Perspectives are different frameworks from which to explore the knowledge around sustainable sanitation and water management. Perspectives are like filters: they compile and structure the information that relate to a given focus theme, region or context. This allows you to quickly navigate to the content of your particular interest while promoting the holistic understanding of sustainable sanitation and water management.
In this report, a managed flood is a controlled release of water from a reservoir to inundate a specific area of floodplain. This document focuses on developing countries but most issues are relevant world-wide.
ACREMAN, M. (2000): Managed Flood Releases from Reservoirs: Issues and Guidance. Wallingford: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology URL [Accessed: 17.01.2012] PDF
This online publication focuses on the differences and similarities of lakes and reservoirs considering their characteristics, use and conservation. The publication explains the water cycle as the basis to understand how water moves in nature, shows that although lakes and reservoirs appear to be very similar in fact they can also be very different from each other and also talks about how to take care of them.
UNEP (2000): Lakes and Reservoirs: Similarities, Differences and Importance. Osaka: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP IETC) URL [Accessed: 17.01.2012]
This paper is a product of a workshop, which was hosted by the U.S. EPA in 2006. Soil amendments of interest consist of waste residuals such as municipal biosolids, animal manures and litters, sugar beet lime, wood ash, coal combustion products, log yard waste, neutralising lime products, and a variety of composted agricultural by-products, as well as traditional agricultural fertilisers.
U.S. EPA (2006): The Use of Soil Amendments for Remediation, Revitalization, and Reuse. Washington DC: United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) URL [Accessed: 12.01.2012]
This paper conceptualises the relationship between agglomeration economies and industrial symbiosis, finding that many negative environmental externalities can be reduced while increasing production efficiency. Four industrial regions of Puerto Rico, all with agglomeration economies, but only two with significant industrial symbiosis, highlight the contribution of symbiosis and how it can influence both static and dynamic agglomeration economies.
ASHTON, W. S. (2008): Industrial Symbiosis in Puerto Rico: Environmentally Related Agglomeration Economies. New Haven, CT: School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University URL [Accessed: 02.01.2012]
The provision of sanitation services in low-income urban areas is one of the greatest challenges in development. Population growth in developing countries currently outpaces sanitation growth, especially in urban areas. Consequently, in urban areas where poor people reside, and where "formal" sanitation services are not available to them, they experience the compounded effect of serious economic disadvantages such as high risk to public health; a dirty and contaminated environment; no basic human dignity and safety for a large part of the world’s population, especially for adolescent girls and women. This Thematic Overview Paper attempts to search for pro-poor financing models that can facilitate the urban poor’s access to complete sanitation services. It catalogues existing financing models and examines each based on an analytical framework that comprises six criteria. It offers a recommendation for mixing financing mechanisms to meet the urban poor’s needs, and makes a plea for developing poor-specific and full-cycle specific plans for sanitation.
SIJBESMA, C. (2011): Sanitation Financing Models for the Urban Poor. The Hague: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre URL [Accessed: 21.12.2011]
The HIP (Hygiene Improvement Project) developed this publication for USAID and other organisations to measure progress for handwashing, POU and sanitation activities, and provide guidance to implementers of WASH programmes on what indicators to use to measure their programmes’ achievements. Most of the indicators presented here track output and outcomes at the household level. However, community-based indicators associated with community-led total sanitation (CLTS) are also included to help achieve the water and sanitation Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
USAID (2010): Access and Behavioral Outcome Indicators for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. Washington, DC: The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) URL [Accessed: 21.12.2011]
his book is written for developing countries. Since it seeks to encourage the designing of waste collection systems based on local information, the approach is valid in any country. The main focus is on municipal solid waste, which is taken to include waste from households, businesses and institutions, construction and demolition waste in small quantities, general solid wastes from hospitals (excluding hazardous wastes), waste from smaller industries that is not classified as hazardous, and wastes from streets, public areas and open drains. It is not concerned with wastes from agriculture, larger industries or the mining industries which normally handle their own wastes.
COFFEY, M. VILNERSSON, D. (2010): Collection of Municipal Solid Waste in Developing Countries. Nairobi: UN-HABITAT URL [Accessed: 21.12.2011]This website provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 183 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level. It also offers detailed subnational reports, which cover business regulation and reform in different cities and regions within a nation. These reports provide data on the ease of doing business, rank each location, and recommend reforms to improve performance in each of the indicator areas.
Building Partnerships for Development is a worldwide network of partners involving government, business, civil society and donors.
Large parts of the world cope with problems of water supply during periods of low rainfall and consequent low or no river discharge. Kitui District is a semi arid region in Kenya where, during the dry season, communities in rural areas almost completely rely on water abstraction through hand-dug wells (scoop holes) in the dry sand riverbeds. To increase water availability during the dry season, SASOL (a local NGO) builds sand storage dams. The construction of sand dams has turned out to be very successful in increasing groundwater storage capacity, prolonging the period of groundwater availability (bridging dry seasons) and improving water quality.
HOOGMOED, M. (2007): Analyses of impacts of a sand storage dam on groundwater flow and storage. Amsterdam: Vrije University URL [Accessed: 20.12.2011] PDFFrequently asked questions about fog and fog harvesting.
The successful rural water supply by sand storage dams was studied in Kitui District, Kenya. Key success factors were identified, such as type of geology, catchment size and rainfall enabling upscaling and dissemination to other (semi) arid areas. Download documents and photos here.