Water Pakistan

Water Governance – one of the biggest challenges in Bangladesh

Water is life and essentially related with human survival. Water safety and equitable access of all is linked with good health, dignity, economic development of the people. National governments play a key role incidentally all over the world. Similarly, the government of Bangladesh has the prime role of principal duty-bearer to ensure access to safe water and other related issues. Efforts of the government as the key stakeholder are not encouraging. Though various policies have already been adopted to address the challenges related with availability of services but the overall success rate is far behind.
Due to pollution and contamination, water quality in Bangladesh is degrading and the burning question is whether the available water is safe or not. Groundwater being the main source of safe water in the rural areas mainly drawn through shallow tube-wells fitted with hand pumps. The distance between tube-wells and on-site sanitation is hazardous to cause contamination. Moreover, excessive extraction of sub-surface water is causing depletion of the layer and vulnerability to arsenic contamination. Though DPHE and WASA providing technological support as stakeholders (water point installation; operation and maintenance; arsenic tests etc) but the services aren’t sufficient as per community demand for which huge number of tube well being installed without proper technical guidance; this is another dimension of vulnerability in respect of water quality. For lack of bottom-up planning and capacity of proper utilization of ADP allocation, monitoring and follow-up of implementation process are the ground realities of the sector. In addition, some Hard to Reach (HtR) pockets still lacking in access. However, NGOs’ advocacy has been useful to accelerate the access level which needs continuing for coverage and sustainability encompassing affects of climate change and water quality degradation.
Access to safe water is recognized as the basic human right in the country but restructuring of the service delivery mechanism including people’s participation needs further efforts. Development partners, NGOs and CSOs can play a supportive role towards ensuring sustainable governance in the sector. Moreover, empowering grassroots people, alternative technology innovation and promotion, capacity enhancement of sector actors can bring about a positive change in the whole scenario. Though the effort in bringing about the desired change of situation is a long journey but we believe that the collaborative efforts of all will make it happen as water is part of our life and livelihood.

Acronyms :
ADP = Annual Development Program
WASA =Water Supply and Sanitation Authority
DPHE =Department of Public Health Engineering

ur major challenge of governing.
Fourteen years ago we started our fight, did not exist in the environmental arena the term governance and / or environmental justice, but we called for harmony between development and environment, and we did it with arguments to attack as in the case of water.
Here in the town of Cerro de San Pedro State of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, started the first national struggle against the opencast mining and the use of sodium cyanide in mining metallurgical processes, now with the raid of hundreds of this type of projects we are working at the national level through workshops and training cadres in the states and communities affected by this criminal activity.
One of the main tools and arguments of awareness, is the criminal use these companies will give the water. Examples are the cases of New Gold-Canadian Minera San Xavier in Cerro de San Pedro and the Mazapli in the state of Zacatecas, Mexico, that the two contaminated with cyanide an average of 126 million liters of water daily, enough to supply 1.26 million liters per day with a hundred people, when in these areas lack a similar amount of this vital liquid as they are semi-desert areas.
Our activism is not desktop, involves acts of civil disobedience coordinated with the legal, political and the media. In the legal field, we beat the company Minera San Xavier in the highest courts of our country, currently operates without a permit, which could not be without the complicity of the governments of the three levels, that is why our struggle is currently centered at pressuring the federal government to implement the rule of law, (a feature missing in this country) for which we work with a part of legislators H. Congress in which organized campus forums against this type of mining involving large amount of affected communities. As an organization, “FAO” and drive drafted bills, such as the Mining Law, to promote environmental governance.
We drive on the principle of not taking nature as a productive factor, such as simple object of development policies, that humanity is not out of nature, which is part and parcel of the same, demanding respect for human dignity.

San Luis Potosi S.L.P. June 11, 2010.
Broad Opposition Front to Minera San Xavier “FAO”

Mr. MARIO MARTÍNEZ RAMOS
Coordinator

Poor Governance, corruption in Water supply, Sanitation and Hygiene may be a scape goat only. The problem lies some where else ?
Like the developing word elsewhere Water Sanitation and Hygiene is seriously handicapped by poor governance, corruption and apathetic attitude of beurocracy. in Pakistan also.
It has a specific angle of the choice of leader as head of the WASH providers usually based on the relationship of some blue eyed man/ women without any consideration of relevance vis-à-vis qualifications, experience and integrity.
These director generals have an additional issue of not being pushed to perform, because they are sure that doing whatever the like to do, won’t affect their job. Same source that got them posted is going to protect them.
In normal advocacy we visit them , invite them in w/shops take them to national/ international tours and conferences to convince them that improving water supplies, sanitation and hygiene improves the health of the nation and saves them from disease death and backwardness.
Mostly they know it and as of today the public at large is very much aware of this fact in Pakistan. The problem starts at the fact even if he/ she wants to do something serious to alleviate this situation he does not know what to do.
We the development sector champions of wash don’t know much beyond the normal punch line of water, sanitation and hygiene are our basic rights and government is supposed to provide it , at our door step.
The issue terminates at the lack of research to look for viable solution for improving the WASH situation. Most common excuse forwarded by the providers of poor quality drinking water is the worn out distribution (piping) system in the city. In the first place it is a financially heavy choice, and the time taken for this will be so long that we finish replacing the pipes at one end and by then the start is worn out.
We are dumping untreated industrial and domestic waste water in ground through irrigation of vegetable gardens or mixing with fresh water in rivers and canals. But viable methods of treating this water at an affordable cost with a indigenous technology is not there. So what does a head of service provider do to help this situation?.
The solution proposed and practically demonstrated was to have water treatment plants and hand carry drinking water home, to bypass damaged pipes. Though not without hiccups but an upcoming solution.
It is strongly proposed that the development sector switches to supportive advocacy, by researching and proposing viable solutions to the director General, at a moment when he wants to take action.

M Jahangir
FANSA
Pakistan