Water partnership tackles Water Supply, Sanitation
By PELEKELO LISWANISO
A FEW weeks ago, pupils at Munali High school in Lusaka went on rampage stoning vehicles on the Great East road because of the persistent shortage of water at the school.
The action by the students, though crude, was inevitable because the water shortage had become so serious that diseases were imminent and could have easily broken out and claimed young lives.
The students were condemned for their violent reaction but a huge lesson was learnt from that episode that water is indeed a precious commodity which should be made available all the time.
Thanks, however, to new initiatives by some organisations in the country, which have put water high on their agenda.
One such organisation is the Zambia Water Partnership (ZWP), which at its recent national elections held at Lusaka’s Pamodzi hotel last week, pledged to be more inclusive by involving various stakeholders in the water sector to ensure that water is available and managed sustainably.
Leading the challenge is the newly elected ZWP Chairman, Oswald Chanda, who is also the director of the National Water and Sanitation Council (NWSCO).
Mr. Chanda said in his maiden speech that there were great opportunities for the partners in the water sector to ensure that they assisted government to ensure that this resource was managed properly.
Indeed, if water resources were managed properly in Zambia, cases of perennial shortages and the crisis like the one, which beset Munali High school, would be unheard of.
The task of improving and sustaining water supply and its distribution to the local communities, therefore, relies squarely on all stakeholders who use this resource.
Water brings life to cities and plants and provides the habitat for living things. It is vital for drinking, sanitation, agriculture, industry and countless other purposes.
ZWP under its new leadership hopes many other institutions will come on board and integrate water in their national plans to ensure that this scarce resource is abundant in the country so that the lives of the people can be improved.
ZWP is a national representation of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) whose main objective is to facilitate multi-stakeholder consultations and the creation of awareness and understanding of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) as well as the sharing of knowledge and experiences in water resource management for the purpose of attaining sustainable management of the country’s water resources.
In other words, ZWP hopes to spearhead the concept of water resources management by integrating a number of water sub-sectors such as hydropower, water supply and sanitation, irrigation and drainage, and environment.
An integrated water resources perspective ensures that social, economic, environmental and technical dimensions are taken into account in the management and development of water resources and ZWP hopes members and other stakeholders will realise this goal, which is part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to bring about improved health and eliminate poverty by 2015.
The ZWP new leadership, which was voted to steer the organisation, includes Mr. Chanda as chairman; Professor Imasiku Nyambe secretary, from the University of Zambia School of Mines; Zambia Daily Mail Online/Production editor, Pelekelo Liswaniso publicity secretary; People Nature consultant, Monica Chundama, treasurer.
Other committee members are Chiseche Mutale, the chief planner of the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources; George Phiri, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives ADB Small scale irrigation project Coordinator; Wilson Sakala, the Zambezi River Authority Hydrologist and Kunda Chimambo from Chalimbana River Catchment Conservation Committee.
The membership of ZWP comprises partners or stakeholder groups drawn from government departments, non-governmental organisations and the private sector, academic and research institutions and the media.
ZWP was launched in 2000 in partnership with GWP-Southern Africa following discussions with the Ministry of Energy and Water Development and has been hosted by the UNZA School of mines, where a Secretariat has since been established.
At the global level, GWP was created in 1996 following the first World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. It was subsequently registered as an organisation in Sweden in 2002 to provide support to countries in the sustainable development of their water resources.
The founding members of GWP were the World Bank, the UNDP and Sweden. Since then, other donors have come on board and these can be described as core donors comprising Denmark, UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Norway, Spain and Switzerland.
Other donors for special programmes include the European Union, Finland and the United States.
GWP Southern Africa executive secretary Ruth Beukman and the regional project manager of the GWP- SA, Alex Simalabwi, praised ZWP for the lead it has taken to advocate for water in national economic plans.
Ms Beukman described the elections held by ZWP as having been mature and that other countries can learn from Zambia’s experience to raise the profile of IWRM in their countries.
Mr. Simalabwi also congratulated the new ZWP leadership saying the task before it was enormous but was confident that together with partners, the concept of IWRM will grow even stronger.
He stressed that water was critical to most of the MDGs as it facilitates the fight against poverty, improves health and sanitation, and the environment and boosts food security.
During discussions amongst ZWP partners, it was clear that the issue of urbanization is a reality of the changing world and Zambia has not been spared from its effects.
Delegates agreed that water, like air, is a vital resource without substitute. Its supply, allocation, and disposal present numerous challenges, all of which must be met to support the growing population in the country.
The provision of potable water and sanitation in urban areas are especially significant challenges. Surface water and groundwater resources are increasing over-exploited. Lack of wastewater treatment and insufficient control over other waste disposal also place water systems in the country at risk of microbiological and chemical contamination.
“We have a big task ahead of us,” Mr Chanda said when congratulating his team noting that for a long time water supply and drainage services have been strongly subsidized by governments. The results have been severe financial deficits and wastage of the resource through leakage and inefficiency of use.
In recent years, rapid urban growth and insufficient finances have further restricted governments’ capacity to satisfy demands, extend distribution systems to areas with poor service, and provide adequate wastewater treatment prior to disposal or reuse.
Overcoming these challenges necessitates developing innovative ways for service provision, financing and regulatory structures and a focus on integrated water resources management.
A FEW weeks ago, pupils at Munali High school in Lusaka went on rampage stoning vehicles on the Great East road because of the persistent shortage of water at the school.
The action by the students, though crude, was inevitable because the water shortage had become so serious that diseases were imminent and could have easily broken out and claimed young lives.
The students were condemned for their violent reaction but a huge lesson was learnt from that episode that water is indeed a precious commodity which should be made available all the time.
Thanks, however, to new initiatives by some organisations in the country, which have put water high on their agenda.
One such organisation is the Zambia Water Partnership (ZWP), which at its recent national elections held at Lusaka’s Pamodzi hotel last week, pledged to be more inclusive by involving various stakeholders in the water sector to ensure that water is available and managed sustainably.
Leading the challenge is the newly elected ZWP Chairman, Oswald Chanda, who is also the director of the National Water and Sanitation Council (NWSCO).
Mr. Chanda said in his maiden speech that there were great opportunities for the partners in the water sector to ensure that they assisted government to ensure that this resource was managed properly.
Indeed, if water resources were managed properly in Zambia, cases of perennial shortages and the crisis like the one, which beset Munali High school, would be unheard of.
The task of improving and sustaining water supply and its distribution to the local communities, therefore, relies squarely on all stakeholders who use this resource.
Water brings life to cities and plants and provides the habitat for living things. It is vital for drinking, sanitation, agriculture, industry and countless other purposes.
ZWP under its new leadership hopes many other institutions will come on board and integrate water in their national plans to ensure that this scarce resource is abundant in the country so that the lives of the people can be improved.
ZWP is a national representation of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) whose main objective is to facilitate multi-stakeholder consultations and the creation of awareness and understanding of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) as well as the sharing of knowledge and experiences in water resource management for the purpose of attaining sustainable management of the country’s water resources.
In other words, ZWP hopes to spearhead the concept of water resources management by integrating a number of water sub-sectors such as hydropower, water supply and sanitation, irrigation and drainage, and environment.
An integrated water resources perspective ensures that social, economic, environmental and technical dimensions are taken into account in the management and development of water resources and ZWP hopes members and other stakeholders will realise this goal, which is part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to bring about improved health and eliminate poverty by 2015.
The ZWP new leadership, which was voted to steer the organisation, includes Mr. Chanda as chairman; Professor Imasiku Nyambe secretary, from the University of Zambia School of Mines; Zambia Daily Mail Online/Production editor, Pelekelo Liswaniso publicity secretary; People Nature consultant, Monica Chundama, treasurer.
Other committee members are Chiseche Mutale, the chief planner of the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources; George Phiri, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives ADB Small scale irrigation project Coordinator; Wilson Sakala, the Zambezi River Authority Hydrologist and Kunda Chimambo from Chalimbana River Catchment Conservation Committee.
The membership of ZWP comprises partners or stakeholder groups drawn from government departments, non-governmental organisations and the private sector, academic and research institutions and the media.
ZWP was launched in 2000 in partnership with GWP-Southern Africa following discussions with the Ministry of Energy and Water Development and has been hosted by the UNZA School of mines, where a Secretariat has since been established.
At the global level, GWP was created in 1996 following the first World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. It was subsequently registered as an organisation in Sweden in 2002 to provide support to countries in the sustainable development of their water resources.
The founding members of GWP were the World Bank, the UNDP and Sweden. Since then, other donors have come on board and these can be described as core donors comprising Denmark, UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Norway, Spain and Switzerland.
Other donors for special programmes include the European Union, Finland and the United States.
GWP Southern Africa executive secretary Ruth Beukman and the regional project manager of the GWP- SA, Alex Simalabwi, praised ZWP for the lead it has taken to advocate for water in national economic plans.
Ms Beukman described the elections held by ZWP as having been mature and that other countries can learn from Zambia’s experience to raise the profile of IWRM in their countries.
Mr. Simalabwi also congratulated the new ZWP leadership saying the task before it was enormous but was confident that together with partners, the concept of IWRM will grow even stronger.
He stressed that water was critical to most of the MDGs as it facilitates the fight against poverty, improves health and sanitation, and the environment and boosts food security.
During discussions amongst ZWP partners, it was clear that the issue of urbanization is a reality of the changing world and Zambia has not been spared from its effects.
Delegates agreed that water, like air, is a vital resource without substitute. Its supply, allocation, and disposal present numerous challenges, all of which must be met to support the growing population in the country.
The provision of potable water and sanitation in urban areas are especially significant challenges. Surface water and groundwater resources are increasing over-exploited. Lack of wastewater treatment and insufficient control over other waste disposal also place water systems in the country at risk of microbiological and chemical contamination.
“We have a big task ahead of us,” Mr Chanda said when congratulating his team noting that for a long time water supply and drainage services have been strongly subsidized by governments. The results have been severe financial deficits and wastage of the resource through leakage and inefficiency of use.
In recent years, rapid urban growth and insufficient finances have further restricted governments’ capacity to satisfy demands, extend distribution systems to areas with poor service, and provide adequate wastewater treatment prior to disposal or reuse.
Overcoming these challenges necessitates developing innovative ways for service provision, financing and regulatory structures and a focus on integrated water resources management.
posted by aydpels @ 2:44 PM
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