World Urban Forum

Hi Mariana, this is a very interesting point, which is very relevant to the subject of equity. How do we manage the ways in which vital resources such as water and food are distributed in society, so that people may realize their rights to life and health?

Does anyone know of policy approaches and costing mechanisms that have promoted equitable access to water or other vital resources? Let us know!

We think its necessary to have st like a minimum base for both and the nearest example that I have seen is the rational distribution of food according to the caloric load required per person per day (commonly use in sports std) this for a collective frame and individually the key word is to be responsible for our consumption.

It struck me that participatory urban water management could be one route to vital resource equity in our cities. I found this project being operated by UN-Habitat, which has the specific objective of improving "the efficiency and equity of water supply and use in Dar es Salaam": http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=3293&catid=575&typeid=13

This is another quote: "Urban Water and Sewerage Authorities (UWSAs) run most of the urban water supplies in Tanzania. However there is a lack of adequate water sources and resources to develop water points in the country. Overall metering by the utilities is below 30% thus giving more customers room to waste or misuse water. There are high water losses which have a substantial effect on revenue collection and economies of water supply. With a proper water-demand management programme, aimed at reducing leakage, wastage and illegal connections, coverage could be increased without large capital investments."

Perhaps this is not much different from what Mariana was saying.

Participation in urban water management is a good policy approach, but the questions of who participates, and whose opinion matters, remain. So education and capacity building in urban water management are also essential to promote equity.

And here is a link to an article on "An Emerging Logic of Urban Water Management, Cochabamba, Bolivia", by Simon Marvin and Nina Laurie (Urban Studies, 1999, 36:2): http://www.cabnr.unr.edu/saito/Classes/nres400/readings/marvin.pdf

This is a case study of how socially inclusionary water management systems were developed, partly through meshing together formal and informal water networks.

This 2nd point I think its the nearest (techiniques +-) that is to take advantage of "formal and informal networks" + collective and personal responsible consumption; both framed in a minimum base of water consumption per person. But I consider is also necessary to talk about not only of the parameters in distribution but also in the ways and structure to do it, because we are not consider the leaks and illegal connections and either how the governments had been taking the decision of privatized the water.

I work for Women in Cities International and we recently finished a two and half year action research study in partnership with Jagori, a Delhi-based NGO, called "Women's rights and access to water and sanitation in Asian cities". This was a participatory project where women and youth from two re-location colonies in urban Delhi actively worked to document the gender gaps in the provision of essential services in their communities. We also documented the ways in which women's and girls' safety was affected by their accessing water and sanitation services in their communities.

In addition, as part of this project the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability in India who conducted two analyses on the 'costs' of failed service provision. One looked at the opportunity costs for women (i.e. the time spent collecting water that could otherwise have been productive time) and the second explored policies, programmes and specific expenditures related to WATSAN.

These two studies and a report on the findings of the action research project have been pulled together into a single report "Gender and Essential Services in Low-income Communities" that we have made available on our website: http://www.femmesetvilles.org/pdf-general/idrc%20final%20internet.pdf

One of the wisest water and sanitation specialists I have known noted that "the one thing poor people cannot afford is cheap water". What he meant was that if water supply is not paid for at an adequate level it will be limited and poorly maintained both of which reduce access for the poor areas of the city. Another point he made is that water supply and sewerage must be linked, managed and paid for together.

In deed, I think its a double via issue, in one hand the supply ( which needs attend the structure to cover all the territory and the costs related with) and in the other hand you have the demand in which I think we have to consider the culture of water mgmt, rationalization, and how to be gradually responsible for your own consume through the use of harvesting water systems.

@clarence shubert it is very true as we witness it here in Kenya, most poor and vulnerable people can not afford clean and cheap water or better sanitation as the services are not rendered through the city council or the water and sewerage company's concerned. this has led to limited access and thus we see a lot of waterborne diseases arising in the slum areas every now and then putting more risk to the already vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. as a result the community devise ways on which they can provide and supply the commodities by either using handcarts or selling water at designated water points

I agree with this point, also we have been working with rural areas here in Mexico where the water network was "to expensive" (in their consideration of course) to be installed in the communities so the State rol was absolutely out of the main proposals so we decide to introduce harvesting water systems to take advantage of rain water and turn it in drinkable water through the filters installation. Does anything like this could be possible to install in your community? I know a project on st like hydraulic pumps in Ghana and Zimbabwe and more info could be search in www.pumpaid.org and also our youtube channel has a workshop in www.youtube.com/GYANMex

We also work with and NGO which works in this exact point through the easy & cheap implementation of filters built with local resources in rural communities as crushed stones, zeolite, and supplemented it with activate carbon. Does anything like this proposal is working over there?

Except for inefficiencies in utility management i don't think there should be problem over water distribution and cost in coastal, rain forest, tropical cities. How do desert, dry land countries cope?

I have not worked directly with these specific zones but a friend is working in a new buildings in the south of Mexico which are working the production of water through air condensers, maybe it could be a possible approach -taking into account that in dry zones will need especial adaptation of course-. http://www.eolewater.com/