Sewage Water Pollution in Madagascar and its Implication

Transcription

1 Sewage Water Pollution in Madagascar and its Implication Introduction In the past decade, there has been a heated debate over the water crisis. According to the World Health Organization, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WSH) was responsible for 1.9 million deaths from diarrhea disease in Sewage is a critical contributor to water pollution especially in the developing world. This paper focuses on the impacts of sewage water pollution in Madagascar as well as the regulatory and voluntary measures to address these impacts. Water Pollution and its impacts in Madagascar Water crises arise for close to half of the world because of the lack of access to safe and affordable water. 2 In Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world, the deaths related to WSH total 20, 400 per year. 3 Sewage waste is the major pollutant contributing to water pollution. For drinking water, domestic sewage waste accounts for 84.6% (15, 068 tons/year) of the total suspended solids (TSS). 4 WSH due to sewage pollution has created critical problems in Madagascar, including the high infection rate of various diseases, including Diarrheal diseases and cholera. 5 The burden of disease due to water pollution can also be extended to malnutrition, and malaria, etc. The table in appendix 1 indicates the burden of disease (in DALYs) attributable to WHS by disease in Mortality and burden of disease from water and sanitation. World Health Organization, accessed February 10, 2012, 2 Copenhagen Consensus Challenge Paper - The Water Callenge. PDF File, Copenhagen Consensus 2004, accessed February 9, 2012, 3 Country Profile of Environmental Burden of Disease - Madagascar. PDF File, World Health Organization, accessed February 9, 2012, 4 A.J. Mmochi and J. Francis, Land Based Activities and Sources of Pollution to the Marine, Coastal and Associated Fresh Water Ecosystems in the Western Indian Ocean Region. PDF File, accessed February 9, 2012, 5 Country Profile of Environmental Burden of Disease - Madagascar. PDF File, World Health Organization, accessed February 9, 2012, 6 Deaths and DALYs estimates attributable to WSH, by country and by region, EXCEL File, World Health Organization, accessed February 9, 2012,

2 Causes of Sewage Water Pollution The cause of sewage pollution can be attributed to a few factors. The biggest factor is the lack of infrastructure. For example, only half of the large cities in Madagascar operate a sewage system at all, 7 thus the most common way for discharging sewage is direct flow into domestic water sources. This leads to a huge disparity in the accessibility of safe drinking water in rural and urban populations. Only 14% of the rural population has access to safe drinking water compared to 66% of the urban population 8 and only 20% of the overall population has access to piped sewage or septic tank. 9 Moreover, lack of sanitation and hygiene education among Malagasy inhabitants further worsens the problem. Many of the Malagasy inhabitants believe that drinking contaminated water is safe and would not pose any health issues. This further escalates the pollution problem as they fail to understand the fatal effect of releasing sewage into water sources. As a result, Madagascans often directly dispose of livestock manure and defecate into the water sources, rendering some water sources untouchable for human use. Regulatory and Voluntary Measures to Address the Sewage Water Pollution Problem and the Eco-Effectiveness of these Measures Major Governmental Organization involved The Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) is primarily responsible for the water supply and the management of water resources. 10 Water supply and distribution is monopolized by the combined utility (i.e. electricity and water services) provider Jiro sy Rano Malagasy, Electricity 7 Briceño-Garmendia, Cecilia, Africa's infrastructure: a time for transformation. PDF File. The World Bank, 2010, accessed February 10, 2012, 8 Valuating Economic and Social Impacts of Improved Water and Sanitation Services. PDF File, WaterAid Madagascar, 2008, accessed February 10, 2012, 9 Madagascar Water and Sanitation Profile. PDF File, USAID, accessed February 10, 2012, 10 Proverty Reduction Strategies in Madagascar - Water Supply and Sanitation. PDF file, WaterAid, accessed February 10, 2012,

3 and Water Malagasy (JIRAMA ) and their infrastructures and services only cover some major urban areas while Local commune service providers (Collective Decentralisees) provide water services in rural areas. 11 Recent Regulatory and Voluntary Measures In 1998, the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Pilot Project (PAEPAR) was introduced in Madagascar with the main objective to improve the capacity of the Government, the communities and the private sector to expand a sustainable and cost-effective coverage in water supply and sanitation (WSS) 12. A credit of US$ 17.3 million was spent on PAEPAR with help from the World Bank. 13 The components of PAEPAR include: Policy and legal framework for the WSS sector, WSS sector capacity building and institutional development, community based WSS services with sub-components: community needs assessment, education and support. A new Water Law was adopted in 1999 and all related by-laws by In addition, a service contract was signed to address institutional issues of JIRAMA such as financial management and operational strategies and to conform JIRAMA to the new Water Law. 14 In 2005, MEM has introduced the National Program for Safe Water Supply and Sanitation (PNAEPA) and the National Water and Sanitation Authority (ANDEA) with the mission of setting up an operation framework for consultation and a regulatory framework for the use of water resources. 15 To address the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) organized by the United Nation 11 Madagascar Water and Sanitation Profile. PDF File, USAID, accessed February 10, 2012, 12 Republic of Madagascar - Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Pilot Report. PDF file, the World Bank, accessed February 10, 2012, ered/pdf/34060.pdf. 13 Pilot Project for the Supply of Drinking Water & Rural Sanitation. PDF file, AfDevInfo Database, accessed 10 February, Madagascar: Water and Sanitation Profile, PDF file, Food, Agriculture and National Resources Policy Analysis Network, accessed February 11, 2012, 15 Republic of Madagascar: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper -- Annual Progress Report for 2007 and First Semester of 2008, 2009 International Monetary Fund

4 Development Program. PNAEPA increased government s commitment to rural WSS from around $10 million in 2004 to $15 million in In addition to the reformation of governmental structure and improvement in infrastructures by the government, voluntary measures, such as the WASH program lead by WaterAid since 2002 has helped the Madagascan Community to implement WSS facilities, like latrine, and hygiene education. 17 UNICEF has also provided similar programs with the focus of water services to children. 18 In addition, the World Bank and the African Development Bank have also been heavily involved in WSS infrastructure rehabilitation and water resources management reform. Results The following graphs indicate the increase in the population with permanent access to hygiene infrastructure at the national level and permanent access to safe water for the Madagascan population from MEM Furthermore, 1,345 water points were established with 806 provided by MEM and 539 built by different partners (CARITAS, WaterAid etc.) 21 According to the World Bank, the aforementioned initiatives are regarded as Satisfactory Madagascar Water and Sanitation Profile. PDF File, USAID, accessed February 10, 2012, 17 Madagascar. PDF file, WaterAid, accessed February 10, 2012, 18 Madagascar - Friends of WASH bring Hygiene-friendly Schools to Madagascar. UNICEF, accessed February 11, 2012, 19 Republic of Madagascar: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper -- Annual Progress Report for 2007 and First Semester of Page 13, International Monetary Fund, The indicators used by MEM is different from the indicators published by INSTAT under MDGs. 21 Republic of Madagascar: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper -- Annual Progress Report for 2007 and First Semester of 2008, 2009 International Monetary Fund 22 Republic of Madagascar - Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Pilot Report. PDF file, the World Bank, accessed February 10, 2012, ered/pdf/34060.pdf.

5 Figure 1. Proportion of the population with permanent access to safe water 23 Figure 2. Proportion of the population with permanent access to hygiene infrastructure at the national level 23 Conclusion--Is Madagascar just being less bad or eco-effective? As numerous regulatory and voluntary measures have shown, tremendous resources have been spent to reform the current existing organizational structures and infrastructure while a 23 Republic of Madagascar - Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Pilot Report. PDF file, the World Bank, accessed February 10, 2012, ered/pdf/34060.pdf.

6 comparatively small amount of resources is being spent on education. This is only helping Madagascar to be less bad while numerous problems still remain. For example, Malagasy inhabitants still do not have much understanding of the benefits of clean water or the detrimental effects of polluting the water with sewage. Also, the sewage collected by the latrines still requires proper treatment. To achieve eco-effectiveness, the Malagasy government should transform their problem, the sewage, into their assets. Sufficient education should be provided to the Malagasy inhabitants in order for them to understand the value of clean water and to stop pouring sewage into the water sources. Also, since biogas can be generated easily from sewage with proper treatment, 24 sewage can be collected and used to generate methane. The methane produced for the collection of sewage can be used as fuel. After the production of methane gas, the used sewage can be sent to farmer and be used as fertilizers. If sewage can be collected, and redistributed for further usage, the sewage water pollution problem can be greatly reduced. This process follows the sustainable lifecycle of the cherry tree mentioned by McDonough and Graungart in Cradle to Cradle, Remaking the Way We Make things 25, all the resources are being used and reused before given back to the Earth in order to achieve true eco-effectiveness. (Word Count: 1140) 24 Who Can Benefit from Biogas. BioBowser Technologies Pty Ltd, accessed February 11, 2012, 25 McDonough, William and Braungart, Michael, Cradle to Cradle Remaking the Way We Make Things., North Point Press, 2002, Page 73.

7 Appendix Deaths and DALYs estimates attributable to WSH, by country and by region, EXCEL File, World Health Organization, accessed February 9, 2012,

8 Bibliography A.J. Mmochi and J. Francis, Land Based Activities and Sources of Pollution to the Marine, Coastal and Associated Fresh Water Ecosystems in the Western Indian Ocean Region. PDF File, accessed February 9, 2012, Pilot Project for the Supply of Drinking Water & Rural Sanitation. PDF file, AfDevInfo Database, accessed 10 February, Who Can Benefit from Biogas. BioBowser Technologies Pty Ltd, accessed February 11, 2012, Briceño-Garmendia, Cecilia, Africa's infrastructure: a time for transformation. PDF File. The World Bank, 2010, accessed February 10, 2012, Copenhagen Consensus Challenge Paper - The Water Callenge. PDF File, Copenhagen Consensus 2004, accessed February 9, 2012, Madagascar: Water and Sanitation Profile, PDF file, Food, Agriculture and National Resources Policy Analysis Network, accessed February 11, 2012, Republic of Madagascar: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper -- Annual Progress Report for 2007 and First Semester of Page 13, International Monetary Fund, Valuating Economic and Social Impacts of Improved Water and Sanitation Services. PDF File, WaterAid Madagascar, 2008, accessed February 10, 2012, Proverty Reduction Strategies in Madagascar - Water Supply and Sanitation. PDF file, WaterAid, accessed February 10, 2012, McDonough, William and Braungart, Michael, Cradle to Cradle Remaking the Way We Make Things., North Point Press, 2002, Page 73. Republic of Madagascar - Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Pilot Report. PDF file, the World Bank, accessed February 10, 2012, /Rendered/PDF/34060.pdf.

9 Mortality and burden of disease from water and sanitation. World Health Organization, accessed February 10, 2012, Country Profile of Environmental Burden of Disease - Madagascar. PDF File, World Health Organization, accessed February 9, 2012, Deaths and DALYs estimates attributable to WSH, by country and by region, EXCEL File, World Health Organization, accessed February 9, 2012, Madagascar Water and Sanitation Profile. PDF File, USAID, accessed February 10, 2012, Republic of Madagascar: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper -- Annual Progress Report for 2007 and First Semester of 2008, 2009 International Monetary Fund Madagascar. PDF file, WaterAid, accessed February 10, 2012, Madagascar - Friends of WASH bring Hygiene-friendly Schools to Madagascar. UNICEF, accessed February 11, 2012,