Arsenic contamination of groundwatersources is a worldwide issue

00WATER21 • MONTH 20XX 00WATER21 • MONTH 20XX

Magazine of the International Water AssociationApril 2013

Arsenic:a worldwide

call for action

Focus on the post-2015development agenda

Scotland’s sustainableurban drainage

xyleminc.com© 2013 Xylem Inc. Wedeco, Leopold, Sanitaire, PCI and YSI are trademarks of Xylem Inc. or one of its subsidiaries.

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28 The future of sewage treatment:Nereda technology exceedshigh expectationsLessons learned from the firsttwo years of Nereda aerobicgranular sludge operation.

32 Hydraulic optimisation ofsecondary clarificationLooking at the advantages of anovel secondary clarifier.

33 SUDS as usual? A transition topublic ownership in ScotlandHow Scottish Water ismanaging its SUDS assets.

37 Integrated control of thewastewater system –potential and barriersThe benefits of integrated controlof sewers and treatment plants.

42 Fuel cells: long-term solutionfor remote power needsA report on how fuel cells areproviding a long-term, lowcarbon solution to water sectorpower needs in the UK.

CONTENTS

IN THIS ISSUE...

3WATER21 • APRIL 2013

EditorKeith [email protected]

Assistant EditorCatherine [email protected]

Contributing EditorsLis Stedman, Bill McCann

PublisherMichael Dunn

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Editorial PanelDr M Fürhacker, [email protected]

Prof D Jenkins, [email protected]

Prof DD Mara, [email protected]

Dr B Teichgräber, [email protected]

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Promoting sustainableforest management

Why the name ‘Water21’? ‘The generalobjective is to make certain thatadequate supplies of water of goodquality are maintained for the entirepopulation of this planet, whilepreserving the hydrological, biologicaland chemical functions of ecosystems,adapting human activities within thecapacity of nature and combatingvectors of water-related diseases.Innovative technologies, including theimprovement of indigenoustechnologies, are needed to fullyutilize limited water resources and tosafeguard those resources againstpollution.’ From ‘Agenda21’, the UNprogramme of action from the RioEarth Summit, 1992.

COVER STORYArsenic contamination of groundwatersources is a worldwide issue, and a newsourcebook from IWA Publishing andonline database are bringing together theresults of research into arsenic poisoningand treatment methods, along with waysof funding remediation efforts. SusanMurcott discusses the current arsenicthreat and what can be done.

SEE PAGE 15

Cover photo shows arsenical skin lesions on the hands of an Indian woman. Hundreds ofthousands of people in West Bengal are affected due to high levels of arsenic in thegroundwater. Credit: Reuters / STR New.

4 News10 Comment10 Analysis44 Projects, Products &

ServicesWater Utility 21

47 Kahramaa’s vision for

non-revenue water reduction

Water Environment 2151 The Asia-Pacific energy-

water nexus

55 Research & Development,including… A government

boost for commercial solutions

56 Reading and Resources58 IWA News61 IWA Events62 Diary

REGULARS

12 Global progress towards apost-2015 developmentagendaUpdate on UN-based activity.

15 Arsenic contamination:a worldwide call to actionArsenic contamination ofdrinking water sources world-wide and how to address it.

21 Californian clues tosuccessful groundwatermanagementCalifornia lacks state-wideregulation of groundwater,but three agencies provideexamples of good practice.

24 Capacity development’s rolein sustainable watsanprovisionA key theme of this year’sIWA Development Congress& Exhibition.

26 Extracting value from urine:EU project explores nutrientrecoveryTheValuefromUrine project.

GROUNDWATER

CAPACITY BUILDING

SEWAGE TREATMENT

GLOBAL FOCUS

ENERGY MANAGEMENT /ALTERNATIVES

PROCESS CONTROLAND AUTOMATION

EUROPE /CITIES OF THE FUTURE

FEATURES

IWA has been playing an activerole in trying to measure capacitygaps and needs in developingcountries’ urban water sectors;a key step towards addressingissues around water and sanita-tion coverage, and will be focus-ing on this at the upcoming IWADevelopment Congress in Kenya.Catherine Fitzpatrick reports onthe role of capacity building inmeeting watsan goals.

SEE PAGE 24

WATER21 • APRIL 2013

NEWS

WATER21 • MONTH 20XX00 WATER21 • MONTH 20XX00 WATER21 • APRIL 20134

Receive Water21's free round-up of water sector news every two weeks by email.Just visit www.iwapublishing.com/register and select the Global News Digest option.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a recent special

thematic session of the GeneralAssembly on water and disastersthat ‘preparing for the worst cansave lives. That is why we needearly warning systems, disastereducation and resilient structures.’

The meeting, convened byMr Ban’s advisory board on waterand sanitation (UNSGAB) andthe high-level Expert Panel (HLEP)on water and disasters, broughttogether the international communi-ty, governments and civil society todiscuss issues surrounding waterdisasters and share experienceand good practice.

His Imperial Highness theCrown Prince of Japan (thehonorary president of UNSGAB)and His Royal Highness theCrown Prince of Orange ofthe Netherlands (the Chairof UNSGAB) presentedkeynote addresses to the

assembled audience.The president of the General

Assembly, Vuk Jeremic, noted thatwhile water-related disasters occuraround the world, the poorestnations bear the greatest burden.The morning panel was co-chairedby Dr Hang Seung-Soo, the found-ing chair of HLEP and UNSGAB.

Michel Jarraud, WMO Secretary-General and chair of UN-Water, andIrina Bokova, the director-generalof UNESCO, co-chaired part of theafternoon discussions of a panelof experts from around the worldentitled ‘experience and lessonsof water and disasters’. This eventshared experiences and lessonson how to prepare for large-scalewater disasters, including droughts.

Ms Bokova told the meeting:‘We all know the power of water –yet, far too often, it catches us ata loss. With the Hyogo Frameworkfor Action 2005-2015, we have across-cutting approach to reduce

the risks of disasters – before,during and after an event. Thekey objective is to connect all thedots. Our starting point is thatdisaster risk reduction cannot beseen solely as a humanitarian or atechnical issue. It is a developmentissue. It is about the resilience ofsocieties. Fundamentally, it is aboutcapacity of individuals to respondto change while remaining true totheir values.’

Earlier, M Jarraud had alsochaired a side event of experts onwater to discuss case studies anddiscuss common solutions toproblems. He suggested thatmore can be done to increase theresilience of communities to thethreat of floods by, for example,improving the balance betweenstructural and non-structuralmeasures and increasing publicawareness programmes.

Mr Ban told the meeting that thefundamental threat of climate

change must also be addressed,and called on world leaders to keeptheir promise to reach a global,legally-binding climate changeagreement by 2015.

He added: ‘This is theInternational Year of WaterCooperation. Water is a humanright. It freely crosses nationalboundaries. Countries have towork together to manage thisbasic resource.

‘The Year is also an opportunityto forge international partnershipsthat reduce the risks and impactsof water-related disasters. Thissession can be part of that process,and our broader push for sustain-able development.’

The results of the meeting willbe shared with the fourth meetingof the Global Platform for DisasterRisk Reduction in Geneva in May,and will form part of the discussionson the post-2015 developmentagenda. ●

Anew study prepared jointly bythe Asian Development Bank

and Asia-Pacific Water Forum(APWF) warns that over 75% ofthe countries in the Asia-Pacificregion are experiencing a seriouslack of water security, with manyfacing an imminent water crisisunless steps are taken immediatelyto improve their management ofwater resources.

Bindu Lohani, ADB’s vicepresident for knowledge manage-ment and sustainable development,said: ‘While the Asia-Pacific regionhas become an economic power-

house, it is alarming that nodeveloping country in the regioncan be considered “water secure”.Countries must urgently improvewater governance throughinspired leadership and creativepolicymaking.’

The Asian Water DevelopmentOutlook 2013 provides the firstquantitative, comprehensiveanalysis of water security on acountry-by-country basis in theregion, looking at all dimensions ofwater security from the householdscale through to water-relateddisasters, using indicators and a

scaling system to gauge theprogress of the 49 countries beingassessed.

The study found 37 developingcountries are either suffering fromlow levels of water security or havebarely begun to engage in theessential task of improving watersecurity. Twelve have establishedthe infrastructure and managementsystems for water security, but nocountry in the region was found tohave reached the model level ofwater security.

South Asia and parts of Centraland West Asia were found to be

faring the worst, with rivers underimmense strain, while many Pacificislands are suffering from a lack ofaccess to safe piped water anddecent sanitation, and are highlyvulnerable to increasingly severenatural hazards.

East Asia, by contrast, which hasthe highest frequency of naturalhazards in the region, is relativelybetter off because of the higherlevels of investment in disasterdefences, though urban watersecurity is still poor in many citiesand towns. ● LS (See Analysis,page 10.)


Study warns of Asian water insecurity

Joint drought management programme launchedThe World Meteorological

Organization (WMO) and GlobalWater Partnership (GWP) havelaunched a joint integrated droughtmanagement programme to improvemonitoring and prevention of thismajor global hazard.

GWP executive secretary Dr AniaGrobicki said: ‘Whether becauseof climate variability or climatechange, droughts have a severeimpact on water availability andquality, agricultural and energyproduction, and ecosystem health.

‘There is an urgent need todevelop better drought monitoringand risk management systems, andfor countries to have frameworks inplace to manage drought risksthrough an integrated approach.

This programme aims to supportcountries in this endeavor, withintheir regional contexts.’

WMO secretary-general MichelJarraud added: ‘Without coordinat-ed national drought policies, nationswill continue to respond to droughtin a reactive way.

‘What we need are monitoringand early warning systems todeliver timely information todecision makers, effective impactassessment procedures, pro-active risk management measures,preparedness plans to increasecoping capacities, and effectiveemergency response programmesto reduce the impacts of droughts.’

The programme capitalizes onten years of success in another joint

WMO/GWP project, the AssociatedProgramme on Flood Management,which is being undertaken withmany other partners. The newproject will focus on sharingscientific information, knowledgeand practices to inform policies andmanagement approaches.

At a global level the IDMP willcontribute to best practices fordrought risk management throughachieving a better scientific under-standing of, and inputs for, droughtmanagement.

The project will also undertakedrought risk assessment, monitor-ing, prediction and early warning,as well as policy and planningfor drought preparedness andmitigation across sectors. ●

Credit: Shukaylova Zinaida /Shutterstock.com

Water and disasters on UN agenda

● The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announcedthat it has put in place tougher measures to combat fraudand corruption after complaints reached a record annualhigh last year. In its annual report the bank’s Office ofAnticorruption and Integrity listed 240 complaints and 114new investigations. Most complaints were about fraudu-lent misrepresentations of qualifications, experience andtechnical capabilities of consultants, contractors andindividuals looking for work from the ADB.

● China is investigating the extent of GROUNDWATERPOLLUTION in the country, with official press sources sayingthat the results so far show that these sources are safe.However, investigations into pollution incidents reportedlast year have not been completed, and the country’sgovernment is said to be mulling a law to protect groundwater.

● A new report from the Centre for Science andEnvironment says that Indian cities produce nearly 40,000million litres of wastewater each day but less than 20% istreated. The report concludes: ‘The untreated wastedumped into rivers seeps into groundwater, therebycreating a ticking health bomb in India.’ The report saysthe raw sewage is ‘killing’ India’s rivers, and warns thatthousands of small factories are dumping raw sewageand untreated waste into rivers.

● Latin-American development bank CAF has agreed a$121 million loan to fund the development plan of AySA,Argentina’s BUENOS AIRES STATE WATER UTILITY. Theplans include an upgrade of the General Belgrano watertreatment works to increase its capacity from 1.9M.m3/dayto 2.25M.m3/day. The utility is also constructing two keynew assets, the Bicentenario wastewater treatment plantand the Juan Manuel de Rosas water treatment works,which will be completed this year.

● The European Investment Bank (EIB) and China’sExim Bank have agreed an €150 million ($195 million)loan for financing investments that will contribute toclimate change mitigation. The EIB loan will make long-term financing available for investments that contribute toclimate change mitigation through projects in renewableenergy and energy efficiency in India implemented bypublic and private sector companies. The operationwill contribute to the EU-India strategic partnershipand cooperation with India, which foresees, amongother things, energy sustainability, and combatingclimate change.

● A new report from the European Environment Agency setsout ways of quantifying environmental pressures caused byEUROPEAN CONSUMPTION PATTERNS. The report discussestwo approaches to analysis: a production-based methodthat considers direct environmental pressures such aspollutants; and a consumption-based method that focuseson indirect environmental pressures caused by consumers,attributing the production-related pressures to broad groupsof products and services and accounting for pressuresembodied in goods imported into the EU.

● The World Bank and French Development Agency havecompleted plans to establish a joint financing arrangementfor irrigation and water resources management in Nigeria,to a total of $550 million. Works will include irrigationdevelopment and management, water resourcesmanagement and dam operation improvement,project management, monitoring and evaluation.

in brief

Anew World Bank study warnsthat a one metre rise in sea

levels due to climate change coulddestroy over 60% of the developingworld’s coastal wetlands currentlyfound at one metre or less elevation,leading to economic losses ofaround $630 million annually.

The report estimates thataround 64% of freshwater marsh,66% of global lakes and WetlandsDatabase coastal wetlands, as wellas 61% of brackish/saline wetlandsare at risk.

A large percentage of this losswould be focused on two regions –East Asia and the Pacific, andthe Middle East and North Africa(MENA). The report also notesthat at country level the resultsare extremely skewed, with asmall number of countriesseverely affected.

In East Asia, China and Vietnamwould bear the brunt of the losses,and in the MENA region the worstaffected would be Libya and Egypt.

The report explains that sea levelrise affects wetlands in three mainways – erosion, inundation and saltwater intrusion. The impact of sealevel rise depends on a number ofcomplex factors such as coastalgradients, tidal range and stability,

soil and groundwater salinityamong others.

Experts agree that wetlands willonly be able to adapt to sea levelrise if they can migrate landward –if this sort of shift is prevented,for instance by development,then they will disappear.

The report does not suggesta timescale or include costingsor predictions for wetlandsdestroyed by human activity.Data from various sources includingNASA, WWF and the USGS wereused to assess the exposure ofat-risk wetlands to sea level rise.The economic losses suggestedare on top of other impacts suchas forced relocation of peopleand infrastructure.

World Bank DevelopmentResearch Group lead environ-mental economist and study co-author Susmita Dasgupta said:‘The findings are alarming, becausewetlands don’t exist just for thebirds and plants – people rely onthem for water, food, transportationand other essential goods andservices. We hope our researchcan motivate steps to protectwetlands, especially since globalwarming will for sure acceleratethe rise of sea levels.’ ●


Developing country wetland threat

The Union for the Mediterranean(UfM) secretariat has launched a

study to prevent, abate and combatpollution of the Mediterranean Sea.

The results and findings from thestudy will contribute to a compre-hensive assessment of the currentsituation regarding depollution ofthe sea. The launch workshop forthe study, which is titled ‘Updatepriority investment portfolio forprotecting the MediterraneanSea from pollution’ took placein Barcelona in late February.

The UfM brings together 43countries - 27 EU member statesand 16 countries from the southernand eastern Mediterranean.

The current study’s mainpurpose is to update the 2020 to2025 pollution reduction targetinvestment needs. The preliminaryfindings were presented at thelaunch workshop, and the mainactivities to next autumn werediscussed.

The event also provided anopportunity to discuss countries’involvement and collect informationfrom relevant water and environ-ment stakeholders, UfM explained

in a statement. It brought togetherthe coordinating partners – UNEP-MAP, the EIB, regional institutionsand IFIs involved in the agenda.

The study will complementtwo further studies undertakenin parallel by the UNEPMediterranean Action Plan (UNEP-MAP) and the European InvestmentBank, with the aim of evaluating theimplementation of depollutionprojects in the Mediterranean.

These will provide recommenda-tions for the way forward, beingmindful of the need for coherence,synergy and joint effective actionamong the various actors and theirrespective programmes andinitiatives.

The output of the three studieswill contribute to the revision of theUNEP-MAP Depollution StrategicAction Program and national actionplans, as well as the definition ofthe second phase of the H2020initiative. This EC project aims todepollute the Mediterranean by2020 through tackling the mainsources of pollution – municipalwaste, urban wastewater andindustrial pollution. ●

Mediterranean Sea study launch

NEWS


Two new reports from theEuropean Environment Agency

(EEA) warn of the impacts of alienspecies and detail their spread, aswell as discussing an approach tocreating an invasive alien speciesindicator in Europe.

The work shows that invasivealien species pose greater risks thanpreviously thought for biodiversity,human health and economies.

There are over 10,000 alienspecies in Europe, and the rate ofnew introductions has acceleratedand is still increasing, the EEA says.

The reports found that the mostcommon reason for introductionsis horticulture, with other reasonsincluding farming, hunting andfishing, or as pets. Some transportis accidental, such as the Zebramussels that now proliferate inEurope’s lakes, and which stowedaway in ballast water.

One of the most dangerouseffects for humans is when the alienspecies act as carriers of disease,such as the Asian tiger mosquito,which has been linked to over 20diseases. Some species also carry

diseases that affect native species,such as the ‘crayfish plague’ carriedby the red swamp crayfish.

The reports also warn thatecosystems altered by invasivealien species may be less ableto provide important ecosystemservices that support humanactivity. One estimate suggestssuch species cost Europe around€12 billion ($15.5 billion) per year– for instance, the zebra musselcauses high costs by fouling waterfiltration plants and power plants’cooling reservoirs. ●

Lessons from Superstorm Sandy response

European warning on non-native species

Botswana has entered into anagreement with Lesotho and

South Africa to explore options forthe drawing of water from the multi-billion Lesotho Highlands WaterProject (LHWP).

LHWP is a transboundary watertransfer project, being implementedin four phases, that diverts waterfrom Lesotho’s Orange River toSouth Africa’s urban and industrialcentres through construction ofdams and several kilometres of

associated tunnels.Botswana, with a population of

about 1.7 million, faces seriouswater scarcity, with an estimateddemand of 88.3 million cubicmetres, a figure projected to rise104.8 million cubic metres over thenext two years on the back of arising urban population. An estimat-ed 46 percent of the country’s watersupply is lost through leakages andmismanagement, exacerbating theshortage.

Lesotho, which has an estimatedavailable water supply of 150 cubicmetres/second and a consumptionrate of less 2 cubic metres/second,is keen on generating additionalrevenue from sale of its water toBotswana under the LHWP.

Under the completed Phase 1 ofLHWP, which was partially financedby the World Bank, a 182m-highconcrete arch dam at Katse wasconstructed and an estimated48km of water transfer tunnels

laid between the two countries. The$2.4 billion phase also includedthe construction of a 72MW hydropower plant and a 55m-highconcrete gravity arch dam at‘Muela complete with a 16kmdelivery tunnel.

South Africa and Lesotho are atan advanced stage of implementingPhase 2 of the LHWP, which entailsthe construction of Polihali damand associated water transfertunnels. ● Shem Oirere

Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa sign water transfer agreement

This year World Water Day tookthe theme of Water Cooperation,

as this year is the International Yearof Water Cooperation, which led UNSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon toobserve that ‘we must work togetherto protect and carefully manage thisfragile, finite resource’.

UNESCO is leading activities forthe Year and also led the activitiesfor World Water Day on behalf ofUN-Water.

A new UN-Water analytical briefon water security was released tomark the day. This demonstratesthrough numerous examples fromaround the world that shared watersprovide opportunities for coopera-tion across nations and supportpolitical dialogue on broader

issues such as regional economicintegration and environmentalconservation.

UN-Water also gave awardsto two projects that contribute tofulfilling international commitmentson water and water-related issues.The UN-Water ‘Water for Life’ bestpractices award went to a projectfrom the city of Kumamoto in Japanthat focuses on natural groundwatermanagement.

The Safe Water and Sanitation forAll initiative in Moldova, which aimsat improving rural coverage, wonthe second category (best participa-tory, communication, awareness-raising and education practices).

The government of TheNetherlands hosted the official

celebrations in The Hague. Theseincluded speeches, presentations,panel and thematic discussions,a High-Level Forum featuringmajor personalities, and a seriesof public events.

A High-Level Interactive Dialoguealso took place during the 67thSession of the UN GeneralAssembly on 22 March. This lookedto identify and discuss water-relatedchallenges and key areas that infuture will require stronger politicalsupport and international cooperation.

The UN also launched acampaign to lift what UN deputysecretary-general Jan Eliassoncalled the ‘element of taboo’ intalking about sanitation, and calledfor the world to become an ‘open

defecation-free zone’.UNESCO, the FAO, World Bank,

UNECE and the InternationalAssociation of Hydrogeologistsorganized a regional consultation ongroundwater governance, focusingon groundwater use in NorthAmerica, Europe and Central Asia.

A wide range of events took placearound the world, including anInstitute of Development Studiesevent co-hosted by the All-PartyParliamentary Water Group in theUK that brought together parlia-mentarians and members of theNGO and academia to discuss howto accelerate progress towardsuniversal access to water andsanitation. ● (See Global Focus,page 12.)

AWWA, the American WaterWorks Association, has

published a new report fromthe Water / Wastewater AgencyResponse Network (WARN)detailing the water sector’sresponse to Superstorm Sandylast autumn.

The WARN Superstorm Sandyafter-action report is a collection

of successes and challengesbased on direct feedback fromthe affected utilities, WARNsand other water sector partners,providing key messages.

WWA Security and PreparednessManager Kevin Morley, the principalauthor of the report, said: ‘Thisreport offers a straightforwardassessment of what happened

during Sandy and what can bedone to make us better preparedin the future.

‘Collective action on the itemslisted in this report at the local,state and federal levels will makeour sector more resilient andprepared for future events.’

The report provides key observa-tions and also more context and

details, as well as setting out actionsthat can be taken to reduce conse-quences and increase resilience.

It highlights the success ofthe collaboration between theEmergency ManagementAssistance Compact (EMAC)and the water sector to enhancecoordination and awarenesswith the WARN initiative. ●

World Water Day provides focus for activities

Zebra mussels. Credit: scubaluna /Shutterstock.com

NEWS


African responses to climate concerns

New Zealand consults on water strategy

NEWS

The African DevelopmentBank (AfDB) has released

an article that sets out solutionswhich some African countries areabout to apply, with help from thebank and the Climate InvestmentFunds (CIF), to respond to complexproblems that climate change iscreating for the combined water,food and energy sectors.

The article, part of theCIF’s new annual report‘Creating the climate for

change’, reflects the continent’suniquely challenging water sectorcircumstances, with climatechange repercussions in thefields of agriculture and energy,and reports on countries’ workto apply innovative solutions.

The article warns that ‘by2020 up to 250 million peoplein Africa are projected to beexposed to increased waterstress with disastrous effectson Africa’s most vulnerable’.

However it also cites examplesof countries that are about toapply innovative integratedapproaches to strengtheningtheir water, agricultural andenergy sectors. It says countrieswill focus on two areas of response,with AfDB and CIF support:creating more reliable andaccurate climate informationand building more dirable,climate-resilient infrastructureacross these sectors.

For example, Niger plans toimprove its climate observatorysystem, research and optimizeclimate modelling, strengthen itsearly warning system and expandcommunication on climate informa-tion to end users.

Mozambique plans workto reinforce rural roads andrehabilitate irrigation and drainagesystems to withstand weatherextremes and seawater intrusions,the report adds. ●

Launch of water use certification standardThe UK-based Carbon Trust has

launched a new Water Standardto help drive the move to a resource-efficient economy.

The standard is said to be thefirst international certification to

recognise organisations that havemeasured, managed and reducedtheir direct water use.

The Carbon Trust Water Standardrequires organisations to provide atleast two years’ of data on water

abstraction. It also requires comple-tion of qualitative reporting toassess the organisation's grip onwater governance, water account-ing and water management.

The Standard aims to help

companies cut water use, bench-mark their water use and waterefficiency plans, reduce theirexposure to water scarcity, andlessen their impact on the localenvironment. ●

New Zealand has issued anew water strategy report,

‘Freshwater reform and beyond’,a key consultation documentwithin the government’s FreshStart for Fresh Water reforms,which were initiated in 2009.

The document contains bothshort and proposed long-termactions, based on extensiveconsultation with stakeholdersincluding the Land and WaterForum, which represents a range ofindustries, the Maori Iwi LeadersGroup, regional councils andcentral government.

In 2011, the government pavedthe foundations for a more effectivefreshwater management systemwith a National Policy Statement(NPS) for freshwater managementand the creation of two new funds,to facilitate beneficial irrigationinfrastructure and clean up iconiclakes and rivers.

The short-term proposalsprioritise foundation measuressuch as water planning mecha-nisms and the setting of freshwaterobjectives and limits. The papernotes that the resolution of rightsand interests related to otheraspects of freshwater managementwill have to run alongside furtherreforms over the next few years.

Immediate reforms relatingto quality and quantity includemaking amendments to ensurethe government can requirecouncils to collect data from allwater users and share it withcentral government, as well asadopting defined methods forestimating water takes, as well asaccounting for all contaminantsand a requirement for councilsto collect and share data oncontaminant sources.

There will also be nationalguidance and direction on

the setting of allocation limitscovering all water abstractions,a sector good managementpractice toolkit will be developed,and the water research strategywill be reviewed.

Next steps include nationalguidance on dealing with over-allocation, and on managingabstractions that do not requireconsents, as well as nationalguidance or regulation oncompliance and enforcement.The duration of permits willalso be reviewed.

Alternative tools for initialallocation of freshwater will bedeveloped, as will options forallocating permits on expiry. Atransfer and trade for quantitypolicy will be developed, alongsidenew transfer or offsetting mecha-nisms for water quality, and incen-tives for efficient water use will bedeveloped.

Not all are pleased with thedevelopments. Fish & Game NZ, ahunting and fishing representativebody, is warning that the freshwaterreform package will ‘wreck’ WaterConservation Orders, which protectthe country’s most outstandingrivers and lakes.

Chief executive Bryce Johnsonwarned that the government’sproposals would create a processfor all existing WCO-protectedrivers to be opened up for‘economic growth’, noting:‘How is that an “improvement”?It’s like saying National Parkprotection is being improvedby allowing mining.’

The report is an opportunityfor people to comment, the NewZealand government says, aheadof the introduction of the 2013Resources Management ReformBill later this year, which will enablethe immediate actions. ●

The Environment Agency inEngland and Wales warned

recently that UK businesses andhomes will have to prepare forfuture bad weather, in the aftermathof a year that brought both droughtand flood.

EA chairman Chris Smith saidthat the country should improvethe water supply for business andfarming in the face of more frequentdroughts and floods. New figurespublished in March showed thatone in every five days in 2012 sawflooding, but one in four days were

in drought, including hosepipe bansaffecting over 20 million people.

Rivers including the Tyne, Ouseand Tone went from record low torecord high flows in the space offour months. The EA quoted newMet Office analysis that suggeststhe UK could experience severeshort-term droughts such as theone the country suffered in 1976every ten years.

Water storage reservoirs aresuggested as an option to securemore reliable water supply forirrigation. There are around 1700

small-scale storage reservoirsaround the country but the EAwarns this number will have toincrease to help improve resilience.

Pressures on water availabilityincluding extreme weather events,growing demand and historic over-abstraction are already affectingwater supplies for irrigation, andthe EA says that businesses thatrely on water from rivers wereunable to abstract water lastsummer.

Its statement notes: ‘Modellingsuggests that a changing climate

could reduce some river flowsby up to 80% during the summerin the next 40 years – increasingthe challenge of ensuring thereis enough water for people,businesses, farmers and theenvironment.’

Lord Smith said: ‘More of thisextreme weather will exacerbatemany of the problems that wealready deal with including floodingand water scarcity, so taking actiontoday to prepare and adapt homes,businesses, agricultural practicesand infrastructure is vital.’ ●

UK concerns over drought and flood extremes


● A new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance warnsthat each of CHINA’S ‘Big Five’ power utilities is heavilyexposed to water supply disruptions, because theirportfolios are concentrated in moderate to severelywater-scarce regions, particularly the dry north-east.The report says that significantly reducing this exposure,and the sector’s overall water withdrawals, would involvemajor policy and industrial efforts, cost billions of dollarsand require the removal of gigawatts of water-inefficientpower generation capacity.

● The European Bank for Reconstruction andDevelopment (EBRD) is providing a loan that willenable around 170,000 people in Prahova county,south-eastern Romania, to have safe water andsanitation services, and will also greatly reducethe losses that occur in the water treatment process.

● UK overseas aid department DfID has pledged $5.6million to support ZIMBABWE’S Bulawayo City Council’sdrive to improve water and sanitation services for themost vulnerable urban communities. DfID says it expects140,000 people to benefit directly from improved servicesand for the rest of the city to benefit indirectly.

● The European Environment Agency has published anEye on Earth map highlighting some of the conditions thatmay contribute to urban flooding. The map shows, forexample, the mean percentage of each city covered withimpervious surfaces – Paris, Thessaloniki, Bucharest andBarcelona having among the highest levels with over 75%of their surface area sealed.

● CHILE’S national statistics institute, INE, has issued areport based on data from the national water authority thatshow the country’s 27 most important rivers have seen theirflows reduce by an average of 8.4% over the past fiveyears. The area between the north and central-south haswitnessed the worst reductions, with flows on the 11 mainrivers reducing by 30% over the same period.

● The long-awaited desalination plant for the Spanishregion of Torrevieja is about to go into its testing phase,three years later than anticipated. The $438 millionreverse osmosis plant, which has a capacity of up to360,000m3/day, will supply over 400,000 people in 30municipalities with water. The plant had been stalled dueto political wrangling and environmental concerns, localpress note.

● The US EPA has awarded $523,000 to the New JerseyDepartment of Environmental Protection (DEP) to createSHORELINES in Camden, New Jersey and the Barnegat Baywatershed that are made of plants, sand and some rockrather than hard structures such as bulkheads. TheBarnegat Bay project will also help with the recoveryfrom Hurricane Sandy.

● American Water has announced it has been awardeda research grant from the Water Research Foundationto partner with the Metropolitan Water District of SouthernCalifornia and University of Alberta to determine theoccurrence of nitrosamines in drinking water systemsin North America. The total value of the project is$711,902, with $400,000 from the Water ResearchFoundation and a $311,902 in-kind contribution fromthe project team. American Water will receive $137,200to pay for research costs.

in brief

ANALYSIS

A call for action: pre-empting the Asia-Pacific water crisis

The Asian Water DevelopmentOutlook paints a grave picture of

the water and sanitation situationdespite the various boomingeconomies in the region.

The ADB recently hosted a liveblog session on its publication withAmy Leung, director of the UrbanDevelopment and Water Division inADB’s Southeast Asia department,and Ian Makin, principal waterresources specialist in ADB’sRegional and SustainableDevelopment department.

Mr Makin noted that theregion has a number of uniquechallenges. ‘As a whole theregion is faced with a number ofchallenges – most notably rapidurbanisation and industrialisation.The region’s huge population isalso very exposed to the expectedimpacts of climate change.’

Ms Leung added that while noneof the report’s findings surprise thebank, ‘we are concerned with thegap between access to piped andnon-piped water and improvedsanitation in urban and rural areasand the gap between the richestand the poorest. There is still a lot

for us to do.’In terms of why South Asian and

Pacific economies rank so poorlyfor potable water supply andsanitation, Ms Leung noted:‘Typically low-income countries areless able to provide the necessaryfunds to invest in this sector, andindeed other crucial ones too,including healthcare, education.However, it is also true that somecountries do not attach enoughimportance to the sector and spendless as a percentage of nationalbudgets compared to developedcountries. It is not seen as anational priority by financedepartments.’

She added: ‘The lack of trans-parent water governance structureshampers many countries as theyseek to advance without reformof the existing complex, overlap-ping agencies. In some countriesefforts to improve sanitation havenot adequately addressed thecultural traditions that havedelayed progress.

‘Nevertheless, while thesechallenges exist, the one sureway to make progress is for

governments to get serious aboutdelivering change. They need tolead and help stimulate demand forthese services, and must create theright enabling environment andgovernance structures to enableeffective delivery of services for all.’

The report makes clear thatwhile some countries such asSingapore and Australia areexemplars in the field, otherslag far behind, and one immediateissue is how such countries beginto move forward. Ms Leung noted:‘I suggest they come to ADB.We offer both technical andfinancial support.’

However, she cautioned: ‘ADBwill not “come up” with all themoney and solutions on its own.We will work with governments, inpartnership with public and privatesector water service providers, anddevelopment finance institutions tomobilise the necessary resources.’

Among the keys to disseminatingthe required knowledge are theregional knowledge hubs, anoutcome of the inaugural Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Japan,2007. These hubs research and

advise on important water securityissues. Mr Makin explained theircurrent role: ‘Some have activelycontributed to the work leading tothe Asian Water DevelopmentOutlook 2013. During Asia WaterWeek, held at ADB HQ last week,a team from the knowledge hubsmet to discuss how to increasetheir programme of work to helpagencies and countries addresswater management issues. We willbe following up on these ideas inthe coming weeks.’

The blog also touched onvarious issues that affect theregion, including water lossreduction – as with much of thedeveloping world’s infrastructure,leakage is often extremely high. MsLeung said: ‘A prudent water utilitywill invest in regular refurbishmentand replacement but sadly manyare not financially and technicallyequipped to do so. Water loss hastherefore built up to unacceptablelevels in many parts of Asia andthe Pacific.

‘Utilities must embark onaggressive programmes of waterloss reduction, to cut down so-

COMMENT


A global goal of water security‘Integrated water resources management for all!’ That may be what theworld needs, but it certainly lacks something as a rallying cry to stimulateaction. ‘Water security for all!’, on the other hand, might just come close tooffering the universal appeal that is needed.

As this issue’s Global Focus article discusses, work to build consensusaround a global development agenda for beyond 2015 is underway inearnest. In amongst this, a great deal of effort is being put into ensuringwater features prominently in the post-2015 agenda.

Water is so pervasive, underpinning as it does progress in many otherareas of development, that there is a strong case for including, not just anextension of the current Millennium Development Goal on water supplyand sanitation, but wider aims for water too.

Integrated water resources management is the key approach needed toensure many water-related challenges can be met. That is the reason whyit has been included in the outcome documents of multilateral meetings ofrecent decades, although political commitment on actual implementationhas remained lacking. A world in which these challenges have been metcould appropriately be called a water secure world. So while integratedwater resources management is needed as much as ever, its applicationcan be seen as being directed towards an end goal of water security.

Water security potentially also has the benefit of being a concept which

those outside of the water sector can relate to.Effective management of water resourcesencompassing major uses such as foodand energy has always been implicit in the‘integrated’ part of integrated water resourcesmanagement, but integrated water resourcesmanagement has probably been seen assomething water people do.

UN-Water chose World Water Day in March to launch discussion toreach a common understanding of what is meant by water security. Itsworking definition, released with explicit reference to the post-2015agenda, brings together sustainability, development, well-being, pollution,disasters, ecosystems, and peace and stability.

In the meantime, ADB and the Asia-Pacific Water Forum have graspedthe water security approach as a basis for assessing progress in the region(see below), using a national index based on five dimensions of watersecurity. This offers promise, not just that water security can provide afocus for attention, but that diverse water issues can be brought togetherin a meaningful assessment.

Keith Hayward, Editor

● The new study on Asia-Pacific region watersecurity warns that many countries face animminent water crisis unless steps are takenimmediately to improve their management ofwater resources. LIS STEDMAN looks at some ofthe key messages.

A lack of investmentin improving watersecurity could impact onother sectors, such asagriculture. Credit:Sia Chen How /Shutterstock.com


called non-revenue water (NRW),including unmeasured suppliesand pilferage. These programmeshave been gaining traction inthe region and allow utilities toincrementally reduce loss andachieve economically defendablelevels of NRW.’Another major issue is the

confusion over responsibilityfor governance. Mr Makin said:‘Many countries still have multipleagencies with responsibilities forwater. This often leads to ineffectiveplanning and utilisation of availableresources, including water, humanand financial resources. I cannotthink of a country in the region thatwould not benefit from a long hardlook at the institutional arrange-ments for water planning andmanagement.’The Bank sees the private

sector’s role as integral to successmoving forward. Ms Leung noted:‘The private sector has a veryimportant role to play. Privatesector firms can practice goodstewardship to protect waterresources to minimise theirbusiness risks, and as a means tominimise business costs. Large

businesses can be encouraged toshow leadership to their suppliers.All businesses in all countries mustbe made water-aware and takeresponsibility for their use of thiscritical resource.’In response to a specific ques-

tion about The Philippines (whosegovernment recently declared thatthe country would be facing a watercrisis in ten years if its issues werenot addressed), she emphasisedthe multi-dimensional nature of theproblem: ‘Public-private-partner-ship is one of the options. Thereis much the government will needto do to improve governance ofwater as a resource to be managedeffectively and as a service to bedelivered efficiently. More shouldbe done on water sector reformsand implementation of effectiveregulatory regimes.’Asked about the likely reactions

of governments whose countrieshave been assessed to havenational water security indexesof 1 or 2 (the poorest levels), MsLeung noted that these would‘probably a little like an individualreceiving bad news – initial dis-belief (the data must be wrong),

then anger (why highlight ourproblems), withdrawal (there isnothing we can do about this, it’s aresult of our natural resources),and ultimately a resolve to find away forward (ok, we can fix this).’In addition, she suggested:

‘In the Asian Water DevelopmentOutlook 2013 we have shown thatwater security is multi-dimensionaland that improving one dimensionmay result in reducing security inanother. As competition for watercontinues to increase, we mustnot overlook the opportunities forincreasing water security by findingsynergy between uses.’Mr Makin added: ‘Our work

in the Asian Water DevelopmentOutlook 2013 shows that improvingwater security is a complex taskand the priority areas will dependon the local context. What is clear isthat business as usual with uncoor-dinated investments in the sectorwill not provide for a water securefuture. Water needs to be betterintegrated to national economicplanning.’He also stressed the vital role

of cooperation: ‘Finding ways toincrease cooperation among the

public and private sector entitiesand civil society is ever moreimportant as climate changebegins to change the waterenvironment and demands newapproaches to adapt to thesechanges. We have to expect thatinfrastructure alone will not be ableto climate proof our communitiesand economies. So smart invest-ments will be required which willdepend on access to state-of-the-art knowledge and innovativesolutions to evolving challenges.’Looking forward to future

editions of the Outlook, Mr Makinsaid: ‘The Asia Pacific WaterSecurity Center (APWSC) has beenestablished at Tsinghua Universityto lead the development of theapproach to measuring watersecurity we have just published.APWSC, as a knowledge hub ofthe Asian Pacific Water Forum, isbuilding partnerships with otherknowledge hubs in the network andwith leading research organisationsto develop the next edition. It willbe for governments to set goals andfor the Asian Water DevelopmentOutlook to help record the progressto those goals.’●


GLOBAL FOCUS

It is expected that this processwill converge in a single andcomprehensive UN developmentagenda with sustainable develop-ment at its core,’ commentedMichel Jarraud, secretary-generalof theWorld MeteorologicalOrganization and chair of UN-Water, the umbrella body for theUN system’s activity on water,speaking recently in Geneva.

Jarraud was speaking at a meetingheld with the aim of influencing howwater is dealt with in the new agendathat the international community andUN system are working to put in placefor beyond 2015.His comment is botha statement of apparent simplicity,behind which lies a huge task ofachieving global consensus, and istherefore also a statement that issomewhat aspirational.

At its core, the challenge is to bringtogether the UN-backed sustainabledevelopment agenda,which is foundedin particular on the global consensusachieved at the 1992 Rio EarthSummit,with the more recent priorityattention that the UN-system hasgiven to the most pressing poverty-related issues through its 2000Millennium Summit and theMillennium Development Goals(MDGs) which emerged from that.

With many of the MDGs focusedon a deadline of 2015, the race is on towork through the UN system to getthe new agenda in place to pick upfrom that date.This means that workcarried out during the UN GeneralAssembly’s 68th session, running fromSeptember this year to September2014,will be crucial. Sessions start witha key series of high-level meetings andthis year these will include in particulara review summit on the MDGs.

September’s deadline means there iscurrently a frantic round of effortsunderway to bring many inputstogether and, in particular, to makesure exchanges take place between thesomewhat separated worlds of sustain-

able development and the MDGs.In terms of sustainable development,

there is a particular focus on trying toprepare and agree upon a set of sustain-able development goals (SDGs) andindicators the world can work to.Asub-group of the UN GeneralAssembly, the 30-strong OpenWorking Group,has been set up totake this work forward. It was set up inJanuary,with between one and fourcountries sharing each seat on thegroup, so that wide representation isachieved, and held its first meeting inmid-March.

‘One possibility would be for thegroup to submit an interim report tothe [September] 2013 meeting of theGeneral Assembly on MDGs,which isan important moment when the SDGand post-2015 processes could con-verge,’ commented Jarraud whenspeaking in Geneva, adding that thegroup could then deliver its final reportby the end of the session.

Alongside this, the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel of EminentPersons on the Post-2015 Develop-ment Agenda has been meeting undera mandate focused on how to progressbeyond the MDGs but taking accountof the work on the SDGs. It was tohave its fourth meeting in Bali,Indonesia at the end of March, asWater21 went to press, building on the‘Monrovia Mandate’ agreed at its thirdmeeting,held in Liberia on 30 January– 1 February.

The Monrovia Mandate spoke interms of achieving sustainable growthwith equity,of creating wealth throughsustainable and transparent manage-ment of natural resources, and of usingpartnerships, in which national andlocal governments are encouraged towork with the private sector and civilsociety ‘to align their efforts behindsustainable development’.The panel isdue to publish its vision and recom-mendations in May.

With key outputs therefore dueshortly from these two processes, two

other major efforts that have beenunderway have been geared to informand influence what comes out of theOpenWorking Group and High LevelPanel processes.

One such effort is the work that isbeing carried out by the UN systemitself. In particular, the UN SystemTaskTeam on the Post-2015 UNDevelopment Agenda was establishedat the start of last year to bring togetherinput from more than 60 UN agenciesand international organizations.Thiswas set up under a mandate to preparefor the development agenda beyondthe MDGs,but an inter-agencytechnical support team has beenformed under the umbrella of theTaskTeam and will provide support to thesustainable development-focusedOpenWorking Group.

TheTaskTeam provided a startingpoint for the work on the post-2015development agenda by preparing areport ‘Realizing the FutureWeWantfor All – report to the Secretary-General’.Published in June of last year,it gives a good indication of thedirection in which the agenda couldhead.Built on the fundamental princi-ples of human rights, equality andsustainability, the framework set out inthe report is based around four ‘coredimensions’: inclusive social develop-ment; environmental sustainability;inclusive economic development; andpeace and security.Each core dimen-sion has associated with it a number ofuniversal goals, in effect successors tothe MDGs.Around all of this, a num-ber of ‘development enablers’ areidentified, such as the protection ofecosystems or the use of pro-poor,pro-employment and pro-environmentmacroeconomic policies, these beingthe more general approaches thatshould be pursued to create theconditions such that the universal goalscan be achieved.

The UN system also provided earlyinput into the SDG work of the OpenWorking Group, through a report atthe end of last year from the UNSecretary-General which broughttogether the results of a survey ofMember States in the latter part of lastyear on the development of SDGs.

Alongside this work within the UNsystem, the other major effort that hasbeen underway has been a wideconsultation.This was mainly carriedout in the latter part of last year and thefirst three months of this year.Underthe banner of ‘TheWorldWeWant2015’ (see worldwewant2015.org), ithas included national consultations insome 60 countries and multi-stake-holder thematic consultations on 11themes.The thematic consultationshave each culminated in a globalleadership meeting,providing a route

GLOBAL FOCUS

● Work is underway on preparations for the UN-backed internationaldevelopment agenda beyond 2015. KEITH HAYWARD looks at progress andat efforts to ensure key water issues are adequately represented.

Global progresstowards a post-2015development agenda

‘


to bring the consultation outputs intothe on-going agenda process.

Water consultationAlthough not on the list of themesoriginally proposed, the thematicconsultations included one on water.This was mainly organised aroundthree sub-themes:water, sanitation andhygiene;water resources management;and wastewater management and waterquality.Online exchanges took place inJanuary and February,with the Genevameeting at the end of February servingto review the inputs on the waterresources management and the waste-water management and water qualitythemes.The whole consultation thenculminated in a meeting inThe Hague,The Netherlands,onWorldWater Day– 22 March.

The Hague meeting endorseda document summarising the waterconsultation and setting outrecommendations relating to thethree sub-themes.The documentcalls in particular for water to featureprominently in the new developmentagenda,with water as a standalone goalwith clear targets and measurableindicators.

The outcome document reflectsvery closely the themes and originalframing papers around which theconsultation had been set up.Also, theGeneva meeting identified six keythemes (pollution,protection,waterquality and ecosystems; resilience /climate change; transboundary cooper-ation; balancing use / allocation;efficiency / reuse; and governance) butwas not geared to delivering a focusedmessage to the meeting inThe Hague– to the concern of a number of thosepresent. Instead,delegates were told byDutch government representativeMaarten Gischler that a numberof ‘great water minds’would helpprepare a short document that ‘willbe conceived based on what wasdiscussed here these two days’.

This said, the water consultationbenefited from high-level backingfromThe Netherlands,Switzerland,Liberia and Jordan. It generated a farhigher level of engagement comparedto the other consultation in terms ofthe web activity seen, for example.TheGeneva meeting successfully broughttogether a wide range of stakeholders,including UN Member States, provid-ing a formalised step for feeding theconsultation work into the widerprocess.On top of this, theWorldWater Day meeting inThe Hague wasrounded off by a final session duringwhich the findings of the consultationwere endorsed by a high-level panelthat included PrinceWillem-Alexander,The Prince of Orange,whois the out-going chair of the UN

Secretary General’s Advisory Board onWater and Sanitation,Prince El HassanBinTalal of Jordan,one of theco-sponsors of the consultation, andimportantly, along with Mozambique’sVice Minister of PublicWorks,Francisco Pereira, three members ofthe High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda:LiberianPresident Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,whochairs the panel,Unilever CEO PaulPolman, and Betty Maina,CEO of theKenyan Association of Manufacturers.And all of this was brought together intime for the High-Level Panel’s Balimeeting just days after the meeting inThe Hague.

Prospects for waterJust what will emerge for water fromthis process is wrapped up with thewider activity to shape the post-2015agenda.The first priority is to ensurewater figures in that agenda.Details

such as what goals, targets and indica-tors might apply have to wait, as theyare political decisions and also have tofit into whatever wider framework isput in place.That said, for water this issomething of a tale of two parts – onepart being concerns around access tosafe water and adequate sanitation, theother part being everything else.

Despite the fact that sanitation wasnot initially included in the water-related MDG, the two joint basic needsof access to safe water and adequatesanitation do now have a strongpresence in the international agenda.Global monitoring of progress,whichis now reported in the UN-WaterGlobal Analysis and Assessment ofSanitation and Drinking-Water(GLAAS) series, pre-dates the MDGs.Also, the UNTaskTeam’s tentativevision of the post-2015 frameworkincludes access to clean water andsanitation as one of the universal goals.

General awareness of the need toconsider what will happen with theMDGs beyond 2015,backed by arequest by the 2010 UN summit onMDGs for the UN Secretary-Generalto initiate preparations for this also,means the recent consultation was

preceded by a great deal of work tobuild a vision of what might succeedthe water MDG.This included animportant consultation meeting heldin Berlin,Germany in May 2011.

Maria Neira,director for publichealth and environment at theWorldHealth Organization, also spoke at theGeneva meeting in February.Sheexplained that current thinking is thatthe existing approach based around theWHO / UNICEF Joint MonitoringProgramme should be retained butwith some modifications.For example,greater sophistication in the statisticsgathered would help target improve-ments and investment, such as greaterdifferentiation in sanitation statistics togive better clarity on the extent of anyimprovements in place,or addinggreater detail to the current urban /rural split.There should also be agreater emphasis on hygiene, reflectingthe shift to dealing with water, sanita-tion and hygiene together, and there isthe potential to look beyond house-hold provision to provision in, forexample, schools and health centres.

Probably the most important shift inthinking is on the need to move fromthe current MDG focus of reducingthe proportion of people lacking basicservices to a goal based on universalaccess, reflecting in particular progresson human rights on this area.‘Universal access is a very powerfulmessage, even if there are doubts aboutthe feasibility of the realisation within a15-25 year time horizon,’ said Neira.

Neira went on to offer a set ofproposed targets: that by 2025 thereshould be no open defecation; that by2030 all should have access to a basicdrinking water supply and handwash-ing facilities when at home; and that by2040 all should have use of adequatesanitation at home, and the proportionof people not using an intermediatedrinking water service should bereduced by half.Alongside all of this,services should be provided in aprogressively affordable, financiallyaccountable, and sustainable manner.

In contrast, the Geneva meeting,though not conducted to delivercomparable focused, top-level optionsfor water resources and for wastewater,highlighted the likely complexity thatwill be faced in embedding widerwater issues in the post-2015 agenda.It was also indicative of the relativeinfancy of activity in this area, in termsof reporting mechanisms, for example.

Towards a post-2015 agendaEfforts to build towards the post-2015agenda will continue to be ramped up.The European Commission, forexample,has initiated discussions in theEU with the release of its ‘A decent lifefor all: ending poverty and giving the

Getting water froma borehole in

Kyotera, Uganda.Discussions are

now turning to howuniversal access to

clean water andsanitation will bepart of the post-

2015 agenda.Credit: UN-HABITAT.

WATER21 • MONTH 20XX00 WATER21 • FEBRUARY 201314

GLOBAL FOCUSGLOBAL FOCUS

concerns and many options regardingwater, and if the water communitywants to see water feature in the post-2015 agenda, it needs to ensure not justthat water is seen as a priority,but thatit can offer a broadly acceptable coremessage around which commitmentcan be built as part of the SDGs.Oneway of expressing a goal encompassingwider water aspirations is that weshould aim to live in a water-secureworld.Perhaps tellingly,UN-WaterchoseWorldWater Day as the day tolaunch a discussion document onwater security,proposing a workingdefinition of water security as ‘thecapacity of a population to safeguardsustainable access to adequate quanti-ties of acceptable quality water forsustaining livelihoods,humanwell-being, and socio-economicdevelopment, for ensuring protectionagainst water-borne pollution andwater-related disasters, and forpreserving ecosystems in a climateof peace and political stability’.●

See IWA News. Also, see:www.worldwewant2015.organd ‘Water security & the global wateragenda – a UN-Water analytical brief’,available at www.unwater.org

world a sustainable future’document.Meanwhile, international financialinstitutions have issued a joint state-ment of their intention to ensure asmuch as possible is done before 2015to meet the original MDG targets, andto support development of the post-2015 agenda.There are positive signs in all of this

regarding the prospects for water.Forexample, the survey of Member Statesabout the development of the SDGsthat was reported to the OpenWorking Group found that waterand sanitation was the second mostfrequently mentioned priority area,behind only the need for food securityand sustainable agriculture.Widerwater concerns are being given promi-nence at a high political level, such asthe first UN GeneralAssembly sessionon water and disasters,which was heldin early March.AnAfrican regionalconsultation on water, convened by theAfrican Ministers Council onWater atthe start of March, called for specificwider recognition of water in thepost-2015 agenda beyond the watersupply and sanitation focus, andTheNetherlands, as a leader in the thematicconsultation on water,has said that itwill push for such wider recognition

too.The concluding water consultationmeeting inThe Hague included a livelink-up with a special session of theUN GeneralAssembly on watercooperation.And the early efforts toshape the High Level Political Forumthat will replace the UN Commissionon Sustainable Development has notedthe potential for this to work on acluster of critical issues, such as water,energy, climate change, food, andagriculture.The core, fundamental concept of

integrated water resources manage-ment has featured in the outcomedocuments of international meetingsof the last 20 years.Progress has beenmade on implementation, and therehas been progress on assessing thisimplementation globally too,but todate international meetings have failedto secure any great commitment.Oneof the key strengths of the MDGs hasbeen the way the simply-expressedgoals could provide a focus for action.An option for the post-2015 agendawould therefore be to build on theexisting reference to integrated waterresources management with a goalaround which commitment can bebuilt.As the Geneva water thematicmeeting highlighted, there are many

p14 April 2013_Layout 1 27/03/2013 12:01 Page 9


IWA is a partner in an extremelyinteresting long-term initiative

called ‘World Water Futures andSolutions: World Water ScenariosInitiative’. The initiative is led bythe International Institute for AppliedSystems Analysis (IIASA), withother partners including UNESCO,the Ministry of Land, Transport,and Maritime Affairs of the Republicof Korea, and the World WaterCouncil. You will hear more aboutthis initiative as it unfolds overthe coming years, but it is the title,‘Water Futures and Solutions’, thatI want to address. It raises severalquestions, such as ‘What is thefuture of water that we want over thenext 50 years or more?’ and ‘Whatsolutions do we need to be putting inplace today to achieve that future?’.

To begin, let me share with youmy assessment of the key out-comes that the water communityshould be striving to achieve. Theyare (in no particular order): extendthe human right to water andsanitation to all; ensure sufficientwater is available for human andenvironmental uses; and decreasethe environmental footprint of waterservice provision. These key ideasshape my view of our desired waterfuture and provide the basis forthinking about metrics.

The first – extending water andsanitation provision to all – isstraightforward, once acceptablewater supply and sanitation metricsare established. For water supplyone can envisage a sufficientquantity of safe water and sanitationservices which are safe, appropri-ate, and include appropriatemanagement of the resulting faeces

and urine. The latter does notnecessarily mean water-basedsewerage, but it does meanthat the waste is appropriatelymanaged. Also, everyone meanseveryone.

Next, consider the provision ofsufficient water for human usesand the environment. Human usesinclude domestic uses, industry,energy, and agriculture. Of course,agriculture is the largest use on aglobal basis, while energy is thelargest use in developed countries,but significant opportunities exist toreduce water use in both of thesesectors through increased efficien-cy. The scenarios analysis part ofthe project will be interesting inhelping us to understand how farexisting leading edge practices andtechnologies in these areas will getus. Some might suggest that all weneed to do is increase efficiency inagriculture and energy productionand this objective will be met. Isuggest that the domestic andindustrial sectors also need to dotheir part, and we all know thatsignificant opportunities exist. Theinteresting point here is water forthe environment. In my mind itdepends upon the nature of theenvironment that we want to createand to preserve. In many locationsthere is little of the ‘natural’ environ-ment left. Thus, we have theopportunity to define the nature ofthe environment that we want, butthis will require us to make choicesbetween various options. Framingand answering the associatedquestions is likely to be a significantissue for society going forward.

The environmental footprint of

water service provision includes notonly water use and efficiency, butalso energy, nutrient, and chemicaluse. Of course, for IWA this topicis a significant focus of our Citiesof the Future programme. Ourcolleagues working in this areaconclude that it is possible to meeturban water service needs withmuch less water, to be energyneutral or possibly energy positive,to extract nutrients and othermaterials for human use, and tosignificantly reduce net chemicaluse. Great opportunities exist usingexisting practices and technologies,and the intense research effortsoccurring here offer promisingfuture developments.

The above suggests that signifi-cant progress can be made by thewater profession, and that a moredesirable future can be created.This leads us to the question ‘Whatshould we be doing now to achievethis desirable future?’. We shouldcertainly be exploring options toachieve higher levels of perfor-mance, as so many of our membersare doing. It will be helpful if we canreach improved consensus on theobjectives, which the discussionsurrounding this study should helpus to do. However, our greatestneed is for further drivers forchange by the water profession.We are constrained in many ways;by regulations, standards, funding,and others. We must continueto address these constraints sothat we can change fast enoughto achieve the futures that arepossible. One constraint that wehave full control over is ourselves.One phrase used by many of our

colleagues is that we are a‘conservative profession’, andrightly so because we are responsi-ble for protecting public health.It is my perception, however, thatthis phrase is sometimes used toretain the status quo because weare uncomfortable with change;something for us all to think about.

I hope this has given you aglimpse of the questions that the‘Water Futures and Solutions’study will investigate and someof the questions it will help usaddress. In providing this overviewI am also hoping to seed yourthought process, and I welcomeyour comments. As IWA is a partnerin this exercise, a number of IWAmembers will be enlisted to provideadvice and review as the studyprogresses. I am encouraged thatthe results can help us determineour future programmes and, moreimportantly, that it will furtherposition the Association to advisepolicy-makers in the steps neededto achieve the brightest futurepossible for all. ●

Glen T Daigger,PhD, PE, BCEE, NAEPresident,International Water Association

Water futures and solutions

THE PRESIDENT

With the 2015 MillenniumDevelopment Goal (MDG) target

date on the horizon, internationaldiscussions on the post-2015options for setting internationalgoals have started. Following theRio+20 Conference on SustainableDevelopment in June 2012, thefocus is now on formulating a set ofnew Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) that have sustainability attheir core, are truly global and, inthe spirit of sustainability, alsoreflect inter-generational perspec-

tives1. The outcome document ofRio+20 (The Future We Want)contains a section on water andmakes explicit reference to waterin other sections, linking it to foodsecurity and ecosystem integrityas well as the importance ofmanagement of floods anddroughts as part of the water issues.Significant progress was madebecause, for the first time, pollutioncontrol and wastewater managementemerged with specific mentionin a UN agreement of this kind.

Understanding the localcontext and scale of thewastewater managementchallenges in light of globalchanges, particularly urbanisationand climate change, is criticalto the formulation of future goals,targets and indicators. However,efforts should not be towardsre-inventing the wheel, butrather to formulate goals andtargets that are based on theexperience and achievementsof the existing MDGs, outcomes

of Rio+20 and other relevantinitiatives, while also payingattention to emerging issues,in particular the human rightsapproach to the provision ofwater related services.

The UN Water WastewaterTask Force on Water Qualityand Wastewater Managementis charged with the responsibilityto facilitate a process to define atarget and indicators to meetthese objectives. The Post 2015Thematic Consultation on Water

IWA input on consultation on the role of wastewatermanagement and water quality post-2015

IWA NEWS


was one of the Global ThematicConsultations featured in an online‘global dialogue’, facilitated by theUN system on the ‘World We Want’website (www.worldwewant2015.org). The Thematic Consultation onWater was divided into threethematic sub-consultations: water,sanitation and hygiene; waterresource management;and wastewater managementand water quality. This involveda series of online consultationsin January and February 2013.

The draft synthesis reportfrom the ‘wastewater and waterquality’ sub-consultation isavailable from www.worldwewant2015.org/water/wastewater andprovides a summary and a shortanalysis of the views of the variousonline users who engaged inthe consultation. The findingsand recommendations have fedinto the definition of the proposedtarget and indicators specific towastewater management andwater quality.

Wastewater reuse - developmentand innovationIWA is a partner on the UNWater Task Force with thespecific focus on the reuseelement, which has beenidentified as one of the threecore elements of the targetalongside pollution reductionand remediation. As part of theconsultation process, the IWA

Specialist Group on Water Reuseprepared a background paper(www.worldwewant2015.org/node/304075) highlighting that reuse ofwater after appropriate treatmentprovides an alternative andeconomically viable source of waterfor drinking purposes, food produc-tion and other productive uses,supporting the resilience of humanand natural systems under waterstress. The paper underlines thatreuse is an integral component ofdevelopment objectives relating toresource management, environ-mental protection and managementat local and global scales.

As part of the consultation,IWA facilitated an online discussionwith a panel consisting of JoppeCramwinckel from the WorldBusiness Council for SustainableDevelopment, Valentina Lazarovafrom Suez-Environnement, GrahamAlabaster from UN-Habitat andJavier Mateo-Sagasta Davilafrom the Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO) of the UnitedNations. Stemming from thisdiscussion and the online dialoguea number of key issues werehighlighted which were presentedat the Meeting on the Post-2015Development Agenda Consultationon Water: Water ResourcesManagement and WastewaterManagement & Water Qualityheld in Geneva on 27-28February 2013 (see:www.unece.org/post_2015

_water_consultation_meeting.html). These key issues aresummarised below.

Technological developmentscan provide new solutions to tackleproblems related to wastewatermanagement. However, achieve-ment of the proposed goal is moredependent upon promoting uptakeand scaling-up the utilisation ofexisting practices. Solutions needto be applied in relation to localcircumstances and reuse require-ments (e.g. groundwater recharge,industrial reuse, irrigation).

To improve the public perceptionof the safety of water reuse, thereis a need for indictors to providesufficient guarantees about thequality of treated water and trans-parent information on the reusesystem and monitoring approach.The target should focus onpromoting the term ‘water reuse’to avoid negative perceptionsabout terminology related towastewater reuse. However,the target should also embracethe need for reuse and recoveryof resources related to nutrientsand energy.

Outcome goals are needed toprovide direction and aspiration,but they can be challenging tomonitor and do not guide improve-ment of the (water managementand reuse) process. This willeventually lead to penalizingnational governments in case offailure to meet the target outcome.

Therefore, there also need to beprocess indicators that focus on thedevelopment and implementationof strategies and regulatory frame-works (process indicators) whichare more adaptable for nationaland sub-national priorities.

There is a need for a concertedeffort to disseminate experiencesof best practice focusing on thosethat demonstrate financial sustain-ability and commercial viability atscale. Capacity building is reallyimportant (see page 24) and thisneeds to be undertaken in a wayso that practitioners can learn andshare experience about differenttechnologies via peer-to-peerlearning. There is also a specificneed to address issues relating tooperational sustainability as thereare many cases of wastewaterinfrastructure being poorlyoperated and maintained.

For more information, contactJonathan Parkinson (email:[email protected]) at IWA’s office in Londonor Katharine Cross (email:[email protected]) atthe IWA office in the Hague. ●

Note1 Statement from the preparatory workdone for Rio+20 on Support forWaterRelated Goals &Targets at Rio+20 –AnAssessment of Proposed Goals andTargets, by UNEP-DHI Centre forWater and Environment, on behalfof the Danish government

Cities are increasingly competingfor water resources with other

water users such as agricultureand energy. We often see theseessential resources as separateentities, but they are inextricablylinked. The water-energy-foodnexus explores how these threeareas are interlinked, and howdevelopment in one area canaffect the others.

To address such competingwater needs for the water-energy-food nexus means exploringopportunities to optimize waterinfrastructure and technology formultiple purposes. In response,IWA and the International Unionfor Conservation of Nature (IUCN)have launched the ‘Nexus dialogueon water infrastructure solutions’,aimed at building partnershipsto lead transformations in waterinfrastructure, planning, financeand operation. The dialogueprovides a forum for sharingexperiences, lessons, tools and

guidelines on how portfoliosof water infrastructure andtechnologies can address thechallenges of the nexus.

You are invited to take part inthe dialogue and share experiencesin optimising the existing multipleapproaches of man-madeinfrastructure and technologiesincluding dams, embankments,and wastewater systems, andnature-based infrastructure,including rivers, wetlandsand forested hill slopes.

How to contributeWhat type of water infrastructureis being used to provide waterfor multiple uses? Who hasbenefited and in what ways?What tools, guidance, modelsand technologies do you useto identify water infrastructuresolutions? How has this projectinfluenced water, energy, andfood security?

There are a range of ways

that you can contribute. Usethe guiding questions to developyour contributions towww.waternexussolutions.org.Submit your tools or case studies [email protected] orupload them to the Nexus Toolkit athttp://tools.waternexussolutions.org/ibis/nexus/eng/toolbox. Take partin the IWA Water Wiki Hot Topic

competition at: www.iwawaterwiki.org and win prizes, and join indiscussions on the site. You canalso take part in anchor workshopsin your region, and participate inthe 2014 International Conferenceon Water, Food, and Energy andfollow us on social media channelsFacebook and Twitter(@WaterNexus). ●

Nexus dialogue on water infrastructure: contribute to the discussion

Share your views on thewater-energy-food nexus.

Credit: Tish1 /Shutterstock.com


IWA and partners are developinga joint technical report to be

published by the EuropeanEnvironment Agency (EEA) whichwill explore sharing knowledgebases that enable resource andenvironmental efficiency as wellas technical improvements inwater and wastewater utilities.

This collaboration stemmedfrom the European Water UtilityExpert meeting in December 2012,hosted by EEA, the European WaterAssociation and the European

Federation of National Associationsof Water and Wastewater Services.The expert meeting provided astepping stone for further coopera-tion between leading networksof water professionals on how toimprove the European knowledgebase on water utility performance –beyond the compliance assess-ments and how this can bequantified.

There is a high priority to improveresource efficiency in water andwastewater utilities in several

European and internationalagendas. Considerable experienceswith the use of benchmarkingsystems and indicators related towater utility performance havealready been developed withinthe framework of national /European / international associa-tions and other networks of waterprofessionals. The underlying dataalready collated and processed canprovide valuable information to beshared at a European level.

The technical report will focus

on specific water uses and lossesin distribution systems, energyconsumption and recovery inthe urban water cycle as well asnutrient recovery from wastewaterand on specific pollutant emissionsdependent on types of urbanwastewater treatment. ●

For more information, please visithttp://projects.eionet.europa.eu/wise-tg/library/thematic-issues/water-utilities-resource-efficiency orcontact [email protected].

IWA NEWS

Experts explore water utility performance beyond compliance

IWA invites submissions of papersfor the International Water Week

taking place 4-8 November 2013.The conference is focusing onintegrated water solutions for agreen economy, which includessolutions for sustainable andresilient cities and delta areas.

The key themes are:• Technology for optimizing the

urban water cycle• Urban delta technology,

planning and management• Integrated urban water

management• Industrial and municipal

water reuse solutions

The call for papers opened on 7March; paper submission closes

15 May; authors will be notifiedof acceptance on 8 July; the callfor registration is to be confirmed;and full paper submission (option-al) is 1 September. For moreinformation on how to submit,please visit www.internationalwaterweek.com.

The International WaterWeek is co-organized by RAI

Amsterdam, IWA, InternationalWater Conferences and theNetherlands Water Partnership,and will include several concurrentevents, including: the InternationalWater Week Conference; Aquatechtrade fair; Water OperatorPartnership (WOP) Conference;Utility Leaders Forum; andIndustrial Leaders Forum. ●

Amsterdam InternationalWaterWeek call for papers now open!

waterutility managementI N T E R N A T I O N A L

Available from IWA Publishing

Water Utility Management International focuses on the needs and interests of senior water utilitymanagers. The aim of this publication is to provide those heading water and wastewater utilities withan international reference point on the strategic issues affecting their organisations. Water UtilityManagement International will also be of value to consultants and others following developments inthis area.

Presented in a newsletter format, Water Utility Management International contains news, interviews,and in-depth briefings on topical issues. Other articles take an executive briefing approach or arebased on landmark case studies. Regular themes for articles include financing, investment,regulation and personnel matters. There is also a central theme of achieving efficiency in waterutilities, encompassing topics such as benchmarking, billing, tariffs, IT and service standards.

SubscriptionsWater Utility Management International is published four times a year(March, June, September, December) by IWA Publishing and is availableas either a print or an online subscription.

2013 price (4 issues): £241 / $480 / €363 (IWA members: £199 / $378 / €299)

Those interested in submitting an article should contact Keith Hayward, Editor, [email protected] more information, visit: www.iwaponline.com

ISSN (print): 1747-7751ISSN (online): 1747-776X

WUMI Editorial Advisory PanelDr Richard Franceys, Cranfield UniversityDr Bernhard Hoersgen, Gelsenwasser AGDr David Johnstone, University of OxfordProf Hamanth Kasan, Rand WaterMr Khoo Teng Chye, PUB SingaporeMr Alejo Molinari, ETOSS / ERASDr Renato Parena, Societa Metropolitana Acque

TorinoMr Eric Rothstein, Galardi Rothstein GroupMs Meike Van Ginneken, World Bank

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