Na competição por água no Rio de Janeiro as zonas Norte e Oeste — mais carentes que a famosa Zona Sul — estão claramente perdendo. A cidade enfrenta um dos verões mais quentes dos últimos tempos e alguns bairros tiveram seu fornecimento de água intermitente por semanas nesse Janeiro, devido em parte à falta de reservatórios em larga escala e à manutenção incipiente na rede de fornecimento. Leia mais o discutir.
In the competition for water, Rio’s North and West zones — poorer than the fancy Southern zone of the city — are clearly losing. The city is facing one of the hottest summer seasons in recent years, and some neighborhoods’ water supply has been intermittent for weeks in the past month, due to the lack of large-scale reservoirs and maintenance of the water supply system. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Eliana Barbosa — Mon, 02/10/2014 – 00:00
পৃথিবীর তিন চতুর্থাংশ জুড়ে বিস্তার করা পানি জীবনের মূল মাধ্যম। বছরে ২০০০ মিলি বৃষ্টিপাত এবং তিনটি প্রধান নদীর পাশে অবস্থিত হয়েও বিশাল নগর ঢাকা এখন পর্যন্ত নগরবাসীদের নিরাপদ পানির সরবরাহ দিতে পারে নাই। সমগ্র ঢাকায় প্রায় ১৬ কোটি মানুষের (যা প্রতি বছর ৫% হারে বাড়ছে) পানি সরবরাহ এবং নিকাশী সেবার দায়িত্ব একটি মাত্র সংস্থা “ঢাকা পানি সরবরাহ এবং পয়নিস্কাশন কর্তৃপক্ষ” (ডি.ডব্লিউ.এ.এস.এ) এর উপর নিয়োজিত, তাই তাদের জন্য সবসময় পানির গুণগত মান এবং পরিমান রক্ষা করা সম্ভব হয়ে ওঠে না। Read more or discuss.
Dhaka, a mega-city located near the three major rivers: the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna, and receiving 2000mm of rainfall annually, has always struggled to provide safe water for its population. The quality and quantity of water supply is a complex issue for Dhaka, since the entire city’s water supply and sewage services are allocated to one single authority, the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA), which must serve an immense population of 16 million that is growing at an annual rate of around five percent. Read more or discuss.
Submitted by Editor — Mon, 02/10/2014 – 00:00
In Indic mythology, there once was a time when cowherds had shunned the water in the bend of the holy River Yamuna near Vrindaban. The water had become lethal due to the poison spat out each day by a dreaded, multi-hooded snake called Kaliyā. One day Krisha, an incarnation of divine god Vishnu, danced on the hood of Kaliyā. The dance subdued the serpent and it left for the ocean on the command of Krishna. Today, another “Kaliyā” treads the water of the River Yamuna. The lack of political will and concern on part of the civilian population has made the water lethal and shriveled the river’s ecosystem. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Priyanka Jain — Mon, 02/10/2014 – 00:00
El agua de Bogotá es potable y deliciosa, algo excepcional en las grandes ciudades de América latina. Esto se debe a su proximidad a abundantes fuentes de agua, especialmente los páramos de Chingaza y Sumapaz, y a una buena gestión del recurso. La mayor parte del agua consumida actualmente proviene de la represa de Chingaza, ubicada a unos 50 kilómetros de Bogotá. Sin embargo, la misma proximidad de la mega urbe supone un riesgo para los frágiles ecosistemas de los páramos: Sumapaz comienza en el mismo término municipal de la capital. Aunque la capacidad de suministro actual se estima suficiente a medio plazo, a largo plazo será necesario construir nuevas represas y canalizaciones, proyectos técnicamente complejos y que probablemente generarán fuertes controversias por su impacto ambiental. Leer más o discutir.
Tap water in Bogota is safe to drink, something that is unusual in most large Latin American cities. This is due to the proximity of vast water sources, in particular the Chingaza and Sumapaz paramos (a particular ecosystem that exists in the Andean highlands), and to good management of the water supply. Most of the water comes from the Chingaza reservoir, located less than 50km from Bogotá. However, this proximity, although beneficial to the mega-city, implies serious threats to the fragile paramo ecosystems. Sumapaz, for example, starts within Bogotá’s city limits and can be reached by urban buses. Although the current infrastructure brings enough capacity for the medium term, long-term demands will require the building of new dams and pipelines. These projects are technically complex and their environmental impact makes them politically difficult. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Jorge Bela — Mon, 02/10/2014 – 00:00
At a recent sanitation roundtable discussion at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), a public policy think tank in Mumbai, Chairman Sudheendra Kulkarni said that Mahatma Gandhi believed sanitation was more important than political independence. In 2010, the UN declared access to sanitation a human right. Despite the increased emphasis, says Dhaval Desai, a senior researcher at ORF, the two are rarely linked. “If one agrees that there is a connect between lack of access to clean and hygienic sanitation and global statistics on poverty, malnutrition, infant mortality, maternal health, diseases, education, and gender, then it is impossible to deny sanitation as an intrinsic human rights issue.” Desai, who specializes in water and sanitation issues, discussed with us the importance of this human rights issue and some promising ways forward. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 12/09/2013 – 00:00
Some of the fastest-growing cities in the world are in Africa. According to the United Nations, there will be over a billion people living in slums in Africa by 2050. This concentration of humanity with little clean water and no sanitation yet with a surplus of refuse presents growing public health hazards. What signals are there of new solutions to meeting these urgent issues? Read more.
Submitted by Tracey Grose — Mon, 07/29/2013 – 13:10 