Uzbekistan deposited the instrument of accession to the UNECE-WHO/Europe Protocol on Water and Health on the 2nd of January, becoming the 29th national party to the Protocol as well as the first country in Central Asia to join this treaty. The Protocol is the first international agreement of its kind adopted specifically to attain universal access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation for everyone, against a background in which water management places emphasis on the effective protection of water that is used as a source of drinking water. Accession to the Protocol, UNECE states, is expected to serve as a catalyst to further drive and streamline national action on water, sanitation, hygiene and health with the aim of ensuring access and protecting the growing population of Uzbekistan against water-borne disease and in a changing climate.

The Protocol on Water and Health is an additional protocol to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes which was originally  been developed to regulate and manage shared water resources in the European Region, but which has since 2013 been opened for accession by countries outside the European region. This significantly enhances its potential to become a source for international water law. The Convention has recently gained a significant hold on the African continent. The Protocol on Water and Health provides a practical framework to translate into practice the human rights to water and sanitation and to implement SDG 6.

Speaking on the subject of Uzbekistan’s proposed accession last year, Ms. Olga Mirshina from the Ministry of Health in Uzbekistan stated that the country is faced with continuous increases in water consumption for domestic, industrial and agricultural purposes. The government has made water a priority issue and is engaged in the process of implementing measures to ensure the protection of the population against diseases and the development of sanitary conditions. This involves government efforts to achieve progress in the improvement of the quality of drinking water and to protect drinking water sources from contamination from various sources. Uzbekistan is therefore investing in the modernization of water supply and sanitation services. This has been supported by policy development aimed at reforming the water and sanitation sector, which has taken place since 2017.

Uzbekistan faces significant water challenges: about 90% of the water resources of the country originate from outside the country, of which the main sources are the Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers, and the remaining 10% is from internal rivers and groundwater. However, per capita water availability has declined from 3048 m³/capita/annum in 1994 to 1438 m³ /c/a currently, as a result of both population growth and climate change. The agricultural sector accounts for a whopping 90,6% of water demand, and therefore reduction of agricultural water demand is essential to enable increased supply of water for domestic purposes.  A lot of effort has recently been placed on improving information systems and enhancing Integrated Water Resources Management to optimize water usage. In the area of water services, the share of the population with access to a centralised water supply system has increased from 66.6% in 2005 to 69.6% in 2022. However, there are still large geographical disparities in access: according to WHO/UNICEF, 71% of the rural population has access to safe drinking water as compared to 89% in urban areas, and only 32% of domestic wastewater is being safely treated. The Protocol includes tools such as the equitable access scorecard, which helps to target inequalities in access across a country.

At the occasion of the accession, UNECE Executive Secretary Tatiana Molcean stated : “I welcome Uzbekistan’s accession to the Protocol on Water and Health, which will help put the commitment to uphold the human rights to water and sanitation into action. I encourage all countries in Central Asia and all UNECE member States to join this practical instrument, which is especially important to strengthen the resilience of water and health services to climate change”. 

As a new Party to the Protocol, the country commits to set integrated targets on water, sanitation, hygiene and health, with a focus on climate impacts, and to regularly report on progress in achieving those targets.

On January 10th, a Southern New York District Court Judge ruled that Danone, a French multinational company which produces bottled water (amongst others), must face a lawsuit related to its claims that its Evian brand of bottled water sold in the United States is “carbon neutral”. In October 2022, a class action lawsuit had been filed by plaintiff Stephanie Dorris on behalf of consumers of Evian water. On the label of Evian water, the plaintiff submitted, Danone states that the product is ‘carbon neutral’.

 The complaint argued that reasonable consumers, reading the product’s label and packaging, would believe that the manufacturing of the product is sustainable and does not leave a carbon footprint based on Defendant’s representations.  However, the plaintiff argued that the manufacturing of the product still causes carbon dioxide (CO₂) to be released into the atmosphere. Therefore, it was argued,  the carbon neutral claim is false and misleading and if consumers had known this, they would not have purchased the product or paid substantially less for it.

The complaint noted that there is a growing concern related to the climate crisis in which some 78% of the world’s population are increasingly feeling the collective threat of man-made damage to the planet. Greenhouse gases from human activities are the most significant drivers of climate change, and CO₂ is the primary gas emitted through human activities. There is widespread acknowledgement that climate change constitutes a crisis, and Americans are experiencing this directly through, amongst others, the destruction of homes as a result of wildfires, decreasing air quality, extreme heat and downpours which are affecting infrastructure, increased risk of erosion and flooding for coastal communities, and diminished food security.

As a result, consumers are increasingly turning to sustainable products: 70% of the population in the United States and Canada think that it is important if a brand is eco-friendly or sustainable, and a majority would be willing to pay up to 35% more for eco-friendly brands. However, this desire to consume environmentally products has set in motion and adverse market process known as ‘greenwashing’, whereby producers convey a false impression or provide misleading information about the environmental impact of their products. Companies which engage in greenwashing typically exaggerate their claims or the benefits in an attempt to mislead consumers.

In the case of the claim that products are carbon neutral, a majority of consumers have difficulty in identifying precisely what the term means in relation to a product. In addition, many companies do not in fact produce sustainably but rather engage in “offsetting” carbon emissions, whereby they support projects that reduce carbon emissions in order to make up for emissions that occur elsewhere. However, a large number of carbon offset schemes have been found to have brought gains that are quickly reversed or which are difficult to accurately measure.

Danone has responded so far by stating that the complaint defies common sense and reason. The claim made by the plaintiff is subjective, and the product has a carbon neutral certification based on current professional standards. The lawyers acting on behalf of Danone state that the product’s label accurately informs consumers that the Carbon Trust, an independent third party with a rigorous assessment process and standards, has certified the product as ‘carbon neutral’. It is unreasonable, they argue, to assume that the product “magically arrived from the French Alps to their homes without the emission of even a molecule of carbon dioxide “. If a consumer should visit the Evian website, it would discover that the Danone products sold in the U.S. and Canada were certified as carbon neutral in accordance with the international standard ‘PAS 2060’ by the Carbon Trust. This label is based both on ongoing efforts by the company to reduce emissions in its operations and on offset projects into which the company invests.

On December 13, 2023, a broad consortium of partners co-convened a side event at the 2023 Colorado River Water Users Association (CRWUA) annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada to launch the North American Section of the Women in Water Diplomacy Network. The initial aim of the North American Network is to establish a regional Network across the Americas anchored in the Colorado River and Indigenous leadership in alignment with the Network’s ‘Path Forward for Women, Water, Peace and Security’ Global Strategy and objectives. The milestone event was attended by approximately 150 water policy experts and decision makers from a broad spectrum of stakeholder communities across the Colorado Basin including strong representation from Indigenous communities as well as Mexican representatives.

The event program began with sharing of meaningful traditional songs and bird dance about the Colorado River from Rosa Long, Vice-Chairwoman at The Cocopah Indian Tribe and Alonso Pesado, Cocopah Bird Singer and former Chairman. The Cocopah nation, also known as the River People, live in both Arizona and Mexico on both sides of the Colorado River in an area known locally as Pozas Arivisu.

Dr. Sharon B. Megdal, Director of the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona followed with an enthusiastic welcome and reflection on the unique landmark launch event. Dr. Megdal shared her experiences of interacting and engaging with the Women in Water Diplomacy Network and her motivation – shared by many in the room – to establish such a Network in North America. Dr. Megdal thanked the extensive group of donors that enabled the launch event to take place and encouraged participants to consider how their organizations can contribute to the development and sustainability of the Network beyond the launch event.

Elizabeth A. Koch, Environmental Law Institute and Process Support Lead for the Women in Water Diplomacy Network then provided a brief introduction to water diplomacy, emphasizing the many different entry points to water diplomacy and breadth of actors needed as part of decision-making processes to foster sustainable solutions. According to Elizabeth, the primary motivation for the development of the Network is on strong evidence that despite the importance of inclusive processes and the disproportionate impact of water and climate insecurity, women water decision makers are extremely under-represented globally – and at various scales in North America as well. Elizabeth shared some milestones from the Women in Water Diplomacy Network’s inception and development in the Nile Basin, the launch of the Global Strategy ‘A Path Forward for Women, Water, Peace and Security’ and expansion of the Network into Central Asia-Afghanistan, Southern African basins and now the Americas as well as some of the Network’s publications and resources of interest to stakeholders looking to learn more about the Network. Elizabeth closed her short presentation by encouraging North American women water experts to consider joining the Women in Water Diplomacy Network’s Second Global Network Forum taking place in Vienna March 4-8, 2024.

The event featured several high-level speakers who shared their reflections and their motivation for supporting the establishment of the North American Women in Water Diplomacy Network. Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IWBC) spoke first, sending greetings from her Mexican counterpart Commissioner Adriana Resendez who was unable to join due to urgent needs in the basin. Commissioner Giner recognized the many women water decisionmakers who had succeeded in breaking through a male dominated sector to enable more women to take up decision making roles today. She recognized the role of reception attendee Jayne Harkins, the first woman Commissioner of the IBWC, noting the unique significance tof the fact that IBWC was for the first time being led by two women Commissioners.

Commissioner Giner shared the IBWC’s experience of participating with the Women in Water Diplomacy Network at the UN Water Conference and expressed support in nurturing the development of the unique network.

Lorelei Cloud, Vice Chair of the Southern Ute Tribal Council and Co-chair of the Indigenous Women’s Leadership Network, followed sharing passionate remarks and reflections of the value of partnering across the basin to highlight women’s voices, knowledge, and experience in water governance. Lorelei emphasized the importance of elevating Indigenous women’s water knowledge and shared experience from her recent participation at the 2023 World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden where she spoke alongside other Indigenous women water leaders. Lorelei shared the Indigenous Women’s Leadership Network’s commitment to support the development of the North American Women in Water Diplomacy Network, highlighting the role the global Network can serve the IWLN in enabling global experience exchange.

Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton of the United States Bureau of Reclamation shared her enthusiasm for the launch of the North American Women in Water Diplomacy Network reflecting on the past support from the Department of Interior and Bureau of Reclamation for the Network. She then shared a personal reflection on her role as the second Senate-confirmed Commissioner of the Bureau, emphasizing the importance of modeling leadership for young professionals and girls.

Canadian Commissioner Merrell-Ann Phare of the International Joint Commission spoke to the assembled participants via a pre-recorded video message, sharing her congratulations on the launch event and the support of the International Joint Commission in advancing the establishment of the North American Women in Water Diplomacy Network. Commissioner Phare reflected on her experience of interacting and learning with Network members from around the world at the Network’s first Global Network Forum in 2022 and the value of the Network’s shared objectives. Commissioner Phare further shared reflections on the role that the Network had in supporting broad engagement of women water decision makers at the UN Water Conference including leading Indigenous water experts. The full recording of Commissioner Phare’s remarks are available here.

Jennifer Pitt, the Colorado River Program Director at the National Audubon Society then provided an opportunity for event participants to share some quick reflections as part of the session’s ‘open mic’ section. Many participants were eager to share their support for the Network, including amongst others Governor Stephen Roe Lewis of the Gila River Indian Tribes, Rebecca (Becky) Mitchell of Colorado, Gabriela Caloca Michel of Pronatura Noroeste, Mexico, and Leslie Meyers, Chief Water Executive of the Salt River Project.

Dr. Megdal closed the event echoing the overwhelming support for the launch event, calling for partners to invest financial resources in the further development of the Network, and highlighting the Elizabeth’s role as coordinator of the growing global Network. She further shared final remarks on behalf of Chairwoman Amelia Flores, who was unable to join the launch at the last moment, highlighting the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) support for the North American Women in Water Diplomacy Network.

In addition to the formal program, the event enabled much needed informal networking among women water leaders from across the Colorado Basin, encouraged reflection on the unique value of engagements specifically targeting women water leaders and provided opportunity for young women water professionals to interact with more senior women water leaders. During the informal aspects of the program, a photo loop playing in the background showcased statements of support for the Women in Water Diplomacy Network from contributing partners and sponsors.  

From filtering water to mitigating climate change and supporting livelihoods, wetland ecosystems provide vital services that sustain us.

Wetlands are essential, unique, biodiverse, ecosystems. They may be saltwater or freshwater, inland or coastal, natural, or human-made, permanent, or temporary, static, or flowing. Currently, wetlands cover about 6% of the Earth’s land surface.

Yet, wetlands are the Earth’s most threatened ecosystem. Two-thirds of the world’s largest rivers are no longer free-flowing. Wetlands continue to be lost three times faster than forests. Human activities like drainage, conversion, and damming have fragmented and damaged wetlands the world over. And in 2023, we felt the effects of lost and degraded wetlands on our wellbeing.

Overexploitation of groundwater for intensive and illegal agriculture left Doñana, one of Europe’s largest remaining wetlands, facing a severe drought, harming legitimate farmers and their crops as well as a horde of local and migratory fauna. Rapid urbanisation led to the encroachment of riverbanks and marshlands, flooding Chennai, one of India’s largest cities. Lithium mining in the High Andean wetlands of South America threatened the availability of freshwater for local farmers and the iconic flamingo. Lakes and rivers in the Amazon rainforest dried up in ways we have never seen before, affecting the hundreds of thousands of people who rely on it for food, water, and transportation.

Going further back, in 2022, China’s largest river the Yangtze, reached such low levels that if affected hydroelectric power generation and river transportation. A similar fate affected the Mississippi, forcing the government to dredge the river just so barges could float. Dams and other ill-advised economic development projects have degraded Sahelian wetlands, threatening lives and livelihoods and causing people to migrate. In Indonesia, the clearing of mangrove forests has left its coasts more vulnerable to storm surges and sea level rise.

Degraded wetlands have a compounding adverse impact on our welfare, affecting our access to clean water, disrupting our livelihoods, and impacting the delicate balance of ecosystems that are essential to us.

It is amply evident that the loss and degradation of wetlands over the past few years has affected us negatively, and even disproportionately, with vulnerable communities and ecosystems bearing a heavier burden than others. Even over the next decade, climate and environmental risks are predicted to be in the top 5 threats to affect us.

But the good news is that investing in wetlands is investing in human wellbeing.

Wetlands are nature’s own solution to the climate emergency. They capture and store more atmospheric carbon than any other ecosystem on Earth. Peatlands, though covering only 3% of the planet’s surface, store about 30% of land-based carbon. Coastal blue carbon ecosystems like mangroves, seagrass beds, and salt marshes account for approximately half of the total carbon sequestered in ocean sediments. 

Wetlands protect us from the effects of climate change. Mangroves and other coastal wetlands safeguard shorelines against storm surges and sea level rise. Peatlands act like sponges, regulating the flow of water and reducing the impacts of both droughts and floods. In fact, an acre of wetland can store up to 1.5 million gallons of floodwater.

Wetlands also provide nearly all our freshwater. Even though Earth is a “blue planet,” less than three percent of its water is fresh, and most of that is inaccessible. In fact, only about 0.3 percent of our fresh water is found in the surface water of lakes, rivers, and swamps – which are all wetlands. Wetland soils and plants filter bacteria, viruses, and metals, cleaning the waters that pass through them. Wetlands are so central to the water cycle that a world without wetlands would be a world without freshwater.

From the Indus Valley Civilization in South Asia to the Mayan Civilisation in Central America, wetlands have underpinned human development for thousands of years and can continue to do so in a sustainable manner. They provide more than one billion livelihoods across the world – through aquaculture, crop production, transport, and tourism. Fish harvested from wetlands provide the primary source of protein for more than one billion people and rice paddies feed 3.5 billion people annually. A report by WWF estimates the annual economic value of water and freshwater ecosystems to be USD58 trillion – equivalent to 60% of global GDP. Urban wetlands can also support local biodiversity while providing space for citizens to connect with nature and improve their mental and physical health.

It is abundantly clear that healthy wetlands are at the centre of human wellbeing and prosperity. Wetlands exist in every country and restoring them while addressing the drivers of their loss should therefore be a priority for all governments.
 

Teboho Joala, an executive member of South Africa’s Rand Water Board, was shot dead in full view of hundreds of primary school children on the 29th of January. The incident took place at Zakarriya Park Community Centre in the south of Johannesburg, where Rand Water was hosting a ‘back to school ‘ event at which it was handing out school uniforms. In the attack, Joala’s bodyguard was also killed and the City of Johannesburg’s Chief Whip, Sthembiso Zungu, was wounded. Two other bodyguards were also wounded in the attack. The chairperson of Rand Water board, Ramateu Monyokolo, and Rand Water CEO Sipho Mosai, were not present at the event at the time of the shooting. It is reported that they escaped assassination because they were running late to attend the event.

Rand Water is the largest bulk water utility in Africa, providing bulk potable water to more than 11 million people over a supply area of 18,000 km² across three of South Africa’s provinces. Its executive members were accompanied by four bodyguards each as there had reportedly been threats to their lives for some time.

While Rand Water traditionally supplies bulk water to municipalities, it had recently changed its business model and is becoming directly involved in retail service delivery on behalf of municipalities. The quality of the water delivery infrastructure for Johannesburg and surroundings has been declining over the past decades, with regular water cut-offs for some areas. In response, Rand Water started introducing ‘water shifting’, in which the utility shifts water supply from one area to another to ensure a more equitable supply across the supply region – thereby reducing the reliability of water supplies in areas which until now had secure supplies.

It is alleged that conflicts over the allocation of contracts lies at the heart of the attack on the utility. The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) has expressed concern over the killing, with SALGA President Bheke Stofile warning of the risk of South Africa being subjected to mafia-style incidents. He stated that since the publication of the findings of the Moerane Commission which investigated political killings in the province of Kwazulu Natal, SALGA has repeatedly expressed concern about a tendency to resort to violence and has written directly to the State President to request him to intervene and attend to such killings as a matter of priority.       

On the 26th of January, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take prompt and decisive action to address the living conditions of the Palestinian people living in Gaza. This included the instruction to desist from “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction” as well as to take all measures to prevent the deprivation of access to adequate food and water.

The court ruling followed the submission on the 29th of december 2023 by the Republic of South Africa of an application to the  International Court of Justice to institute proceedings against the State of Israel to institute proceedings under the Genocide Convention and to indicate of provisional measures. The application  concerned acts and omissions by the State of Israel which include killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.  South Africa specifically requested the President of the Court to expedite the proceedings to protect the Palestinian people in Gaza by calling upon Israel immediately to halt all military attacks that constitute or give rise to violations of the Genocide Convention. Both Israel and South Africa and Israel are parties to the convention, having acceded respectively in 1950 and 1998.

South Africa accuses Israel of committing seven different kind of genocidal acts, which include deprivation of access to adequate food and water and the deprivation of access to adequate sanitation. On the 9th of October, for instance, Israel declared a “complete siege” on Gaza, allowing no electricity, no food, no water and no fuel to enter the strip. Under international pressure, Israel has allowed more humanitarian aid into the Gaza strip, but this aid is well below the 500 trucks a day allowed in before the conflict began, and according to the UN Secretary General, “the conditions for the effective delivery of aid no longer exist”. According to the Egyptian Red Crescent, the way in which Israel is conducting its campaign is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid. South Africa argues that together with forced displacement, Israel’s conduct has been deliberately calculated to cause widespread hunger, dehydration and starvation. The South African application again cites the UN Secretary General when he pointed out that “four out of five of the hungriest people anywhere in the world are in Gaza”. During the hearing t the International Court of Justice in the Hague, the South African counsel stated that “more people in Gaza will die from hunger and diseases than from airstrikes”.

Israel, the South African counsel argued, has created conditions in which the population of Gaza are denied adequate shelter, clothes or sanitation, and in which clean water is all but gone, leaving behind an amount far below that required to safely drink, clean and cook. Israel continues to cut off water from Northern Gaza, and the north’s desalination plant is no longer functioning. Although Israel did retore a limited flow of water to the south, the damage to water infrastructure is such that most of the water system is in fact inoperable. South Africa quotes the World Food Programme as having stated that has reported that there is only 1.5 to 1.8 litres of clean water available per person per day, for all uses (drinking, washing, food preparation, sanitation and hygiene), which is far below the international ‘emergency threshold’ of 15 litres per day which can be temporarily accepted for war or famine-like conditions. The lack of water has a specific detrimental impact on lactating women, who require a supply of 7.5 litres of water a day for drinking, sanitation and hygiene to keep themselves and their babies healthy.

The recent attacks on water infrastructure and limitations on supply of water to the Gaza strip are a further development in a context in which Israel has for many years hindered the creation and repair of water installation and desalinisation plants in Gaza. This has resulted in a situation in which 95 per cent of water from Gaza’s sole aquifer was already unsuitable for consumption prior to 7 October 2023. Finally, South Africa has pointed to the intent by the Israeli army to flood the tunnels under Gaza with sea water, an act which risks creating an ecological catastrophe which would leave Gaza with no drinkable water.

In the field of sanitation and hygiene, South Africa argues that the forced displacement and concentration of internally displaced population groups into overfull shelters with high risks of epidemic diseases -   for instance, the UNRWA’s shelters now have on average 486 people using a single toilet, while the WHO estimates that there is only one shower per 4,500 people. Palestinians are unable to maintain personal hygiene, with menstruating girls, women and newly born children being particularly impacted.

To build its case related to genocidal intent, South Africa refers to the fact that 15 United Nations Special Rapporteurs and 21 members of UN working groups have warned that what is happening in Gaza reflects a genocide in the making. This specifically includes “the deliberate creation of conditions that lead to a slow death”.

This intent, South Africa states, has been explicitly stated by the most senior representatives of the Israeli government and army.

Lawyers for Israel responded to the South African claims by stating that South Africa had put forward a profoundly distorted factual and legal picture. The entirety of the case, the lawyers stated, hinges on a deliberately curated, decontextualized and manipulative description of the reality of the hostilities. It is also impossible to understand the conflict in Gaza without understanding the nature of the threat that Israel is facing. If there have been acts that are genocidal, these have been perpetrated against Israel. Israel has the inherent right, acknowledge by states across the world, to defend itself and its citizens and to secure the release of the hostage taken by Hamas. The request by South Africa therefore to request the court to institute provisional measures is to deny Israel its inherent right to defend itself.

Given Israel’s history, Tal Becker, the legal counsel to the government of Israel stated, it was not surprising that Israel was one of the first countries to ratify the Genocide Convention when it was adopted, and to incorporate its provisions into its legal system. Israel, he stated, did not start or want this war. Israel is defending itself against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other organisations. Civilian suffering in this war is tragic as it is in all wars, and this is made more so by the strategy of Hamas to maximise civilian casualties, while Israel seeks to minimize them. Hamas has turned swathes of civilian infrastructure into a stronghold and has entrenched itself within the civilian population, making civilian suffering an integral part of its strategy. Therefore, Israel argues, the suffering of civilians is an integral part of this strategy.  

On the 16th of January, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released its World Report 2024 which makes mention of direct attacks on water infrastructure by parties to the conflict in Yemen. According to HRW, both Houthi and Yemeni government forces have violated residents’ right to water in the governorate of Taizz since the Houthis laid siege to it 2015. In fact, the division of the governorate between Houthi armed forces and Yemeni government forces has been in place since 2015, and according to HRW, control over water resources has been a centerpiece of the conflict. Separately, the UN reports  that research at Sanaa University has indicated that 70-80 of conflicts in Yemen are over water.

In its December 2023 report on the situation in Taizz, HRW notes that of the water sources, facilities, and services that Taizz residents previously relied on are inoperable due to war-inflicted damage, salinization issues, or continuous electricity outages due to a lack of fuel that causes water pumps to cease functioning. While the combined capacity of water sources in Taizz before the conflict is estimated at 23,070 m³/day, this has declined to 4,760 m³/day currently.

Two of the five river basins supplying Taizz governorate with water, states HRW, are under control of the Houthi forces. Two others are on the frontlines of the conflict. The Yemeni government controls the boreholes in and around Taizz city. Houthi forces have prevented the water resources under their control from flowing into government controlled Taizz city. Meanwhile, HRW reports that government forces have taken direct control over wells in Taizz city and are selling the water to citizens for their own profit.    

In 2022, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) highlighted a combination of underinvestment in water infrastructure and the protracted conflict as the two main causes of the water crisis in Yemen. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reported last year that an estimated 21.8 million people in Yemen (some two thirds of the population) were in need of humanitarian aid 17.8 million people lack access to safe drinking water.  

A 2024 study has found that rapid handpump repair has a powerful effect on the reduction of diarrhoea amongst children. The study, conducted in Kwale County, Kenya, found that diarrhea among children  was lower in households whose pumps had been repaired within 24 hours.

Handpumps are a key tool in rural water supply: millions have been installed across the world. They are relatively cheap, mostly easy to repair, and provide a form of reliable and safe community water supply. However, studies show that more than 25% of handpumps are out of order at any one time.  The repair of handpumps is therefore a key element in ensuring safely managed water supplies around the world. This is all the more critical for the health of children: in fact, the risk of children under the age of five years old succumbing to fatal diseases is 11% higher among children living in households with access to unimproved water sources.

The research team from Oxford University, the University of Miami, the NHS Trust, and the London School of Hygiene wanted assess whether improved maintenance of rural handpumps also lead to improved household health outcomes. This could be tested in Kwale County in Kenya, where the introduction of a professional maintenance service had led to impressive results, with 90% of handpump faults repaired within 3 days of being reported.

The team took a sample of households using handpumps as their primary water source in Kwale County and measured the 2-week prevalence of diarrhea in children, as reported by adults int eh households in question. They compared the rates of diarrhea before and after a period during which the households' handpumps were being professionally maintained. They found that diarrhea in children was lower in households whose pumps had been repaired within 24 hours. By contrast, no reduction was seen in households whose pump repairs took more than 24 hours.

The researchers come to the conclusion that only pump repairs which are made consistently within 24 hours of failure lead to a reduction in diarrhea in children of families using the handpumps. The effect on child health is substantial, but this has strong implications for handpump management. There are very significant operational challenges of guaranteeing same-day repairs, and therefore achieving improvements in child health places high standards on village handpump maintenance.

At the 7th edition of the International Water Association’s (IWA’s) Water and Development Congress and Exhibition (WDCE), governments and other stakeholders shared views on new approaches with the potential to accelerate progress in the field of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). The conference, held in Kigali, Rwanda in mid-December 2023, took place against the background of a general recognition that the world is not on track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water and sanitation. This is particularly true of sanitation, as the achievements in the area of safely managed sanitation tend to lag behind those of safely managed water supplies. In 2021, the IWA noted that while 29% of the world’s population lack access to potable water, 55% of the world population lack access to safely managed sanitation services.  The only target, which is on track for sanitation, is ending open defecation.

The sanitation sector, therefore, is in need of clarity on the ways in which progress can be accelerated. In this regard the WDCE was an insightful exchange of views, and Ms. Marisa Boller, Eng. Ronald Sakaya and Dr. George Wainaina, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) were on site. They drew the following lessons from the event for the wider WASH community.       

Firstly, while a lot of emphasis has historically been placed on centralised sanitation systems, in fact, there is a lot of promise held by the examples of decentralised systems. In this respect it would be advisable to pilot and scale up decentralised sanitation systems and optimize onsite models (e.g. scheduled emptying of fecal sludge stored in on-site systems) in urban low-income areas currently lacking adequate access.

Secondly, leveraging investment, knowledge and buy-in from the private sector is important. This could be applied to partnerships that have an inclusive and citywide approach. Therefore, it is important to facilitate the establishment of public-private partnerships between municipalities, donors, communities, and enterprises to develop inclusive sanitation infrastructure and service delivery models.

Thirdly, climate resilient sanitation infrastructure requires financing, and in order to achieve this, the business model for infrastructure development needs to be clear. Partnerships as explained above could support this. It is therefore necessary to develop the capacity to design bankable proposals for climate financing by assessing and integrating resilience needs into designs of sanitation infrastructure projects and business models. Closely related, sanitation service providers need to be trained on business models integrating resource recovery/reuse using treatment by-products to enhance financial viability.

Fourthly, ensuring climate resilience for sanitation is essential. Many countries have national regulators - public authorities responsible for applying and enforcing standards, criteria, rules, and requirements for utilities, which are providing water and sanitation services - and they should be involved in boosting the climate resilience of the sanitation sector. In this context it is important to develop the capacity of regulators and policymakers on emergent climate resilience strategies and technologies in order to support regulators to incorporate these into sanitation planning and regulation.

Fifth, in order to maintain and upgrade sanitation infrastructure, the availability of accurate and timely information on the condition of services is critical. This information needs to be held up against national sanitation standards to assess areas for intervention. Therefore, it is important to institute monitoring and benchmarking frameworks for sanitation assets to systematically assess functionality gaps and prioritize maintenance investments for sustainability. In this context, digitalization of the sanitation sector can improve data collection to facilitate more efficient planning and decision-making.

Lastly, sanitation is about service provision and about setting the bar together as a sector. It is important to build participatory accountability mechanisms for sanitation provision involving communities, regulators, and utilities to track service quality and provide course corrections.

In summary, municipalities will have to consider decentralized and onsite solutions where relevant, leverage on knowledge from the private sector and enhance business  and financing models to ensure that sanitation services and infrastructures are resilient to impacts of climate change. In addition, capacity development to enhance regulation and service provision of sanitation, monitoring, and accountability will be essential.

Further readings for some of these topics include:

An Integrative Assessment of Lighthouse Initiatives for Decentralised Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Systems (DUWTRS) - Link

Open access learning on sanitation issues - Link

Compilation of water and sanitation tools for practitioners - Link

On the 21st of December 2023, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced a call for feedback on a draft document on the emission of antibiotics during pharmaceutical manufacturing. While the largest proportion of pharmaceuticals that reach the environment originates from their use by patients, the highest environmental concentrations found are the result of pollution from manufacturing.

Antibiotics are active chemical compounds which are produced for a specific medical purpose, and yet if their production and use are not carefully managed, these chemicals may have an effect on other organisms than those that they were developed for. At national and subnational level, many governments have set emissions standards for industrial effluents that are released into the environment, which includes standards for the release of pharmaceuticals. The WHO conducts research and develops global standards on emissions that may affect public health, and in this context it has developed a document entitled ‘WHO guidance on waste and wastewater management in pharmaceutical production’.  This document was available for public consultation during December 2023 and January 2024 and the final version will be available shortly on the WHO website.   

Pollution with antimicrobials, says the WHO, provides a case of special concern. In addition to direct ecological effects, environmental pollution with antimicrobials may also contribute to the development of resistance among microbes, threatening the effectiveness of antimicrobial substances fo humans, farmed and domestic animals, and crops..

The WHO recognises the great value to humanity that antibiotics provide to prevent and treat infectious disease. However, the WHO points out that the release of antibiotics into the environment has both direct ecological effects and may also contribute to the development of resistance, in both non-pathogenic and pathogenic microbes. This can threaten the effectiveness of antimicrobials as used to treat conditions in humans, animals and crops and has the potential to contribute to the emergence and spread of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). AMR occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from the drugs that have been designed to kill them. As the WHO argues, AMR can threaten the very core of modern medicine and the sustainability of an effective, global public health response to the enduring threat from infectious diseases.

As a result, in 2015 the World Health Assembly adopted a global action plan on AMR. Among the interventions needed is the development of guidance and tools on the management of manufacturing waste containing antimicrobials. There is an internationally recognized need, stemming from a World Health Assembly resolution and the Global Action Plan on AMR, for international evidence-based guidance and tools on the management of manufacturing waste containing antimicrobials.

A study published on the 8th of January in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has shown that the concentration of micro- and nano- plastic particles in drinking water is serval orders of magnitude higher than expected. While previous studies had showed that concentrations of plastic particles in drinking water can vary greatly and can contain anything between 0 and 10,000 microplastic particles, the current study has included nanoplastics and indicates that a litre of water may contain up to 250,000 plastic particles. Microplastic particles are particles whose diameter varies between 1 micrometer and 3 mm, while nanoplastics are smaller, having a diameter of less than 1 micrometer. These particles are difficult to detect and identify as plastic or assess their chemistry, but the researchers combined imaging techniques with algorithms that enabled both their identification as plastic and a fairly specific analysis of their chemistry.

More than 8300 million metric tonnes of plastics have been produced globally, of which some 75% ends up as waste. Some of it is already in the form of microbeads used in health and beauty products, and a much of the rest of the plastic is gradually converted to microplastics by breaking apart in the environment. Some examples of land-based sources of microplastics include the breakdown of road marking paints and tyre debris, plastic fibres released by textiles, especially during washing, and dust in cities produced by the soles of shoes and artificial surfaces. In the case of wastewater, the washing of synthetic textiles, the use of cosmetic microbeads, and the disposal of other plastic waste through the sewer systems results in the loading of effluent with microplastics from domestic sources. Similarly, industrial water use contributes to the loading of microplastics into wastewater. Removal of these microplastics is therefore highly dependent on the presence and effective operation of wastewater treatment plants.  Conventional wastewater treatment plants with primary and secondary treatment processes are capable of removing between 80% and 98% of microplastics, and there are secondary and tertiary treatment processes in existence that can remove up to 99.9% of these particles.

Microplastics are now found everywhere in the environment and have been found in different concentrations in natural water bodies, in drinking water, in our food and in the air we breathe. Health concerns have been raised about microplastics in the past, and in 2019 the World Health Organisation published a review of the existing evidence. The WHO study came to the conclusion that there are three sources of hazard: the physical hazard caused by the particles, a chemical hazard caused by the kinds of chemicals used to produce the plastics, and a microbial hazard caused by microorganisms that attach themselves to the plastics. Although it was difficult to provide conclusive results, partly because of the huge diversity in the origin of the particles themselves, the WHO concluded that the chemical and microbial risks appeared to be low. The risks that exist appear to stem primarily from physical particles and although few relevant studies have been carried out, those that exist seem to show that the plastics are only toxic at high levels of ingestion. However, while microplastics will usually pass through the digestive system without being absorbed into the body, nanoplastics are believed to be more toxic since their smaller size renders them much more amenable to enter the human body.

South Africa’s Water Reuse Programme, a U.S. $ 1.5 billion project developed in partnership with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and others seeks to overhaul the country’s wastewater system and reuse treated wastewater as a response to increasing demand for the resource. Southern Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to climate change, and many of the impacts such as droughts, floods and tropical cyclones are felt in the water sector. The government's National Adaptation Plan stresses the need for enhanced water efficiency as water usage already exceeds reliable yields in a time when the predictability and reliability of the water cycle is declining.

The programme represents an innovation in finance for water: although the UN 2023 Water Conference highlighted a funding gap in the water sector, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) argues that climate finance can help bridge the funding gap in the water sector and encourage private sector investment. According to GCF, through their call to action for climate and water initiatives, this requires a combination between research, clear allocation of roles, and the treatment of water as a new asset class. It is the latter that represents the real innovation: treating water as a separate asset class worthy of leveraging investment, recognising the potential for growth by reusing wastewater and at the same time addressing a critical environmental challenge.

The South African Water Reuse Programme will identify a series of pilot areas for ‘water transitions’ A co-investment platform is envisaged which will operate as a coordinating and executing entity for the programme, developing a pipeline of projects that fall under the heading of ‘water asset transitions for reuse’. The GCF itself is contributing $ 235 million towards the overall investment, which represents the first time that the organization has engaged at this scale within a single country’s water programme. The GCF sees its investment as a catalyst, which reduces risk exposure for private financiers and municipalities. The investment platform will oversee three separate clusters of activity for water reuse: pipeline development, capacity development, and blended finance.

Firstly, a 60-million-dollar grant will ensure project preparation support to help municipal water reuse project to advance to a bankable stage. Municipalities will be supported in the identification, preparation, and structuring of bankable proposals. Secondly, a 5-million-dollar grant will go towards education to ensure capacity building and information communication. And thirdly, a 1,4-billion-dollar blended finance facility will address market constraints and catalyse climate related water reuse investments, thus creating a new asset class around reuse infrastructure in South Africa.

With the approval of the GCF board in July 2023, the vision of the GCF is to propagate the concept to other countries and regions to increase the bankability and affordability of water projects. The GCF explicitly extends an invitation to other stakeholders in the water sector to collaborate and co-invest to accelerate the implementation of the Water Action Agenda.   

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced its intention to commence investment in city wide inclusive sanitation in Kenya, Ghana, Zambia and Sierra Leone during 2024. The initial grant under this programme is expected to have a value of around U.S. $ 6 million, and it falls within the updated Africa Urban Sanitation Investment Initiative (AUSII) of the bank’s African Water Facility.

In the vision of the AfDB, the high density and different levels of development in urban areas in Africa require sanitation approaches with tailored service and infrastructure solutions that respond to a range of different communities, settlement patterns and local conditions. In the framework of citywide inclusive sanitation (CWIS), a package of solutions is provided in a hybrid mix which embraces different investment and service approaches from conventional public sector investments through to private investments.  The mission of the AUSII programme is to increase the impact of investments in urban sanitation services and service providers by strengthening the enabling environment , supporting CWIS approaches and providing blended finance.

The AfDB’s Africa Urban Sanitation Investment Fund Programme has been in operation since 2018 in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with a total investment envelope of U.S. $ 500 million. Within the programme, at least 30% of the resources are earmarked for non-sewered (on-site) sanitation solutions. The programme seeks to catalyse faster adoption of innovative, pro-poor sanitation technologies in the world’s developing regions. In addition, it aims to have an impact on the service economy by enabling local firms with innovative solutions in the sector to obtain financing to scale up their operations.

Dutch water utilities are expressing concern over PFAS and pesticide concentrations in the Rhine and Meuse rivers. Although the European Union announced its intention to ban the production of all per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – abbreviated as PFAS - in September last year, the EU guidelines do not include their use in pesticides. The Union of Dutch Utilities VEWIN reportedly finds this situation unacceptable. The Dutch newspaper The Financial Times (Financieel Dagblad) quoted Harrie Timmer of the umbrella body of Dutch water utilities, VEWIN, as stating “It is very worrying that crop protection products do not fall under the proposed PFAS ban ..[...].. the approval policy for crop protection products applies much broader standards than is acceptable for drinking water sources.'

In 2023, researchers at the University of Amsterdam (UVA) found that levels of PFAS in drinking water from surface water sources exceed safe levels. PFAS substances, sometimes referred to as ‘forever chemicals’, are controversial because they are thought to be detrimental to health and slow to break down in the environment. The UVA researchers sampled raw and produced water in 18 different locations in the Netherlands which represented different sources and different processing techniques and found that PFAS is contained in all water sources and drinking water in the Netherlands. In 8 out of 11 cases, surface water exceeded the European Food Safety Agency norms, which have been adopted in the Netherlands.    

In 2022, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment Netherlands’ Environmental Agency (RIVM) had advised to lower the concentrations of PFAS in drinking water to 20% of the limit proposed by health authorities. This was based on the fact that PFAS substances can enter the body via other pathways than through drinking water such as through food intake, consumer products and by breathing polluted air.   The RIVM announced that it would conduct more extensive research into the most effective ways to limit exposure to PFAS in the Netherlands.  In reaction to the RIVM report on PFAS in drinking water, Dutch Minister of Infrastructre and Water Mark Harbers requested a review of the effluent permits in such a way as to ensure a maximum concentration of 4,4 nanogrammes per litre .

In September 2023, The Water Diplomat reported that the quality of the Maas / Meuse River, shared by France, Belgium and the Netherlands had deteriorated further due to the discharge of harmful chemicals. Over the previous year, concentrations above the permitted levels had been measured for 79 substances. In 11% of all measurements of water quality along the river, pollution levels were found that were above the maximum set by European norms.  This led to a total of 62 halts on the intake of water for treatment for drinking water during 2022. In addition, the river's flow has declined because of climate change, resulting in less dilution of the harmful chemicals. As a result, RIWA, the Association of River Water Companies for the Maas / Meuse requested more transparency from Belgian and Dutch authorities about the indirect and direct discharge permits issued to companies.

The African Water Facility reported on the 22nd of December 2023 that it has approved a €830,000 grant which will go towards the preparation of a Lusaka City Water Supply Improvement Project in Zambia.  The project will involve undertaking a feasibility study, detailed designs, and all relevant activities required to prepare a bankable investment project in Lusaka city. The city is facing increased water demand, due largely to a rate of urban growth, which is one of the highest in the e world: for instance, the city’s urban population grew by 4,35% during 2023.

Lusaka draws some 42% of its water from the Kafue River, 65 kilometres from the city and 200m in elevation below it. Waterworks with a supply capacity of 110 000m³/day were constructed in the 1970’s, consisting of an intake at Kafue River, a high lift pumping station, and a rising main through which water is pumped to the capital. The rest of the water is supplied through boreholes: Lusaka lies on a plateau, under which there is a productive aquifer system which is also highly vulnerable to contamination. Many suburbs such as the George Compound, are densely populated and feature a high prevalence of pit latrines. In combination with leaking sewerage discharges, this leads to the degradation of the quality of groundwater. 

In the period between 2013 and 2018, the Millennium Challenge Corporation funded a U.S. $ 293 million project to rehabilitate and extend infrastructure and strengthen the institutional capacity of Lusaka’s municipal government responsible for drainage and the local water and sanitation utility. However, although an additional 12,500 customers were added to the customer base of the Lusaka Water and Sanitation Company, maintenance of infrastructure has reportedly not improved and challenges remain.

The current project financed by the African Water Facility aims to increase access to safe, sustainable, and inclusive water supply and infrastructure in urban areas. It also aims to create opportunities for increased investment in the country’s water sector.

The feasibility study and design will aid the preparation of an investment blueprint to address the water demands in Lusaka and tackle the old and deteriorating water infrastructure. It will support the preparation of downstream financing for the project which is expected to benefit over 4 million people including the urban poor who constitute about 60% of the urban population.

Commenting on the approval, Mtchera Chirwa, African Water Facility’s coordinator said, “This grant will assist the Government of Zambia to prepare a bankable investment project to develop resilient water infrastructure and improve the efficiency of service delivery. It will further address Green House Gas emissions in the development of water infrastructure, contributing to climate change mitigation.”

The project is co-financed by the Middle-Income Technical Assistance Fund (€432,946.50) and the Lusaka Water Supply and Sanitation Company (€ 247,418). It is expected to commence in January 2024 and be implemented over a duration of 18 months.