$10 million European Community water and sanitation project underway in Iraq
[Date: 30/06/09 Source: UNICEF]
A $10 million project funded by the European Community to improve Iraq’s water and sanitation services is underway. Implemented by UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works and the Ministry of Municipalities in Kurdistan, the project will increase the government’s provision of services as well as strengthen their capacity to manage and develop Iraq’s water and sanitation sector.

For more information, please visit: www.unicef.org/media/media_50106.html

Zero Discharge Toilets
[Date: 29/07/08 Source: UNICEF]
A lecture on “Zero Discharge Toilets” was delivered by Professor Dr.Vinod Tare of IIT Kanpur on the 24th June 2008 at UNICEF, New Delhi. Based on this concept, which attempts to recycle the wastewater for flushing and the solids obtained for composting, two pilot initiatives have been taken up in Railway coaches as well in a community toilet with the support of Technology Mission for Railway Safety and UNICEF respectively. Water used for flushing is reclaimed using a liquid separator and filtered before it is sent back to the flush tank for reuse as flush water. The solid matter obtained is used for composting and while the liquid portion of the wastewater is finally evaporated using solar energy.

For more details, please contact Dr.Vinod Tare at vinod@iitk.ernet.in.

The WaterLoo Challenge 2009
[Date: 29/07/08 Source: Vikram Rajola, LIFE, Singapore]
The Lien Institute For the Environment (LIFE), Singapore aims to promote innovative and cost-effective solutions to post-disaster water and sanitation problems. In order to address this urgent need, it has instituted the WaterLoo Challenge on the theme of “Emergency Water Supply & Sanitation Provision”. LIFE invites proposals relating to improving water supply and sanitation in the aftermath of a disaster. Proposed solutions should be relevant to rural and coastal areas emphasizing point-of-use or onsite facilities, using novel technologies, systems or practices for solving the problem. The Challenge carries cash awards and other incentives up to US Dollar 50,000; with the first prize being an amount of US$ 15,000.

For more information about the Challenge, please visit: www3.ntu.edu.sg/CEE/life/waterloochallenge2009.html

Survey on WASH Sectors Emergency Response Capacity
[Date: 21-07-08 Source: Colin Hadkiss, WASH]
The global WASH cluster is looking at the sector's emergency response capacity to identify the gaps in order to improve overall performance of the emergency WASH response. If you had participated in evaluations of WASH projects dealing with emergency response, kindly provide your views by participating in this on-line survey which would take 10 minutes. The deadline for the survey is 31 August 2008. If you have any questions at all please contact; johncosgrave@gmail.com or jmccluskey@unicef.org.

The online survey form in English can be found at: www.surveymonkey.com/washsurvey-en

Papers Invited for a Reader on Water and Health in South Asia
[Date: 22-07-08 Source: Anjal Prakash, SaciWATERs, Hyderabad]
SaciWATERs invites papers for a reader on Water and Health in South Asia under its project – Crossing Boundaries. The reader is a part of the series Water in South Asia being published by Sage Publications, New Delhi. The reader is an attempt to understand the interdisciplinary aspects of the interrelations between water and health by discussing the theoretical and methodological approaches and application of trans-disciplinary knowledge in understanding the issue. For more details, kindly refer the brochure at tinyurl.com/55de8t

Call for applicants for the Japan Water Forum Fund 2008
[Date: 17-07-08 Source: Prof.Peter J.Bury, IRC]
The Japan Water Forum is pleased to invite grass-roots organizations in developing countries to apply for the Japan Water Forum Fund 2008.This Fund was created for awarding grants to grass-roots organizations in developing countries involved in water-related activities. We will provide up to 1,000US$ per activity or project. However, receiving a grant is limited to once a year for each selected organization. Please submit a duly filled application form to the Japan Water Forum by e-mail by July 31, 2008.

The application form and guidelines for the JWF Fund 2008 are available at: www.waterforum.jp/eng/

MDG Assessment Report 2008 by JMP
[Date: 23-07-08 Source: WHO & UNICEF]
As 2008 is the International Year of Sanitation (IYS), the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) has taken the opportunity to make sanitation a major focus in its 2008 update report, entitled Progress in Drinking-water and Sanitation: special focus on sanitation. This report details global progress towards the Millenium Development Goal (MDG) target for drinking-water and sanitation, and analyses what these trends suggest for the remainder of the UN Decade "Water for Life" (2005 - 2015).

Download this report at www.wssinfo.org/en/40_mdg2008.html