Within the first minute of Superwoman, Keys is adorned in traditional garb walking across the Saharan desert to fetch water at a well. On her head rests a basin to collect enough water for either herself or her family.
Trailing behind Keys is a row of other women who are on the same journey to fetch clean water for themselves and loved ones. On their hips they carry infants or toddlers. And on their heads, they too balance an empty basin for water.
In this evocative scene, Keys bends over a water hole and pours water from her basin into the basin of another woman directly behind her at the well.
Without words, Keys captivates viewers and conveys a compelling message. Water must be shared by those who have it, with those who need it most.
Key’s connects the significance of water for superwomen around the world. Empowering women in developing nations is next to impossible without providing them with clean drinking water.
Artistically, the water shared by Keys in the Saharan desert morphs into water poured into a glass by a female executive in corporate America.
In a split second, one witnesses how water connects women from around the globe. Despite social class, education level, or national identity, all superwomen are refreshed by a glass of clean drinking water.
According to looktothestars.org, Keys is also involved with a water charity called Raising Malawi (RW). RW boasts of providing 57,000 villagers in Malawi with piped clean drinking water.
In nations such as Malawi, access to clean drinking water can reduce mortality rates from water-borne diseases. It can provide women with more time to devote to entrepreneurship, thereby decreasing rates of poverty. Clean water provision can have a ripple effect for the development sphere in Malawi and beyond.
Directly and indirectly, Keys continues to open doors for clean water initiatives. She uses her talent, influence, and resources, to make a world of difference in the lives of the world’s superwomen.
Is there a celebrity that you would like to nominate for WaterWideWeb’s Water Celebrity of the Week?
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Such a significant percentage of irrigated agriculture requires careful maintenance of these systems that are integral to economic development in the region. Seventy percent of foreign trade in Uzbekistan is fueled by agriculture and twenty-two percent of the Gross Domestic Product is produced by agriculture.
In an interview with WaterWideWeb, de Jong detailed the role of WB’s Drainage, Irrigation and Wetlands Improvement Project (DIWIP) in Uzbekistan in reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and securing regional stability in Central Asia. Please read the complete interview below.
EAB: Why is WB so heavily invested in irrigation and drainage maintenance projects in Uzbekistan?
IJ: There are five reasons why irrigation is important in Uzbekistan. Firstly, we know that irrigation water is an input and we need to make sure that irrigation services are provided in a reliable and good quality way. This will increase produce and agricultural productivity. Support for agricultural production is important in Uzbekistan, as you know from our previous interview. Supporting the agricultural agenda is important.
Secondly, we’re looking at this from a public expenditure perspective. Approximately 80 percent of Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Agriculture budget is spent on pump irrigation, which is about half of the total irrigated area. These pumps are electric or diesel and they cost a lot of energy. That represents a large percentage of financial investment by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Thirdly, if you would increase use of irrigated water by 1 percent, then you would earn $3 million by reducing pumping costs. You can export electricity that you don’t need to neighboring countries and earn an additional $4 million. These are expenditures for a country like Uzbekistan. More focused irrigation is crucial.
Fourthly, these projects are important for environmental conservation. Irrigation has a big impact on the Aral Sea because of massive irrigation development. Water is no longer reaching the Aral Sea anymore. The whole idea is making irrigation more efficient so you can send more water back into the Aral Sea. And the whole Aral Sea and all downstream users benefit from this efficiency.
Then there is the energy-water story. During the Soviet Union, issues were solved between republics of the Soviet Union but that’s no longer the case. Upstream countries need electricity in winter and downstream countries need water in summer for irrigation. This is a major part of that whole dialogue and discourse about water and energy between upstream and downstream countries in Central Asia.
Lastly, climate change is a huge factor. There has been a mobile increase in temperature and higher variability in precipitation. Irrigation is an important tool to mitigate against these climate change impacts.
EAB: What is the ultimate goal of the DIWIP?
IJ: It points into the same direction. In order to help irrigation serve a better purpose it needs to be reliable, transparent, and with cost-effective delivery. Service provision is important here as well. We need to make sure it’s used efficiently by farmers and provide incentives to make people use irrigation in a more effectively.
EAB: What are the implications of this project?
IJ: That goes back to the five reasons stated earlier. The energy-water issue in Central Asia is a big issue. It’s not just about energy and water. It’s about regional stability and international security following the break up of the Soviet Union. It’s a potential threat to Eastern stability. The provision for the future is a vibrant agriculture that supports life of people and reduces poverty and poverty is a problem in terms of regional stability. It is in our interest to address to these issues.
EAB: Thank you for interviewing with WaterWideWeb.
IJ: You’re welcome.
Thus far, the DIWIP has yielded positive results in Uzbekistan. Since it began in 2003, the groundwater table has lowered in 90 percent of the project area. As a result, there has been a desalination of irrigated land. Arable land that was unfit to cultivate because of salinity is now ready to be used. Local communities can now generate income and rates of poverty will decrease.
Uzbekistan is centrally located in a hot zone of water politics. Appeasing downstream countries with water and energy needs must be navigated with caution since both upstream and downstream end users draw upon the same water source. Since the Aral Sea is no longer supplying the region with the water needed to benefit all users in the region, entities such as the WB and other international organizations must start using water smarter. Saving water is securing stability, a non-violent way of keeping the peace in the region.
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]]>By the end of 2007, Zaparde and Petrovic raised $1,000 to dig a well in Paras, India. The two raised money by hosting bake sales and car washes. After the first well was built in Paras, Zaparde and Petrovic continued their water work in other rural villages. In a telephone interview Zaparde told WaterWideWeb, “On the drive to Paras in 2007, I saw at least 25 other villages with the same problem. I figured, if we can help one village, we can help more”.
Currently, DWI partners with schools in New Jersey and other states to raise awareness and funding for well projects in India. “We just want to show other students that young people their age are struggling just to find clean drinking water”, said Zaparde.
DWI builds wells close to schools to maximize the number of people who can access clean water from the well. Residents in neighboring villages can find water at the well without traveling extensive distances in search for clean water.
“Digging wells near schools makes the most sense. Students in schools without clean water access have to sit through an entire day without water. Now, students can bring water home to their families at the end of the day”, continued Zaparde.
Maintenance of water wells is an important facet of the work of DWI. Water wells are used constantly. Villagers sometimes use the well from early as 3 a.m. until midnight. DWI works with village leaders, appointed by local community members, to ensure that the well is functional at all times. Village leaders have the contact number for DWI personnel who can respond as swiftly as possible to a broken well.
Fundraising campaigns of DWI allocate money specifically for repairs if the well should break. “We set aside a certain amount of money so that we are there and ready to respond if a well breaks”, assured Zaparde.
The DWI project is an exceptional example of the social change mobilized by grassroots student-led movements. When it comes to clean water, anyone can make a difference in the life of rural villagers and school children.
Photo Credit: All photos in this article belong to DrinkingWaterforIndia.org
The work of DWI impacts local communities in several capacity. DWI provides a water resource, which in turn, alleviates the strain of finding water. Women, who typically are responsible for finding clean water, can dedicate the precious resource of time, to duties other than water gathering.
Mortality from water-borne diseases such as typhoid fever and bacterial diarrhea will decrease when projects such as DWI expand their work in developing countries. Children can attend school on a regular basis, without worrying if there will be enough water to be comfortable throughout the school day.
Water impacts a community from the ground up—literally. Simply providing clean water has implications for community members at all levels. The structure of these remote villages will develop over time. As water-borne diseases decrease, education and life expectancy will increase.
Questions arise about the work of governmental municipalities responsible for remote village’s water supply when reviewing the work of DWI. Are governmental programs monitoring the complex issues that undermine social and economic development in the rural communities of India?
NGOs and other non-profit organizations can certainly make a difference by supplying the immediate water need of villages. But, legislation and federal regulation of water policy must be implemented and enforced if a sustainable solution to India’s water shortage problems is to be reached.
The short-term effects of water projects in India’s remote villages will relieve the daily task of walking two miles or more to find water, water which may not even be safe for consumption. Over time, the literacy rates in these rural communities will increase. Two symptoms of poverty, illiteracy and unsafe water, will be assuaged.
Efforts to provide clean drinking water to communities that aren’t read about in major newspapers or featured on news specials can be undertaken by any individual. However, a balanced response to water issues must enlist the support of local governments, community members, and aid agencies if a sustainable future for these communities is sought.
Communities can change from within but there must be a solid infrastructure to fit that change from the outside. How can governmental programs reach even the remotest villages in their country? Will that be left up to projects like DWI? Or, will the work of DWI inspire a renewed sense of responsibility for a nation’s people across the socio-economic strata? Unfortunately, only time will tell.
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]]>Peter Harvey, Senior Adviser of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told WaterWideWeb, “Access to local water resources increases women’s opportunities and raises women’s rights in the developing world”.
In a survey conducted by UNICEF in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO), survey results found that in 45 developing countries, 76 percent of those who collected water where either women or girls. “Reducing distance traveled or time spent collecting water will benefit women and girls far more than anyone else in the community,” said Harvey.
In sub-Saharan African, 25 percent of the female population spends roughly thirty minutes round trip gathering water on a daily basis. Water supply management at the community level is largely handled by women since their lives are impacted by access to water more than others.
“Clean water is a step toward hygiene promotion, which obviously is primarily linked to reduction to mortality”, continued Harvey. Hygiene within the school environment, at home, and with food is ultimately increased when no clean water is available.
When hygiene and health improve in local communities, women can invest well-being, time and energy saved in their entrepreneurial efforts.
Issues like poor hygiene or walking long distances to find clean water are manifestations of inequality and poverty. Initiatives that tackle infrastructural issues and public health concerns are noble, but a comprehensive action plan that specifically targets women’s hygiene is essential to promoting gender equality and empowering women.
If the end goal of development work is to build up communities, empowering women must not be underestimated. Fulfilling the MDGs will be enhanced if women are put at the forefront of the international development agenda. While experts are developing programs to dig water wells, allocating micro-finance loans and other economic development projects, interests in the sphere of women’s personal hygiene and health should not be overlooked.
Empowering women in all capacities demands an investment in their personal hygiene and health with clean water. A healthy woman is a confident woman. A confident woman is a cornerstone to her community, leading the way to economic prosperity and sustainability.
The photo above is UN Photo taken by Olivier Chassot
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]]>The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) is in the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) in Cancun, Mexico. Delegates will deliberate international global climate change issues that are inextricably linked to water conservation and energy.
Foerd Ames is the owner of the Ocean Wave Energy Company (OWEC) and a Climate Science Reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In a telephone interview Ames told WaterWideWeb, “We need to get these great minds [convened at the COP 16] to hash out solution scenarios to global climate change. We need an alliance of water related renewable energy and climatology”.
The population of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are up close and personal with the adverse affects of global climate change. Island nations like the Maldives are being submerged under water. People are being displaced by rising sea levels, according to James. “We have an opportunity to use the extra water as fuel”, continued Ames.
As the climate conference in Cancun rolls on through 10 December 2010, delegates will deliberate on international policies of global climate change and the consequences associated with rising sea levels and glacial melt. Rising sea levels and glacial melt are a result of carbon gas emission from developed countries. Are there palpable solutions to the carbon emissions from nuclear, coal, and oil energy?
Ocean waves generate large amounts of energy. Ocean wave energy is a renewable and environmentally sustainable source of power. However, ocean waves are diffuse hence initiatives to channel this energy should be designed in a synergistic way, such that instruments are interconnected to mobilize wattage from the waves.
Ocean and wave projects present various possibilities to the water world. Ames asserts that ocean water can be desalinated, meaning the water can be purified of the salt properties. Desalinated ocean water provides a freshwater source that can be used to attenuate the implications of the global water crisis.
Moreover, splitting the ocean wave molecules into hydrogen and oxygen provides the highly coveted hydrogen that micro and macro scale systems require to function. The hydrogen from ocean waves can replace the nuclear, coal, and oil markets if experts continue to find efficient ways of mobilizing it. Reliance on foreign oil will decline and new markets for energy will emerge.
Ideally, environmentally sustainable energy should be the primary point of supply, forcing nuclear, coal, and oil supplies into the alternative energy solutions category. Ocean wave energy will decrease the carbon footprint of developed countries that can afford investment in this sort of technology. “We really have to embrace several other factors besides lowest cost when considering the future of renewable energy”, continued Ames.
Ultimately chances of reaching the Millennium Development Goal number 7, ensuring environmental sustainability, will be maximized if progress in the area of ocean wave energy is spearheaded. Ocean wave projects will require a monetary investment, but the cost to the environment will make it a worthwhile venture.
Advancements in the field of ocean wave energy are being researched and implemented. Currently, the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is featuring their triennial Why Design Now exhibition. A segment of the series highlights key design projects that focus on innovative energy projects.
bioWave exhibition at The Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
The bioWAVE ocean-wave energy system is included in the Why Design Now feature exhibition. It was developed by the Australian based Bio-Power Systems. The bioWAVE system is a series of underwater units mounted to the seabed that are activated by ocean waves. The units are interconnected. Fluctuations in the ocean current are converted to generate energy at the ocean surface which produces electricity.
The bioWAVE units are fashioned to be in sync with the surrounding marine life. Each unit is estimated to produce 2 megawatts of energy. If bioWAVE energy farms are employed, enough clean power could be generated to power utility-scale projects.
Delegates at the climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico are grappling with policy decisions that will shape the future of Least Developed Countries, and the accountability of developed countries with respect to global climate change initiatives. Critical decisions on the future of environmentally sustainable alternatives that reduce carbon gas emissions must be considered behind the closed doors of the conference.
Will these decisions include energy alternatives such as ocean-wave power and other water generated sources of clean energy? The world must patiently wait for sound policies that are enforceable and which hold developed countries accountable for their energy decisions. If developed countries are going to be held accountable for the future of energy and global climate change response, advancements in clean energy that establish a new global market, not contingent upon foreign oil is a viable option.
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]]>Civil and environmental engineers are advancing techniques in water management. Sharing best practices in project implementation is crucial to the future of sustainable water projects in both the industrialized and developing world. How are environmental engineers tackling the mounting social issues that surround the water demands that exceed the supply of it?
Dr. Pedro Alvarez is the George R. Brown Professor and Chair of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of Rice University. In a telephone interview, Alvarez told WaterWideWeb, “Ensuring reliable and affordable access to safe water is one of the biggest issues that we face in the twenty first century.”
Making clean water accessible in the developing world requires an increase in efficiency in water infrastructure and a decrease in materials and energy used for completing projects. Environmental engineers are developing innovative mechanisms to meet the growing water demands with several factors in mind.
Adjustments to existing and new water systems call for technical simplicity. In order for water systems to successfully supply a community with water, the framework should be uncomplicated so that maintenance to the system can be provided without requiring assistance of experts.
The social-cultural acceptability of new water initiatives plays a part in the success of particular engineering endeavors. Reframing the way people think about the significance of water and the means of acquiring it are the next steps in innovative water provision methods.
For example, implementing water recycling paradigms in developed countries may be met with resistance. Individuals in different cultures and social classes may oppose the trend of treating waste water and then recycling it for drinking water.
Information about water engineering projects should also be disseminated so that end users may understand the framework of water programs and share the technology with others at the local level. In this way, the project can be maintained from within the community. If the water system needs repair, local users can fix the problem without forgoing access to water for long spells until an expert arrives to remedy it.
“Technology is not enough. Responding to increasing water demands requires a multi-disciplinary effort that includes education and a sanitation plan”, continued Alvarez. Reliance on unconventional water sources and treatment plants are the next steps in global water sustainability.
“The single-most important engineering contribution of the twentieth century was treating water.” In the twenty first century, engineers must extend and enhance that contribution to meet growing water needs.
Digging water wells, installing chlorinators and bio-sand filters are proven methods of supplying safe water in the developing world, yet these are not sufficient to save the lives of 4100 children who die on a daily basis due to lack of clean drinking water . Clean water will decrease the mortality rate of water borne diseases, lengthen life expectancy and improve quality of life.
So what are we waiting for?
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The Diplomacy of Water: The U.S. Water for the Poor Act
Imagine a world where infants and children didn’t die from diarrhea and typhoid before the age of five years-old. News headlines would not read, “Cholera Outbreak in Haiti Takes Thousands of Lives”. Girls could go to school all four weeks of the month, without worrying about hygiene issues. Envision a world where poverty and malnourishment didn’t claim innocent lives every day. You just visualized a world with access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation systems for all people.
On World Water Day 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rendered a tremendously powerful speech on the impact of clean water on public health, economic development, and capacity building. Clinton said, “It’s not every day you find an issue where effective diplomacy and development will allow you to save millions of lives, feed the hungry, empower women, advance our national security interests, protect the environment…Water is that issue”.
The United States government passed the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act (WPA) in 2005. It stipulates that the U.S. government will make access to clean safe water and sanitation a policy objective in foreign assistance programs.
The WPA initiative is ambitious. The goal is to bring water and sanitation to 100 million people. The Senate passed the WPA unanimously on November 16, 2005, but there is still resistance in the House of Representatives to pass the Act.
WPA requires that the Secretary of State and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) present annual progress reports to Congress annually that detail the strategic efforts by the U.S. to meet the objectives outlined in the WPA. The WPA is particularly significant because it calls upon cooperation between the public and private sector in program implementation.
Jim Thebaut is the C.E.O and Executive Producer of The Chronicles Group. Thebaut produced the documentary Running Dry which was presented world-wide and on Capitol Hill. Running Dry was the catalyst for Paul Simon’s WPA.
In a telephone interview, Thebaut told WaterWideWeb, “The WPA is important for moral and international security reasons because it presents an opportunity to bring water and sanitation to 100 million people”.
Thebaut has also produced the documentary Running Dry: Beyond the Brink , a preview film that was shown to the U.S. Department of State, the Capitol Hill Visitor Centre, and the United Nations High Level Conference on Sanitation and Global Health, earlier this year. “The U.S. can’t allow for crises like the cholera outbreak in Haiti to occur especially when we have the capacity to prevent them”.
Please watch the preview of Running Dry: On the Brink here
In Thebaut’s documentary Running Dry, he illustrates the connection between inadequate water access and terrorism. “When people feel desperate, and a group offers them basic necessities like water in an area where they don’t have any, recruitment for terrorism is more likely” concluded Thebaut.
The international community is working toward fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. But, are governments and organizations planning properly for the time that follows these landmark goals? Will sanitation systems and clean water programs be established to address the global water crisis and other effects of global climate change?
Initiatives like the WPA are necessary endeavors by the U.S. government to meet the MDGs by 2015. Moreover, the WPA and policies like it are opportunities for the U.S. to demonstrate diplomacy and respect for human rights. Providing clean water access to 100 million people is a lofty goal by the U.S. that must be tackled systematically.
If U.S. dollars were spent on sustainable water programs, funding allocated to aid relief in the developing world would decrease over time. Fewer dollars would be spent on relief efforts that temporarily mitigate the immediate effects of systemic inequities and infrastructural incapacities in the developing world.
Statistics on water-related diseases, infant mortality, and hours lost to women gathering water for their families are symptoms of the global water crisis. These symptoms undermine the undeniable problem of inadequate water access and faulty sanitation systems.
All photos in this article were provided by International Action www.haitiwater.org
What if farmers could rely on yearly crops instead of worrying about droughts, floods and water disasters? What if mothers could abandon the worry that their young daughters are being raped or assaulted on the long stretches to fetch water? What if diplomacy was exemplified without brandishing guns and weapons, but supplying a community with fresh water? Indeed, diplomacy and U.S. foreign policy would look very different if international security concerns were resolved with the provision of clean water.
Please read the 2009 progress report for the Water for the Poor Act here
What are your thoughts on water and diplomacy?
What are symptoms of the global water crisis that you recognize as most problematic for the international community?
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]]>In Cote D’Ivoire and Uganda, the risk for water-borne diseases like typhoid, bacterial diaherrea and Hepatitis A is very high. The school life expectancy for Ivoirians is a total of six years and for Ugandans is 10 years. With access to clean, safe and reliable water, these Ivoirians could return to school and live past the life expectancy of 56 years-old. With clean water, Ugandans could outlive the life expectancy of 52 years-old.
Charity: water (C:W) is a non-profit organization that brings clean water to communities in Africa and other parts of the world. In 2009, C:W completed 1,058 water projects with 150 water points rehabilitated in 11 countries. Last year, C:W rehabilitated wells in Cote D’Ivoire, Liberia, Uganda, Honduras, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Central African Republic and Ethiopia. According to the 2009 progress report, water resources were restored to 63, 143 people.
In an interview , the Water Projects Manager Jonna Davis told WaterWideWeb, “If there is an opportunity to rehabilitate an existing non-functional water point in an area with great need, then we think that’s a worthwhile investment…”
Charity: water works with partners in local regions who report non-functional wells that can be rehabilitated. These local partnerships ensure that the community where the water well was dug is served after the initial relief effort was launched.
“An old broken water point can often be a sign of failure for a community and bringing it back to an improved service is much more practical than building a new project right next to it” confirmed Davis.
Clean water affects communities such as Cote D’Ivoire and Uganda on an immediate and long-term basis. Water wells need repair every few years. Hence, digging a well is the first step to managing the issues of public health, safety, and social development that hinder progress in these countries.
When a community has a reliable water source, markers of development are noticed in the daily life of residents. Children can attend school and women can spend time on duties unrelated to fetching water. Scarce water resources means that choices between a clean school uniform, a watered garden, or cooking a meal must be made for the short supply of water that a family survives on daily.
Functional wells in local villages ensure the safety of women in vulnerable areas of the globe. If a well breaks and water is unavailable, women and girls are forced to walk long distances to fetch water for their families. They leave home before the sun rises and are at risk for rape and physical assault on the long roads to a water source outside of their village.
On the outskirts of these villages, roads are not patrolled by security forces. Young women and girls face grave danger for the sake of finding clean water. The trek to fetch clean water can take hours, which may have been spent getting an education or working for their family. The livelihood and wellbeing of women in developing nations is largely affected by access to water. If water wells break in their community, they suffer immensely.
“Our primary concern is providing clean and safe water access where it is most needed. If there is an opportunity to rehabilitate an existing nonfunctional water point in an area with great need, then we think that’s a worthwhile investment since rehabilitation generally costs less than constructing a brand new point of access” Davis continued.
The safety of women and girls who live in internment camps as internally displaced peoples or refugees, as is the case in Cote D’Ivoire, is affected by their ability to find water. Water is a non-violent solution to protecting the vulnerable members of these dangerous and war-torn communities.
Charity: Water is enhancing their water well rehabilitation practices to keep water flowing in communities of greatest need. Mobile programs where trained technical provisions can travel to different villages and service broken wells are in the works.
For women and girls in conflict countries with high rates of water borne diseases, water is part of their survival in an undeniable way. Providing water is the first step to securing their livelihood. Keeping the water flowing is the never-ending second step. It is an investment with a return incalculable in numbers and figures, but in quality of life.
The picture above provided by Biliana Rakocevic.
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Do you think building new water wells is more important that rehabilitating nonfunctiong ones?
What are your thoughts on well maintenance and water projects in the developing world?