WASH news Latin America and Caribbean

“In 1998, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) awarded $54 million in loans to the Haitian government to improve the country’s patchwork, crumbling public-water system. The money was intended to bring clean water to people who for many years had been denied this basic human right, with devastating consequences for public health. Ten years later, however, this desperately needed money has not produced a single improvement to Haiti’s water supply in the city designated to be one of the first recipients”.

On 23 June 2008, Partners In Health - along with its Haitian sister organization Zanmi Lasante, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center - released the 87-page report “Wòch nan Soley: The Denial of the Right to Water in Haiti” in New York City.

The report “reveals the United States government’s clandestine efforts to ensure that political considerations (namely the desire to destabilize Haiti’s elected government at that time, led by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide) took precedence over the rights of some of the planet’s poorest and most vulnerable people”.

“In the 10 years since the loans were approved, the Haitian water system has actually gotten worse. In 2002, a water-poverty index released by the British-based Centre for Ecology and Hydrology ranked Haiti dead last out of 147 countries surveyed”.

The investigative team that produced the report “worked for six years to bring the story of the IDB loans to light. During that time, Haiti’s water system continued to deteriorate. The report states that:

* Public water systems are rarely available throughout the year and close to 70 percent of the population lacks direct access to potable water at all times
* The percentage of the population without access to safe drinking water has increased by at least seven percent from 1990 to 2005
* Infectious diarrhea was the second leading cause of death in Haiti in 1999, and gastrointestinal infection was the leading cause of mortality for young children. These preventable diseases result primarily from unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation”.

Read more: Tom Spoth, Partners in Health, Jun 2008

The presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela discussed water management issues during the Mercosur summit held in Argentina on 29-30 June 2008.

Among the issues discussed were:

• shortages and pollution of transboundary waters
• environmental standards for water resource protection
• wastewater treatment, discharge and reuse policies
• expansion and financing of basic water and sanitation services

Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 01 Jul 2008

The special environment commission of Costa Rica’s legislative assembly approved a bill exempting wastewater treatment plants from paying taxes as a means to mitigate contamination and improve the quality of national water resources. The bill also declares wastewater treatment “a matter of national interest.”

Implementation of the bill is being coordinated by the finance ministry and Costa Rican aqueducts and sewerage institute AyA.

Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 30 Jun 2008

A legislative decree creating the new national water authority (ANA) must be approved by the Peruvian cabinet council in no more than 90 calendar days, starting from 28 June 2008. The ministries of agriculture, the environment, health, energy and mining, and housing, construction and sanitation will comprise ANA’s administrative board which will create policies and strategies for the efficient and sustainable use of water resources, according to the proposed new law.

Some of the key principles included in the decree are:

• integrated water resources management (IWRM)
• access to water to satisfy the basic human needs has priority over other uses
• the creation of permanent multi-sector basin committees,

ANA will be funded by the public sector annual budget and income from water rates/tariffs, (repeated) fines, donations and other contributions.

Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 30 Jun 2008

A police investigation found a criminal scheme to divert funds intended for the construction of low-income housing and sewage treatment plants in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.  Following complaints published in the local press, an inspection conducted by the federal audit court TCU in 29 municipalities of Minas Gerais found evidence of fraud in the execution of works.

The investigation was part of Operation João de Barro on 20 June 2008, aimed at investigating alleged fraud in the federal government’s growth acceleration plan PAC. The police had 231 search warrants and 38 arrest warrants for projects carried out in 7 states as well as the federal district (where capital Brasília is located). Roughly 1,000 federal officers participated in the operation.

Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 23 Jun 2008

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) will invest US$3.5mn in the second phase of the water is life and health program in the rural areas of La Paz department. The project includes the use of groundwater in the rural areas of the Altiplano Sur region, in an effort to guarantee sustainable water supply.

Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 24 Jun 2008

Venezuelan state coal company Carbozulia has earmarked half of its 2008 profits, an estimated 64mn bolívares (US$29.8mn) according to company president Ovis Prieto, to improve health, education and potable water in the nearby cities of Mara and Páez. In 2009, Carbozulia plans to invest roughly 52mn bolívares in the same areas.

Source: BNamericas [subscription site], 19 Jun 2008

The Dominican Republic’s national water resources institute (Indrhi) has signed a cooperation agreement with Mexican water authority Conagua to create the legal and institutional structure necessary to establish a national water law.

Indrhi executive director Héctor Rodríguez Pimentel has visited Brazil and Mexico in search of experience and support for the establishment of his country’s water code.

Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 17 Jun 2008

Venezuela’s Fundelec, a foundation under supervision of the energy and oil ministry, which promotes nationwide electrification, is carrying out a programme to install solar powered potable water plants. A total of 60 plants (125 are planned) have already been installed, benefiting 59 communities and 14,820 inhabitants. The water plants are aimed at indigenous and isolated communities, as well as those located near international borders.

Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 17 Jun 2008

The World Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a zero-interest credit for $20 million to support the government of Nicaragua to improve water and sanitation services in rural areas.

The Nicaragua Rural Water and Sanitation Project seeks to increase access by project beneficiaries to sustainable water and sanitation services in rural areas and is aligned with the government’s development objectives, as improvements in water and sanitation have been explicitly outlined in the National Development Plan (PND). The plan outlines the government’s intention to promote the sustainability of water and sanitation infrastructure and service expansion in rural areas through community participation and education, and the coordination of agencies such as Fondo de Inversión Social de Emergencia (FISE) and the municipalities.

Specifically, the program will target rural and indigenous communities, improve access to water services, and have a stronger impact on women and children because they traditionally are tasked with fetching water from and washing clothes and children in far-located water sources.

Source: World Bank, 12 Jun 2008