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Solving the Global Sanitation Crisis Discussion Panel – CGI U 2013
Washlink comment: This is way too short given the panelists, none the less still great to watch. The first 2 quarters of an hour and last quarter are the best. The third quarter – has audio problems – when the audience give reports from their breakup group meetings.
Today, more people around the world have access to a mobile phone than a toilet. An estimated 2.5 billion people lack access to clean and safe bathrooms, resulting in diarrheal diseases that kill more children than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined. Many developing country governments simply do not have the financial or human capital to deliver improved sanitation to everyone who needs it. Furthermore, many development programs that strive to provide sanitation often fail to have the impact and sustainability needed to scale, and instead distort the market for innovation in the sanitation field. To truly move the needle on this challenge, profitable sanitation services need to be developed so that businesses—rather than nonprofits—can expand access to coverage in ways that will not only increase their profit margins, but also make a major public health impact. This panel will focus on how students can get involved in market creation for sanitation enterprises and will highlight recent innovations and business models that have already been developed by young leaders.
Moderator:
Fred de Sam Lazaro, Correspondent, PBS Newshour, Senior Fellow, Saint Mary’s University
Participants:
- Miriam Atuya, SANENERGY sales; Student, Trinity University
- Edward Ned Breslin, Chief Executive Officer, Water For People
- Sebastien Tilmans, Co-founder, re.source; Ph.D. Candidate, Stanford University
- Gary White, Co-founder and CEO, Water.org
About Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U)
Building on the successful model of the Clinton Global Initiative, which brings together world leaders to take action on global challenges, President Clinton launched the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) in 2007 to engage the next generation of leaders on college campuses around the world.
Each year, CGI U hosts a meeting where students, youth organizations, topic experts, and celebrities come together to discuss and develop innovative solutions to pressing global challenges. CGI U 2013 was held at Washington University in St. Louis from April 5 – 7, 2013, bringing together nearly 1,200 attendees to make a difference in CGI U’s five focus areas: Education, Environment and Climate Change, Peace and Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and Public Health.
Related articles:
- Sanitation as a business – the poor will have to wait (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
- Water and Sanitation Seek Rightful Place in Post-2015 Agenda (ipsnews.net)
- WEDC & WSP online learning course – Rural Sanitation at Scale (washlink.wordpress.com)
When Sanitation Does Not Have Clear Institutional Home or Accountability, Progress Lags: UN Deputy Secretary-General
Deputy Secretary-General DSG/SM/661 DEV/2984
When Sanitation Does Not Have Clear Institutional Home or Accountability, Progress Lags, UN Deputy Secretary-General Tells High-level Panel
——PRESS RELEASE——-
Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at a high-level panel on investing in sanitation, in Washington, D.C., 19 April:
I am pleased to see so many familiar faces from last year’s Sanitation and Water for All High Level Meeting.
Last year we talked about commitments. Today I want to talk about action. But first let me ask a question recently directed to me by Kate Norgrove of Water Aid. Have you ever been caught short and wondered where to find a toilet? Probably a painful or embarrassing moment. Let us then remember that 2.5 billion people do not have toilets! This is their daily situation.
In New York, where I live, you will only find public toilets in Central Park. It is a problem common to most towns and cities.
Recently I was in Addis Ababa. I visited a small sanitation project called Feyenne in the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis. Feyenne, which is supported by UNICEF [United Nations Children’s Fund] and the Oromia Bureau of Youth and Sports, is run by three young men who used to live on the streets. In their small office was a chalk board with one word written on it. “Sustainability”.
Their approach to sustainability was to tackle the sanitation problem as a business. They had identified a need, and they had decided to fill it. The concept was simple — to provide a safe, clean public facility at low cost near the main market. With money from the toilet project, Feyenne has been able to open additional income generating activities that provide employment opportunities for vulnerable young people. It is a model that is needed — and replicable.
Sanitation is the Millennium Development Goal on which we have made least progress. Yet, it is among the most important. Success on sanitation has a direct bearing on the other Goals, and it will be central to the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. It is an issue of fundamental human dignity and the health of people and the environment. Out of the 2.5 billion people without sanitation, more than 1 billion people defecate in the open.
That is why, last month, I launched a call to action for sanitation on behalf of the United Nations Secretary-General. The objective is to galvanize major players to do more by building on two key ongoing initiatives — the United Nations General Assembly Sanitation Drive and the Sanitation and Water for All partnership. The Sanitation Drive calls on all Member States to intensify efforts and focuses on communication and advocacy. It is essential to get people to think about and openly discuss sanitation and open defecation. We need to break the taboos.
The other initiative, Sanitation and Water for All, has over 91 global partners. Last year I moderated the second Sanitation and Water for All High Level Meeting held here. More than 50 ministers attended and some 400 commitments were tabled. In June, we will have the results of these commitments, with a full report next year. Heads of State, members of Government and other actors need to know what has been achieved and what remains to be done.
We have already seen the results of some of these commitments. For example, in Ethiopia, the Government has endorsed a unified water supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Monitoring and Evaluation Framework. And in Madagascar the Government has created a Directorate of Sanitation. Someone is made responsible.
That is one of the problems that has been holding back progress. Sanitation often does not have a clear institutional home or clear accountability. In 2014, UNICEF and the World Bank will convene the third Sanitation and Water for All High Level Meeting. I look forward to registering progress and new commitments.
There are three things we can do to speed up progress on sanitation. First, we can scale up the projects that work. Simple, affordable action has already proved its worth. Between 1990 and 2010, about 1.8 billion people gained access to sanitation — a significant achievement. Many countries have tackled this problem within a generation. They have shown that we can achieve our targets.
Second, we must speed up the elimination of open defecation — country by country, community by community, family by family. We need to ensure that everyone has access to a clean and safe toilet. We need to change attitudes and generate demand. We need to talk about the problem, not turn our heads.
And finally, we need to strengthen cooperation and boost investment. The cost of poor sanitation can be counted both in human lives and lost productivity. According to a study undertaken for the Water and Sanitation Programme and the World Bank, inadequate sanitation costs the Indian economy an estimated $53.8 billion a year, equivalent to 6.4 per cent of GDP [gross domestic product]. On the other hand, we know that every dollar spent on water and sanitation can bring a five-fold return. The economic benefits for developing countries are estimated at $260 billion a year.
The public sector has major stake to play. But, the private sector also has a major stake. There is a considerable market — millions of customers need an essential service. Opportunities abound for everyone from multinationals to local entrepreneurs. If we all do our part, we can achieve substantial results. So, let us commit now to provide adequate sanitation and safe water for all and stop open defecation — so that women and girls can live with dignity; so that our children can survive and communities can thrive.
Investing in sanitation is a win-win proposition — ensuring that millions of people can live productive lives, the Millennium Development Goals can be achieved and healthy societies can be built. There are only winners if we all mobilize. Nobody can do everything — but everybody can do something. Thank you.
video of his speech:“A Matter of Life: Investing in Sanitation – a Conversation with Jan Eliasson, Tony Lake, & Global Decision-Makers”
Related articles
- Jan Eliasson: Everyone Needs a Place to Go (huffingtonpost.com)
- Pakistan pays heavily for poor sanitation, says UN (dawn.com)
- U.N.: Global lack of toilet, latrine access a “silent disaster” (cbsnews.com)
- New Sanitation Figures Compete with Official UN Statistics: 6 in 10 Lack Proper Facilities (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
- UN seeks to end toilet ‘taboo’ (dawn.com)
Sustainable fertilizer reclaimed from waste: The mighty P with the Lovely Struvite
PUYALLUP, Wash. – Phosphorus recycled from human and animal waste for plant fertilizer could ease demand for the dwindling, increasingly expensive rock-mined element.
Scientists at Washington State University have found plants flourish with struvite, a material in waste composed of magnesium, nitrogen and phosphorus. Teamed with Multiform Harvest, a Seattle phosphorus recovery company, the researchers are fine-tuning the application and amounts of fertilizer in hopes of marketing a product and benefiting the world’s food supply.
“You can’t continue mining a finite resource forever,” said Rita Hummel, a scientist at the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center. “But as long as we … can reclaim struvite…
See complete story…. titled
by Rachel Webber, College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences published Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013
Related articles
- The Future of Poop (motherboard.vice.com)
- Phosphorus demand triples as meat-eating and population rise – with VIDEO (environmentalresearchweb.org)
2013 WASH Sustainability Forum March 11 – 12
This Forum will examine the role of collaboration, particularly with governments, in ensuring lasting WASH services. Bringing together a broad mix of stakeholders, the day’s conversation will provide a practical foundation for strengthening collaboration with governments and other development partners around the world. Further, this event will help to foster initial conversations around coordination, the 2013 theme for World Water Day
Aligned with the WASH Sustainability Charter, this forum is being hosted by The World Bank Group, UNICEF, Global Water Challenge, WASH Advocates, Aguaconsult, and the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. There is no charge for this event.
Event details/more…
Background:
In 2010, over 40 organizations gathered at the first Sustainability Forum to discuss sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services at scale. The following year, nearly 100 stakeholders from over 50 organizations came together to develop a common set of sustainability principles, which became the WASH Sustainability Charter. The momentum continued to build with new sustainability initiatives, learning forums, webinars, and presentations at global conferences. Sustainability has become a common topic as organizational practices and programmatic work shift from individual projects to sustainable services.
In early 2012, individuals from a consortium of organizations (Aguaconsult, Global Water Challenge, IRC and WASH Advocates) came together to build on previous work around sustainability and create SustainableWASH.org as a dynamic hub of the sustainability conversation. more about..
Other pages of interest at SustainableWASH.org site:
TEDxAmsterdamWomen Anjali Sarker – Toilet+ overcoming my childhood fear TEDX event
A great presentation by Anjali Sarker of Toilet Plus on their strategy and reasoning for introducing toilets that work based on financial technical sustainable and social criteria. Toilet Plus is in the early phase of it plan.
” DEFECATION! DISEASE! DEATH! In Bangladesh, each year 69000 children die from diarrhea largely because of unhygienic sanitation. 68% of the villagers use unhygienic pit latrines or defecate openly. Though both govt and NGOs are trying to solve this problem, their efforts largely fail because poor villagers- 1)simply lack motivation to change their sanitation behavior or 2)can’t afford the shift to safe sanitation.
TOILET+ /Toilet Plus introduced as A HYGIENIC AND AFFORDABLE SANITATION SOLUTION. It’s a urine diverting dry toilet and is structurally similar to Ecosan. It can recycle 100% waste to produce organic fertilizer and is flood resistant. Toilet+ ($110 value) is made affordable to the villagers through microcredit from partner MFI.
Toilet+ OFFER COLLECTIVE PROFIT & RESPONSIBILITY. Households form cooperatives,apply for microcredit, and become collectively responsible to repay the total monthly installments to MFI. Member households get toilets from Toilet+ and Toilet+ get paid by MFI. Members sell waste (human and other bio-waste) to Toilet+ and Toilet+ convert waste into organic fertilizer for selling to agro firms. By selling waste, a cooperative gets $70 a month (75% of the collective installments) and each household pays only $1.3 out of pocket to repay the collective monthly installments. Members create strong peer pressure on one another to use toilet so that they can repay collective loan easily.
THE MODEL TURNS TO A SELF-SCALABLE AND SELF-SUSTAINABLE SANITATION CHAIN. Cooperatives will continue to earn revenue from sale of waste after repaying the microcredit in 2.25 years. Understanding the high profitability of financing toilets, enthusiastic cooperative members will start lending non-users to purchase Toilet+ just like MFIs. Users will use peer pressure to make other non-users purchase and use Toilet+ with cooperative financing. Thus cooperative will grow and members will earn more revenue from sale of waste from their financed toilets.
Toilet+ IGNITES THE SPARK, COMMUNITY MAKES IT A REVOLUTION. 1)The more a family uses Toilet+, the more it earns 2)Many Cooperatives will finance others’ toilets as a profitable business and thus expand the size of the cooperative. 3)Fewer fatal diseases, cleaner environment, and more income will improve the living standard of community permanently. “
source for quoted content Dell Social Innovation Challenge- Toilets (changed to third person)
About Anjali Sarker from DELL site
Toilet Plus site:
Related articles
-
Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) is the central body to monitor and supervise microfinance operations of non-governmental organizations of the Republic of Bangladesh.
- A Business Model That Will Blow Your Mind & 10 Ways You Can Improve Yours (fireflycoaching.com)
- Canadian-made toilet aims to lay waste to sanitation diseases (ctvnews.ca)
- Toilet Apartheid (counterpunch.org)
- Renewed research call for low-cost sanitation technologies in Bangladesh [deadline18 Feb 2013] (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
- UN deputy chief urges action on water rights (sfgate.com)
- ICDDRB – Update on WASH and hygiene practices (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
- April Rinne, Where Is Microfinance Most Powerfully Linked with Sustainable Agriculture, Renewable Energy, Water and Sanitation to End Poverty and Mitigate Climate Change? (slideshare.net)
- Farmers in Nepal Use Urine to Boost Crop Yields (scientificamerican.com)
Stanford Nitrogen Group – Energy from Waste Nitrogen – Wastewater Treatment research
When looking at sanitation/wastewater treatment and making it economically feasible for more parts of the world, this is very interesting research. Some will say it has roots in the fact that there is “gold” in out crap…
Related links to this research:
Wastewater as a Clean Energy Source:
…On May 1, a panel of judges awarded the $100,000 National University Clean Energy Business Challenge prize to the Stanford team for its project to convert nitrogen waste into nitrous oxide that is then used for clean power generation….
Paper: Nitrogen removal with energy recovery through N2O decomposition:
by Yaniv D. Scherson , George F. Wells , Sung-Geun Woo , Jangho Lee , Joonhong Park , Brian J. Cantwell and Craig S. CriddleA new process for the removal of nitrogen from wastewater is introduced. The process involves three steps: (1) partial nitrification of NH4+ to NO2−; (2) partial anoxic reduction of NO2− to N2O; and (3) N2O conversion to N2 with energy recovery by either catalytic decomposition to N2 and O2 or use of N2O to oxidize biogas CH4. Steps 1 and 3 have been previously established at full-scale. Accordingly, bench-scale experiments focused on step 2. Two strategies were evaluated and found to be effective: in the first, Fe(II) was used to abiotically reduce NO2− to N2O; in the second, COD stored as polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) was used as the electron donor for partial heterotrophic reduction of NO2− to N2O. ….
Researchers use rocket science for sustainable waste treatment process
Normally, we want to discourage these gases from forming,” said Craig Criddle, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford. “But by encouraging the formation of nitrous oxide, we can remove harmful nitrogen from the water and simultaneously increase methane production for use as fuel.
Related articles
- Total N2O emissions-which are believed to come primarily from nitrogen fertilizers used in agricultural production-would account for about 8 percent of California’s total greenhouse gas emissions. (familysurvivalprotocol.com)
- 1st International IWA Conference on Holistic Sludge Management (washlink.wordpress.com)
- Major Advance in Generating Electricity From Wastewater (wakingtimes.com)
- Major Advance in Generating Electricity From Wastewater (myscienceacademy.org)
- The Final Frontier of Water and Wastewater Treatment: Sludge Management Equipment Market Set to Reach $9.9 Billion by 2017 (prweb.com)
1st International IWA Conference on Holistic Sludge Management
An IWA specialist conference
6-8 May 2013
Västerås, Sweden
Websites: http://www.hsm2013.se/ and http://www.iwahq.org/1qh/events/iwa-events/2013/4.html
The purpose of this conference is to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners to exchange the latest developments in sludge management.It will give possibilities to examine and discuss the different challenges connected to resource recovery through treatment and disposal of wastewater sludge.
The conference covers sludge management and anaerobic digestion with a broad holistic system perspective. It includes the recycling of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen by focusing on upstream treatment to reduce harmful substances in wastewater, as well as on the production of biogas as a fuel for vehicles. The certification of treated sludge is another important condition for the possibilities to recycle sludge to farmland areas.
Conference also want to share knowledge, practices and ideas for the future directions of process development. The sludge treatment is one of the key issues to be solved. The aim of the conference is to take a major step forward to where all aspects of sludge management are addressed.
Proposed Themes:
- Production and utilization of biogas
- Nutrient recovery processes
- Processes for hygienization of sludge
- The need for a holistic approach including i.e. environmental effects from sludge handling/management in the total performance efficiency of wastewater treatment
- Use of sludge for energy generation including combustion and supercritical gasification
- Emerging contaminants in sludge – upstream separation and optimization to decrease negative effects by detoxification
- Physical and chemical pre-treatment processes, including chemical conditioning, thickening, dewatering, drying
- Modelling of anaerobic processes
- Methane emission from sludge treatment
Contact:
Erik Dahlquist at erik.dahlquist@mdh.se and Tel. +46-21-151768
Conference Programme Committee Chairman
Monica Odlare at monica.odlare@mdh.se and Tel. +46-21-101611
Conference Programme Committee Secretary
IWA- the global network for water professionals
The International Water Association is a global reference point for water professionals, spanning the continuum between research and practice and covering all facets of the water cycle. Through its network of members and experts in research, practice, regulation, industry, consulting and manufacturing, IWA is in a better position than any other organisation to help water professionals create innovative, pragmatic and sustainable solutions to challenging global needs.
The strength of IWA lies in the professional and geographic diversity of its membership — a global mosaic of national, corporate and individual member communities. Our members are leaders in their field and represent:
- Researchers – where solutions begin
- Utilities – managing water services worldwide
- Consultants – connecting problem owners with solution providers
- Industry – creating sustainable water solutions
- Regulators – safeguarding public health
- Equipment manufacturers – translating ideas into products
The IWA network is structured to promote multi-level collaboration among its diverse membership groups, and to share the benefit of knowledge on water science and management worldwide. The Association helps make the right connections at the right time, thereby sharing cutting-edge research and practice that allows the water sector shape its future.
Links to other great IWA events
all content for this post comes from the IWA sites
SuSanA Releases Compilation of 13 factsheets on key sustainable sanitation topics
From SuSanA web page:
FACTSHEETS
- Capacity development for sustainable sanitation
- Financial and economic analysis
- Links between sanitation, climate change and renewable energies
- Sanitation systems and technology options
- Productive sanitation and the link to food security
- Planning of sustainable sanitation for cities
- Sustainable sanitation for schools
- Integrating a gender perspective in sustainable sanitation
- Sustainable sanitation for emergencies and reconstruction situations
- Sanitation as a business
- Public awareness raising and sanitation marketing
- Operation and maintenance of sustainable sanitation systems
- Sustainable sanitation and groundwater protection
The document is available as a single 116 page pdf or two pdfs breaking the dock in half.
It is filled with hot links to a wealth of reference material. This alone will make the document invaluable. All urls are written out so links retain their value in a paper copy.
The list of contributors is is huge. A nice thing is the main authors provide hot email links at the end of each of the 13 sections so you can easily contact them.
The only problem with such a beautiful document is there is no traditional table of contents or index.
Executive summary from the pdf
“The target audience for this document includes a wide range of readers who are interested in aspects of sustainable sanitation and their links with other environmental and development topics. Possible readers include practitioners, programme managers, engineers, students, researchers, lecturers, journalists, local government staff members, policy makers and their advisers or entrepreneurs. The emphasis of this document is on developing countries and countries in transition.
The Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) is a loose, informal network of organisations such as NGOs, private companies, governmental and research institutions as well as multilateral organisations that aim to contribute towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by promoting sustainable sanitation.
Sanitation generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human excreta and domestic wastewater. Personal hygiene practices like hand washing with soap are also part of sanitation. Sanitation also includes solid waste management and drainage but these two aspects are not the focus of this publication. In order for a sanitation system to be sustainable, it has to be economically viable, socially acceptable, technically and institutionally appropriate, and protect the environment and natural resources.
SuSanA contributes to the policy dialogue towards sustainable sanitation through its resource materials and a lively debate amongst the members during meetings, in the working groups, bilaterally, through joint publications and via various communication tools like the open online discussion forum. This publication showcases the broad knowledge base and state of discussions on relevant topics of sustainable
sanitation. All of the working groups have published one or two factsheets providing a broad guidance relating to their specific thematic area.
The 11 working groups of SuSanA have the following titles:
WG 1 Capacity development
WG 2 Finance and economics
WG 3 Renewable energies and climate change
WG 4 Sanitation systems, technology, hygiene and health
WG 5 Food security and productive sanitation systems
WG 6 Sustainable sanitation for cities and planning
WG 7 Community, rural and schools (with gender and social aspects)
WG 8 Emergency and reconstruction situations
WG 9 Sanitation as a business and public awareness
WG 10 Operation and maintenance
WG 11 Groundwater protection
Due to the inter-relationships between the working groups, the factsheets are inter-related and where appropriate, are cross-referenced. The factsheets relate to different parts of the “sanitation chain”, which consists of user interface, conveyance, collection/storage, treatment, reuse or disposal. We have attempted to visualise the linkages between the different working groups and the sanitation chain in the following schematic. There are some working groups which are dealing with overarching themes and these have been placed inthe centre of the schematic.”
Publisher:
Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) and GIZ, Germany
Related articles
- SuSanA – Compilation of 13 factsheets on key sustainable sanitation topics (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
- Humanitarian crises and sustainable sanitation: lessons from Eastern Chad (washafrica.wordpress.com)
- Time to Get Our Sh*t Together (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
- Sanitation at the 4th Africa Water Week, 14-18 May 2012, Cairo, Egypt (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
Water and Health Conference: 29 Oct – 2 Nov Details
Science, Policy and Innovation
Bringing together academic research with policy, practice and networking events
The 2012 Water and Health Conference: Science, Policy and Innovation, jointly organized by the Institute for the Environment and the Water Institute at UNC, will consider drinking water supply, sanitation, hygiene and water resources in both the developing and developed worlds with a strong public health emphasis.
The 2012 Water and Health Conference: Science, Policy and Innovation is accompanied by several exciting events before and after the conference. Don’t miss the opportunity to network with and learn from the unique array of national and international professionals!
Keynote Speakers
- Bai Mass Taal- Executive Secretary of the African Ministers Council on Water
- Tessie San Martin- CEO of Plan International USA
- William G. Ross- former North Carolina Secretary for the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources and Visiting Professor at the Nicholas Institute for the Environment
- Letitia Obeng – Chair of the Global Water Partnership
- Charles Fishman- author of The Big Thirst
- Tom Earnhardt – producer and host of Exploring North Carolina
2012 Main Conference Themes:
- Monitoring and Evaluation for Sustainability
- Ecosystem Protection and Drinking Water Safety
- WaSH and Child Health
- Southeastern US Water Challenges
- Beyond 2015: Realizing Universal Access and Human Rights
- Water, Energy and Climate
- Making Sanitation Benefits Achievable and Sustainable for All
- Household-centered WaSH
Conference Links
Louis Boorstin, deputy director of water, sanitation & hygiene at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks about lessons learned in tackling the global sanitation crisis.
2.5 billion people need toilets. Louis Boorstin, Stanford MBA’87 , deputy director of water, sanitation and hygiene at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks about lessons learned in tackling the global sanitation crisis. This includes the ideas: “work at scale – don’t scale up”
Related Links:
Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation:
Stanford Center for Social Innovation
Stanford Public Management Program
Related articles
- Scientific American – Wasting Away: Can a Gates Foundation-Funded Toilet-Design Initiative End a Foul Practice? (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
- Time to Get Our Sh*t Together (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
YouTube page is source for most details
water sanitation new
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