to do thorough background checks. It is our intention is that the valid grassroots organisations can be connected with RWSN members from implementation or donor organisations that can help.
MSABI: Country Director, Tanzania
MSABI develops and validates new business models for water and sanitation service delivery in Tanzania. The rapidly growing organisation is looking for a new country manager. For more information please visit http://msabi.org/jobs
“The closer you are, the more sustainable it gets”
The African Development Bank (AfDB), through its Rural Water and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI), was the first donor to support the Senegalese initiative “PEPAM” (Programme Eau Potable et Assainissement du Millénaire) in 2004 and has maintained the close partnership ever since. Jane Stoney from AfDB reports on progress in Senegal on the RWSN Blog.
Towards water security in Sierra Leone
For the last 2-3 years an initiative has been under way in Sierra Leone, led by the Ministry of Water Resources and supported by consultants, to bring about improved water security for everyone from the domestic water user in a village to the large industrial, hydro-electric and urban water users. The programme has begun by strengthening the knowledge base and improving monitoring of water resources. Much has been learned about what and how to monitor water resources, the roles of the public, the private sector and the national institutions, and the complexities of water security even in a relatively well-watered country. In April 2015 at a meeting led by the Ministry, the programme launched its dedicated website www.salonewatersecurity.com If you are interested in the wider issues of water security, water resources monitoring, hydrological understanding, and the implications of all these matters for rural water supply services, the website will be relevant to you. Please also feel free to contact me, Richard Carter at ric...@richard-carter.org for more information.
Improving WASH sector learning in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone has an active WASH learning partnership involving many of the Government and non-Government organisations with interests in rural and urban water, sanitation and hygiene. Earlier this year the WASH Learning website was re-designed, and it was formally launched in April 2015 at a meeting in Freetown, led by the Ministry of Water Resources. If you are active in Sierra Leone, or if you are interested in how learning resources can be brought together in a national WASH learning website, please look at www.washlearningsl.org
Basic Water Needs launches new Tulip FLOW technology
Basic Water Needs has launched a new simple and affordable water filtration product: the Tulip Siphon FLOW filter. This portable, high-volume gravity powered water purifier is based on a micro membrane technology. The name ‘FLOW’ refers to the high flow rate of the product, which is over 20 liters per hour. However, the product is already nicknamed the ‘jerry can filter’, as the filter element will fit into almost any jerry can, allowing customers to use the product with their own water containers. Thanks to the simple backwash system, the product can purify over 30,000 liters of water, lasting an average family for > 3 years, for a price of less than $0,001 per liter.
Read more on the product here, or contact Basic Water Needs at www.basicwaterneeds.com/#contact
Water for People welcomes Eleanor Allen as new CEO
Eleanor Allen is the new head of Water for People, taking over from Ned Breslin who left the role earlier in the year. For more information, please visit Water for People's announcement here.
Update from Waterlines
From Clare Tawney, Editor: “I’d like to bring to your attention two offers – and an invitation.
1. Waterlines now offers authors the option of making their articles gold open access from our online host: http://www.developmentbookshelf.com/loi/wl Usually authors are now offered this at the time of publication (http://practicalaction.org/open-access), but you may like to consider making an article published several years ago gold open access. We can offer a reduced rate (£375, $675, E450) for any article published up to and including 2013. Please get in contact if you’d like to take up this offer.
2. As a Waterlines author you are entitled to a discount of 25% on all book purchases from our site: http://developmentbookshop.com/ Please have a look, there are plenty of books in the field of WASH there.
I have recently stepped down from being Managing Editor of Waterlines, and my colleague Stacey Davies (Stacey...@practicalaction.org.uk) is the new contact in our office. Richard Carter (ric...@richard-carter.org) and Sue Cavill (suec...@hotmail.com), as Editor and Deputy Editor, continue to provide brilliant leadership to the journal and would be delighted to hear from you about new articles.”
RWSN ONLINE
RWSN in numbers
RWSN membership has reached 8,055 people from 147 countries LinkedIn group membership is up to 2,574 . At the beginning of 2012 there were around 1,500 RWSN members, so thank you to all for your continued support and commitment to improving rural water supply services.
Recent RWSN/UPGro blog posts:
n Jordan reaches out for support at the World Water Week in Stockholm 2015 – a water crisis that needs action (Kerstin Danert, Skat Foundation)
n Imagine there is access to improved water sources but people don’t use it? Imagine there is no water supply, what are people going to do? (Andre Olschewski, Skat Foundation)
n 13 ways to provide water and sanitation for nine billion people (Summary of Live Q&A discussion on the Guardian Development Professionals Network, which included RWSN input on the expert panel.)
n Zambia: Borehole Drilling Harming Ground Water
n Investment in rural water supply delivers results – NEW RWSN briefing note on the new JMP report
n A borehole that lasts for a lifetime
n Fancy a swig? Water quality in shallow wells in Kisumu, western Kenya
n Hidden Crisis: Borehole failure highlighted in Uganda Sector Performance Report
n UPGro win at Stockholm World Water Week
n Zambia: Study Finds Shallow Groundwater Unsafe.
n UPGro Catalyst Researcher recognised as a leading ‘Innovator under 35’ by MIT Technology Review
n Merti aquifer: Kenya’s largest water source faced with resistance
n Collecting Water With Roads – ground-breaking research wins Global Environment Award
WEBINARS
Recordings from the Early 2015 series
Links to the presentation files and recordings can be found on the RWSN website and the RWSN webinar channel.
Non-RWSN webinars
n USAID webinar series on water and development strategy are available to watch again.
n Recent WASH Sustainability webinars are available from SustainableWASH.org
n “Demystifying science: Building farmer knowledge networks for productive and climate resilient agriculture” is the most recent webinar from theWaterChannel.
n Recent webinars from Engineering for Change (E4C) can be found on their YouTube channel.
FACE-TO-FACE EVENTS
Conferences
n 19-22 Oct: IWA Development Congress & Exhibition, Jordan
n 26-30 Oct: Water & Health Conference, USA
n 2-6 Nov: Amsterdam International Water Week, Netherlands
n 17-18 Nov: International Water Conference: "Securing Sustainable Water for All", Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan,
n 9-11 Dec: REACH Water Security Conference, Oxford, UK
n tbc Jan: Arab Water Week 2015, Jordan
n tbc Jan: India Water Week, India
n tbc Jan: 2016 Zaragoza UN Water Conference, Spain
n tbc Mar 2016: WASH Sustainability/SuSanA Conference
n 16-20 May: WASH Futures Conference, Brisbane, Australia
n tbc May 2016: Africa Water Week, Tanzania
n 11-15 Jul 2016: 39th WEDC International Conference, Kumasi, Ghana,
n Oct 2016: Water & Health Conference, University of North Carolina, USA
n 23-28 Aug 2016: Stockholm World Water Week, Sweden
n late 2016: 7th RWSN Forum
Courses & MOOCs
“Low Cost Water Treatment with Biochar: 10 day intensive training course for practitioners” January 3-12, 2016, Location: Pun Pun Centre For Self Reliance, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, Cost: Us-$750. More details at: www.aqsolutions.org
MOOCs are ‘Massive Open Online Courses’ which are generally free and comprise video lectures, tests and sometimes group assignments based around online interaction with other participants. They are a good way of learning new topics or refreshing old knowledge.
|
When? |
Title |
Organiser |
Languages |
|
Starts 29 September (6 weeks) |
Inter American Development Bank |
Spanish |
|
|
Starts 29 September (5 weeks) |
Tufts University |
English |
|
|
16 Nov – 13 Dec |
World Bank |
English |
|
|
2 Jan - 30 Sep 2016 |
Water Harvesting for water management in rural areas (Online course: €300 fee) |
University of Florence |
English |
PRACTICAL GUIDELINES
n Practica Foundation has launched www.watercompass.info. This decision-support software contains almost seventy water management methods applicable in asset-poor, developing region contexts. Grouped from source protection to household water treatment and storage, these methods comprise the current best practice in developing water sectors.
n Inter Aide have a selection of useful resources in English and French on their online Pratiques Network:
§ Notebook for the diagnosis and maintenance of gravity-flow systems (IA Ethiopia)
§ Water points maintenance in Malawi - Inter Aide
§ A notebook for the diagnosis and maintenance of gravity-flow water systems
n UN Water: Water and sanitation is central to sustainable development and the post-2015 development agenda, with strong linkages to many of the other proposed Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more through this infographic.
LATEST RESEARCH
Prof. Jamie Bartram at the University of North Carolina (UNC) has launched a “WaSH Policy Research Digest” to link science with high level decision-making. The first one (July 2015) is on sanitation but you can find out more and register for future editions on the UNC website.
Note that access to many papers is restricted and has to be purchased. Some are open access so that articles are free to download:
n [OPEN ACCESS – paywall on journal site] Hope, R. (2015) Is community water management the community’s choice? Implications for water and development policy in Africa. Water Policy, 17: 664-678.
n [OPEN ACCESS] “Microbiological and Chemical Quality of Packaged Sachet Water and Household Stored Drinking Water in Freetown, Sierra Leone”, PLOS ONEm Published: July 10, 2015, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131772
n [OPEN ACCESS] Can improved agricultural water use efficiency save India's groundwater? Environmental Research Letters, Volume 10, Number 8
n [OPEN ACCESS] Assessing the returns to water harvesting: A meta-analysis. Agricultural Water Management, Volume 163, 1 January 2016, Pages 100–109
n [OPEN ACCESS] Complex adaptive systems as a valid framework for understanding community level development, Development in Practice, Volume 25, Issue 6, 2015
n [OPEN ACCESS] Coping with household water scarcity in the savannah today: implications for health and climate change into the future. American Meteorological Society. DOI: 10.1175/EI-D-14-0039.1
n [OPEN ACCESS] Hypertension and Fluoride in Drinking Water: Case Study From West Azerbaijan, Iran, Fluoride: Quarterly Journal of the International Society for Fluoride Research Inc
n [OPEN ACCESS] Integrated approach to assessing streamflow and precipitation alterations under environmental change: Application in the Niger River Basin, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 4 (2015) 571–582
n [OPEN ACCESS] Levers of Change in Senegal’s Rural Water Sector [EN] / Leviers de changement dans le secteur de l’hydraulique rurale au Sénégal [FR], WSP/World Bank
n [OPEN ACCESS] Negotiating water governance: Why the politics of scale matter. Ashgate. 340 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4094-6790-8
n [OPEN ACCESS] Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene in Bangladesh: An Investigation of Lohagara Upazila, Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2656086 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2656086
n [OPEN ACCESS] Strengthening Water Supply and Sanitation Planning and Monitoring Systems in Niger [EN] / Renforcer les systèmes de planification et de suivi de l’alimentation en eau potable et de l’assainissement au Niger [FR] WSP/World Bank
n [OPEN ACCESS] Upgrading domestic-plus systems in rural Senegal: An incremental Income-Cost (I-C) analysis, Water Alternatives 8(3): 317-336
n [OPEN ACCESS] Viewpoint - Paradigm shift of water services in Finland: From production mentality to service mindset Water Alternatives 8(3): 433-446
n [OPEN ACCESS] Water quality, brawn, and education: the rural drinking water program in China (English) no. WPS 7054. Washington, DC: World Bank Group.
n [PAYWALL] A regional approach to optimizing the location of rural handpumps Abstract | Full Text PDF | doi:10.2166/washdev.2015.128
n [PAYWALL] Agents of institutional change: The contribution of new institutionalism in understanding water governance in India, Environmental Science & Policy, Volume 53, Part B, November 2015, Pages 225–235
n [PAYWALL] Development of cost functions for water supply and sanitation technologies: case study of Bahir Dar and Arba Minch, Ethiopia Abstract | Full Text PDF | doi:10.2166/washdev.2015.067
n [PAYWALL] Effectiveness of solar disinfection (SODIS) in rural coastal Bangladesh In Press, Uncorrected Proof, Abstract | Full Text PDF | doi:10.2166/wh.2015.186
n [PAYWALL] Interactive institutional design and contextual relevance: Water user groups in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, Environmental Science & Policy Volume 53, Part B, November 2015, Pages 206–214
n [PAYWALL] Long-Term Functionality of Rural Water Services in Developing Countries: A System Dynamics Approach to Understanding the Dynamic Interaction of Factors, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2015, 49 (8), pp 5035–5043
n [PAYWALL] Monitoring and evaluation of WASH in schools programs: lessons from implementing organizations, Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development Vol 5 No 3 pp 512–520
n [PAYWALL] Pioneering water quality data on the Lake Victoria watershed: effects on human health Abstract | Full Text PDF | doi:10.2166/wh.2015.001
n [PAYWALL] Project owners – Overlooked factors of uncertainty in the example of a water infrastructure improvement project? Environmental Science & Policy, Volume 53, Part B, November 2015, Pages 236–245
n [PAYWALL] Projected impacts of climate change on water availability indicators in a semi-arid region of central Mexico, Environmental Science & Policy Volume 54, December 2015, Pages 81–89
n [PAYWALL] Trends and perceptions of rural household groundwater use and the implications for smallholder agriculture in rain-fed Southern Laos, International Journal of Water Resources Development, DOI: 10.1080/07900627.2015.1015071
n [PAYWALL] Understanding handpump sustainability: Determinants of rural water source functionality in the Greater Afram Plains region of Ghana” Water Resour. Res.. Accepted Author Manuscript. doi:10.1002/2014WR016770
n [PAYWALL] Understanding social acceptability of arsenic-safe technologies in rural Bangladesh: A user-oriented analysis, Uncorrected Proof, Abstract | Full Text PDF | doi:10.2166/wp.2015.026
Abstract | Full Text PDF | doi:10.2166/washdev.2015.026
n [PAYWALL] Groundwater in hard rocks of Benin: Regional storage and buffer capacity in the face of change, Journal of Hydrology, Volume 520, January 2015, Pages 379–386
[PAYWALL] Operation And Maintenance (O&M) And The Perceived Unreliability Of Domestic Groundwater Supplies In South Africa, South African Journal of Geology 10.2113/gssajg.118.1.17
Other
n Viet Nam: Central Region Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project - Resettlement Plan, Asian Development Bank
RWSN MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
Find your way around
We have produced two maps to help guide you around the new RWSN website and the various RWSN online platforms, including http://tinyurl.com/c2ducks. If you are still having problems then the new “Help!” page has a video tour of the website: http://www.rural-water-supply.net/en/websitehelp
Join the debates
Our expanded online network means that more and more of you are sharing ideas and experiences, which is fantastic – please keep it up! Here are main discussion communities:
Accelerating Self-supply; Complex Systems and Rural Water Supply; Country-led monitoring; Sierra Leone WASH; Equality, Non Discrimination and Inclusion (ENDI); Solar Pumps; Sustainable Groundwater Development; Sustainable Services; Rainwater Harvesting; Mapping and Monitoring; Rwanda WASH Working Group; Handpump Services
Thank you to everyone who has put in their time, enthusiasm and knowledge.
Membership and Subscription
RWSN is free to join, all you have to do is register on the RWSN area of Dgroups: https://dgroups.org/rwsn
Organisations can become members of RWSN too. To find out more visit: http://www.rural-water-supply.net/en/rwsn-members
There are no subscription fees. The RWSN Secretariat is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) and Skat with co-funding from a range of partners for secretariat and thematic work.
If you do not wish to continue to receive this newsletter, please let us know by sending an email to rural...@skat.ch with the heading unsubscribe.
Acknowledgements
The RWSN Newsletter is compiled by the RWSN Secretariat (hosted by Skat Foundation) and supported financially by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), WaterAid, Skat, UPGro (DFID/NERC/ESRC) and RAIN Foundation.
RWSN is supported in cash and in-kind by a number of organisations, which in 2014 included: the Global Programme Water Initiatives of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Austrian Red Cross; British Geological Survey (BGS), Department for International Development (DFID) - including through WASH Facility Sierra Leone, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) - (through the UPGro programme); IRC, RAIN Foundation, Skat Consulting Ltd., UNICEF, Volkart Stiftung, WaterAid, The World Bank, Water and Sanitation Program – WSP, World Vision, and ZH2O.
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