Climate change, melting glaciers, contaminated water and water intensive industry and agriculture are some of the threats to water security in Asia in the future. But action is taken in local communities, by nations and regions. What is being done, or can be done, to bring about a more sustainable future for water supply in Asia?
Climate-proofing wastewater treatment facilities is necessary in the face of climate change. Manila Water Company, Inc., one of the two private concessionaires in the Manila metropolitan area, built an elevated facility to counter increased threats from flooding and overflow- ing rivers. Steve Griffiths
Revolutionising
By Maria Corazon Ebarvia and Anand Chiplunkar
Parts of this article were first published in the Asian Development Bank online water e-newsletter for April 2011 and September 2011 (http://www.adb.org/Water/enewsletter.asp?tab=2011#archive)
Many Asian and Pacific countries suffer from both the greatest lack of water and the poorest quality. Some 477 million people in the region have no access to a safe water sup- ply, and 1.8 billion people have no access to improved sanitation, according to the 2010 Joint Monitoring Report.
Most Asian cities also lack the infrastructure to collect, treat and dispose of wastewater properly. Open defecation, lack of improved sanitation, and inadequate wastewater management systems pollute the same water bodies that we use for drinking, fish- ing, bathing and swimming. The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Water Opera- tional Framework consequently highlights
wastewater management in Asia-Pacific
expanded wastewater management and re- use, including hygiene sanitation, as one of the solutions to avert the water crisis in Asia.
Promoting a change of mindset for a sanitation revolution
The sanitation and wastewater challenge is a threat to sustainable development. Although there are opportunities to make sanitation investments sustainable, taking advantage of favourable circumstances, a sanitation revolu- tion is nevertheless needed with a complete change of mindset. At present good sanita- tion polices are being held back by lack of investment, poor operation and maintenance, coupled with the view that investing in sanita- tion and wastewater management is a dead end. A shift can be achieved by reducing costs through efficiency gains, by recovering biogas and using it to meet most of the operational power requirements of treatment plant, and by boosting revenue through recovery of nutrients and productive use of biosolids.
ADB has proposed a Regional Capacity Deve- lopment Technical Assistance scheme to pro-
mote an Asia-Pacific wastewater management revolution. It aims to speed up wastewater investments by disseminating examples of existing sustainable projects (knowledge drive); promote technology options for differ- ent applications and end products (technology drive); develop business briefs for sustainable investment opportunities in typical existing environments in Asia (financing and incentives drive); and raise awareness through advocacy not only to develop capacity but also to organize meetings for all stakeholders to give substance to identified business opportunities.
There are beacons of hope shining from initiatives, large and small, in small villages and major urban centres. The Second ADB – Developing Member Countries and Partners Sanitation Dialogue (held in Manila on 23-25 May 2011) showcased working models for household and environmental sanitation, and demonstrated ways to turn the sanita- tion challenge around.
It is critical to move away from high-energy solu- tions, or no treatment at all, towards something