Latinosan is held every three years.

Latinosan 2013 consists of two events: a technical conference and a meeting of senior officials that will result in the Declaration of Panama.

Main topics:

• the status of sanitation at regional and country levels
• institutions and public policy
• human rights and sustainable development
• post-2015 goals: regional and global

For more information visit the conference website: latinosanpanama2013.com (Spanish only)

Woman in Chuquiaguillo siphoning water from tank to fill jerry cans. Photo: Erma Uytewaal, IRC.

A Dutch-funded project aims to bring piped drinking water to peri-urban neighbourhoods of the Bolivian capital La Paz. What will determine its success? Is it the inhabitants’ willingness and ability to pay for improved water services? No, the biggest threat to the sustainability of the project is the lack of a national sector strategy that clearly outlines how to finance the full costs of service delivery.

At present, the 125,000 inhabitants of the Chuquiaguillo sub-district have to rely on a network of plastic/flexible tubes providing untreated water through public taps. Or they get water from water tankers and unprotected springs.

“Network of plastic/flexible tubes providing untreated water” in Chuquiaguillo. Photo: Erma Uytewaal, IRC.

The Chuquiaguillo Water Supply Service Improvement and Extension Project will connect 25,000 homes to a new water supply system by 2015. The system consists of a water treatment plant and 50 km of distribution pipes. The project wants to ensure that services are sustained long after the infrastructure is in place. The IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre contributed to this aim by supporting consultants Royal HaskoningDHV to carry out a socio-economic feasibility study of the Chuquiaguillo project. The study examined the pro-poor impact of the project and the ability and willingness of the poor to pay for the services.

Royal HaskoningDHV and water operator Vitens Evides International (VEI) are advising Bolivia’s state-run water utility EPSAS to implement the Chuquiaguillo project. It faces several technical and environmental challenges due to the difference in altitude between the water reservoir and the service area, and climate change (for more details see the NL Agency website).  The project is being financed by the Facility for Infrastructure Development (ORIO), a grant scheme operated by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Critical for the project’s sustainability is a national sector strategy that clearly outlines how to finance the full costs of service delivery. As it stands now, tariffs only cover direct operations and some maintenance costs. In line with the present governments’ pro-poor policy, service providers apply a solidarity tariff for the first 10 cubic metres of water. However, it is unclear how the solidarity tariff will be subsidised. This needs to be clarified in a sector financing strategy, which also promotes a life-cycle costs approach (LCCA) in which all costs for capital expenditure, capital maintenance, and direct and indirect support are covered.

The social action plan, to be implemented by EPSAS, will also contribute to the sustainability of the project. Enhanced transparency and accountability are important elements of the plan. This refers to  performance indicators on service levels provided, cost recovery, investments, customer satisfaction, and operation and maintenance (O&M).

For more information contact Erma Uytewaal

For more on IRC’s activities in Latin America go to: www.irc.nl/page/36926

For more on the Life-cycle costs approach go to: www.washcost.info

For more on sustainable service delivery go to: www.waterservicesthatlast.org

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 8,400 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 14 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Vivienda minister Germán Vargas Lleras and Bucaramanga state water utility (AMB) general manager Ludwig Stünkel García at a public event. Photo: Julián Sabogal. MVCT

The Acueducto Metropolitano de Bucaramanga (AMB) is now the 5th certified public utility sanctioned by the Colombian government to approve water and sanitation projects.

In a press release the  housing, cities and land ministry (MVCT) said new legislation approved in 2012 had made this delegation of powers to municipal water utilities. The ministry said this cuts red tape so that projects can be approved faster.

Previous certified public water utilities were Aguas de Cartagena, Empopasto, Aguas de Manizales and Empresas Públicas de Armenia.

Related websites:

• MVCT - Viceministerio de Agua y Saneamiento
• IRC/Triple-S – Water services that last – Colombia overview

Source: MVCT [in Spanish], 06 Dec 2012 ; BNamericas.com / WaterWorld.com, 06 Dec 2012

Organised by: Fundación Chile and Diario Financiero, in collaboration with  AIDIS, DesalData, Global Water Intelligence, and The Nature Conservancy

This first Water Week Latinoamérica (WWLA) provides a platform for sharing water-related experiences and practices among the scientific, business, political, and civil society.

Topics include: 1) Water & Industry, 2) Water & Food Security, 3) Water Supply & Sanitation, 4) Water Governance, 5) New Water Supply, 6) Water & Conservation, 7) Water & Energy & Climate Change, and 8) Transboundary Basins.

Abstract deadline: 09 November 2012

Contact for further information and participation possibilities: hsorasahi@fundacionchile.cl

Website: www.waterweekla.com

Water supply in Cuchumuela. Photo: José Rocha, Los Tiempos

Villa Gualberto Villarroel, better known as Cuchumuela, is the first municipality in Bolivia to achieve 100 percent water coverage. Official recognition for their achievement came from Bolivia’s water and environment ministry MMAyA. It is the story of a successful partnership between local government, communities and an international NGO, Water for People.

According to Mayor Oscar Terrazas, the foundation for achieving water for all 2,000 inhabitants of Cuchumuela was laid in 1996 when Bolivia passed the law on popular participation (Ley de Participación Popular). This gave local government and communities the power to set their own priorities for local services. Each of the 15 autonomous communities in Cuchumuela is responsible for the financial management and maintenance of their fully metered water system.

Cuchumela did not do it alone. They got support from “Everyone, forever” NGO Water For People, which helped construct the first water system in one community 5 years ago. Unlike other NGOs, Water for People didn’t take “a pretty picture for donors” and then leave. They implemented an annual sustainability-monitoring programme and stayed on until the last remote households got connected. And in between they still made a pretty video.

What is the next challenge for Cuchumela? For the head of community development in Cuchumela, Juan Carlos Villca, it is achieving 100 percent sanitation coverage, up from the current level of 80 percent.

See also: Water for People – Community-Based Leadership Ensures Sustainability

Source:

• Gabriel Caero Rodríguez, En Cuchu Muela 100% de la población tiene agua, Los Tiempos, 28 Oct 2012
• Kate Fogelberg, Raising a Clean Glass of Water in Bolivia, PSI Healthy Lives, 02 Nov 2012

Photo: IRC

NGO “Give to Colombia” will implement several pilot projects that will serve as models for the Rural Water Supply and Wastewater Management Program in Colombia. This large-scale programme is financed with the help of a US$ 60 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The pilot projects have four components:

• School water, sanitation and hygiene promotion (SWASH), which will implement and evaluate UNICEF’s model for SWASH interventions in at least 25 rural public schools
• Post-construction support and the sustainability of rural water projects with a focus on innovative financial models
• Sustainable models for the financing and provision of household connections
• Sustainable self-supply models for disperse rural communities

The AquaFund and Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction are financing the pilot projects. Contributors to the Aquafund are IDB, the governments of Switzerland and Austria, and the PepsiCo Foundation.

The pilot projects will cost about US$ 2.1 million. The implementing agency Give to Colombia (G2C) receives resources from the Embassy of Japan and the General Electric Foundation. PepsiCo Colombia is supporting the dissemination of the innovative models being developed in the projects.

In 2011, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre and CINARA carried out a study on behalf of IDB, about post-construction support on rural water supply services in Colombia [1]. The study [2] shows that those service providers that receive more structured support perform better.

[1] IADB publishes report on post-construction support on rural water supply services in Colombia, IRC, 21 Aug 2012 ; Webinar – Impacts of post-construction support on the performance of rural water supply in Colombia, IRC,

[2] Smits, S. et al., 2012. Gobernanza y sostenibilidad de los sistemas de agua potable y saneamiento rurales en Colombia. (Monografia; IDB-MG-133). [online] Washington, DC, USA: Inter-American Development Bank. Available at: <http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=36986189>

Related websites:

• IDB – Rural Water Supply and Wastewater Management Program (CO-L1105)
• IDB – AquaFund
• Give to Colombia (G2C)
• IRC – Triple-S/Water services that last – Colombia

Source: Latin American Herald Tribune, 10 Oct 2012 ; IDB, 02 Oct 2012

The conference aims to share information about innovative waste treatment technologies such as composting toilets and bio-systems, among NGOs and the Haitian government.

Agenda:

• Overview of National Sanitation Strategy presented by DINEPA’s Sanitation Office (DA)
• Presentations of lessons learned from previous projects and ongoing sustainable sanitation projects in Haiti
• Ateliers focused on different components of sustainable sanitation
• Stakeholder feedback
• Open forum to discuss National Standards for Composting Toilets and Biogas
• Production of a public document summarizing the findings of the conference

SOIL, US-registered non profit, has been promoting ecological sanitation solutions in Haiti since 2006.

For the full announcement and more information go to: www.oursoil.org/national-sustainable-sanitation-conference

Woman at Leogane camp saying the latrines behind her are full and smell foul. Photo credit: Haiti Grassroots Watch

Haiti should focus on stemming the cholera outbreak that has killed more than 7,000 people since 2010, rather than on levying blame against the source of the disease, UN special envoy to Haiti, Bill Clinton, said. While studies have suggested that the cholera came from a Nepalese soldier serving as a peacekeeper, Clinton pointed out that the country’s lack of proper sanitation was the real cause of the outbreak. [1]

In November 2011, the Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) filed a demand for hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation from Haitian cholera victims. [2]

Money to empty refugee camp toilets has run out

Clinton’s own foundation, together with UNICEF and USAID, supplied some 11,000 mobile toilets for the refugee camps that emerged after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The NGOs that distributed the toilets and paid for them to be emptied are now pulling out one by one, leaving overflowing toilets behind, according to an IPS report. [3]

Donor funds are being used to set up excreta treatment centres, one is now in operation in Morne-à-Cabri while a second centre is planned for Titanye, but these are not servicing the remaining refugee camps, home to nearly half a million people.

Related news:

• Haiti: study suggests UN force source of cholera strain that killed 5,500 people, E-Source, 15 Jul 2011
• Humanitarian crises and sustainable sanitation: lessons from Eastern Chad, Sanitation Updates, 16 Mar 2012

Related web sites:

• Practical Action – Water & Sanitation Resources for Recovery and Reconstruction
• Haiti Reconstruction Fund
• WHO – Cholera

Sources:

• [1] AP, Former President Clinton urges officials to stem Haiti cholera outbreak, Washington Post, 07 Mar 2012
• [2] Haiti: cholera victims demand UN compensation, Sanitation Updates, 09 Nov 2011
• [3] Phares Jerome and Valery Daudier, Money for cleaning toilets in Haiti down the drain? – Part 1, IPS, 07 Mar 2012

The program will pay for the works within the property, such as labor and material, to make the connection.The goal is to encourage low-income families to connect their homes to the sewer system, because when there is no domestic connection to sewage they pour in fresh water bodies causing damage to the environment and health of the population.

The program is coordinated by the Secretary of Sanitation and Water Resources of the State, Edson Giriboni.

Post sent by SSRH press office
Guilherme Hungria