Borealis’ corporate charity Water for the World helps bring drinking water to a Nairobi shanty town.
Borouge has seen the completion of a two-year project to bring safe drinking water to 50,000 residents of the Korogocho and Kahawa townships in Nairobi, Kenya.
The initiative was co-funded by OFID (the OPEC Fund for International Development), the British Government’s Department for International Development, and Borealis and Borouge through their joint corporate social responsibility programme ‘Water for the World.’ Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), a partnership between Unilever, Borealis, Thames Water and WaterAid, based in London, was responsible for implementation and project management.
60 per cent of Nairobians live in townships, with little access to clean piped water.
The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company has the legal responsibility for providing sanitation, but fails to manage water supplies dues to the haphazard construction of townships and urban migration to Nairobi outstripping water supplies.
Residents without access to piped supplies buy water from private street vendors, at much higher prices.
Water dispenser in use: providing safe and affordable drinking water to people in Nairobi WSUP’s initiative extended the existing water network into the settlements, using high-quality polyethylene (PE) pipes.
“To avoid the loss of water due to leakages and assure residents receive clean water that they can afford, PE pipes are an excellent solution because they last three times longer than existing pipes, suffer fewer breakages and need less maintenance.
“In line with our sustainability goals, we commit to addressing global challenges and adding value to people’s lives through sustainable plastics solutions.” Craig Halgreen, Vice President Corporate Sustainability at Borouge, said: “At Borouge, we have experience in developing sustainable water systems for all kinds of environments and we are delighted to have supported this initiative based on our high-quality polyethylene materials.” Bill Peacock, WSUP’s Director of Programmes, said: “WSUP works with local providers to help them deliver the water and sanitation services and infrastructure that are so desperately needed by low-income urban communities.
“This project is a great example of how multi-sector partners can join forces and contribute their expertise to make a real difference to people’s lives.”

Save the Children staff in Yemen are warning that a deadly cholera outbreak could become a full blown-epidemic, with more than 65,000 cases expected by the end of June at current rates. Yemen is seeing an average of more than 1,000 suspected cases of cholera a day, with nearly two out of three suspected of being children under 15 years. At least 242 people have already died from the spread of cholera and acute watery diarrhea (AWD) in the first three weeks of this outbreak. That’s 20 times more than the same period during the first wave in October 2016. The global humanitarian organization is warning the illness is spreading too fast to be brought under control without adequate resources. “If the cholera crisis isn’t brought under control by the start of the next rainy season in July, we could see deaths in the thousands rather than hundreds,” said Carolyn Miles, President & CEO of Save the Children. “Children whose bodies have been weakened by malnutrition are the most vulnerable to cholera/AWD and there are 2.2 million malnourished children in Yemen. Already, every ten minutes a child under five dies of preventable causes.” The upsurge comes as the health system, sanitation facilities and civil infrastructure have reached breaking point because of the ongoing war. Sanitation…

The Water.org Philippines team is piloting a new project called WaterConnect to connect families living in the bottom of the economic pyramid (BOP) with easy access to improved and safe drinking water. The pilot currently focuses on four barangays, two each in the cities of Biñan and Sta. Rosa in the province of Laguna. This project aspires to target 2,300 families by September 2017- in the nine months allotted for the pilot. Through a strong partnership with Laguna Water, local partner microfinance institutions (MFIs), and WaterLinks International, the Water.org team developed a model to assist the poor families to be connected to piped water that is being supplied by the water utility company in the area. The project scheme attracts a significant number of the poor families who still lack access to piped water. The water meter connection fee of Laguna Water will be paid by the interested households for 18 months without interest. The after-the-meter costs will then be loaned through local Water.org MFI partners. Households who qualify for the MFI assistance based upon its policies will be approved for a loan…

Water.org Philippines joined Alalay sa Kaunlaran Inc. (ASKI) Group of Companies in celebrating their 30th Anniversary on March 9, 2017 in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija. With a crowd of more than 1500 clients, the event featured a video presentation featuring the water and sanitation situation in the Philippines and how the partnership between the two organizations has made the…

Ahead of Donald Trump’s trip to Israel this week, a bipartisan group of congressmen and women called upon the president to address the critical situation of cross-border water scarcity and contamination. In a letter written following consultations this March with regional environmental group EcoPeace Middle East, the legislators stressed the idea that “water is an issue of mutual interest” between Israelis and Palestinians and a subject that has “seen great progress in recent months.” Nonetheless, providing safe drinking water to residents of both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and curbing sewage discharge from the latter onto the shores of Israel require immediate international intervention, the parties argued. “In your effort to build peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and to further peace negotiations between their leadership, we urge you to prioritize the issue of water,” the letter said. The letter, which was sent to the president last week, was drafted by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon), Ted Poe (R-Texas), William Keating (D-Massachusetts), Jackie Walorski (R-Indiana), Gerald Connolly (D-Virginia), Tom Marino (R-Pennsylvania), Grace Meng (D-New York), Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), John Conyers Jr. (D-Michigan) and Dave Reichert (R-Washington). “Any US strategy for Middle East peace must deal with water insecurity in Gaza and the West Bank,” Blumenauer said. “We…

A Toronto man set foot in Calgary on Saturday afternoon in the midst of his run from Vancouver to Ottawa to raise awareness to, and funds to address, the lack of potable water in First Nations communities across the nation. Hasan Syed, whose family immigrated to Canada from his native Pakistan in the late 1990s, decided to make the pilgrimage from near the shores of the Pacific Ocean to Canada’ capital after first learning of the lack of clean running water while finishing his nursing degree. “I think it has a lot to do with me immigrating from Pakistan,” Syed told CTV Calgary during an interview conducted just west of Calgary city limits.. “Not knowing that (drinking water issues) even existed…

Water is getting much, much more expensive in these 30 cities.
Water utility prices in the US continue to march upward, and now as many as a third of Americans may be unable to pay their monthly water bill.
In the past seven years, water rates in the US have climbed more than 50 percent on average, according to a new survey of water rates in 30 large US cities.
On average, Circle of Blue found that water rates have increased by 54 percent across the US since 2010.
Between 2016 and 2017, rates only increased 4 percent on average, the smallest yearly increase since Circle of Blue began collecting data in 2010.
Chicago experienced a staggering 25 percent price hike from 2011 to 2012.
What’s more, what you see in the map above is only a fraction of what people are actually paying for water in the US.
Rates are increasing to fund infrastructure, but poorer Americans will be disproportionately impacted The story of how America’s water systems found themselves in such dire straits begins with a post–World War II infrastructure boom followed by 40 years of neglect.
This is a massive problem because civil engineers estimate the price tag for overhauling America’s drinking water system and bringing it up to code will be at least $1 trillion over the next 25 years.
What’s more, it’s going to impact lower-income Americans the most.

May meeting of Ballymoney U3A.
Other committee members include Jean Philp and, a new member, Jim Sayers.
U3A was pleased to invite local man Frank Stewart to their monthly meeting to speak about the work of WaterAid.
This international charity has a simple aim, to use low cost sustainable solutions to provide the basic essentials of clean drinking water, proper toilets and good hygiene to some of the poorest people in the developing countries of the world.
Millions of people don’t have access to these basic services.
Right now, the some of world’s poorest people do not have access to clean water, sanitation or hygiene.
663 million people live without clean water.
To provide the basic essentials of clean water, somewhere safe to go to the toilet and hygiene training costs on average £15, and gives a life and a future, for one person.
When clean water and toilets are provided people’s lives are transformed.
WaterAid works with local partners and communities to improve access to water and sanitation and promote good hygiene.

AHD wins share of $1m global Healthcare Innovation Award.
Observer Report Islamabad The Association for Humanitarian Development (AHD), a Hyderabad-based community organisation, has been awarded US$320,000 for a biological water-filtering initiative that provides hundreds of thousands of families with clean water.
The Pakistani group is one of four worldwide to have won a share of the 2017 Healthcare Innovation Award, funded by global healthcare company Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK).
The discussion covered the challenge of providing safe drinking water, how AHD’s innovation could be scaled to reach more people and the potential for it to spur other innovative health initiatives in Pakistan.
Currently, many rural communities in Pakistan have to drink contaminated water.
To expand access to safe water, AHD introduced a simple and replicable bio-sand water filter, known as a “Nadi” filter, to hundreds of vulnerable villages.
The filter is sourced and constructed from locally available materials, meaning that one unit, which serves a household of eight to ten people, costs just Rs 1,000-1,500.
Since launching in 2007, the Nadi Filter has provided clean and safe drinking water to 400,000 households.
A Khurshid Bhatti, Founder and CEO, AHD: “We are honoured to receive this Award in recognition of our efforts.
This ensures the Nadi filter remains available at a low-cost and can be adopted by families across the country.” Azizul Huq, Vice President and General Manager, GSK Pakistan: “The Nadi filter is a fantastic innovation, which can be easily replicated across Pakistan.

According to Yehansu and Hiwot, construction of the community’s hand-dug well has enabled their children to go to school in a timely manner.
Today, things are different for the people of Biherawi village because of Water.org and its local partner REST.
Yehansu Marye, age 35, and Hiwot Taddess, age 27, both live in Biherawi village and are members of the water and sanitation committee representing women of their village.
Yehansu and Hiwot used to travel for more than an hour each day to collect water from a contaminated river.
Women like Yehansu and Hiwot are able to easily obtain and use enough water each day.
In addition to the three-fold increase in the amount of available water, the distance to fetch water also has decreased from one hour to 5 to 10 minutes.
According to Yehansu and Hiwot, construction of the community’s hand-dug well has enabled their children to go to school in a timely manner.
Water.org and REST have also provided training sessions on the use and management of water for the members of this rural community.
Yehansu and Hiwot were among the participants of these trainings.
Other topics included in the training were sanitation, maintenance, proper uses of water, and well-guarding.