Water kiosk cartel in Mombasa

The Nairobi Star reports the discovery of a water kiosk cartel in the coast region of Kenya that has been colluding to drive up the price of water supplied through those point sources. From the April 28, 2011 issue, reporter Brian Otieno writes that

"Coast Water Services Board has unearthed a cartel involving some water kiosk owners in Mikindani, Mombasa who conspire to create an artificial shortage in the area.

"The water board boss Andy Tolla said some of the water kiosk owners have been filling their huge underground water tanks and wait untill the pipes run dry before selling the water for as much as Sh7 per 20-litre jerrican."

Ksh 7/20 liters is equivalent to US$3.73 per cubic meter--about 2.7 times what my family pays per unit volume for in-home water supply services. The successful rent-seeking by kiosk operators thus illustrates the claim that researchers have been making for some time: Even urban poor families are willing to pay considerable amounts of money for water supply services. (This is not to be confused with the normative question of whether charging such high prices is an acceptable thing to do, which is a separate issue.)

But the curious thing here is the proposed solution:

"Tolla however said measures have been put in place to break up the cartel. He said new regulations that are being implemented will effectively stop the practice.

In the new policies, water companies like the Mombasa Water and Sewerage Company will regulate water kiosks. The companies will decide how many kiosks are needed in what areas. Licences will only be given to water kiosks where the companies deem absolutely necessary."

Given the obvious challenges with regulation of the kiosk sub-sector, wouldn't the most cost-effective solution to collusion be increasing, rather than decreasing, competition? Won't the restriction of license supply, and the concentration of power over who gets them into a few hands, simply create opportunities for new types of rent-seeking (and reduce the availability of water supplies to households)?

http://www.nairobistar.com/local/coast/22465-water-kiosks-cartel

"Poop n paddle" demo in NY

Here's an entertaining video about a floating toilet that uses anaerobic digestion and mini constructed wetlands to process the excreta. The facility was built by Adam Katzman in Queens, NY.

New paper on efficacy of ABHS in field conditions

Efficacy of alcohol-based hand sanitizer on hands soiled with dirt and cooking oil

Amy J. Pickering, Jennifer Davis and Alexandria B. Boehm

Journal of Water and Health Vol 9 No 3 pp 429–433 © IWA Publishing 2011 doi:10.2166/wh.2011.138

Emmet Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, School of Earth Sciences, Stanford University, Jerry Yang & Akiko Yamazaki Environment & Energy Building, 473 Via Ortega, Room 247 MC: 4020, Stanford, CA 94305, USA E-mail: amyjanel@stanford.edu
Environment and Water Studies, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, USA. Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, USA

ABSTRACT
Handwashing education and promotion are well established as effective strategies to reduce diarrhea and respiratory illness in countries around the world. However, access to reliable water supplies has been identified as an important barrier to regular handwashing in low-income countries. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer (ABHS) is an effective hand hygiene method that does not require water, but its use is not currently recommended when hands are visibly soiled. This study evaluated the efficacy of ABHS on volunteers' hands artificially contaminated with Escherichia coli in the presence of dirt (soil from Tanzania) and cooking oil. ABHS reduced levels of E. coli by a mean of 2.33 log colony forming units (CFU) per clean hand, 2.32 log CFU per dirt-covered hand, and 2.13 log CFU per oil-coated hand. No significant difference in efficacy was detected between hands that were clean versus dirty or oily. ABHS may be an appropriate hand hygiene method for hands that are moderately soiled, and an attractive option for field settings in which access to water and soap is limited.

http://www.iwaponline.com/jwh/009/0429/0090429.pdf

WASH sustainability charter

An interesting new development in the sector: A WASH Sustainability Charter has been put forward and endorsed by roughly two dozen donors and practitioner organizations (www.washcharter.org).

The signatories should be applauded for their efforts to raise the profile of the sustainability challenge in W&S investments, and for taking the first steps to give more emphasis to sustainability in their program and project design.

It would also be helpful to see in the charter a frank recognition of (and a commitment to addressing) the many incentives that work against sustainability in the sector--including professional incentives in organizations such as those signing on to the charter.

Look out, Clean Water Act

HR 2018 has passed in the House of Representatives (7/13/11)--keep an eye on this one. Put forward by Rep. John Mica (R) of Florida, the bill seeks "[t]o amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to preserve the authority of each State to make determinations relating to the State's water quality standards, and for other purposes." In short, HR 2018 seeks to reduce federal authority over water quality regulation (as laid out in the Clean Water Act) in favor of state control. Here's hoping the Senate does its job to curtail this assault on minimal national standards for water quality.

JCEM article on private-public partnerships and conflict

Just published today:

H. Schaffer-Boudet, D.C. Jayasundera, and J. Davis. 2011. “Drivers of conflict in global infrastructure projects: Experience from the water and pipeline sectors.” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol. 137, (7): 498-511. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000333.

URL: http://link.aip.org/link/?QCO/137/498

Abstract: Despite the considerable scholarship focused on infrastructure investment in the developing world and the substantial sums of money spent each year on developing-country infrastructure, little attention has been given to understanding the drivers of conflict that shape the trajectory and cost structures of these massive investments. The manifestation of conflict among stakeholders in infrastructure projects ranges from the renegotiation of contract terms by project partners to popular protests among consumers of privatized services. The principal objective of this research is to identify combinations of country, project, and stakeholder factors that are associated with the emergence of legal and political conflict within natural gas and oil pipeline projects and water supply concessions and leases. The analysis includes data from 26 infrastructure projects spanning 31 countries and uses an analytical approach derived from Boolean algebra. Country-level characteristics, such as extent of democracy and rate of international NGO membership, are found to be important elements in the recipes for conflict among water supply projects but not for pipeline projects. Local impacts such as service price increases (water supply) and limited provision of oil and gas to the project host country (pipelines) are also important drivers of conflict for both subsectors. The involvement of one or more international financial institutions is also associated with the emergence of conflict in projects. Contrary to expectations, public consultation is associated with conflict in both subsectors. Overall, the study findings suggest that several factors associated with conflict in infrastructure projects can be minimized with careful project design.

How many people can get access to sanitation in 5 years?

UN Secretary-General launches the Sustainable Sanitation: Five-Year Drive to 2015

UNITED NATIONS, 21 June 2011 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, along with UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake, Ugandan Minister of Water & Environment the Hon. Maria Mutagamba, and His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, today launched the Sustainable Sanitation: Five-Year Drive to 2015 , a push to speed up progress on the Millennium Development Goal target of improving global sanitation by 2015.

The launch took place at United Nations Headquarters in New York, with members of the Secretary-General s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation and other dignitaries in attendance.

The Millennium Development Goals include a target of halving, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to basic sanitation. With 2.6 billion people half of the population in developing regions still without access to improved sanitation, the target is lagging far behind, and without urgent and concerted action globally it will be out of reach.

On 20 December 2010 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling upon the UN Member States to "redouble efforts to close the sanitation gap". The resolution established a global push, "Sustainable Sanitation: The Five-Year-Drive to 2015", to focus attention on the Goal and to mobilize political will, as well as financial and technical resources. The resolution also made history by calling for an end to open defecation, the most dangerous sanitation practice for public health.

Over 1.1 billion people have no sanitation facilities at all, and practise open defecation. According to UNICEF, inadequate and dirty water, poor sanitation, and improper hygiene are the main causes of diarrhoea, which each year kills at least 1.2 million children under five. The organization says diarrhoeal diseases are mainly excreta-related; therefore it is crucial to protect people from contact with feces. Improvements in sanitation can lead to an almost 40% reduction in illnesses caused by diarrhoea.

Achievement of the sanitation goal, UNICEF says, will have far-reaching and lasting effects on the health and well-being of millions of people.