Friday, July 29, 2011
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.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Human right to W&S in a US context
From http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=37691&Cr=sanitation&Cr1=#
US discriminates on right to safe water and sanitation, says UN expert
The United States must do more to eliminate discrimination in access to safe drinking water and sanitation, an independent United Nations expert reported today, citing wide disparities that adversely affect people of colour and Native Americans.
“I am concerned that several laws, policies and practices, while appearing neutral at face value, have a disproportionate impact on the enjoyment of human rights by certain groups,” said UN independent expert Catarina de Albuquerque, who is mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to examine human rights obligations for access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
Quoting a study on the racial impact of water pricing and shut-off policies of the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, she noted that for every 1 per cent increase in Boston ward’s percentage of people of colour, the number of threatened cut offs increases by 4 per cent.
At the end of her first fact-finding mission to the country, she also highlighted the fact that 13 per cent of Native American households have no access to safe water and/or wastewater disposal, in sharp contrast with 0.6 per cent in non-native households.
“Access to water and sanitation is further complicated for indigenous people in the US depending on whether they are part of a federally recognized tribe or not,” she said, noting that under international standards, tribal existence and identity do not depend on federal recognition or acknowledgment of the tribe.
“I call for legal action to change the status of unrecognized and terminated tribes to enable all American Indians to gain the respect, privileges, religious freedom, and land and water rights to which they are entitled,” she stressed, calling on the US to ensure that water and sanitation are available at a price people can afford.
Ms. de Albuquerque underscored that ensuring the right to water and sanitation for all requires a paradigm shift with new approaches that promote human rights, are affordable and create more value in terms of public health, community development and global ecosystem protection.
She also urged access to water and sanitation for homeless people, stressing that local statutes prohibiting public urination and defecation, “while facially constitutional are often discriminatory in their effects.
“Such discrimination often occurs because such statutes are enforced against homeless individuals, who often have no access to public restrooms and are given no alternatives,” she said.
She welcomed the fact that the US has recently joined a consensus at the UN on a resolution recognizing that the right to water derives from the right to an adequate standard of living.
US discriminates on right to safe water and sanitation, says UN expert
The United States must do more to eliminate discrimination in access to safe drinking water and sanitation, an independent United Nations expert reported today, citing wide disparities that adversely affect people of colour and Native Americans.
“I am concerned that several laws, policies and practices, while appearing neutral at face value, have a disproportionate impact on the enjoyment of human rights by certain groups,” said UN independent expert Catarina de Albuquerque, who is mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to examine human rights obligations for access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
Quoting a study on the racial impact of water pricing and shut-off policies of the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, she noted that for every 1 per cent increase in Boston ward’s percentage of people of colour, the number of threatened cut offs increases by 4 per cent.
At the end of her first fact-finding mission to the country, she also highlighted the fact that 13 per cent of Native American households have no access to safe water and/or wastewater disposal, in sharp contrast with 0.6 per cent in non-native households.
“Access to water and sanitation is further complicated for indigenous people in the US depending on whether they are part of a federally recognized tribe or not,” she said, noting that under international standards, tribal existence and identity do not depend on federal recognition or acknowledgment of the tribe.
“I call for legal action to change the status of unrecognized and terminated tribes to enable all American Indians to gain the respect, privileges, religious freedom, and land and water rights to which they are entitled,” she stressed, calling on the US to ensure that water and sanitation are available at a price people can afford.
Ms. de Albuquerque underscored that ensuring the right to water and sanitation for all requires a paradigm shift with new approaches that promote human rights, are affordable and create more value in terms of public health, community development and global ecosystem protection.
She also urged access to water and sanitation for homeless people, stressing that local statutes prohibiting public urination and defecation, “while facially constitutional are often discriminatory in their effects.
“Such discrimination often occurs because such statutes are enforced against homeless individuals, who often have no access to public restrooms and are given no alternatives,” she said.
She welcomed the fact that the US has recently joined a consensus at the UN on a resolution recognizing that the right to water derives from the right to an adequate standard of living.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Walking the walk?
Want raise, build toilet at home, says Chamba order
Times of India: Yudhvir Rana, TNN, Feb 22, 2011, 04.18am IST
AMRITSAR: A word of caution from the Himachal Pradesh government for its employees. They can lose their annual increment, face penalty and be charge-sheeted if they do not have a toilet at their homes.
With a view to make Total Sanitation Campaign Scheme a result-oriented drive, the Chamba administration instructed all its government employees to ensure that they construct a toilet in their homes if they wanted to avoid penalties and departmental action against them.
Full story: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Want-raise-build-toilet-at-home-says-Chamba-order/articleshow/7543963.cms
Times of India: Yudhvir Rana, TNN, Feb 22, 2011, 04.18am IST
AMRITSAR: A word of caution from the Himachal Pradesh government for its employees. They can lose their annual increment, face penalty and be charge-sheeted if they do not have a toilet at their homes.
With a view to make Total Sanitation Campaign Scheme a result-oriented drive, the Chamba administration instructed all its government employees to ensure that they construct a toilet in their homes if they wanted to avoid penalties and departmental action against them.
Full story: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Want-raise-build-toilet-at-home-says-Chamba-order/articleshow/7543963.cms
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Two new papers from the group
Bacterial hand contamination among Tanzanian mothers varies temporally
and following household activities
Amy J. Pickering, Timothy R. Julian, Simon Mamuya, Alexandria B.
Boehm, Jennifer Davis
Abstract
Objective: To characterize mechanisms of hand contamination with
faecal indicator bacteria and to assess the presence of selected
pathogens on mothers’ hands in Tanzania.
Methods: A household observational study combined with repeated
microbiological hand rinse sampling was conducted among 119 mothers in
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. All hand rinse samples were analysed for
enterococci and Escherichia coli, and selected samples were analysed
for genetic markers of Bacteroidales, enterovirus and pathogenic E.
coli.
Results: Using the toilet, cleaning up a child’s faeces, sweeping,
cleaning dishes, preparing food and bathing were all found to increase
faecal indicator bacterial levels on hands. Geometric mean increases
in colony forming units per two hands ranged from 50 (cleaning dishes)
to 6310 (food preparation). Multivariate modelling of hand faecal
indicator bacteria as a function of activities recently performed
shows that food handling, exiting the household premises and longer
time since last handwashing with soap are positively associated with
bacterial levels on hands, while bathing is negatively associated.
Genetic markers of Bacteroidales, enterovirus and pathogenic E. coli
were each detected on a subset of mothers’ hands.
Conclusions: Escherichia coli and enterococci on hands can be
significantly increased by various household activities, including
those involving the use of soap and water. Thus, faecal indicator
bacteria should be considered highly variable when used as indicators
of handwashing behaviour. This work corroborates hands as important
vectors of disease among Tanzanian mothers and highlights the
difficulty of good personal hygiene in an environment characterized by
the lack of networked sanitation and water supply services.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2010.02677.x/full
The Effects of Informational Interventions on Household Water
Management, Hygiene Behaviors, Stored Drinking Water Quality, and Hand
Contamination in Peri-Urban Tanzania
By Jennifer Davis, Amy J. Pickering, Kirsten Rogers, Simon Mamuya, and
Alexandria B. Boehm
Abstract: Safe water storage and hand hygiene have been shown to
reduce fecal contamination and improve health in experimental
settings; however, triggering and sustaining such behaviors is
challenging. This study investigates the extent to which personalized
information about Escherichia coli contamination of stored water and
hands influenced knowledge, reported behaviors, and subsequent
contamination levels among 334 households with less than 5-year-old
children in peri-urban Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. One-quarter of the
study participants received information about strategies to reduce
risk of water- and sanitation-related illness. Respondents in another
three study cohorts received this same information, along with their
household's water and/or hand-rinse test results. Findings from this
study suggest that additional work is needed to elucidate the
conditions under which such testing represents a cost-effective
strategy to motivate improved household water management and hand
hygiene.
http://www.ajtmh.org/cgi/content/abstract/84/2/184
and following household activities
Amy J. Pickering, Timothy R. Julian, Simon Mamuya, Alexandria B.
Boehm, Jennifer Davis
Abstract
Objective: To characterize mechanisms of hand contamination with
faecal indicator bacteria and to assess the presence of selected
pathogens on mothers’ hands in Tanzania.
Methods: A household observational study combined with repeated
microbiological hand rinse sampling was conducted among 119 mothers in
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. All hand rinse samples were analysed for
enterococci and Escherichia coli, and selected samples were analysed
for genetic markers of Bacteroidales, enterovirus and pathogenic E.
coli.
Results: Using the toilet, cleaning up a child’s faeces, sweeping,
cleaning dishes, preparing food and bathing were all found to increase
faecal indicator bacterial levels on hands. Geometric mean increases
in colony forming units per two hands ranged from 50 (cleaning dishes)
to 6310 (food preparation). Multivariate modelling of hand faecal
indicator bacteria as a function of activities recently performed
shows that food handling, exiting the household premises and longer
time since last handwashing with soap are positively associated with
bacterial levels on hands, while bathing is negatively associated.
Genetic markers of Bacteroidales, enterovirus and pathogenic E. coli
were each detected on a subset of mothers’ hands.
Conclusions: Escherichia coli and enterococci on hands can be
significantly increased by various household activities, including
those involving the use of soap and water. Thus, faecal indicator
bacteria should be considered highly variable when used as indicators
of handwashing behaviour. This work corroborates hands as important
vectors of disease among Tanzanian mothers and highlights the
difficulty of good personal hygiene in an environment characterized by
the lack of networked sanitation and water supply services.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2010.02677.x/full
The Effects of Informational Interventions on Household Water
Management, Hygiene Behaviors, Stored Drinking Water Quality, and Hand
Contamination in Peri-Urban Tanzania
By Jennifer Davis, Amy J. Pickering, Kirsten Rogers, Simon Mamuya, and
Alexandria B. Boehm
Abstract: Safe water storage and hand hygiene have been shown to
reduce fecal contamination and improve health in experimental
settings; however, triggering and sustaining such behaviors is
challenging. This study investigates the extent to which personalized
information about Escherichia coli contamination of stored water and
hands influenced knowledge, reported behaviors, and subsequent
contamination levels among 334 households with less than 5-year-old
children in peri-urban Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. One-quarter of the
study participants received information about strategies to reduce
risk of water- and sanitation-related illness. Respondents in another
three study cohorts received this same information, along with their
household's water and/or hand-rinse test results. Findings from this
study suggest that additional work is needed to elucidate the
conditions under which such testing represents a cost-effective
strategy to motivate improved household water management and hand
hygiene.
http://www.ajtmh.org/cgi/content/abstract/84/2/184
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Toilet envy?
Toilet Worship
By KUMIKO MAKIHARA
Published: February 1, 2011
“There’s a beautiful, beautiful goddess in the toilet. Clean it every day, and you’ll be beautiful like the goddess.”
Tokyo So sings Kana Uemura, her rich, melodious voice soaring in the ode to her deceased grandmother. In a nearly 10-minute-long ballad, Uemura describes her regret over drifting apart from the old woman who encouraged her to overcome a reluctance to scrub the bowl.
Despite the scatological subject matter, that song was one of the biggest hits in Japan last year. Or perhaps I should say, because of the subject matter.
Toilets hold a special place for the Japanese. They are pinnacles of high technology, personal comfort and even national pride. At last year’s Shanghai Expo, INAX Corporation displayed their gold-plated Regio model in an exhibit titled “World’s Top Lavatory.” According to a government survey, more than 70 percent of Japanese households have a high-tech toilet, commonly called a Washlet after the brand name of the major manufacturer TOTO.
Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/opinion/02iht-edmakihara02.html
By KUMIKO MAKIHARA
Published: February 1, 2011
“There’s a beautiful, beautiful goddess in the toilet. Clean it every day, and you’ll be beautiful like the goddess.”
Tokyo So sings Kana Uemura, her rich, melodious voice soaring in the ode to her deceased grandmother. In a nearly 10-minute-long ballad, Uemura describes her regret over drifting apart from the old woman who encouraged her to overcome a reluctance to scrub the bowl.
Despite the scatological subject matter, that song was one of the biggest hits in Japan last year. Or perhaps I should say, because of the subject matter.
Toilets hold a special place for the Japanese. They are pinnacles of high technology, personal comfort and even national pride. At last year’s Shanghai Expo, INAX Corporation displayed their gold-plated Regio model in an exhibit titled “World’s Top Lavatory.” According to a government survey, more than 70 percent of Japanese households have a high-tech toilet, commonly called a Washlet after the brand name of the major manufacturer TOTO.
Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/opinion/02iht-edmakihara02.html
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