Some 557,000 people in Costa Rica drink water that is contaminated with fecal material or chemicals, especially hydrocarbons, according to tests carried out by national water utility AyA. The figure represents 13% of the population connected to a potable water system.
Read full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 03 Mar 2010
Posted in Costa Rica, Water quality, Water supply
Tagged AyA, drinking water, water pollution
Access to a safe and reliable water and Sanitation is a difficult challenge in Bolivia and a growing area of focus for humanitarian development.
According to Bolivian government-supplied statistics, the percentage of people with access to safe water in Bolivia is quite high. In rural areas however, the numbers are much lower, with only 68% having access to a safe and reliable water supply and 22% with access to sanitation. Water For People has been working in Bolivia’s rural communities since 1992—almost since its inception—and has maintained an office in the country since 1997.
Water For People’s programs in Bolivia are conducted under the leadership of country coordinator Abraham Aruquipa and a team of five Bolivian professionals.
Water development technologies used in Bolivia include gravity-fed water systems, protected springs, storage tanks, pumped water systems, and locally manufactured household hand pumps. Sanitation projects typically involve the construction of dry-composting latrines, pour-flush and/or conventional flush toilets, and household bathrooms, including some with showers.
Almost all of Water For People–Bolivia’s projects have been constructed in 10 municipalities spread across different geographic regions. Over the next five years, however, Water For People–Bolivia will work more regionally, focusing on municipalities in three departments. Consistent with Water For People’s model, almost all projects have involved working with three primary partners: a government entity, a local nongovernmental organization, and the benefiting community.
Working closely with its in-country staff, Water For People has developed an aggressive strategic plan to make a more meaningful impact in meeting the water and sanitation needs in Bolivia between 2007-2011.
Water For People–Bolivia has supported a total of 176 projects from 1997 through 2006, benefiting more than 42,000 people.
Source:http://www.waterday.org/?uid=paa07D0BCA855AC0D6CB
Project Contacts
Water for People
6666 W. Quincy Avenue
Denver , CO 80235
United States
Phone: 303.734.3490 • Fax: 303.734.3499
www.waterforpeople.org/site/PageServer?pagename=About_Departments
info@waterforpeople.org
A recent water and sanitation sector analysis reported that in 2001, Honduras had reached water coverage of 80% of its total population and 70% of those living in rural areas. But the same study revealed that water quantity and
quality are not adequate, and suggested that the existing infrastructure poses a serious health risk to citizens. An alarming 90% of the water supply is intermittent and unreliable.
This study found that only 44% of the water provided is effectively disinfected and that there is a lack of adequate water quality control and monitoring, especially in rural areas.
Many rural communities have no water infrastructure whatsoever.
Sanitation coverage in Honduras is improving, reaching 68% of the total population but only 50% of the rural populace. There is virtually no sewerage service in rural areas, where latrines are the only practical option for the safe
disposal of human waste. Half of the rural population has no sanitation facilities at all.
Water For People helps people in developing countries improve their quality of life by supporting the development of locally sustainable drinking water resources, sanitation facilities and health and hygiene education programs.
Water For People–Honduras supports 15 to 20 communities each year, helping approximately 15,000 people and plans for growth over the next five years, with a goal of achieving 95% water and sanitation coverage in the three
districts in which it works. It will also work on increasing hand-washing practices by 50%.
Typical projects include protected springs, gravity-fed water systems, pumped water systems, storage tanks, and pour-flush latrines.
Working closely with its in-country staff, Water For People has developed an ambitious strategic plan to make a more meaningful impact in meeting the water and sanitation needs in Honduras between 2007-2011.
Source: http://www.waterday.org/?uid=paa07D0BCA855AC0D6CB
Related news: Output-Based Aid: challenges for OBA Facility for the water and sanitation sector in Honduras, Source Weekly, 22 January 2010.
Project Contacts
Water for People
6666 W. Quincy Avenue
Denver , CO 80235
United States
Phone: 303.734.3490 • Fax: 303.734.3499
www.waterforpeople.org/site/PageServer?pagename=About_Departments
info@waterforpeople.org
Guatemala’s protected areas authority Conap will start planting tulle in Atitlán lake in Sololá province by March 2010. Tulle acts as a natural filter and will help clean up the highly contaminated lake. Conap also plans to install biofilters in certain areas of the lake, after conducting a feasibility study together with the Amatitlán lake sustainable use authority Amsa.
Read full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 29 Jan 2010
Peruvian authorities have no control over large areas of the country and have allowed illegal gold mining activities to destroy thousands of acres of rainforest in the Madre de Dios region, experts said at a conference in capital Lima. Tens of thousands of people involved in illegal gold mining have destroyed 150,000ha in Madre de Dios where 40,000kg of mercury is dumped into the environment annually.
Read the full article on BNamericas.com [subscription site], Nov 2009
Posted in Governance, Peru, Policy & legislation, Water quality
Tagged gold mining, mercury, surface water pollution
The European Union (EU) has donated 14mn euros (US$21.0mn) to carry out environmental mitigation works in Bolivia’s Huanuni river basin. The Bolivian government issued a decree declaring a state of emergency in the Huanuni river basin due to toxic waste dumping by local mining firm Huanuni in late October 2009.
Read the full article on BNamericas.com [subscription site], 23 Nov 2009
Posted in Bolivia, Financing, Water quality
Tagged European Union, Huanuni river basin, mining industry, water pollution
Guatemala’s environment ministry Marn is working on regulations to control the use of chemical soaps to avoid further contamination of the country’s water resources. The move is one of a series of measures aimed at reducing contamination in lake Atitlán, as well as the country’s 73 other bodies of water.
Read the full article on BNamericas.com [subscription site], 12 Nov 2009
Mexico is working with countries from Central and South America and the Caribbean to create a regional water quality network, Mexican national water authority Conagua said. The inter-American water quality network, to be known as RICA, would allow the installation of 12 laboratories across the region, which would work together to standardize analysis techniques for coastal waters.
Related web site: UNEP/Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities (UNEP/GPA)
Read the full article on BNamericas.com [subscription site], 12 Nov 2009
Posted in Mexico, Wastewater treatment, Water quality
Tagged coastal waters, effluents, sea disposal, water quality monitoring
Bolivia needs to invest US$1bn to build water treatment plants and in other projects to overcome water shortage problems during the next seven years, according to environment and water minister René Orellana. Insufficient rainfall, caused by climate change, is affecting farming activities in different regions.
Read the full article in BNamericas.com [subscription site], 11 Nov 2009
A summary of Uruguay’s and Argentina’s court sessions at the Hague’s international court of justice regarding a dispute over the environmental effects of Uruguay’s Botnia pulp mill has revealed Argentina’s mismanagement of data, Uruguayan paper El Observador reported.
A document, drawn up by Uruguay’s national environmental authority Dinama, states that Argentina used data provided by Uruguay’s state-owned water utility OSE in an effort to prove that the plant has indeed contaminated the waters of the Uruguay river, shared by the two countries.
According to Dinama, Argentina used OSE’s data to state that Botnia had damaged the quality of the river’s waters, surpassing the limits of dissolved oxygen established by the Uruguay river management committee (Caru).
The Argentine officials, however, used OSE’s oxidability data which cannot be used in the same way. High levels of dissolved oxygen indicate good water quality, while low levels of oxidability indicate the same thing.
Argentine officials submitted the data to prove that the river’s waters had been contaminated, stating that the levels of dissolved oxygen had dropped using OSE’s oxidability data. In other words, they technically proved that the river’s water quality is good.
The Hague is expected to deliver its verdict in 2010.
Botnia, located in Rio Negro department’s Fray Bentos town, has been the subject of a long-standing dispute between Uruguay and Argentine authorities. Argentina alleges the pulp industry processing system is contaminating, regardless of what environmental reports indicate.
Argentina also claims the installation of the plant is at odds with a bilateral agreement dating back to the 1970s regarding joint management and initiatives on the Uruguay river, and that the Botnia project was carried out without first consulting with Buenos Aires.
Numerous studies, many of which have been carried out by international organizations, show that the river’s waters have not been altered by activities at the pulp mill.
Related web site: International Court of Justice – Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v. Uruguay)
Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 30 Oct 2009
Business News Americas – Water & Waste
