Asia Water Wire - Health and Sanitation

MIDEAST: Sewage in Water Threatens Gazans

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:21:52 -0500

By Mel Frykberg

GAZA CITY, Jul 2 (IPS) - Gaza is being forced to pump 77 tonnes of untreated or partially treated sewage out to sea daily due to the Israeli blockade of the coastal territory. The fear is that some of this is creeping back into drinking water.

DEVELOPMENT: South Asia Exports Sanitation Successes

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 23:08:24 -0600

By Nergui Manalsuren

India is poised to meet its sanitation and hygiene challenges with a 48 percent coverage in 2007, a marked improvement from merely 1 percent in 1981.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 4 (IPS) - Practical solutions to the global sanitation crisis will require greater knowledge-sharing among developing nations, and also even more support for those efforts by multilateral institutions like the World Bank and United Nations, experts say.

AFGHANISTAN: Emergency Services Collapse Under Bitter Cold

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:51:30 -0600

By Tahir Qadiry

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Feb 2 (IPS) - An unprecedented cold wave sweeping parts of Asia has been especially tragic in Afghanistan where emergency services have failed completely.

ASIA: 'Talking Dirty' on Sanitation Can Save Lives

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:08:22 -0600

By Sahana Singh

BEPPU, Japan, Dec 4 (IPS) - Although 2.6 billion people in the world -- two-thirds of whom are in southern or eastern Asia -- are living without access to basic sanitation, the issue has been a poor cousin to water supply in terms of visibility and financing.

ASIA: Bank's Water Report - Wakeup Call for Leaders

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:05:30 -0600

By Lynette Lee Corporal

SINGAPORE, Nov 29 (IPS) - A report released by the Asian Development Bank (AsDB) in this affluent city-state on Thursday urges the region’s policymakers to place water-related issues high on their development agenda.

SOUTH KOREA: Toilet Association Needs Women on Top Seats

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 22:00:01 -0600

By Zofeen Ebrahim

SEOUL, Nov 24 (IPS) - It was a happy day for Sim Jae-Duck. "The World Toilet Association (WTA) history has begun,’’ said the president of the newly formed association at the close, Friday, of the four-day assembly in which it was formally established.

SOUTH KOREA: Talking About a Toilet Revolution

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 04:15:22 -0600

By Zofeen Ebrahim

SEOUL, Nov 22 (IPS) - The rhythmic beat seemed to roll away cultural taboos surrounding the act of defecation at the inaugural conference of the World Toilet Association (WTA).

PHILIPPINES: Market Vendors Run Wastewater Treatment Plant

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 23:22:21 -0600

By Kalinga Seneviratne*

LILOAN, Philippines, Nov 17 (IPS/AMIC) - This municipality of 80,000 people living in 14 ‘barangay’ or villages has a spectacular five-kilometre beach that is popular with beachgoers. During weekends, they come in droves from Cebu City, just a 30-minute drive away.

INDIA: Lack of Water, Lack of Education

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 02:17:29 -0500

By Kalinga Seneviratne*

The lack of clean water in their own homes prevents women from having good education and deprives them of a safe and secure future.

BANGALORE, India, Oct 8 (IPS/AMIC) - It is often said that social taboos hinder the education of girls in India’s poor communities. But as the experience of some slum communities in this southern Indian city indicates, it is also the lack of access to water that deprives them of an education.

PAKISTAN: Residents Solve Own Sanitation Woes

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 01:52:35 -0500

By Irfan Shahzad*

With a new and efficient sewerage system in place, residents in this slum area need not endure filthy surroundings any more.

KARACHI, Pakistan, Oct 2 (IPS/AMIC) - Unlike his neighbours in the opposite lane, Muhammad Salam lets his children play out in the street without the slightest worry.

That’s because Salam, a resident of Ghaziaba locality in the large Orangi informal settlement in this port city, is happy with the fact that there is concrete flooring along the street he lives in. Beneath this is a sewerage lane that efficiently collects wastewater from all 24 houses in the area.

INDIA: Women Hold Key to Accepting Indoor Toilets

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 02:30:53 -0500

By Nitin Jugran Bahuguna

RAIPUR, Chattisgarh State, Sep 17 (IPS) - Like other women in this largely tribal, central Indian state, Draupati Bhosale was averse to the idea of having toilets built within homes, but went along because the government was building them at heavily subsidised costs. ‘’I thought it would give me extra storage space,’’ she said.

Hospitals Seek Immediate ‘Water Treatment’

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 02:58:00 -0500

By Marina Kozlova

TASHKENT, Mar 15 (IPS) – The lack of clean water and efficient sewerage system are threatening the health of patients in Tashkent hospitals, not to mention the rest of the province’s population.

Tired of Poor Sewerage

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 21:02:47 -0600

By Marina Kozlova

TASHKENT, Dec 29 (Asia Water Wire) - “I dread heavy rain! When it comes, water from cesspits floods our yard because the cesspits cannot absorb all the liquid then,” says Farogat, a 65 year-old resident of the Uzbeki capital.

No Peace Pipes in Sight on Asbestos Debate

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 02:02:12 -0600

Irfan Ahmed

LAHORE, Pakistan, Dec 30 (Asia Water Wire) - It is finger-pointing time in Pakistan as various groups push their arguments for or against the use in the country's water pipes of asbestos, already banned in many parts of the world.

The government continues to allow the use of asbestos-enforced cement in pipes that supply drinking water to the public, and this has come under criticism.

Dr Muhammad Yusuf, a family physician, points to a strong link between asbestos use in water pipes and the rising number of gastrointestinal patients in different parts of this South Asian country. The consumption of drinking water supplied through such pipes also results in cancer of kidneys and lungs, he says.

Amid Stagnant Water, Residents Wade in Diseases

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 05:26:13 -0600

By Aoun Sahi

LAHORE, Pakistan, Oct 10 (Asia Water Wire) – It has been more than six months now, but the sewerage system of a community comprising 180 households in this northern Pakistani city remains completely choked.

Bihar Colony number 2 lies in the vicinity of Kot Lakhpat toward the southern borders of Lahore in the capital of Punjab, the largest of Pakistan’s provinces. Its streets have turned into huge ponds of muddy and filthy water. Mosquitoes, flies and other insects have found refuge in these pools of stagnant water.