Transcript Rural poverty and the Environment: IDRC’s new global ENRM

Health Impacts of Wastewater
Reuse: Assessing the Feasibility of
the WHO Guidelines in Low-Income
Communities
Ann Thomas, International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
IRC MUS Meeting, Delft, February 12th, 2007
Overview
What is IDRC?
‘Livelihoods,health and wastewater reuse’
Overview of other IDRC projects in
environmental sanitation, productivity,
livelihoods.
Partnering with IDRC
What is IDRC ?
A crown corporation created by the
Parliament of Canada in 1970
Board appointed by Government of Canada
Mission: “Empowerment Through
Knowledge”
Supporting researchers in developing
countries in finding practical, long-term
solutions to social, economic, and
environmental problems
The Program Areas
 Environment and Natural Resource Management –
ECOHEALTH, Rural Poverty and Environment,
Urban Poverty and Environment
 Information and Communication Technologies for
Development (ICT4D)
 Innovation, Policy and Science
 Social and Economic Policy
Urban Programming at IDRC
– Previous themes under ‘Cities Feeding People’ – urban
agriculture, wastewater reuse
– Present themes under UPE: Urban agriculture, water and
sanitation, vulnerability to disasters, solid waste
management, land tenure
– Global Focus City Program: 8 cities globally, capacity
building, decentralization, environmental sanitation
prioritized, partnerships between governments, ngos,
research institutes, communities
- Other Programming: Combination of analysis/diagnostic,
piloting/testing and policy/best-practice influence.
Urban Agriculture, Wastewater
Reuse and Livelihoods
• Prioritisation of greywater reuse
research (1998) at an IDRC
workshop;
• Greywater/wastewater projects
in Palestine, Jordan , Lebanon
and Dakar;
• Wastewater reuse a key issue in
urban agriculture … a strong
perceived need for better
planning, innovation and
integration….
Health vs. social benefits
Health risks
•Farmers: intestinal parasites (I.e.
worms, amoeba,etc)
•Consumers: bacterial and viral
infections from consumption of raw
vegetables (I.e. cholera)
•Heavy metal accumulation in soils
•Risks vary with gender, class,
ethnicity
•Water treatment alone may not be
sufficient
Social benefits
• Income generation
(produce, ww vending)
•Livelihood/food security
support at the hh level
•Employment creation
• Dependence of urban
centres on locally grown
produce in the absence of
refrigerated transport (60% of
Dakar’s produce made with
ww in or close to the city)
Hyderabad Declarations (2002)
•Appropriate/realistic guidelines needed to
adapt and apply international (WHO) guidelines
for wastewater treatment and reuse for the
benefit of poor stakeholders.
•Non-treatment options may play a significant
role in reducing disease risk in such
circumstances.
WHO/IDRC/FAO Guiding Principles
• WW is a resource and
economic catalyst;
• Multi-stakeholder approaches
and dialogue may help guide
effective municipal planning
and knowledge of UA and
wastewater reuse;
• A balance of various
approaches and interventions
needed;
•Increased research capacity is
key to effective risk reduction.
Four Cases in MEWA
•Selected via competitive call of shortlisted
institutions in MEWA;
•Kumasi, Tamale, Jordan, Dakar selected;
•Complementarity: Analysis of risk chains and
various stakeholder approaches: farmers, farm
workers, neighbours, consumers, vendors;
•Focus on non-treatment but also includes
basic/low-cost treatment where feasible.
Research Questions
• Locally feasible exposure control
strategies?
•Best
methods
for
increasing
awareness of health hazards for
farmers, workers, consumers?
• Cost-effectiveness?
• Enabling environment for reduced
risk?
• Capacity building needs for all
stakeholders in order to successfully
reduce exposure?
Challenges
-Balancing health and economic
gains.
-How to improve (through
incentives?) adoption of best
practise by various stakeholders?
- Increasing awareness amongst
decision-makers of the importance
of wastewater reuse to productivity
and food security.
- Leveraging the link between
productivity and environmental
sanitation to incentivize improved,
integrated services.
Other project examples: environmental
sanitation and livelihoods
•Jakarta: Examining economic
incentives for improved water,
sanitation, and solid waste
services: linking enhanced services
to productivity and livelihoods;
• Dakar: Strengthening/formalizing
scavenger organizations;
• Gianyar,Bali: Linking the benefits
of carbon emissions reductions at
landfill to poor (neighbouring)
communities;
Partnering with IDRC
 Development research grantmaking is the core of our
activities;
• Upcoming calls on Productive
Strategies, Compensation for
Environmental Services,
Migration and Remittances;
• Rural-urban linkages: Globally;
• Climate change in Africa.
Contact us
Ann Thomas
International Development Research Centre
(IDRC)
250 Albert Street, Ottawa Ontario
email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.idrc.ca/