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rwsn » Documentation » RWSN Newsletter December 2010

RWSN Newsletter December 2010

As 2010 draws to a close, and many of you wind down before the New Year we once again share the latest news from RWSN with you. In this edition we bring you the latest field note on the Siting of Drilled Water Wells: A guide for Managers, as well as study findings on Cost-Effective Boreholes from Uganda, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Zambia. Self Supply through hand dug wells in urban areas is in the spotlight, through a new study just published by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). We have compiled a list of practical publications on hand dug well construction, which will be useful to many of you. EMAS will host a course on low cost technology options in Bolivia (March – April 2011). We are also able to share with you the insights from a south-south exchange on Self Supply experiences between Government Officials and UNICEF in Uganda with their counterparts in Zambia. In addition, Skat has just put its series of manuals on drinking water supply onto the website for you to download free of charge!

For those of you who speak Portuguese, SDC Mozambique has just translated the Myths of the Rural Water Supply Sector into Portuguese. Mitos no Sector de Abastecimento de Água Rural can be downloaded from http://www.rwsn.ch/documentation/skatdocumentation.2010-12-10.7993650602

Pour les francophones - Si vous souhaitez recevoir le bulletin trimestriel en français, veuillez nous écrire un e-mail à rwsn@skat.ch intitulé Bulletin Trimestriel en français. Nous sommes graduellement en phase d’introduire un réseau bilingue (français et anglais). Comme deuxième étape de ce processus nous avons groupé toute la littérature en français actuellement disponible sur notre site Web en une seule place. Merci de visiter le lien http://tinyurl.com/ot42to

Cost-Effective Boreholes

Siting of Drilled Water Wells - A Guide for Project Managers has just been published by RWSN. This concise document, written particularly for managers of water supply programmes and projects provides a step by step guide on the siting of drilled water wells. As a first step, the essential requirements for a simple groundwater model are set out, including some basic explanations to help the reader establish an understanding of hydrogeology. It subsequently explains what needs to be taken into consideration when selecting a suitable site for drilling. This includes the requirements of the water well, and a comprehensive set of instructions on how the most suitable site should be determined. Key considerations with respect to the tender and contract documents are also set out, as well as some basic information regarding field work and contract management. The field note takes the reader through the process from consideration of the user needs right up to the process of engaging a drilling contractor to construct a drilled water well. It can be downloaded from http://www.rwsn.ch/documentation/skatdocumentation.2010-12-03.0768183939

In order to understand the challenges faced by groundwater consultants and borehole drilling companies so as to support them better, a study funded by UNICEF: Assessment of Groundwater Investigations and Borehole Drilling and Supervision Capacity in Uganda has just been published. The study reveals that the borehole drilling and groundwater investigation capacity in the country is reasonable but needs to be strengthened to ensure that good quality services are provided by the licensed companies. An improved regulatory framework for borehole drilling and groundwater abstraction and the development of a licensing system for hydrogeologists and shallow well contractors is recommended for Uganda. You can download the full report from http://www.rwsn.ch/documentation/skatdocumentation.2010-12-03.4843672134

The Code of Practice for Cost Effective Boreholes, has just been endorsed by the USA National Ground Water Association (USA): http://www.rwsn.ch/news/documentation/skatdocumentation.2010-08-23.4523209156

As part of our work to understand and improve drilled water well cost-effectiveness, we have just published a short synthesis report of the findings from studies in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Zambia. The report tries to compare countries performance against the principles set out in the cost of practice for cost-effective boreholes. It thus takes a first step towards benchmarking countries against these indicators. The report is available on our website: http://www.rwsn.ch/documentation/skatdocumentation.2010-12-07.0362474846

We are aware of some attempts to improve borehole cost-effectiveness through studies, training, improved regulation, and drillers associations in Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda but are very keen to learn about what others are doing in this regard. Please contact the Cost-Effective Boreholes coordinator kerstin.danert@skat.ch, with your experiences or enquiries.

Self Supply

Self Supply is an approach whereby households are supported to make their own investments in water supplies.

EMAS will hold a one month practical training course on pump construction, manual drilling, construction of underground tanks and solar water heaters from the 24th March to 22nd April 2011 in Puerto Pérez, Bolivia. The course includes both practical and theoretical components (see http://vimeo.com/channels/emas) Participants are expected to fund their own travel to and from the course, and pay a contribution of €55. EMAS will cover accommodation, food and the cost of the training. If you are interested, please contact Wolfgang Buchner on: emas@entelnet.bo For those of you who are not able to travel to Bolivia for the course, you can also access the training materials on line: http://emas.blip.tv or http://www.emas-international.de

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has just published report entitled Groundwater, self supply and poor urban dwellers: A review with case studies of Bangalore and Lusaka. The report recognises the fact that an estimated 270 million of people in low-income urban settlements around the world rely on water wells for drinking water and productive use. However, efforts to enhance the quality, reliability and sustainability of these sources receive little attention. The report highlights the importance of not discouraging people from using these sources, but to emphasise the need to maintain the quality of this resource, combined with education about hand-washing and other hygiene measures. For more details about this report, visit http://pubs.iied.org/10584IIED.html or contact martin.mulenga@iied.org

UNICEF and the Ministry of Water and Environment in Uganda recently undertook a south-south exchange visit to Zambia. A team of six visited Lusaka and Luapula Provence to learn about experiences of promoting Self Supply in Zambia. The visit was extremely insightful, particularly to see that in Zambia water users in a remote part of the country are managing to improve their water supplies with zero subsidy. You can download the report from http://www.rwsn.ch/documentation/skatdocumentation.2010-12-07.0984544521/file

As part of our website update and information-sharing, we are collating information on technologies suitable for self supply. Over the coming months, we are particularly interested in information with respect to hand dug well construction. There are a number of excellent publications already (listed below), but if you have any other particularly user-friendly guidelines which could be shared, please send them to kerstin.danert@skat.ch. Thanks!

For more information about the self-supply flagship, and ongoing work by partner organisations, visit our website or contact Sally Sutton: sally@ssutton.fsbusiness.co.uk

Sustainable Rural Water Supplies

The World Bank has just published Private Operators and Rural Water Supplies: A Desk Review Of Experience. The study reviewed 25 initiatives which demonstrate that private operators can improve water services in rural settlements or scattered rural homesteads with populations under 5,000. The publication is available online at: http://go.worldbank.org/HHMU4VZQU0. Copies can also be ordered from the Water Helpdesk.

A five-page SmartLessons note, which distils lessons from the World Bank study (above) is also available: Private Operators and Rural Water Supplies: Can It Work? can be downloaded from http://www.rwsn.ch/documentation/skatdocumentation.2010-12-10.3286549590

There are a number of new mapping tools available in the public domain, which can be used to monitor the coverage and operational status of water services:

FLOW - (Field Level Operations Watch) is a new baseline and monitoring platform that allows organisations to get a clear view of which water sources are working, on the verge of disrepair or broken. The platform, which has been developed by Gallatin Systems and is now being used by Water For People enables water source information to be gathered, mapped and immediately shared, thus improving understanding of sustainability issues and supporting informed decision-making. To find out more, visit: http://watermapmonitordev.appspot.com or http://www.waterforpeople.org/assets/pdfs/publications/flow.pdf

The Water Point Mapper is a free tool for producing maps showing the status of water supply services. It is aimed at water, sanitation, hygiene practitioners as well as local governments working at the district and sub-district levels in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Mapper has been designed for use in situations where there is no internet connectivity. The Water Point Mapper was developed by WaterAid. To find out more, visit: http://www.waterpointmapper.org

For more information about the sustainable rural water supplies flagship of RWSN visit our website or contact pharvey@unicef.org

Handpump Technologies

As a special offer for the whole of 2011, we are sending out free CDs of the handpump technology standards (Version 2009). If you would like to receive one, please contact noro.robson@skat.ch Please note that you are very welcome to make a donation for these CDs. Donations will be used to enable others will less means to access RWSN information.

If you wish more details on handpump technologies contact kerstin.danert@skat.ch or erichbaumann@hotmail.com.

New Research, Publications and Websites

Skat has just made the series of six manuals on drinking water supply available freely online:

SDC Mozambique has just translated the Myths of the Rural Water Supply Sector into Portuguese. Mitos no Sector de Abastecimento de Água Rural can be downloaded from http://www.rwsn.ch/documentation/skatdocumentation.2010-12-10.7993650602

Do you want to share your practical or professional experience, or research findings in water and sanitation with others? Then consider writing for Waterlines - an international journal for those interested in extending adequate water supply, sanitation and solid waste management to all in developing countries. Waterlines aims to bridge the gap between research and practice and considers key challenges faced by engineers, health professionals, community development workers, researchers, policy makers. Guidelines for authors are available on: http://www.rwsn.ch/documentation/skatdocumentation.2010-01-14.6062792311

The themes for Waterlines in 2011 are:

  • April 2011: Water Safety Plans (copy deadline 1 December 2010)
  • July 2011: ‘Good Governance in Water and Sanitation’ (copy deadline 1 March 2011). This edition covers issues ranging from participation to politics and corruption. How can users make utilities and other suppliers accountable to their needs? Has progress been made towards greater transparency in operations?

We also encourage non-theme papers relating to drinking water supply, sanitation and hygiene, these can be articles covering specific projects and field-based experiences as well as more analytical, research-based papers. For more information visit http://www.rwsn.ch/documentation/skatdocumentation.2010-01-14.2888121538 or contact Sue Cavill: suecavill@hotmail.com

RWSN Member Requests and Sharing

The Ministry of Water and Environment in Uganda has just released the 2010 Water and Environment Sector Performance Report. The report can be downloaded from http://www.mwe.go.ug/MoWE/85/Joint_Sector_Review_2010

Benin is one of the few countries in sub-Saharan Africa which is on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) target for rural drinking-water supply. In 2000, the Government of Benin began a shift from a project approach to a programmatic approach with enhanced budget support. Benin has thus undergone reforms in budget preparation and management. The recent SmartLessons publication from IFC documents the progress in Scaling Up Rural Water Supply Service in Benin. The document can be downloaded from https://smartlessons.ifc.org/smartlessons/lesson.aspx?id=1147

Membership and Subscription

RWSN membership is open to individuals and organisations that support rural people throughout the world to access improved water supplies. RWSN currently has over 2,000 members, including professionals in numerous Governments, NGOs and the private sector. RWSN members contribute to the network by sharing information, contributing their time and providing financial resources for specific activities. If you wish to join, please contact us on rwsn@skat.ch, or kerstin.danert@skat.ch. If you have any problems loading down documents, please send us a mail to and we can send you the information by email.

If you would prefer to receive the newsletter in English/French, please just let us know on rwsn@skat.ch

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Docu information
Posted by:
Danert Kerstin
15.12.2010
Documentation type:
newsletter
Authors:
KErstin Danert
Publishers:
Rural Water Supply Netwrork
Published: 2010
Pages: 4
 
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