See article below from Circle of Blue. And a quick update: the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing will indeed take place on March 23. Link here.
Senate Committee to Vote on Clean Drinking Water Bill
March 17, 2010
The bill emphasizes the importance of water and sanitation in U.S. foreign aid.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote at its next business meeting on a bill to provide safe drinking water to 100 million people, according to a committee staff member.
The meeting is tentatively scheduled for March 23, the staff member told Circle of Blue.
The Paul Simon Water for the World Act was introduced nearly one year ago, but has not been acted on by the Foreign Relations Committee.
“Our bill will reestablish U.S. leadership on water around the world,” said the bill’s sponsor, Senator Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, at a press conference in 2009.
“By bringing safe water and basic sanitation to 100 million of the world’s poorest people, the Paul Simon Water for the World Act will make America safer by reaffirming our standing as a leader in the fight to end global poverty,” Durbin said. “It will help prevent humanitarian catastrophes and dangerous conflicts around the world.”
To help provide clean drinking water, the bill would create an Office of Water within the U.S. Agency for International Development and a diplomatic position in the State Department to increase the importance of water and sanitation for U.S. foreign policy.
Currently, water policy at USAID is managed across several offices and bureaus.
Members of both political parties are among the 30 co-sponsors. Similar legislation — the Water for the Poor Act — was passed in 2005, establishing the United Nations Millennium Development Goal targets for water and sanitation as key elements of U.S. foreign assistance programs. The current bill gives more detailed guidance on how to achieve those goals.
Meanwhile, the House version of the bill is being held up in the Foreign Affairs Committee because it is part of a larger overhaul of foreign aid legislation, according to committee communications director Lynne Weil.
In order to restructure the U.S. water policy bureaucracy, both Senate and House versions of the bill would amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. The chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Howard Berman, Democrat of California, is working on re-writing that act, which guides how the U.S. conducts its foreign aid programs.
“Any legislation that amends the Foreign Assistance Act is being considered for inclusion in the foreign assistance reform bill,” Weil told Circle of Blue. “That’s why individual pieces haven’t been considered separately.”
Berman’s bill, the Foreign Assistance Reform Act, would require the President to submit a national strategy for reducing global poverty and assisting economic growth in developing countries. The legislation would create an advisory council to complete annual assessments of the effectiveness of foreign aid programs.
Weil said that Berman intends to introduce the bill later this year.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
'World's Most Useful Tree' Provides Low-Cost Water
Who can tell me if they have any experience with this tree? I'll read the article in the Microbiology Journal (below) AFTER World Water Day (March 22), but for now here goes:
'World's Most Useful Tree' Provides Low-Cost Water Purification Method For Developing World'
March 3, 2010
A low-cost water purification technique published in Current Protocols in Microbiology could help drastically reduce the incidence of waterborne disease in the developing world. The procedure, which uses seeds from the Moringa oleifera tree, can produce a 90.00% to 99.99% bacterial reduction in previously untreated water, and has been made free to download as part of access programs under John Wiley & Sons' Corporate Citizenship Initiative.
A billion people across Asia, Africa, and Latin America are estimated to rely on untreated surface water sources for their daily water needs. Of these, some two million are thought to die from diseases caught from contaminated water every year, with the majority of these deaths occurring among children under five years of age. Michael Lea, a Current Protocols author and a researcher at Clearinghouse, a Canadian organisation dedicated to investigating and implementing low-cost water purification technologies, believes the Moringa oleifera tree could go a long way to providing a solution.
"Moringa oleifera is a vegetable tree which is grown in Africa, Central and South America, the Indian subcontinent, and South East Asia. It could be considered to be one of the world's most useful trees," said Lea. "Not only is it drought resistant, it also yields cooking and lighting oil, soil fertilizer, as well as highly nutritious food in the form of its pods, leaves, seeds and flowers. Perhaps most importantly, its seeds can be used to purify drinking water at virtually no cost."
Moringa tree seeds, when crushed into powder, can be used as a water-soluble extract in suspension, resulting in an effective natural clarification agent for highly turbid and untreated pathogenic surface water. As well as improving drinkability, this technique reduces water turbidity (cloudiness) making the result aesthetically as well as microbiologically more acceptable for human consumption.
Despite its live-saving potential, the technique is still not widely known, even in areas where the Moringa is routinely cultivated. It is therefore Lea's hope that the publication of this technique in a freely available protocol format, a first, will make it easier to disseminate the procedure to the communities that need it.
"This technique does not represent a total solution to the threat of waterborne disease," concluded Lea. "However, given that the cultivation and use of the Moringa tree can bring benefits in the shape of nutrition and income as well as of far purer water, there is the possibility that thousands of 21st century families could find themselves liberated from what should now be universally seen as19th century causes of death and disease. This is an amazing prospect, and one in which a huge amount of human potential could be released. This is particularly mind-boggling when you think it might all come down to one incredibly useful tree."
SOURCE: Wiley-Blackwell
'World's Most Useful Tree' Provides Low-Cost Water Purification Method For Developing World'
March 3, 2010
A low-cost water purification technique published in Current Protocols in Microbiology could help drastically reduce the incidence of waterborne disease in the developing world. The procedure, which uses seeds from the Moringa oleifera tree, can produce a 90.00% to 99.99% bacterial reduction in previously untreated water, and has been made free to download as part of access programs under John Wiley & Sons' Corporate Citizenship Initiative.
A billion people across Asia, Africa, and Latin America are estimated to rely on untreated surface water sources for their daily water needs. Of these, some two million are thought to die from diseases caught from contaminated water every year, with the majority of these deaths occurring among children under five years of age. Michael Lea, a Current Protocols author and a researcher at Clearinghouse, a Canadian organisation dedicated to investigating and implementing low-cost water purification technologies, believes the Moringa oleifera tree could go a long way to providing a solution.
"Moringa oleifera is a vegetable tree which is grown in Africa, Central and South America, the Indian subcontinent, and South East Asia. It could be considered to be one of the world's most useful trees," said Lea. "Not only is it drought resistant, it also yields cooking and lighting oil, soil fertilizer, as well as highly nutritious food in the form of its pods, leaves, seeds and flowers. Perhaps most importantly, its seeds can be used to purify drinking water at virtually no cost."
Moringa tree seeds, when crushed into powder, can be used as a water-soluble extract in suspension, resulting in an effective natural clarification agent for highly turbid and untreated pathogenic surface water. As well as improving drinkability, this technique reduces water turbidity (cloudiness) making the result aesthetically as well as microbiologically more acceptable for human consumption.
Despite its live-saving potential, the technique is still not widely known, even in areas where the Moringa is routinely cultivated. It is therefore Lea's hope that the publication of this technique in a freely available protocol format, a first, will make it easier to disseminate the procedure to the communities that need it.
"This technique does not represent a total solution to the threat of waterborne disease," concluded Lea. "However, given that the cultivation and use of the Moringa tree can bring benefits in the shape of nutrition and income as well as of far purer water, there is the possibility that thousands of 21st century families could find themselves liberated from what should now be universally seen as19th century causes of death and disease. This is an amazing prospect, and one in which a huge amount of human potential could be released. This is particularly mind-boggling when you think it might all come down to one incredibly useful tree."
SOURCE: Wiley-Blackwell
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Abel Wolman Lecture 2010: Flowing Water, In and For Cities
WELL worth your time if you are in/around DC on April 14th.
2010 Abel Wolman Lecture
Flowing Water, In and For Cities
Dr. Judy L. Meyer
Distinguished Research Professor of Ecology at the University of Georgia
4:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 14, 2010
National Academy of Sciences Keck Center 500 5th Street, NW, Washington, DC Register at http://nationalacademies.org/wstb
Flowing Water, In and For Cities
We live in a rapidly urbanizing world whose cities depend upon but also profoundly impact flowing water ecosystems. Headwater stream ecosystems are crucial capillaries of river networks, but these tributaries are under appreciated, poorly protected, and particularly vulnerable to the impacts of urbanization. These impacts result in an "urban stream syndrome" that has multiple symptoms and causes, many of which will be exacerbated under future climate conditions. Some municipalities have recognized these threats to the ecosystem services provided by flowing water and have pioneered approaches that reduce the impacts of urbanization on streams and rivers. These innovations provide benefits now and offer hope for the future. These are the topics on which Judy Meyer will focus in her 2010 Abel Wolman Lecture.
RSVP to attend here.
2010 Abel Wolman Lecture
Flowing Water, In and For Cities
Dr. Judy L. Meyer
Distinguished Research Professor of Ecology at the University of Georgia
4:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 14, 2010
National Academy of Sciences Keck Center 500 5th Street, NW, Washington, DC Register at http://nationalacademies.org/wstb
Flowing Water, In and For Cities
We live in a rapidly urbanizing world whose cities depend upon but also profoundly impact flowing water ecosystems. Headwater stream ecosystems are crucial capillaries of river networks, but these tributaries are under appreciated, poorly protected, and particularly vulnerable to the impacts of urbanization. These impacts result in an "urban stream syndrome" that has multiple symptoms and causes, many of which will be exacerbated under future climate conditions. Some municipalities have recognized these threats to the ecosystem services provided by flowing water and have pioneered approaches that reduce the impacts of urbanization on streams and rivers. These innovations provide benefits now and offer hope for the future. These are the topics on which Judy Meyer will focus in her 2010 Abel Wolman Lecture.
RSVP to attend here.
International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) and Diageo come together for Water
The International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) is working with Diageo (one of my favorite companies ever) to host a series of water meetings in Africa.
Meetings will take place during World Water Week (March 22-26) in Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon (Kenya and South Africa later). Water experts and advocates in those countries should be aware of these meetings and hopefully participate.
A good place to learn more is:
http://water-a-business-imperative.ning.com/
More details from their site:
Water: A Business Imperative is a series of business-led roundtables with government, NGO and UN representatives to discuss water policy and management. The series will take place around the world, beginning with local events in five African countries during the week of 22-26 March 2010 in recognition of the UN World Water Day on March 22. The initiative will culminate in New York at the United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit in June.
The roundtable events will begin to identify operational pathways through which companies can contribute to water policy goals, highlighting which methods of engagement have proved effective and equitable, and describing some of the common pitfalls of engagement. The dialogue will also provide the basis for general strategies to address shared risks and principles that can be applied to all types of engagement. The ultimate objective of Water: A Business Imperative is to facilitate responsible corporate engagement with water policy in a manner that reduces business risks while simultaneously advancing policy goals and positively impacting nearby communities and ecosystems.
A white paper will be produced from each roundtable, documenting and analysing the concepts, practical steps, and case studies discussed. Each of the five national white papers will be presented at the UN CEO Water Mandate forum in April 2010 to provide an African business perspective on water public policy. Together, the white papers represent an important part of the private sector’s contribution to the UN Millennium Development Goal 7 - improving access to water and sanitation.
..Objectives.The overarching objective of Water: A Business Imperative is to:
•Provide examples of responsible corporate engagement on water policy in Africa
Locally in Africa, the objectives are to:
•Identify examples of how companies can collectively contribute to national water policy goals
•Build the business case as to why companies should contribute to national water policy goals by identifying shared risks and highlighting business benefits
•Collectively agree on action points to achieve the UN MDG 7
One of the key outcomes of the each roundtable will be to provide participants with a framework that allows them to align different hydrologic, economic, and political contexts with the appropriate policy engagement responses. The country discussions will aim to explore how the parties involved – both corporate and non-corporate – influence corporate approaches to engagement as well as outcomes. Dialogue on corporate water policy engagement will enable businesses to:
•Identify common business challenges or concerns about water
•Identify resources and activities businesses can do to address or reduce these challenges
•Identify what partnerships are needed to address or reduce these challenges
•Identify how core competencies of businesses and other stakeholders can help achieve the UN MDGs
Meetings will take place during World Water Week (March 22-26) in Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon (Kenya and South Africa later). Water experts and advocates in those countries should be aware of these meetings and hopefully participate.
A good place to learn more is:
http://water-a-business-imperative.ning.com/
More details from their site:
Water: A Business Imperative is a series of business-led roundtables with government, NGO and UN representatives to discuss water policy and management. The series will take place around the world, beginning with local events in five African countries during the week of 22-26 March 2010 in recognition of the UN World Water Day on March 22. The initiative will culminate in New York at the United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit in June.
The roundtable events will begin to identify operational pathways through which companies can contribute to water policy goals, highlighting which methods of engagement have proved effective and equitable, and describing some of the common pitfalls of engagement. The dialogue will also provide the basis for general strategies to address shared risks and principles that can be applied to all types of engagement. The ultimate objective of Water: A Business Imperative is to facilitate responsible corporate engagement with water policy in a manner that reduces business risks while simultaneously advancing policy goals and positively impacting nearby communities and ecosystems.
A white paper will be produced from each roundtable, documenting and analysing the concepts, practical steps, and case studies discussed. Each of the five national white papers will be presented at the UN CEO Water Mandate forum in April 2010 to provide an African business perspective on water public policy. Together, the white papers represent an important part of the private sector’s contribution to the UN Millennium Development Goal 7 - improving access to water and sanitation.
..Objectives.The overarching objective of Water: A Business Imperative is to:
•Provide examples of responsible corporate engagement on water policy in Africa
Locally in Africa, the objectives are to:
•Identify examples of how companies can collectively contribute to national water policy goals
•Build the business case as to why companies should contribute to national water policy goals by identifying shared risks and highlighting business benefits
•Collectively agree on action points to achieve the UN MDG 7
One of the key outcomes of the each roundtable will be to provide participants with a framework that allows them to align different hydrologic, economic, and political contexts with the appropriate policy engagement responses. The country discussions will aim to explore how the parties involved – both corporate and non-corporate – influence corporate approaches to engagement as well as outcomes. Dialogue on corporate water policy engagement will enable businesses to:
•Identify common business challenges or concerns about water
•Identify resources and activities businesses can do to address or reduce these challenges
•Identify what partnerships are needed to address or reduce these challenges
•Identify how core competencies of businesses and other stakeholders can help achieve the UN MDGs
Friday, March 12, 2010
NASA, water, LAUNCH
Best thing ever: two of my interests, water and space exploration, combine into one.
From http://www.launchorg.com/www/:
In labs, garages, companies, organizations, and charities around the world, visionary work is being done to meet the challenge of a sustainable future. LAUNCH, with support from its Founding Partner NASA, has been formed to help these innovators accelerate from where they are to where they need to be – as they strive to achieve success. LAUNCH will initiate a global search for and channel these innovations into key challenge areas that are the backbone to securing a sustainable future: water, air, food, energy, mobility, and sustainable cities.
The needs of these nascent organizations are many and varied: re-imagining their business models, accessing capital/investment or charitable donations, refining their designs and engineering, linking to a new technology partner, securing key management, scaling their operations, gaining advocacy, opening up new markets and programs . The difference between failure or stagnation and success are often small pivotal changes in approach and the ability to move quickly and confidently to secure key allies and partners.
Lots more detail throughout their website.
Featured Innovator
April Rinne
WaterCredit Initiative
http://water.org/watercredit
Many among the urban and rural poor are willing to pay for clean water and sanitation, but they have been unable to access water connections and build toilets because they simply do not have the upfront capital to make the needed investments (often ranging from just $90 – $250).
Check out Mark Sobsey's work with low cost water tests too.
From http://www.launchorg.com/www/:
In labs, garages, companies, organizations, and charities around the world, visionary work is being done to meet the challenge of a sustainable future. LAUNCH, with support from its Founding Partner NASA, has been formed to help these innovators accelerate from where they are to where they need to be – as they strive to achieve success. LAUNCH will initiate a global search for and channel these innovations into key challenge areas that are the backbone to securing a sustainable future: water, air, food, energy, mobility, and sustainable cities.
The needs of these nascent organizations are many and varied: re-imagining their business models, accessing capital/investment or charitable donations, refining their designs and engineering, linking to a new technology partner, securing key management, scaling their operations, gaining advocacy, opening up new markets and programs . The difference between failure or stagnation and success are often small pivotal changes in approach and the ability to move quickly and confidently to secure key allies and partners.
Lots more detail throughout their website.
Featured Innovator
April Rinne
WaterCredit Initiative
http://water.org/watercredit
Many among the urban and rural poor are willing to pay for clean water and sanitation, but they have been unable to access water connections and build toilets because they simply do not have the upfront capital to make the needed investments (often ranging from just $90 – $250).
Check out Mark Sobsey's work with low cost water tests too.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
CSIS / Global Water Futures / Universities and Water, Sanitation
Below is information about the next important step in the work of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Global Water Futures program.
Universities and International Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
The mission: To strengthen the response of U.S. institutions of higher education to the global need for drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) internationally.
The CSIS Global Water Futures Project is in the initial stages of hosting a consortium of U.S. universities involved in international water, sanitation, and hygiene activities. One initial purpose of the consortium would be to promote the expansion and greater coordination of WASH activities in higher education, as well as to strengthen universities’ WASH linkages with the U.S. government, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and academic institutions and governments abroad.
Many U.S. universities and colleges are already engaged in addressing global WASH concerns, or are seeking to expand WASH initiatives, in ways that include the following activities:
- Implementing practical, on-the-ground, WASH projects involving faculty and students;
- Partnering with colleges and universities in developing countries on training programs and other approaches to increase in-country capacity;
- Training the next generation of WASH professionals with an emphasis on experiential learning;
- Initiating and evaluating WASH-related technologies;
- Assisting the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and U.S. Department of State, including individual USAID Missions, as well as other U.S. government agencies working internationally, in researching and developing evidence-based WASH strategies and in analyzing and evaluating outcomes;
- Promoting awareness beyond public health and engineering programs of the economic, gender equity, national security, social, and environmental benefits of advancing activities to address the global WASH crisis;
- Developing public-private partnerships with corporations, civil society, foundations, and faith-based organizations.
A consortium would allow universities and colleges engaged in WASH activities abroad not only to work together in a more coordinated fashion, but also to encourage additional technological innovation, strengthen academic, philanthropic and governmental support, and increase momentum for the global WASH sector generally. A consortium would also facilitate a clearinghouse of information and best practices, which could easily be shared with counterparts outside of academia. As demands grow for effective foreign assistance in the WASH sector, U.S. college and university faculty, staff, and students can respond with technical expertise, knowledge, and personnel in host countries to achieve the goals of sustainable WASH-related development programs.
The eventual purposes of such a consortium will be determined by those choosing to participate in coming years. So start participating! Contact details:
Katryn Bowe, Project Coordinator, Global Water Futures and Research Assistant, Global Strategy Institute
(202) 775-3156
Universities and International Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
The mission: To strengthen the response of U.S. institutions of higher education to the global need for drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) internationally.
The CSIS Global Water Futures Project is in the initial stages of hosting a consortium of U.S. universities involved in international water, sanitation, and hygiene activities. One initial purpose of the consortium would be to promote the expansion and greater coordination of WASH activities in higher education, as well as to strengthen universities’ WASH linkages with the U.S. government, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and academic institutions and governments abroad.
Many U.S. universities and colleges are already engaged in addressing global WASH concerns, or are seeking to expand WASH initiatives, in ways that include the following activities:
- Implementing practical, on-the-ground, WASH projects involving faculty and students;
- Partnering with colleges and universities in developing countries on training programs and other approaches to increase in-country capacity;
- Training the next generation of WASH professionals with an emphasis on experiential learning;
- Initiating and evaluating WASH-related technologies;
- Assisting the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and U.S. Department of State, including individual USAID Missions, as well as other U.S. government agencies working internationally, in researching and developing evidence-based WASH strategies and in analyzing and evaluating outcomes;
- Promoting awareness beyond public health and engineering programs of the economic, gender equity, national security, social, and environmental benefits of advancing activities to address the global WASH crisis;
- Developing public-private partnerships with corporations, civil society, foundations, and faith-based organizations.
A consortium would allow universities and colleges engaged in WASH activities abroad not only to work together in a more coordinated fashion, but also to encourage additional technological innovation, strengthen academic, philanthropic and governmental support, and increase momentum for the global WASH sector generally. A consortium would also facilitate a clearinghouse of information and best practices, which could easily be shared with counterparts outside of academia. As demands grow for effective foreign assistance in the WASH sector, U.S. college and university faculty, staff, and students can respond with technical expertise, knowledge, and personnel in host countries to achieve the goals of sustainable WASH-related development programs.
The eventual purposes of such a consortium will be determined by those choosing to participate in coming years. So start participating! Contact details:
Katryn Bowe, Project Coordinator, Global Water Futures and Research Assistant, Global Strategy Institute
(202) 775-3156
Global Safe Drinking Water Advocacy Day - March 23, Washington DC
Advocacy on Capitol Hill on behalf of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act (and related appropriations) continues apace. The latest opportunity to lend your voice is below:
Please join us for the World Water Day Advocacy Day in Washington, DC on March 23rd from 9:00-5:00 p.m. On this advocacy day, we are convening supporters from across the country to call on Congress to increase support for sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs and child health programs. We are conducting a morning training session in which we will be providing all the information and tools that participants will need to be effective advocates in their meetings with Congress. In the afternoon, advocacy day participants will be meeting with congressional offices to ask for support for WASH and child health issues. This advocacy day is a collaboration of several organizations that are working together to mark World Water Day in the US – including CARE, PSI, Global Water Challenge, the US Coalition for Child Survival, Water Advocates, and WaterAid.
We hope that you or others from your organization will participate in this exciting opportunity. We also encourage you to disseminate the attached flyer to your supporters to ask them to participate. Please sign up to participate in World Water Day Advocacy Day at http://www.waterday.org/ (under the sign up section of the landing page).
Feel free to send me a note if you need more details.
Please join us for the World Water Day Advocacy Day in Washington, DC on March 23rd from 9:00-5:00 p.m. On this advocacy day, we are convening supporters from across the country to call on Congress to increase support for sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs and child health programs. We are conducting a morning training session in which we will be providing all the information and tools that participants will need to be effective advocates in their meetings with Congress. In the afternoon, advocacy day participants will be meeting with congressional offices to ask for support for WASH and child health issues. This advocacy day is a collaboration of several organizations that are working together to mark World Water Day in the US – including CARE, PSI, Global Water Challenge, the US Coalition for Child Survival, Water Advocates, and WaterAid.
We hope that you or others from your organization will participate in this exciting opportunity. We also encourage you to disseminate the attached flyer to your supporters to ask them to participate. Please sign up to participate in World Water Day Advocacy Day at http://www.waterday.org/ (under the sign up section of the landing page).
Feel free to send me a note if you need more details.
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