The Millennium Development Goals In Action: Part VII
Ensure Environmental Sustainability
We hear much about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) but just exactly what are they and what are some real life examples?
Our eight part series, The MDGs in Action, looks at real life examples of each goal and the people working to achieve them.
MDG Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
A Programme In Action:
Your Action: Support , 'Like' on Facebook, Tweet or Donate.
We hear much about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) but just exactly what are they and what are some real life examples?
Our eight part series, The MDGs in Action, looks at real life examples of each goal and the people working to achieve them.
MDG Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
A Programme In Action:
Your Action: Support , 'Like' on Facebook, Tweet or Donate.
Ensure Environmental Sustainability
The seventh Millennium Development Goal is to ensure environmental sustainability. The goal is made up of four targets: integrate sustainable development principles into country practices and reverse the loss of environmental resources; reduce biodiversity loss; improve access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and; improve the lives of slum dwellers.
Sustainable Development
As countries in the Global South strive to acquire living standards equal to those in the Global North, the earth’s resources come under further strain. As such, it is imperative sustainable development practices are adopted and renewable energy sources explored. Thankfully, environmental sustainability has experienced an increased presence in public consciousness in recent years, with citizens pressuring governments to commit to carbon reduction targets and renewable energy investment. Major international efforts have been launched to address the issue – from the Kyoto Protocol to the Copenhagen Summit, to the grassroots People’s Conference on Climate Change in Bolivia this year.
On Track for Achievement
While the achievement of the goal faces some challenges, positive signs are emerging. The world is on track to meet the target of halving the proportion of the population with access to safe drinking water by 2015. The UN has reported that Latin America and Southern and Western Asia have already met or come close to meeting the target. Access to safe drinking water can significantly reduce the risk of death from water bourn diseases like cholera and typhoid fever.
Challenges
However, some specific challenges still need to be addressed. Slum populations continue to grow as migration to urban areas intensifies, with urban infrastructure failing to keep up. In addition, biodiversity is increasingly under threat in the Global South from the introduction of biotechnologies posed as the solution to food shortages.
The world’s poorest nations are most at risk from the threats of environmental degradation. Small island nations face rising sea levels, while poorer farmers are less able to cope with and adapt to drought.
It is imperative that international efforts to ensure environmental sustainability are continued.
Article written by Iona Salter
MDG 7: Improving access to safe drinking water in Kiribati
The UN set as its Millennium Development Goal 7: halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. UNCED and UN-Water have also set their theme forWorld Water Day 2010 (22 March): 'Communicating Water Quality Challenges and Opportunities'.
The Australian Water Association (AWA) is responding to this challenge. From 8-10 March, 2010 AWA will holdOzwater '10, a national water conference featuring "Achieving Water Security" as the headline theme. A free trade exhibition will also be hosted for over 200 Australian and international exhibitors and water industry professionals, and a workshop on the Water Utility Partnerships program will be co-hosted by the Asian Development Bank and AWA.
The Australian Water Association (AWA) is responding to this challenge. From 8-10 March, 2010 AWA will holdOzwater '10, a national water conference featuring "Achieving Water Security" as the headline theme. A free trade exhibition will also be hosted for over 200 Australian and international exhibitors and water industry professionals, and a workshop on the Water Utility Partnerships program will be co-hosted by the Asian Development Bank and AWA.
...and below, an AWA WASH Network member and Water and Sanitation Specialist from Winkfield Pty Ltd, Neil Kerby, shares a story on designing a reliable water supply for the people of Kiritmati Island, Republic of Kiribati.
A Case Study in improved water supply
Kiritimati (Christmas) Island in the Republic of Kiribati, is the world's biggest coral atoll, is 1.5 metres above sea level, and - only in an El Nino year - enjoys rainfall of about 3 metres. This abundance of 'water' - once every four years - was discovered by both United States and British presences in-country and a water supply system to service their militaries was set-up.
Large "lenses" of fresh groundwater were discovered and galleries were constructed. These were established in roofed shallow trenches that were pumped to elevated tanks and piped in asbestos cement pipes to various settlements. Over ensuing years 2,000 i-Kiribati established townships in the remnant infrastructure of London, Tabwakea, Banana, Poland and 'Main Camp'.
This is the story of transitioning the 50-year-old water supply system from military use to one fit for local habitation. Put simply: providing i-Kiribati people with access to safe drinking water.
From 1995, AusAID supported an extensive design process, and a later project to improve the water supply. The design involved interviews with local villagers about the performance of the ageing system, and their attitudes and expectations of the proposed water supply.
New fiberglass elevated tank at London village, Neil Kerby, 2000 (see image on right hand side)
Kiritimati (Christmas) Island in the Republic of Kiribati, is the world's biggest coral atoll, is 1.5 metres above sea level, and - only in an El Nino year - enjoys rainfall of about 3 metres. This abundance of 'water' - once every four years - was discovered by both United States and British presences in-country and a water supply system to service their militaries was set-up.
Large "lenses" of fresh groundwater were discovered and galleries were constructed. These were established in roofed shallow trenches that were pumped to elevated tanks and piped in asbestos cement pipes to various settlements. Over ensuing years 2,000 i-Kiribati established townships in the remnant infrastructure of London, Tabwakea, Banana, Poland and 'Main Camp'.
This is the story of transitioning the 50-year-old water supply system from military use to one fit for local habitation. Put simply: providing i-Kiribati people with access to safe drinking water.
From 1995, AusAID supported an extensive design process, and a later project to improve the water supply. The design involved interviews with local villagers about the performance of the ageing system, and their attitudes and expectations of the proposed water supply.
New fiberglass elevated tank at London village, Neil Kerby, 2000 (see image on right hand side)
- The feedback was:
• water tanks were scarce so families often drilled or modified the existing pipes to gain access to any water that passed through. This disrupted the water supply and usually meant those downstream - at the edges of villages - were left without water
• breakdowns were common, and access to the technical or material resources they needed to fix the breakdowns were also scarce
• all building materials were scarce - even palm trees failed to provide strong lumber due to their drought-stressed history of growth
• while any available material was salvaged and used, corrugated sheets that were intended to cover open groundwater galleries, had become materials for housing
• social co-operation was generally based around the head of a family unit, and the existing water supply system did not support this structure
• there was poor or no house plumbing which meant erratic access to water, or lengthy delays or travel to other water supplies and water's edge ablutions. Wind pump at Decca groundwater gallery, Neil Kerby, 2000 (see image on left hand side)
The design of the improved water system focused on a number of elements:
• Detailed re-mapping of water lenses, and estimation of yields to sustain the proposed 6,000 inhabitants between the irregular rainfalls
- An allowance/ provision was made for 50 litres per head for people in villages with access to shallow wells and 67 litres for London-town residents whose wells were salty (0.5m above sea level)
• Buried shallow 400m long slotted pipe galleries to encourage groundwater to run gently to pits where wind and solar driven pumps to lift it to elevated tanks
• Solar powered chlorination (sodium hypochlorite) at each gallery. Chlorine detention of 24 hours to kill Giardia - a small single cell parasite that could cause diarrhea, vomiting and weight loss
• PVC and high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe - trunk mains to each village (removing the former asbestos cement pipes) with another elevated fiberglass (day) tank
• Placement of a 500 litre day tank on a 3 metre stand at each dwelling. This tank broke the higher transfer pressure, gave 24 hours to satisfy demand and a day's back-up if the system broke down.
The design approach was subsequently adopted across the Republic of Kiribati and especially in Tarawa, where keeping pace with demand had also led to interference with the pipe system and supply failures to the edges of the networks.
Solar pump at Decca groundwater gallery, Neil Kerby, 2000 (see image on right hand side)
Feedback from i-Kiribati residents has been positive.
In 2007 a senior bureaucrat in Tarawa, Kiribati stated that, "the Kiritimati Island water supply was now the best in the Republic". A site visit to South Tarawa and elsewhere also bears witness to the reliability and use of water by i-Kirbati residents. They are using the household fibreglass tanks at ground level for daily supply - with the village day tank at each village and a rotating fill sequence to each village's tankstand.
A decade on, this water concept appears to still be working - and making a difference to everyday i-Kiribati lives.
Corroded military tank stand London, Neil Kerby, 1999 (see image on left hand side)
For more information:
• breakdowns were common, and access to the technical or material resources they needed to fix the breakdowns were also scarce
• all building materials were scarce - even palm trees failed to provide strong lumber due to their drought-stressed history of growth
• while any available material was salvaged and used, corrugated sheets that were intended to cover open groundwater galleries, had become materials for housing
• social co-operation was generally based around the head of a family unit, and the existing water supply system did not support this structure
• there was poor or no house plumbing which meant erratic access to water, or lengthy delays or travel to other water supplies and water's edge ablutions. Wind pump at Decca groundwater gallery, Neil Kerby, 2000 (see image on left hand side)
The design of the improved water system focused on a number of elements:
• Detailed re-mapping of water lenses, and estimation of yields to sustain the proposed 6,000 inhabitants between the irregular rainfalls
- An allowance/ provision was made for 50 litres per head for people in villages with access to shallow wells and 67 litres for London-town residents whose wells were salty (0.5m above sea level)• Buried shallow 400m long slotted pipe galleries to encourage groundwater to run gently to pits where wind and solar driven pumps to lift it to elevated tanks
• Solar powered chlorination (sodium hypochlorite) at each gallery. Chlorine detention of 24 hours to kill Giardia - a small single cell parasite that could cause diarrhea, vomiting and weight loss
• PVC and high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe - trunk mains to each village (removing the former asbestos cement pipes) with another elevated fiberglass (day) tank
• Placement of a 500 litre day tank on a 3 metre stand at each dwelling. This tank broke the higher transfer pressure, gave 24 hours to satisfy demand and a day's back-up if the system broke down.
The design approach was subsequently adopted across the Republic of Kiribati and especially in Tarawa, where keeping pace with demand had also led to interference with the pipe system and supply failures to the edges of the networks.
Solar pump at Decca groundwater gallery, Neil Kerby, 2000 (see image on right hand side)
Feedback from i-Kiribati residents has been positive.
In 2007 a senior bureaucrat in Tarawa, Kiribati stated that, "the Kiritimati Island water supply was now the best in the Republic". A site visit to South Tarawa and elsewhere also bears witness to the reliability and use of water by i-Kirbati residents. They are using the household fibreglass tanks at ground level for daily supply - with the village day tank at each village and a rotating fill sequence to each village's tankstand.
A decade on, this water concept appears to still be working - and making a difference to everyday i-Kiribati lives.
Corroded military tank stand London, Neil Kerby, 1999 (see image on left hand side)
For more information:
- Learn more about the Australian Water Association (AWA) and their upcoming events in 2010.
- Find out about AusAID activities in Water and Sanitation - http://www.ausaid.gov.au/keyaid/water.cfm
- See resources on the ADG site on Water and Sanitation at -http://www.developmentgateway.com.au/jahia/Jahia/pid/9
More on this resource
- March 2010
- Australian Water Association (www.awa.asn.au/)
- 01.03.2010 11:00 | Contributed by: Neil Kerby, member of AWA WASH Network and Water and Sanitation Specialist, Winkfield Pty Ltd
- http://www.awa.asn.au/
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