Think Pieces reviewed and written by Lakshmi and Seetha Ram

Smarter sanitation—we need to make a fresh start   K E Seetharam   What is sanitation after all? For decades, development experts have been struggling to find the right word to describe the shameful state of declining living standards resulting from lack of proper sanitation. The UNDP's 2006 Human Development Report (HDR) has finally picked up the "magic wand" to rally political leaders and decision makers, calling it a human right.      UNDP 2006 HDR wrote on sanitation gap that "…water and sanitation are basic human rights—and no government should be willing to turn a blind eye to the current level of human rights violation…" The report, which echoes ADB's views, has also offered specific solutions to the fix the gap in sanitation.   Why the sanitation deficit is so large? If sanitation is so critical to social and economic progress, why is the deficit so large? And why are many developing countries off-track in achieving this part of the Millennium D...

Institutions matter for service delivery Public water sector institutions in many developing countries have inherited archaic policies that are ineffective. A change in mindset is imperative to revive decaying water utilities.   By K.E. Seetharam   At the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico in March 2006, the Asian Development Bank was one of the few institutions to raise the flag on the need for good governance in the water sector. Although policy aspects are important for development, ADB's concept of good governance focuses on the effective management of water infrastructure to ensure proper delivery of services.   In essence, good governance is about changing attitudes and behaviour to ensure that water sector institutions actually deliver to their citizens what they say they will deliver. Institutions have two dimensions—the policies, and the persons who are responsible for implementing them. A basic issue that arises in relation to good governance is how well the governm...

Drinking Water is Like Food— bottle it and deliver it to the poor immediately   K E Seetharam   The Asia Water Watch 2015 , commissioned by ADB, WHO, UNDP, and UNESCAP, estimates that another 700 million people—at minimum—will need to be served in Asia over the next decade to meet Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target 10 on safe drinking water alone. When I started to coordinate the preparation of report in 2005, the big question that I had in my mind was how can this massive target be achieved expeditiously? Developing country governments and development organizations are attempting to partly answer this question. In early 2006, I assisted ADB in announcing its Water Financing Program 2006-2010. The Program, one of the most concrete actions publicly announced so far by international organizations, will double ADB's investments in the water sector to over $2 billion annually for the next five years. But typical development projects take at least 3 to 5 five years for their ...

Little Green Dot A new book shows how Singapore achieved environmental and water sustainability in just 40 years Tania Tan, Straits Times 18 Oct 08; BALANCING two big 'E's - the economy and the environment - will be Singapore's biggest challenge in the years to come. But if history is anything to go by, the little red dot has what it takes to live green and prosper. A new book, which tells the Singapore story from the viewpoint of the environment, is now out. Clean, Green And Blue spans the early days when getting clean water to citizens was a challenge, to the cutting-edge water technologies being developed here today. Singapore has seen it all in the space of 40 short years. In the coming uncertain times, economic growth may have to take precedence, but not at the expense of the environment, said Mr Tan Yong Soon, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, who penned the book along with his colleagues from the ministry. 'There will b...

For Asia, a vicious cycle of flood and drought By Thomas Fuller International Herald Tribune Standing on top of the dike holding back the floodwaters that engulfed entire villages here, it is difficult to imagine that this is a country that also suffers widespread annual droughts. In recent weeks the relentless rush of the Chao Phraya River and its tributaries ruined thousands of acres of farmland and caused the deaths by drowning of 86 people. Yet six months from now attention in Thailand is likely to shift, as it has in recent years, to the parched, sandy-soiled northeastern parts of the country and the industrial zones southeast of Bangkok running out of water. The pattern of chronic flooding and chronic droughts is now familiar here and in other parts of the world witnessing unusually harsh weather. But in Asia these water problems come with an added challenge. Taken together, Asia has less fresh water - 3,920 cubic meters, or 138,000 cubic feet, per person - than any other contine...

IWP Announces First Executive Programme on Leadership in Water Governance Singapore, November 12 – The Institute of Water Policy (IWP) at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, will hold its first Executive Programme on Leadership in Water Governance from November 24 to December 5. The programme aims to help water utilities in Asia to cope with new institutional, regulatory, and financial challenges. Conducted in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, the overarching goal of the programme is to work with policy makers to achieve sustainable water resources development and management. The Executive Programme will include policy makers in the water sector, senior managers in water utilities and companies, as well as senior government officials responsible for water resources management. The programme will explore different dimensions of water institutions and the economic and social drivers for in...

Dec 6, 2008 Asia can tap S'pore's water expertise Its effective sanitation, water strategies offer viable growth models, says sector specialist By K।E। Seetharam A NEW consensus is emerging that countries which prioritise their water policies have made significant progress in terms of the human development index, as well as key economic indicators। In this regard, Singapore is emerging as a compelling example worth emulating by several countries in Asia and other parts of the world. Estimates by the World Health Organisation and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) show that every dollar invested in water and sanitation brings about $7 to $10 in terms of tangible economic benefits. Nearly half the population in Asia still does not have a decent toilet, and one in every five persons does not have access to safe drinking water. Hoping to reverse this silent humanitarian crisis, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals campaign aims to cut this figure by half by 2015. The simpl...