A World Without Water - by Ginger Adams Otis http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0234/otis.php The concept of privatizing water service has been around since Napoléon III, but only five percent of the world population currently receives water from corporations. Activists want to stop the process before it goes any further; the world's water lords want rapid expansion. In 1998, when the private sector began angling for the water market in earnest, the World Bank predicted the global trade in water would soon generate revenues of up to $800 billion a year. Two years later, at a World Water Forum in the Hague, a triumvirate of multinational water companies backed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) successfully strong-armed the UN into defining water as a human need (which can be sold for profit by private companies) instead of a human right (which means people are ensured equal access on a nonprofit basis). Feeding Eight Billion People: Time to Get Out of Past Misconceptions - by Professor Malin Falkenmark http://www.siwi.org/Articles_Summaries/article_WF-Green-Blue.htm http://www.siwi.org/ The water necessary to produce the food required for an expanding human population is usually discussed only as an issue of blue water (the water we use from rivers and aquifers). This discussion neglects all the food produced from rainfed farming, which is critical not least in hunger and poverty stricken areas with rapid population growth, areas that depend not on blue water but on green water (the soil moisture used by plants and returned as vapor flow). A shift in water thinking is essential in order to find realistic and sustainable options to feed the world of tomorrow. Contact Information: Professor Malin Falkenmark, senior scientist Stockholm International Water Institute Email: malin.falkenmark@siwi.org Fire & Water: An Examination of the Technologies, Institutions, and Social Issues in Arms Control and Transboundary Water-Resources Agreements - by Elizabeth L. Chalecki, Peter H. Gleick, Kelli L. Larson, Arian L. Pregenzer, and Aaron T. Wolf http://www.pacinst.org/reports/fire_and_water.pdf The world of environmental security is bringing the science of natural resources in ever-closer contact with the policy issues of international stability and foreign affairs. Many U.S. and international agencies—including the U.S. Departments of State and Defense, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the Southern African Development Community—now analyze foreign policy in part through the lens of environmental resources. In October 2001, the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security; the Department of Geosciences of Oregon State University; and the Cooperative Monitoring Center (CMC) at Sandia National Laboratories sponsored a workshop designed to highlight the closeness of national security and environmental concerns through explicitly comparing the technologies, institutions, and social issues in two seemingly disparate fields: arms control and transboundary water resources. This report provides a look at the discussion and analysis. Contact Information: Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security 654 13th Street, Preservation Park Oakland,, CA   94612 USA Telephone: 510.251.1600   Global Water Outlook to 2025 - by Mark W. Rosegrant, Ximing Cai, and Sarah A. Cline http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/fpr/fprwater2025.pdf http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2002/2002-10-16-06.asp Water scarcity could leave millions of people without access to clean water or adequate food, warns a new report released in conjunction with World Food Day 2002. The study by two international agricultural research centers (the International Food Policy Research Institute - IFPRI and the International Water Management Institute - IWMI) calls for changes in water policies and investments to avert environmental damage, health risks and threats to the global food supply. "For hundreds of millions of poor farmers in developing countries, a lack of access to water for growing food is the most important constraint they face," said Frank Rijsberman, director general of IWMI. "If countries continue to underinvest in building strong institutions and policies to support water governance and approaches to give better access to water to poor communities, growth rates for crop yields will fall worldwide in the next 25 years, primarily because of water scarcity." Contact Information: Email: ifpri@cgiar.org Private industry's gold rush on for water rights - by Joan Lowry http://www.restoringamerica.org/archive/property/gold_rush_for_water.html Water will be to the 21st century what oil was to the last - vast fortunes will be made by controlling it and nations will go to war to preserve access to it. In a world in which fresh water is increasingly scarce, that axiom is being taken to heart in the boardrooms of some of the globe's most powerful corporations. In nearly every corner of the planet, international water conglomerates are vying to sign operating contracts, make deals, buy rights and acquire local water supply and treatment companies. It's a worldwide water rush. Given that less than 1 percent of the Earth's water is drinkable, the corporate betting is that the price of water can only go up. After all, fresh water is a finite resource for which there is no substitute. Estimates of the value of the annual global market for water range from $300 billion to $800 billion. Already, an estimated 300 million to 400 million people receive water through privately owned or operated water companies. Profits, Profits Everywhere – And Soon Not a Drop to Drink - May 2002 http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/crp/may02.htm Prospects for Private Water Provision in Developing Countries: Lessons from 19th Century America - by Keith J. Crocker and Scott E. Masten, University of Michigan Business School, June 2000 http://www.isnie.org/ISNIE00/Papers/Crocker-Masten.pdf The tidal wave of interest in privatization and deregulation that has swept the telecommunications and electric power sectors has largely bypassed the provision of water and sanitation services, however. With a few notable exceptions, the ownership and operation of water systems remain, in both developed and developing economies, the domain of municipal and state enterprises. While the lack of agitation for water privatization in developed economies may indicate satisfaction with public provision, the same inference could not be drawn outside the developed world. According to World Bank estimates, close to two billion people still lack either safe drinking water or adequate sanitation (Briscoe and Garn, 1990). Problems of waste, insufficient quality, misdirected investment, political interference, and corruption plague the water systems of many developing nations. Successes in mitigating such problems through private sector participation in the telecommunications and power sectors, and in some early experiments with water supply, raise the issue of whether privatization might offer a solution to problems of water supply in developing countries. Several questions need to be answered, however, before such a recommendation could be endorsed. Are the tradeoffs between public and private provision the same for water as for other utilities? If so, why does public ownership and operation dominate water supply in developed economies where other utilities have typically remained private? If not, what attributes of water supply distinguish it from utility services for which private supply has succeeded? Finally, are there conditions or circumstances—economic or institutional—that might make private provision desirable in developing countries even if public provision retains advantages in more developed environments? Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting - by Jo Smet and Patrick Moriarty http://www.irc.nl/pdf.php?file=pprainwater.pdf Notable Feature(s): Useful directory of contact addresses for those involved in community water management around the world - Appendix 2. Contact Information: International Water and Sanitation Centre (DGIS) of the Netherlands P.O. Box 2869 2601 CW Delft The Netherlands Telephone: +31-15-219 29 39   Fax: +31-15-219 09 55 UN Embarks on International Year of Freshwater 2003 http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2002/2002-12-12-01.asp http://www.unesco.org/water/iyfw2/ NEW YORK, New York, December 12, 2002 (ENS) – Today, four out of every 10 people worldwide live in areas experiencing water scarcity. By 2025, as much as two thirds of the world's population – an estimated 5.5 billion people - may be living in countries that face a water shortage. To address this crucial issue, the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2003 the International Year of Freshwater. The International Year of Freshwater provides an opportunity to accelerate the implementation of the principles of integrated water resources management. The Year will be used as a platform for promoting existing activities and spearheading new initiatives in water resources at the international, regional and national levels. The publication by the United Nations system of the World Water Development Report will be a major focus of the Year's public information activities. Its first edition will be launched at the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan in March 2003. Notable Feature(s): Contact information; world water facts and figures; official UN press release; media contacts. Contact Information: Email: wateryear2003@unesco.org wateryear2003@un.org Water for People / Water for Life - World Water Development Report 2003 http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/wwdr/ex_summary/ex_summary_en.pdf This first WWDR is a joint undertaking twenty-three United Nations (UN) agencies, and is a major initiative of the new World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) established in 2000, with its Secretariat in the Paris headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This report is organized in six main sections: a background, an evaluation of the world's water resources, an examination of the needs for, the uses of and the demands on water (‘Challenges to Life and Well-Being'), a scrutiny of water management (‘Management Challenges'), seven representative case studies highlighting different water scenarios, and conclusions and annexes. The two ‘challenges' sections are based on the seven challenges identified at the 2nd World Water Forum in 2000 plus a further four challenges identified in the production of this report. The book is documented throughout with revealing figures, tables and global maps that include country-based information, as well as boxes illustrating lessons learned. This Executive Summary covers the key points of the report, and for the detailed synthesis, conclusions and recommendations, readers are referred to its relevant sections. Contact Information: Secretariat c/o UNESCO/Division of Water Sciences 1, rue Miollis F-75732 Paris Cedex 15 France Telephone: +33 1 45 68 39 28   Fax: +33 1 45 68 58 29 Email: wwap@unesco.org As Multinationals Run the Taps, Anger Rises Over Water for Profit - by John Tagliabue http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0826-05.htm SAN ISIDRO DE LULES, Argentina — When Jorge Abdala's water bill jumped to 59 pesos a month from 24 a few years ago, he went looking for someone to blame. He soon found his villain: a French multinational company at the forefront of a global effort to privatize government-run water systems. Vast numbers of people have also demonstrated in Bolivia, in Ecuador, in Panama, in South Africa and elsewhere in a vivid illustration of how highly charged the economics of water have become. At issue is this question: should water, a substance close to life itself, be a profit-making business? Children teach their parents a lesson in hygiene: New loos at two rural Indian primaries are having unexpected results in health education - by Luke Harding http://www.changemakers.net/library/temp/guardian121002.cfm http://www.wateraid.org.uk/ This December 2002 article from the Guardian Weekly details the UK's WaterAid charity initiative in rural India to bring sanitation and much improved health and education to poor people. Contact Information: WaterAid Prince Consort House 27-29 Albert Embankment London   SE1 7UB UK Telephone: 44 20 7793 4500   Fax: 44 20 7793 4545 Email: wateraid@wateraid.org.uk Finding A Better Way for Water Management - by Lori Pottinger and Korinna Horta http://itt.com/waterbook/better.asp The authors profile current water supply projects around the world and examine what a more sustainable approach to water management might look like. Notable Feature(s): Excellent sidebar collection of world water statistics, news, markets, economics, organizations, and information. Contact Information: Email: korinna_horta@edf.org Food Security Through Rainwater Catchment - an essay on water practices in India by Sudhirendar Sharma http://www.cpatsa.embrapa.br/doc/gender/6_10_Sudhirendar_Sharma.doc Water management is a complex social exercise. It is managed by individual farmers as well as by communities in irrigation schemes and watersheds. The advent of water bureaucracies brought decline of the social institutions which, for centuries, had designed, developed, managed and protected their water systems. Unless the social institutions are revived and the control of water systems handed over to them, the poor will continue to be at the receiving end of this water crisis.... Contrary to conventional developmental process driven by external aid and supported by new institutions, a social movement called Swadhaya (meaning self-study) has brought community-controlled and community-managed model of sustainable natural resource use to fore. Within less than 50 years since it was launched, the movement has focussed its attention on revitalising the dominant Vedic thought of indebtedness. Missing from the conventional development vocabulary, this thought has triggered community response to social crisis. Communities in the affected villages have embraced the thought in transforming their lives. Contact Information: Sudhirendar Sharma Email: sudhirendar@vsnl.net Fresh Water: Finding a Synergy Between the Private Sector and Those in Need - Issues Surrounding Use of the Most Common Substance on Earth - by the Syarifa Foundation Team http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/Publications/INSIGHT/Jun-98/7.asp Indian villagers given a taste of equality - Lower-caste Dalits trained to fix pumps gain clean water and modicum of respect - by Luke Harding http://www.changemakers.net/library/temp/guardian.cfm http://www.wateraid.org This December 2002 Guardian article describes the vexing problem of inadequate water supply and its successful resolution in the Indian village of Seetanagaram. Notable Feature(s): More information on water availability problems and solutions around the world from WaterAid, the UK's only major charity dedicated exclusively to the provision of safe domestic water, sanitation and hygiene education to the world's poorest people. Contact Information: WaterAid Prince Consort House 27-29 Albert Embankment London   SE1 7UB UK Telephone: +44 20 7793 4500   Fax: +44 20 7793 4545 Email: wateraid@wateraid.org Rainwater harvesting in Bangalore - by S. Vishwanath http://www.infochangeindia.org/features55.jsp http://www.rainwaterclub.org/ This September 2002 article provides multiple examples of success implementing rainwater collection systems in new and existing structures in Bangalore, India. With groundwater levels fast depleting, rooftop rainwater harvesting makes sound ecological and financial sense. Bangalore citizens have taken impressive initiative in this form of water harvesting and have established a special Rainwater Club. Since rainwater harvesting is related to the soil profile and hydrogeology of any given area, specific methods have to be developed for specific sites. A one-size-fits-all approach will not work. With help from Rotary North-West, the Rainwater Club has come out with a booklet, in English and in Kannada, which explains the basics of rooftop rainwater harvesting and also provides rainfall data on each district in Karnataka, to enable citizens to design rooftop rainwater harvesting systems for their specific location. Contact Information: S. Vishwanath 264, 6th Main, 6th Block B.E.L. Layout Vidyaranyapura Bangalore – 560 097 India Telephone: 91-80-3641690   Email: chitravishwanath@vsnl.com Reforming Former Public Monopolies: The Case of Water Supply - by Raquel Alfaro, Vivianne Blanlot, Ralph Bradburd, and John Briscoe This 1997 analysis provides an overview of issues that continue to perplex those who would understand and address the growing shortage of water in many parts of the world and particularly the lack of access to basic water supplies among the poor. The public service delivery model of water supply (government provision of water supply and sanitation) has brought with it some serious problems for the poor. The view that water is essential, a basic human need or, in the public finance terminology, a "merit good," created strong pressures for government-owned utilities to subsidize water tariffs so that poor and low-income families would not be priced out of the market. Indeed, the "social tariff" became a part of the lexicon of the water sector in Latin America, practiced in virtually every country. The intent was benign, but in practice the social tariff operated in ways that yielded little benefit to the poor and in fact may actually have reduced their welfare. This 1997 analysis provides an excellent introduction to issues that continue to perplex those who would understand and solve growing water shortages in many parts of the world and limited access to fresh water amnong the poor. In too many cases, the public enterprise suppliers' water tariff was low, but piped service was inadequate, and in many cases, unavailable to poor and low income families. This combination of low price but no quantity was no bargain for the poor; it forced them to purchase water from vendors, to collect and carry water from distant sources, or to utilize unsanitary water available nearby. Water from vendors is vastly more expensive than piped water--ten to twentyfold is common (WDR, 1994). River Linking: Think of soil profile instead! - by Sudhirendar Sharma http://www.janmanch.org/Water_resources/water_resources.asp Here is a water prescription for India, where by directing the government to consider linking all major rivers in the country for controlling floods and droughts by the year 2012, the Supreme Court seems to have overlooked the success of countrywide community initiatives in fighting drought in the recent past. And by accepting the court's advice, the Government in a way has admitted that all is not well with its heavily funded drought-proofing measures across the country. Notable Feature(s): Links to other water relevant papers, including Global Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment by Ganesh Pangare; Water Resources database of organizations. Contact Information: CREDO - Janmanch.org Centre for Research into Environment and Development J-108 (first floor) Saket New Delhi-110017 India Telephone: 00-91-11-2651-7328   Email: thecredo@vsnl.net The Calcutta Wetlands: Turning Bad Water Into Good - by Dhrubajyoti Ghosh http://www.changemakers.net/journal/98october/ghosh.cfm The urban perception of wastewater management has essentially been that of pollution control. Conventional mechanical treatment plants serve this purpose, albeit inadequately. (Such plants are used to enrich dissolved oxygen and reduce cloudiness but they do not entirely remove pathogens). But there is another view. Farmers in many of the poorer areas recognize municipal wastewater as a nutrient pool that can be used in fisheries and agriculture. The Human Right to Water - by Peter Gleick http://www.pacinst.org/human_right_to_water.pdf The 21st century will open with one of the most fundamental conditions of human development unmet: universal access to basic water services. More than a billion people in the developing world lack safe drinking water that those in the developed world take for granted. Nearly three billion people live without access to adequate sanitation systems necessary to reduce exposure to water-related diseases. The failure of the international aid community, nations, and local organizations to satisfy these basic human needs has led to substantial, unnecessary, and preventable human suffering. An estimated 14 to 30 thousand people, mostly young children and the elderly, die every day from water-related diseases. At any given moment, approximately one-half of the people in the developing world suffer from disease caused by drinking contaminated water or eating contaminated food (United Nations, 1997). This paper argues that access to a basic water requirement is a fundamental human right implicitly supported by international law, declarations, and State practice. In some ways this right to water is even more basic and vital than some of the more explicit human rights already acknowledged by the international community, as can be seen by its recognition in some local customary laws or religious canon. Contact Information: Pacific Institute 654 13th St. Oakland, CA   94612 USA Telephone: 510.251.1600   Fax: 510.251.2203 Email: pistaff@pacinst.org The Potential and the Limits of Private Water Providers: Independent Sellers in Francophone Africa - by Bernard Collignon http://www.wsp.org/pdfs/working_limits.pdf Beginning with an analysis of the financial viability of umbrella or national water operations, Collignon's paper suggests that the small-scale operator may enjoy an advantage when it comes to providing services in smaller settlements where the national operator with a single service delivery system rarely breaks even. Mr. Collignon goes on to describe the nature and types of informal water servers based on studies in Nouakchott, Mauritania; Port au Prince, Haiti; Kayes, Mali; Dakar, Senegal; Niangologo and Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Faso. The cities studied range from populations of 12,000 to 2,000,000. In all the cases the following findings remain true: Private operators from the informal sector play a significant role in serving the low-income communities; Private operators and small scale distributors generate an important number of jobs; Private operators supply water at relatively high prices, but do so in direct response to consumer demand and willingness to pay; The role of the private and informal sector is reduced as the public sector improves its services. Contact Information: Water and Sanitation Program World Bank 1818 H Street Washington, DC   20433 USA Email: info@wsp.org The Soft Path for Water - by Gary Wolff and Peter H. Gleick http://www.pacinst.org/book/worlds_water_2002_chapter1.pdf This link goes to Chapter I of The World's Water 2002-2003 published by the Pacific Institute. Here are some excerpts: The world is in the midst of a major transition in the way we think about—and manage—our vital and limited freshwater resources. Earlier volumes of The World's Water have described different aspects of this transition as the “changing water paradigm.” This chapter goes further, describing the transition in terms of a choice. ... paths we can take. People do not want to “use” water. People want to drink and bathe, swim, produce goods and services, grow food, and otherwise meet human needs and desires. Achieving these ends can be done in different ways, often with radically different implications for water. There are two primary ways of meeting water-related needs, or more poetically, two paths. One path—the “hard” path—relies almost exclusively on centralized infrastructure and decision making: dams and reservoirs, pipelines and treatment plants, water departments and agencies. It delivers water, mostly of potable quality, and takes away wastewater. The second path—the “soft” path—may also rely on centralized infrastructure, but complements it with extensive investment in decentralized facilities, efficient technologies, and human capital. It strives to improve the overall productivity of water use rather than seek endless sources of new supply. ... Water is a critical and essential resource. In the past, water policy has typically revolved around the idea that regular additions to supply were the only viable options for meeting anticipated growth in population and the economy. This idea led to the construction of pipelines and aqueducts that bring water to many towns and cities and to the irrigation canals that bring water to dry but fertile soils. Once “easy” sources of raw water are captured, however, this path leads to more and more ambitious, intrusive, and capital-intensive projects that capture and store water far from where the water is needed, culminating in the massive water facilities that dominate parts of our landscape. Contact Information: Pacific Institute 654 13th Street Preservation Park Oakland, CA   94612 USA Telephone: 510.251.1600   Fax: 510.251.2203 Email: pistaff@pacinst.org Water Incorporated; The Commodification of the World's Water - by Maude Barlow http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/special/2002/0305water.htm Fortune Magazine notes that "water will be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th." Who owns water and how much they are able to charge for it will become the question of the century. The privatization of water is already a $ 400-billion-a-year business. Multinational corporations hope to increase profits from water commodification even further by using international trade and investment agreements to control its flow and supply. One Canadian water company, Global Water Corp., puts it best: "Water has moved from being an endless commodity that may be taken for granted to a rationed necessity that may be taken by force."... In cities and towns across the Western Hemisphere, results of water privatization have been almost universal: increased prices and a concurrent loss of access to water, failed promises of infrastructure improvement, loss of indigenous peoples' rights to water, worker layoffs, lack of information on water quality and big profits for the privatizing corporations.... The push to commodify water comes at a time when the social, political and economic impacts of water scarcity are rapidly becoming a destabilizing force around the globe. In 1997, Malaysia, which supplies about half of Singapore's water, threatened to cut off its supply after Singapore criticized Malaysia's policies. In Africa, relations between Botswana and Namibia have been severely strained by Namibian plans to construct a pipeline to divert water from the shared Okavango River. In the water-starved Middle East, the late King Hussein of Jordan once said that the only thing he would go to war with Israel over was water because Israel controls Jordan's water supply. Contact Information: Global Policy Forum 777 UN Plaza Suite 7G New York, NY   10017 USA Telephone: 212.557.3161   Fax: 212.557.3165 Email: globalpolicy@globalpolicy.org Water markets exclude the poor - by Sudhirendar Sharma http://www.blonnet.com/2002/08/23/stories/2002082300100900.htm The author presents alternatives to the World Bank's approach to accelerating water problems around the world. Convinced that water should be suitably priced, the World Bank has spearheaded a campaign to push the Dublin principle — that water is an economic, rather than social, good. With the aim of improving access and sustainability of dwindling supplies, water trading and promotion of private water rights have been pushed onto developing countries. Though aid-receiving countries have yet to accept water as an economic good, the World Bank is forcing the argument on developing countries through its water sector reforms. An internal assessment by the World Bank acknowledges that a large external constituency of stakeholders still wants to maintain social water pricing. Notable Feature(s): An additional article by Dr. Sudhirendar Sharma: Water privatisation -- Torrent of trouble . Contact Information: Dr. Sudhirendar Sharma The Ecological Foundation 7 Triveni Apartments A-6 Paschim Vihar New Delhi 110 063 India Telephone: +91-11-525 0494   Email: sudhirendar@vsnl.net Water vending is a booming business - by Dr Sudhirendar Sharma http://www.infochangeindia.org/features74.jsp This February 2003 article reports on the marketing of ground water that threatens communities and their future. Farmers in Goa and Tamil Nadu are abandoning their farms for the more lucrative business of extracting and selling groundwater. The groundwater trade is close to Rs 30 billion today, with 50% of the urban and industrial demand met through groundwater. And yet, there are no regulations to prevent this dangerous over-exploitation of groundwater resources.... While international aid agencies promote water-vending and privatisation, government's apathy in setting up stringent groundwater regulations leaves a convenient loophole for entrepreneurs. Though legally there are no de jure rights to groundwater, de facto all landowners literally own the groundwater under their land. Contact Information: Dr Sudhirendar Sharma Ecological Foundation New Delhi India Email: sudhirendar@vsnl.net Business & Human Rights Resource Centre http://www.business-humanrights.org/index.html This site is sponsored by an independent, nonprofit organisation promoting greater awareness of business and human rights issues in a collaborative partnership with Amnesty International Business Groups and leading academic institutions. Notable Feature(s): Water companies; useful sectors directory of news and developments in many manufacturing fields, jobs, and professions; Business and Human Rights in a Time of Change. Contact Information: Christopher L. Avery 361 Lauderdale Tower Barbican London EC2Y 8NA UK Telephone: 44 (20) 7628-0312   Email: avery@business-humanrights.org Centre for Science and Development http://www.cseindia.org/index.html The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is an independent, public interest organisation which aims to increase public awareness on science, technology, environment and development. The Centre was started in 1980. For more than two decades, CSE has been creating awareness about the environmental challenges facing India: searching for solutions that people and communities can implement themselves; challenging India to confront its problems; inspiring it to take action; pushing the government to create frameworks for people and communities to act on their own. Notable Feature(s): Down To Earth magazine; materials on global environmental governance, policy-making, and accountability. Contact Information: Centre for Science and Environment 41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area New Delhi-110062 India Telephone: +91 (011)-260-81110   Fax: +91 (011) 260-85879 Email: cse@cseindia.org Faulty Pipes: Why Public Funding—Not Privitazation—is the Answer for U.S. Water Systems http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/publications/reports/faulty-pipes/pdf http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org One answer to the water infrastructure crisis in the United States is a renewed commitment to public funding: through enhancement of the State Revolving Funds and by creating a national water infrastructure trust fund. The federal government maintains trust funds for roads and airports—even the Capitol Rotunda’s frescoes and wildlife in South Dakota—but not for water. Food & Water Watch is working with grassroots organizations and other allies around the world to stop the corporate control of our food and water. Contact Information: Food and Water Watch 1400 16th St. NW Suite 225 Washington, DC   20036 U.S.A. Telephone: 202.797.6550   Fax: 202.797.6560 Email: foodandwater@fwwatch.org Financing Water Services for the Poor - Moderators: James Winpenny and Daniel Valensuela http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/download/VWF-finance-background.pdf http://www.worldwaterforum.org/ FogQuest http://www.fogquest.org/ FogQuest is an innovative, international, non-governmental, nonprofit organization, that implements and promotes the environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable use of fog, rain and dew as sustainable water resources for people in arid regions of developing countries. Notable Feature(s): Valuable newsletter of fog collection projects and installations around the world. Contact Information: FogQuest P.O. Box 151 1054 Center Street Thornhill, Ontario L4J 8E5 Canada Telephone: 416.225.7794   Fax: 416.225.9801 Email: FogQuest@rogers.com Freshwater http://freshwater.unep.net/ The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. In carrying out its role as the lead global environment agency, UNEP acknowledges and recognizes that there are numerous specialized environmental institutions with a wealth of scientific information that they currently distribute to specific target audiences through the Web and other information distribution channels. Through its agency this Freshwater site exists to provide an abundance of reliable information about water resources around the world. About one-third of the world's population lives in countries with moderate to high water stress. The problems are most acute in Africa and West Asia but lack of water is already a major constraint to industrial and socio-economic growth in many other areas, including China, India and Indonesia. If present consumption patterns continue, two out of every three persons on Earth will live in water-stressed conditions by the year 2025. The declining state of the world's freshwater resources, in terms of quantity and quality, may prove to be the dominant issue on the environment and development agenda of the coming century. Notable Feature(s): Resources on urban water, groundwater, transboundary water, floods and droughts, irrigated agriculture, case studies and much more. Contact Information: Email: taylor@grida.no Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA) http://www.giwa.net/index.phtml The aim of GIWA is to produce a comprehensive and integrated global assessment of international waters, the ecological status of and the causes of environmental problems in 66 water areas in the world, and focus on the key issues and problems facing the aquatic environment in transboundary waters. It is to be a systematic assessment of the environmental conditions and problems in international waters, comprising marine, coastal and freshwater areas, and surface waters as well as ground waters. Notable Feature(s): Extensive links collection; news and highlights, including archived newsletter. Contact Information: Global International Waters Assessment SE- 391 82 Kalmar Sweden Telephone: +46- 480 44 73 53   Fax: +46- 480 44 73 55 Email: info@giwa.net Global Water http://www.globalwater.org/ GLOBAL WATER was founded by former U.S. Ambassador John McDonald and Dr. Peter Bourne to help save the lives of people in developing countries that are lost due to unclean water. Dr. Peter Bourne was the United Nations Assistant Secretary General in charge of the International Drinking Water and Sanitation Decade until 1980 when Ambassador McDonald was assigned as U.S. Coordinator for the United Nations Decade on Drinking Water and Sanitation. The lack of access to safe drinking water is the primary cause of disease and poverty in the world. Global Water is an international nonprofit, nonsectarian, and nongovernmental humanitarian organization specifically committed to the development of safe water supplies and related health programs that enable people to help themselves in developing countries around the world. To achieve this goal, Global Water's focus is to provide permanent solutions to a region's water needs by providing appropriate equipment. Notable Feature(s): Current projects; collection of water-related links. Contact Information: Global Water c/o Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy 1925 N. Lynn Street Arlington, VA   22209 USA Telephone: 703.528.3863   Fax: 703.528.5776 Email: info@globalwater.org Global Water Partnership (GWP) http://www.gwpforum.org/servlet/PSP The Global Water Partnership is a working partnership among all those involved in water management: government agencies, public institutions, private companies, professional organizations, multilateral development agencies and others committed to the Dublin-Rio principles. The mission of the Global Water Partnership is to "support countries in the sustainable management of their water resources." Notable Feature(s): The GWP ToolBox for Integrated Water Resources Management, a vast and useful collection of organizations and programs focused on water issues, plans, and research. Contact Information: GWP Secretariat Hantverkargatan 5 SE-112 21 Stockholm Sweden Telephone: +46 8 562 51 900   Fax: +46-8 562 51 901 Email: gwp@gwpforum.org Innovative Lives: UV Waterworks: Ashok Gadgil - by Martha Davidson http://www.si.edu/lemelson/centerpieces/ilives/uvwater.html Every hour, more than four hundred children in the developing world die from water-borne diseases. Now there is hope that many children's lives will be saved and the health of other children improved with the introduction of an innovative water disinfection device developed by Dr. Ashok Gadgil of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. UV Waterworks is a portable, low-cost, low-maintenance, energy-efficient water purifier that utilizes ultra-violet light to render viruses and bacteria harmless. It is also an outstanding example of an invention created in response to an urgent environmental health problem by a concerned and dedicated scientist. Notable Feature(s): Additional links on Gadgil's work: Forbes magazine; Invention at Play. International Water Association (IWA) http://www.iawq.org.uk/template.cfm?name=home The International Water Association (IWA) is a global network of water professionals, spanning the continuum between research and practice and covering all facets of the water cycle. International Water Law Research Institute (IWLRI) http://www.dundee.ac.uk/law/iwlri/index.html The International Water Law Research Institute (IWLRI) was created to promote academic research, postgraduate teaching, advisory services and professional training in the area of international and national law of water resources. Our mission statement is "to promote research, teaching, advice and professional training in water law to ensure reasonable and equitable allocation of water resources the world over within an interdisciplinary context." Notable Feature(s): Dr Wouters is Project Director of a major international Knowledge and Research Project funded by the Department for International Development (UN Government) entitled “Transboundary Water Resources Management: Using the Law to Develop Effective National Water Strategy: “Poverty Eradication through Enforceable Rights to Water”, which aims to develop Legal Assessment Model (LAM) that will assist transboundary watercourse States to develop national water policies based on a more clear evaluation of their legal entitlement and obligations regarding their shared freshwaters; water law news and policy developments; annual water law conferences; excellent collection of links. Contact Information: Dr. Patricia Wouters Director, International Water Law Research Institute Park Place, University of Dundee Dundee, Scotland   DD1 4HN UK Telephone: +44 (0) 1382 344456   Fax: +44 (0) 1382 226905 Email: p.k.wouters@dundee.ac.uk International Water Management Institute (IWMI) http://www.cgiar.org/iwmi/ The International Water Management Institute is a nonprofit scientific research organization focusing on the sustainable use of water and land resources in agriculture and on the water needs of developing countries. IWMI works with partners in the South to develop tools and methods to help these countries eradicate poverty through more effective management of their water and land resources. IWMI's research is organized around five themes. The themes were selected based on two criteria: 1) they address issues crucial to developing countries, and 2) they comprise areas where IWMI has the resources and expertise to make a significant contribution. Integrated Water Resource Management for Agriculture Sustainable Smallholder Land and Water Management Sustainable Groundwater Management Water Resource Institutions and Policies Water, Health and Environment IWMI has research projects running in 21 countries in Asia and Africa. Work is coordinated through regional offices located in India, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The Institute has subregional offices in China, Nepal, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and Uzbekistan. Notable Feature(s): Access to library resources and services, including more than 28,000 citations relevant integrated water management, added from 1986 onwards. These include published and unpublished monographs, research reports, conference and workshop proceedings, and journal articles; extensive collection of links to water journals. Contact Information: IWMI Private Bag X813 Silverton 0127 Pretoria South Africa Telephone: 27-12.845 9100   Fax: 27-12.845 9110 Email: d.merrey@cgiar.org International Water Resources Association (IWRA) http://www.iwra.siu.edu/index.html IWRA has strived to improve water management worldwide through dialogue, education, and research for over 25 years. Since its official formation in 1972, the organization has actively promoted the sustainable management of water resources around the globe. IWRA seeks to improve water resource outcomes by improving our collective understanding of the physical, biological, chemical, institutional, and socioeconomic aspects of water. Notable Feature(s): Water International peer-reviewed journal published quarterly; guide to international water organizations. Contact Information: IWRA Headquarters 4535 Faner Hall Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL   62901-4516 USA Fax: 618.453.2671 Email: iwra@siu.edu International Water Working Group http://www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/cmep_Water/ Research and news from Critical Mass Energy and Environmental Program, including Water for All, Public Citizen's information and action global project defending water as a common resource. Notable Feature(s): Defending the Global Commons in Spanish ; the same report also in English. Contact Information: Public Citizen 1600 20th St. NW Washington, DC   20009 USA Telephone: 202.588.1000   IUCN Water Conservation and Governance Projects http://www.iucn.org/themes/wani/projects.html http://www.iucn.org/themes/wani/index.html The main goal of the IUCN Water and Nature Initiative is the mainstreaming of an ecosystem approach into catchment policies, planning and management. IUCN members and partners recognise that the budget of the Initiative is small compared to the billions invested annually in water management by the private sector, governments and aid agencies. Therefore, the Initiative will develop a coherent set of activities that are innovative and targeted at guiding future investments and actions in water resources management and nature conservation. Notable Feature(s): Useful collection of documents related to water issues around the world. Contact Information: IUCN Water & Nature Initiative Rue Mauverney 28 1196 Gland Switzerland Telephone: +41.22.9990000   Fax: +41.22.9990002 Email: waterandnature@iucn.org Nature http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/water/ http://www.nature.com/ Nature, the NPG company's flagship, and the world's foremost weekly scientific journal, was launched in 1869. Nature Genetics the first Nature research journal, followed 123 years later. Now, in 2002, NPG publishes eight Nature Research Journals and plans to launch a ninth during 2003. This site focuses on global water issues and problems. Notable Feature(s): Science updates and research findings in numerous fields; publications; e-alerts; calendars of events. Contact Information: Nature Publishing Group Macmillan Publishers Limited Brunel Road Houndmills, Basingstoke Hampshire   RG21 6XS UK Paso del Norte Water Task Force http://www.sharedwater.org The Paso del Norte Water Task Force unites water managers, water users, experts and citizens working cooperatively to promote a tri-state, binational perspective on water issues that impact the future prosperity and long-term sustainability of the region. Contact Information: Jurgen Schmandt University of Texas Austin, TX USA Telephone: 281.363.7913   Email: jas@harc.edu Public Citizen http://www.citizen.org/index.cfm Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded by Ralph Nader in 1971 to represent U.S. consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch and the courts. Public Citizen fights for openness and democratic accountability in government, for the right of consumers to seek redress in the courts; for clean, safe and sustainable energy sources; for social and economic justice in trade policies; for strong health, safety and environmental protections; and for safe, effective and affordable prescription drugs and health care. Notable Feature(s): Extensive and reliable background information on many urgent topics, including the Water for All initiative in which Public Citizen is campaigning to protect universal access to clean and affordable drinking water by keeping it in public hands; profiles of the major multinational corporations with water interests. Contact Information: Public Citizen 1600 20th St. NW Washington, DC   20009 USA Telephone: 202.588.1000   Email: CMEP@citizen.org Rainwater Harvesting http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org/ http://www.cseindia.org/ This water initiative in India aims to harness the power and knowledge of individuals and communities to revive and develop the ancient techniques of water harvesting together with modern inputs from scientific knowledge for conservation and better management of freshwater resources. Notable Feature(s): Valuable newsletter Catchwater; examples of indigenous water collection systems and modern ones. Contact Information: Centre for Science and Environment 41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area New Delhi-110062 India Telephone: +91 (011)-260-81110   Fax: +91 (011) 260-85879 Email: cse@cseindia.org Riverkeeper http://www.riverkeeper.org/ Riverkeeper serves as a tireless advocate for the health of the Hudson River and the New York City watersheds. On behalf of a grassroots constituency, it employs a variety of tools and strategies to identify problems, respond to citizen complaints, devise appropriate solutions and vigorously enforce environmental laws. Riverkeeper is the public's investigator, scientist, lawyer, lobbyist and public relations agent for the River. Its partners are the fishermen and concerned citizens who keep Riverkeeper informed of suspicious activity on the river. It uses the Clean Water Act, which empowers private citizens to act as enforcement agents and public advocates, to collect evidence and file lawsuits against polluters. This hands-on "blue-collar environmentalism" is central to Riverkeeper's operations and philosophy. The impact of Riverkeeper extends beyond the Hudson River. The organization is a shining example of people defending their homes and their natural environment. The message—spoken and unspoken—is that everyone has the right to do the same. There are over 80 Waterkeeper programs across the United States, from Cook Inlet in Alaska to the Chattahoochee River in Georgia; from Casco Bay in Maine to San Diego Bay in California. Waterkeeper programs outside the U.S. include Waterkeepers for Lake Ontario, the Nicoya in Costa Rica, and the Petticodiac in New Brunswick. Riverkeeper has succeeded and grown and spawned dozens of new Waterkeeper organizations because it is based on one of the fundamental principles of a free society. The Riverkeeper movement is an environmental neighborhood watch program, a citizens' patrol to protect the nation's waters. Notable Feature(s): History of the organization; legal resources, environmental campaigns, email alerts; curriculum ideas for empowering a new generation of environmental activists. Contact Information: Alex Matthiessen, Executive Director Riverkeeper P.O. Box 130 Garrison, NY   10524 USA Telephone: 800.21.RIVER   Email: info@riverkeeper.org Safe Water Systems for the Developing World: A Handbook for Implementing Household-Based Water Treatment and Safe Storage Projects http://www.cdc.gov/safewater/manual/pdf/sws_manual.pdf This comprehensive, 221-page manual was produced by the CARE/CDC Health Initiative, the Estes Park Rotary Club and the Gangarosa International Health Foundation through a contract with Patricia Whitesell Shirey, ACT International, Atlanta, Ga. USA. The technical advisor was Robert Quick, MD, MPH, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2000, just 10 years after the end of the Water and Sanitation Decade, the lack of access to safe water remains a problem for more than a billion people in the developing world. Annually, 2 to 3 million children less than 5 years old die of diarrheal diseases, a large proportion of which are acquired through exposure to contaminated water. In addition, after 39 years, the 7th pandemic of cholera continues unabated, claiming the lives of a high percentage of children and adults who acquire the disease. There are a number of reasons for the persistence of these problems, in spite of the investment of billions of dollars in safe water by donor agencies and governments. Population shifts from rural to urban areas have stressed existing water and sanitary infrastructure and exceeded the capacity of most countries to keep up with demand. Large population dislocations caused by armed conflict and natural disasters have created enormous logistical problems in providing water and sanitation services, as have dispersed populations and poor transportation infrastructure in many rural areas. While larger scale projects, such as the construction of deep wells or piped water systems, remain an important objective of many development agencies, a shortage of time and resources will leave hundreds of millions of people without access to safe water into the foreseeable future. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Pan American Health Organization developed the household-level water quality intervention described in the manual to help bridge the enormous gap in developing countries between populations served by existing water projects and those most in need. The handbook, produced by the CARE/CDC Health Initiative, is a valuable tool for providing inexpensive and feasible appropriate-technology alternatives in situations where resources are not available for improvements in infrastructure. Solar Water Pumping http://tv.oneworld.net/tapestry?story=292 http://www.thesustainablevillage.com/ A comprehensive, step-by-step guide to solar water pumping, with Windy Dankoff, one of the most experienced experts in the field. In his workshop, and in the field with actual installations, Dankoff talks informally yet precisely about the how's, why's, and what's of solar water pumping, takes you through calculations of capacity and resources. He has been working with solar water pump systems around the world ssince 1982. From watering livestock in India, to irrigating crops in Mexico, to domestic user in the United States, Dankoff has been involved in over 3500 systems. Contact Information: Scott S. Andrews The Sustainable Village PO Box 3027 Sausalito, CA   94965 USA Telephone: 415.332.5191   Email: info@sustainablevillage.com SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES ARISING IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS - The right to water http://www.internationalwaterlaw.org/IntlDocs/UNCECSR-General-Comment-right_to_water.pdf This November 2002 General Comment from the UN committee details the legal bases of the right to water. The New Economy of Water - The Risks and Benefits of Globalization and Privatization of Fresh Water - by Peter H. Gleick, Gary Wolff, Elizabeth L. Chalecki, Rachel Reyes http://www.pacinst.org/reports/new_economy_of_water.pdf http://www.pacinst.org/ This 2002 report from the Pacific Institute provides a comprehensive look at water issues facing the world today. There is little doubt that the headlong rush toward private markets has failed to address some of the most important issues and concerns about water. In particular, water has vital social, cultural, and ecological roles to play that cannot be protected by purely market forces. In addition, certain management goals and social values require direct and strong government support and protection. Some of the consequences of privatization may be irreversible; hence they deserve special scrutiny and control. Contact Information: Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, 654 13th Street Preservation Park Oakland, CA   94612 USA Telephone: 510.251.1600   Fax: 510.251.2203 Email: pistaff@pacinst.org The River Maker - Rajendra Singh http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opinterview.jsp?id=ns235917 Tidepool http://www.tidepool.org/ Tidepool is a on-line news filter that selects the top environment, community development and economy news stories from more than 30 Northwest papers in the USA. Its goal is to provide the bioregional community with a daily source of the news it needs to create a conservation based economy. Tidepool was created in 1997 by Ecotrust--a Portland based nonprofit organization developing new strategies for conservation in the coastal temperate rain forests of North America by helping local communities build new economies based on protecting their environment. Contact Information: Ed Hunt, Editor Telephone: 360.465.2433   Email: editor@tidepool.org Top Ecology http://www.topecology.co.jp/e/ The 21st century is referred to as "a century of water" and serious troubles related to water are occurring in global scale. TOP ECOLOGY was established to cope with these "Water" issues. Top Ecology's basic approaches to meet the challenges are to utilize natural energy and build for easy maintenance requiring no special techniques. TE recognizes that water problems are especially critical in developing countries and that electrically operated water producing products are of no use in those areas. TOP ECOLOGY thus aims at the global market with its products "BIO PARK" and "AQUA KIDS." The firm has also announced a strategic alliance with Duke Solar to integrate their solar technologies with Top Ecology's water solutions for comprehensive systems solutions worldwide. Notable Feature(s): Link to Duke Solar programs and initiatives. Contact Information: TOP ECOLOGY INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION G-5083 Miller Road Flint, MI   48507-1075 USA Telephone: 810.732.0937   Email: mnovak@mnovak.com Water as a Human Right? - by John Scanlon, Angela Cassar, and Noémi Nemes http://www.iucn.org/themes/law/pdfdocuments/EPLP51EN.pdf http://www.iucn.org/themes/law/ The call to declare water a human right has been growing over the years. Until now, the content and scope of a right to water has not been clearly defined in international law and has not been explicitly recognised as a fundamental human right. Formally establishing water as a human right could encourage the international community and governments to enhance their efforts to satisfy basic human needs and to thereby meet the Millennium Development Goals. Contact Information: Water & Nature Initiative IUCN - The World Conservation Union Telephone: +41.22.9990251   Fax: +41.22.9990025 Email: ELB@hq.iucn.org Water Conserve http://www.waterconserve.info/ Water Conserve is a water conservation portal and Internet search tool that provides access to reviewed water conservation news and information. This Web site is dedicated to global water conservation and ecological sustainability. Notable Feature(s): Water Conservation News Archive includes over 5,000 news items covering the past five years; Water Conserve Links Directory contains links to leading water research and activist Web sites; Water Conservation Blog features original commentary on breaking water conservation news. Contact Information: Glen Barry Email: grbarry@students.wisc.edu WATER FRONT - A Forum for Global Water Issues http://www.siwi.org/menu/menu.html http://www.siwi.org/publications/publications.html The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) is a scientific, technical and awareness-building organization that contributes to international efforts to combat the escalating global water crisis. SIWI facilitates research, increases understanding and stimulates action on world water issues. Interdisciplinary in focus, local in origin and global in scope, the work at SIWI is based on the knowledge and experience gained during years of innovative water-related activities in Stockholm and on close co-operation with universities, technical societies and scientific institutions from around the world. Notable Feature(s): Extensive collection of reports on water security for cities, water management, industry as a driving force in water development, water in developing countries; current and archived issues of SIWI's premier publication WATER FRONT details water programs and developments around the world. Contact Information: Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) Hantverkargatan 5, Hus 6 SE-112 21 Stockholm Sweden Telephone: 46-(0)8 522 139 60   Fax: +46-(0)8 522 139 61 Email: siwi@siwi.org Water Magazine http://www.watermagazine.com/ The WaterMagazine database contains hundreds of links to articles, water industry websites, book and paper reviews, as well as articles and papers only available at the site. Watermagazine.com has been published regularly since 1999. This valuable site now contains hundreds of useful links and articles organised in a topic database. The cost of maintaining WaterMagazine requires a small annual subscription. Alternatively, subscription is offered free in exchange for appropriate information. Contact Information: Joel Cayford, editor, Water Magazine Auckland New Zealand Email: joelc@kiwilink.co.nz Water Privatisation - The Right to Water Campaign http://www.aidwatch.org.au/index.php?current=17 Water Privitization Fiascoes: Broken Promises and Social Turmoil http://www.citizen.org/documents/privatizationfiascos.pdf The role of multinational corporations in providing water and sanitation services is relatively new. In fact, one could say water “privatization” is a global social experiment. Historically, water has been viewed as a public good, not a market commodity. Over the last 200 years, most water utilities have been publicly owned and managed. And, the vast majority of people around the world receive water and sanitation services from publicly owned and operated facilities. ... Water and sanitation services have been publicly run because private companies were not interested in owning or managing water utilities. There was little or no profit to be made. But, with the specter of growing freshwater scarcity and the prediction that water will be the oil of the 21st century, major global corporations have been moving into the “water market.” A March 2003 analysis of seven cases: Buenos Aires, Argentina; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Manila, Philippines; Cochabamba, Bolivia; Jakarta, Indonesia; Nelspruit, South Africa; United Kingdom. Contact Information: Public Citizen 1615 Broadway, 9th Floor Oakland, CA   94612 USA Telephone: 510.663.0888   Email: california@citizen.org Water Voice http://www.worldwaterforum.org/voice/en/ At the present time, the water problems occurring around the world constitute a global issue, threatening the very existence of human beings and, in fact, the entire ecosystem. We, the present generation, should shoulder the responsibility for addressing these issues and finding sustainable solutions. As a lead-up to the 3rd World Water Forum, the "Water Voice" project will be launched to collect grass-roots opinions and comments, "Water Voice", on water issues from people around the world. The goal of the project is to create a database of opinions, comments and ideas. The database will be a valuable tool, providing foundation information for a variety of activities. Contact Information: Secretariat of the "Water Voice" Project 2-4, Kojimachi 2-chome Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 102-0083 Japan Telephone: +81-3-5212-1643   Fax: +81-3-5212-1648 Email: voice@water-forum3.com Water: Local-Level Management http://www.idrc.ca/water/ Managing water scarcity effectively and fairly is one of the great imperatives of governance today. In more prosperous countries, water scarcity curtails economic growth and diminishes quality of life. In poorer countries, it breeds sickness, blocks development, deepens inequalities, and undermines the survival of entire societies. From 1970 to 1990, Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) largely supported technical water research that offered solutions such as improved water pumps and rooftop water harvesting. Gradually, IDRC expanded its scope to include options for "community-based" water security. Today, the Centre's focus has shifted to demand management and the devolution of water management to lower levels of government and communities. Notable Feature(s): Excellent collection of facts and figures, lessons learned, results, and future directions for policy and research in local water management; additional material. Contact Information: Robert Charbonneau, Publisher IDRC Email: rcharbonneau@idrc.ca Water: our common asset http://www.portoalegre2003.org/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/sys/reader/htm/preindexview.htm?editionsectionid=112&user=reader A useful collection of articles and policy documents. WaterAid http://www.wateraid.org WaterAid's vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and effective sanitation. WaterAid works in both rural and urban areas, and currently has programmes in 15 countries in Africa and Asia. In each project and country the circumstances are different; however, there are common features that can be applied to any WaterAid project. In every project, WaterAid's response is guided by a set of criteria and beliefs, including: Clean water and sanitation are essential for life and all people should have affordable access to them Water, sanitation and hygiene education must be integrated to give maximum health benefits Decision-making must be delegated to local partner organisations and communities as far as possible, to avoid dependency and encourage sustainability Local people must be actively involved in planning, constructing, managing and maintaining their own projects Notable Feature(s): Current research on Private sector participation in water and sanitation; WaterAid case study of work in India; additional case studies from around the world; press release about November 2002 UN declaration of access to water as a human right. Contact Information: WaterAid Prince Consort House 27-29 Albert Embankment London, SE1 7UB UK Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7793 4500   Fax: +44 20 7793 4545 Email: wateraid@wateraid.org WaterPartners International http://www.water.org/ Notable Feature(s): WaterPartners International projects around the world; water news; online newsletter. Contact Information: WaterPartners International P.O. Box 22680 Kansas City, MO   64113-0680 U.S.A. Telephone: 913.312.8600   Fax: 316.462.0578 Email: info@water.org World Water and Food to 2025 - by Mark W. Rosegrant, Ximing Cai, and Sarah A. Cline http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/books/water2025book.htm#download http://www.ifpri.org/ Are we headed toward a worldwide water crisis? The increasing demand for water among households, industry, the environment, and especially agriculture is making global water scarcity a perilous possibility.What will happen to food production and global food security as water becomes increasingly scarce? What steps can we take to avert threats to global food supply, the environment, and the livelihoods of those lacking access to clean water? Using state-of-the-art computer modeling to show how water availability and demand are likely to evolve,World Water and Food to 2025 contends that if current water policies continue, so will high levels of food insecurity, environmental degradation, and water-related ill health. Further neglect of water issues could produce a genuine water crisis, which in turn could lead to a food crisis. But we can avoid these outcomes if we make fundamental policy changes now.The authors show exactly which policies and actions could ensure sustainable and efficient water use, enough food for the world's people, and adequate drinking water for all. Notable Feature(s): The entire report can be downloaded; highlights of the report; a policy brief, Water and Food to 2025: Policy Responses to the Threat of Scarcity is also available. Contact Information: INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE 2033 K Street, NW Washington, DC   20006-1002 USA Telephone: 202.862.5600   Fax: 202.467.4439 Email: ifpri-webmaster@cgiar.org World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) - United Nations/UNESCO http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/ http://www.unesco.org/water/ This UN-wide programme seeks to develop the tools and skills needed to achieve a better understanding of those basic processes, management practices and policies that will help improve the supply and quality of global freshwater resources. Notable Feature(s): Notable case studies; news; calendar; conflict resolution and more; water challenges and agencies concerned, e.g., securing the food supply, protecting ecosystems, sharing water resources, valuing water. Contact Information: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) UNESCO - Division of Water Sciences 1, rue Miollis 75015 Paris France Fax: 33.(0)1.45.68.58.11 Email: wwap@unesco.org World Water Council (WWC) http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/ The World Water Council is the International Water Policy Think Tank dedicated to strengthening the world water movement for an improved management of the world's water resources. The World Water Council was established in Marseille, France, in 1996 as a nonprofit, non-governmental umbrella organization. The missions of the World Water Council are to promote awareness and build political commitment on critical water issues at all levels, including the highest decision-making level, to facilitate the efficient conservation, protection, development, planning, management and use of water in all its dimensions on an environmentally sustainable basis for the benefit of all life on earth. To fulfill its missions and objectives, the World Water Council has created the World Water Fora which, accompanied by a Ministerial Conference, is a major water event organized every three years in close collaboration with the authorities of the hosting country. Notable Feature(s): World Water Actions, an overview, 151-page report of actions being taken around the world to improve the way that water is being managed; Newsletter; access the new international Water Poverty Index (WPI) - The Water Poverty Index has been developed by a team of 31 researchers in consultation with more than 100 water professionals from around the world. At the international scale, it grades 147 countries according to five different measures – resources, access, capacity, use and environmental impact - - to show where the best and worst water situations exist. Contact Information: World Water Council Les Docks de la Joliette Atrium 10.3 10 Place de la Joliette 13002 Marseille France Telephone: +33 (4) 91 99 41 00   Fax: +33 (4) 91 99 41 01 Email: wwc@worldwatercouncil.org World Water Day 2003 http://www.waterday2003.org/ The goal for World Water Day 2003 is to inspire worldwide political and community action and encourage greater global understanding of the need for more responsible water use and conservation. The theme for this year's event is “Water for the Future”, calling on one and all to observe sustainable approaches to water use for the benefit of future generations. The UNEP accords high priority in its activities to the protection, conservation and efficient use of global water resources in response to the growing severity of water-related environmental problems worldwide. Because freshwater does not stop flowing at river mouths, but flows right into coastal waters, UNEP has pioneered addressing integrated coastal area and river basin management in a holistic and integrated approach. Contact Information: United Nations Environment Programme United Nations Avenue, Gigiri PO Box 30552 Nairobi Kenya Telephone: 254-2.621234   Fax: 254-2.624489/90 Email: waterday2003@unep.org World Water Forum - 2003 http://www.worldwaterforum.org/ Worldwatch on Water http://www.worldwatch.org/topics/water.html Water scarcity may be the most underappreciated global environmental challenge of our time. In the Middle East, China, India, and the United States, groundwater is being pumped faster than it is being replenished, and rivers such as the Colorado and Yellow River no longer reach the sea year round. Over the next quarter century, the number of people in countries unable to meet their domestic, industrial, and agricultural water needs is expected to balloon substantially. Worldwatch research on water focuses on practical policies to ensure more efficient use and equitable access to water, to minimize international and intersectoral conflict over this vital resource, and to avoid groundwater contamination. Notable Feature(s): Publications, papers, magazine articles, and news. Contact Information: Worldwatch Institute 1776 Massachusetts Ave., N.W. Washington, DC   20036-1904 USA Telephone: 202.452.1999   Fax: 202.296.7365 Email: worldwatch@worldwatch.org