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Costa Rica announced the implementation of Water Safety Plans
Last week, the Government of Costa Rica declared his commitment to implement Water Safety Plans to ensure safe drinking-water through
good water supply practice.This resolution was signed during the delivery of the Award Seal of Sanitary Quality of the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewerage Systems, AyA.
This resolution establishes the following objectives:
  • The providers of drinking water supply services at national level will develop Water Safety Plans (WSP),
  • The providers of drinking water supply services of the country will assure the water quality by preventing contamination of water sources, treating the water to reduce or remove contamination (barriers approach); and preventing re-contamination during the storage, distribution and manipulation of the water at household level.
  • The AyA will impel the creation of the Water and Sanitation Training, Research and Development Center, which primary target will be “to train water operators in the development and implementation of WSP”.
  • WSP will be complemented with verification processes of the control systems effectiveness applied and the produced water quality, allowing sustainable safe drinking water in all stages.
  • WSP focuses not only in the development of safe water but also looks for health protection and support the development of the community.

The signature of the resolution had witnesses of honor as the Costa Rican Minister of Health Maria Luisa Avila, Rodrigo Sancho, Executive President of the AyA Institute and Geraldo Galvis, from PAHO office.

1st IWA Development Congress

The 1st IWA Development Congress will take place in Mexico City on November 15–19, 2009. It is set to become the pre-eminent international ‘development’ related event for the global water sector. Focused particularly on addressing issues related to the delivery and implementation of water as well as sanitation services in low and middle income countries, it will help to set a research and practice agenda for the water sector in those countries.

It is expected to attract water and sanitation professionals from the Latin American region and across the globe. Participants will include researchers, practitioners, policy makers, consultants, manufacturers, technology suppliers and members of the international development community.

This meeting is sponsored by IUCN and Water 21. The organization in charge are the International Water Association and The Autonomous National University of Mexico. The Technical Programme Committee is composed of:

Cleverson Andreoli, Brazil Wan Ngah Wan, Malaysia
Akissa Bahri, Ghana Rose N. Osinde, Kenya
Liliana Borzaconni, Uruguay Miguel Pea, Colombia
Blanca Jiménez Cisneros, Mexico Carlos Alberto Rosito, Brazil
Claudia Campos, Colombia Dilek Sanin, Turkey
Sam Godfrey UNICEF Heidi Snyman South Africa
Simon Gonzalez, Mexico Cassilda Texeira, Brazil
Helmut Krois, Austria Tuula Tuhkanen, Finland
Jiri Marsalek, Canada Zaini Ujang, Malaysia
Mara P. Mena, Santiago de Chile  
For information visit:
http://www.iwa2009mexico.org/

Note: Join IWA now to receive a discount on registration as well as other benefits.

World Water Day 2009

The International World Water Day is held annually on March 22 in an attempt to draw attention on the importance of freshwater, advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. It was recommended by the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and accepted by The United Nations General Assembly on March 22, 1993.

Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater. In 2009, the theme for World Water Day was "Shared Water - Shared Opportunities". Special focus was placed on transboundary waters.
Nurturing the opportunities for cooperation in transboundary water management can help build mutual respect, understanding and trust among countries and promote peace, security and sustainable economic growth. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) led the activities of the World Water Day 2009 with the support of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

More information:
http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday

Conclusion of the 5th World Water Forum

The 5th World Water Forum - Istanbul, Turkey, March 2009- came to an end after hundreds of hours of discussions, debate, consensus, and agreement on
a number of key water-related issues, identifying the 100 most pressing water-related issues of our times. The effects of the Forum in Istanbul will be felt for some time to come, and the follow-up work is already gathering pace.

Participants from 192 countries took part in the Forum, children from 21 countries gathered for the 3rd Children's World Water Forum and 200 young people attended the Youth Forum. 1,027 accredited journalists followed the Forum and thousands visited the Water Fair and the Water Expo.

The World Water Forum, organized every three years by the World Water Council in close collaboration with the authorities of the hosting country, is an open, all-inclusive, multi-stakeholder process, which is the culmination of over two years of preparatory activities. In this way, the World Water Forum is not just a week-long event; it is a process which aims to raise the importance, awareness and understanding of water issues and propose concrete solutions to address global challenges.

This Forum brought the world to Istanbul to improve our understanding of divergent points of view, different cultures and shared solutions, offering the water community and decision-makers the unique opportunity to make recommendations for ensuring the security of water resources in the world. Participants emphasized that water is not an end in itself, but rather a means for development and well-being, interaction with other sectors is needed to understand how water can contribute to the solution of common problems faced by all affected sectors and the process has to involve local and national governments as well as parliamentarians, thus ensuring greater political commitment.

9 Chiefs of State or Government, 84 Ministers and 19 Vice- Ministers were present in this meeting, coinciding on a Minister’s Declaration that recommends governments to intensify their efforts on achieving the Millennium Goals referred to the improvement of clean and safe water access, sanitation, hygiene and healthy ecosystems, prevention of pollution and the development of water management plans, monitoring systems and transparency.

One of the meeting’s most controversial issues was the Minister’s acceptance of the right to safe water and sanitation access discussed within the United Nations. They recognized water as a basic human need.

Water Safety Plan Capacity Building Meetings
23-25 March 2009, Geneva Switzerland


Unsafe drinking-water is a significant cause of disease in both developing and developed nations. Outbreaks have shown that sole reliance on monitoring treated water quality cannot guarantee safe drinking-water. Recognizing this limitation, the third edition of the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality and the IWA Bonn Charter for Safe Drinking Water both recommend the adoption of Water Safety Plans (WSPs) as a means of ensuring the safety of drinking-water. The Water Safety Plan approach is a preventive risk management strategy, encompassing all steps in the water supply system.

The implementation of WSPs can contribute to the overall maintenance of public health through reducing cases of drinking-water transmitted disease outbreaks and also leads to broader socio-economic benefits. In addition, a WSP approach can save water suppliers money and help target resources. As a result, WSPs are being increasingly promoted by governments and implemented by water suppliers across the globe.

To support scaling up of WSPs, a series of meetings convened WHO took place in Geneva from 23-25 March, 2009. These meetings focused on: 1) A WSP assessment tool; 2) WSPs and climate change and; 3) Harmonization of support for WSPs.

The main goal of the WSP’s assessment meeting was to further develop a web-based tool designed to help water suppliers and regulators in assessing the WSP implementation progress. This tool will assist the WSP development by identifying weaknesses and highlighting the areas where additional efforts are needed.

The WSPs and climate change meeting focused on ensuring that WSPs adequately take into account the risks posed by climate change. The principal objectives were to recommend key risk assessment and mitigation measures as well as defined future steps towards a comprehensive guidance document.

The aim of the harmonization of support for WSPs meeting was to agree on a process of advocating to strategic water, health and development stakeholders to progressively commit them to WSPs as a component of their water, sanitation and health programming. Proposed consensus position documents, which would be signed by stakeholders agreeing to the WSP approach, were introduced at this meeting.

A consensus was reached on the further steps required in order to continue these activities as well as the on-going communication with all interested stakeholders for their continued development.

Impact in Latin American and the Caribbean
Stephanie Adrian –USEPA, mentioned that a momentum has been built in the region since the first WSP developed in Spanish Town, Jamaica in October 2007 with the support of PAHO, CDC and USEPA and, the official creation of the LAC-WSP Network in Santiago in October 2008. Currently, the Network is building upon those efforts to scale up the WSPs with regards to replication and broader adoption, showing the range of partners and stakeholders and pulling out some of the lessons learned, many of which CDC has presented in various fora. A big part of the success we've had - and we have far to go - is the existence of the Core Group which has supported these efforts and served as the "role models" of WSPs, getting us to a tipping point with the Network where, hopefully, others in the region will take on that role. Fortunately, a number of Core Group members are within the Region and have been useful in establishing ownership of the Network there.


ADERASA signed an agreement to cooperate with the world’s most important regulation institutions.

The Association of Drinking-water and Sanitation of the Americas (ADERASA) signed a Cooperation Agreement with the world’s most important institutions that work on the regulation of drinking-water and drainage system during the “1st International Forum on Regulation of Water Services and Sustainability” in Rome, January 2009.

This agreement’s main goal is to create a cooperation program concerning regulation, exchanging information and technical assistance to improve the know-how, share experiences and strengthen the regulation practice in the world.

For further information on this event visit: www.aderasa.org/docs

It is important to emphasize as well that during the V World Water Forum, ADERASA acknowledged the sustainable management of hydrographical basins as essential in guaranteeing the production and regulation of water for different purposes while contributing to the climatic change adaptation process as one of the water storage’s greatest threats in the future.

Workshop on Tariff and Pricing Towards Sustainable Water Services

A workshop on tariff and pricing was jointly organized by IWA, the Japan Waterworks Association (JWWA) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Waterworks Bureau (TMWB) on 2-3 Feb 2009 at the Training and Technical Development Centre in Tokyo, Japan. This workshop brought together some eminent experts on water tariff and pricing from across the globe.
Major learning points from this workshop include:

  • Water tariff and pricing can be an effective tool in influencing consumers’ consumption patterns and consequently in achieving overall water sustainability in these regions
  • In tariff determination, there are many factors which need to be taken into consideration, such as revenue requirement, cost of capital, cost of service, full cost recovery, subsidies, tariff affordability, water demand management and rate structures.
  • Every water utility has its own set of unique challenges (climate, population dynamics, geographical location, government policies, regulatory regime etc.), and so there is no single right formula in setting tariffs and pricing policies. Rather, each utility needs to learn from the successes of other utilities and adapt these to its circumstances.

This workshop is the fifth in its series that have been jointly organized by IWA and the Japan Water and Wastewater Association

Perú’s Hydric Resources Law is passed

After an eight year long debate, on March 30, 2009 the Hydric Resources Law was passed. It declares water as a natural resource imperative/ essential to life and national security, heritage of the nation and therefore stands as matter of national concern and public need along with it’s integrated management. This law highlights the impossibility of water as a private property.

Within this law, the National System of Hydric Resources Management and the Water National Authority were created. They include the Ministries of Environment, Agriculture, Housing, Health, Production, Energy and Mines, along with local governments, users’ /consumer’s organizations, operators, peasant and native communities and public entities related to the management of hydric resources. This law also recognizes the primary, population and productive use of water.

 
Contact us
 
María del Carmen Portillo, Coord.
(511) 998-555812
maria.portillo@iwahq.org
visitor since
Jan/02/2009