A robust 15-year commitment helps Viet Nam exceed the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target for water and sanitation.

originally posted on July 2015

Twenty-five years ago, roughly 2 out of 5 people in Viet Nam did not have access to improved sources of drinking water. Improved sources – mostly tap water and protected wells – were easy to find in cities, but 80% of the population lived in rural areas where tap water was non-existent and protected wells and springs were scarce.

Finding a toilet or latrine was even more difficult. Three out of 5 people did not have access to improved sanitation facilities that keep human excreta away from human contact. And, 2 out of 5 people defecated in the country’s forests, fields and rivers.

“During that time water and sanitation was poor. Child mortality rates were high and outbreaks of cholera, diarrhoea and typhoid were common,” says Dr Nguyen Huy Nga, Senior Advisor, Viet Nam Ministry of Health. “With the MDGs, the government strengthened its political commitment and began considering access to water and sanitation as an indicator of socio-economic development.”

The commitment has paid off. Viet Nam has not only met the MDG targets to reach 82% and 68% of the population with improved water and sanitation, it has surpassed them. Today, 98% of Viet Nam’s more than 90 million residents have access to improved drinking water sources and 78% of the population uses toilets and latrines that meet international standards.

Setting national standards

Meeting the MDG targets was not an easy task. In 2000, with support from WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank and other international organizations, the Government of Viet Nam developed the National Rural Clean Water Supply and Sanitation Strategy to 2020. The strategy set the foundation for all government agencies to work towards universal access to water and sanitation – a higher target than the MDGs.

Under the strategy, a three-phase National Target Programme was implemented to measure the country’s progress, and standards for drinking water quantity and quality and sanitation facilities were established.

Improving water quality

In 2008, Viet Nam issued regulations to all urban water companies to implement water safety plans – a recommendation under the WHO guidelines. Four years later, it became mandatory for all of Viet Nam’s 68 water suppliers to implement water safety plans that eliminate contamination of source water, treat it and prevent recontamination during storage and distribution.

“Viet Nam’s efforts over the years have been strong. Before water safety plans were applied, water quality testing was only done at the point of users and there was no way of controlling risks that could occur in the water supply system,” says Tuan Nghia Ton, National Professional Officer, WHO Viet Nam. “Today, the country is following the WHO Guidelines for drinking-water quality and implementing water safety plans.”

WHO, with the Government of Viet Nam, has supported the training all of the urban water suppliers to implement water safety plans and UNICEF has worked with government counterparts to implement the plans in rural areas.

Because piped water still only reaches 10% of rural households and 61% of urban households, UNICEF has also been working with the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development to promote household water treatment and storage in communities where people don’t have access to protected water sources.

Building hygienic toilets and latrines

Use of improved sanitation facilities in Viet Nam has more than doubled – from 36% in 1990 to 78% in 2015. And open defecation, where people do not use any form of latrine or toilet, has been reduced from 39% to 1% over the same time period.

However, the Ministry of Health remains highly concerned about the estimated 1 in 10 people in rural areas who continue to use primitive hanging latrines which release excreta directly into ponds and rivers, thus contaminating the environment and water resources.

UNICEF has worked to build capacity in the country’s national and provincial governments to implement a community-led sanitation approach that motivates communities to improve their sanitation practices and keep their environment clean. Communities decide on the type of sanitation facilities they want, are taught how to construct them and can obtain small construction loans from the government.

“In 2014, the country made a strong commitment in the global Sanitation and Water for All partnership to eliminate open defecation by 2025. Today, Viet Nam has declared 250 villages open defecation free and many more villages are working on it,” says Lalit Patra, Team Leader of the Water Sanitation and Hygiene programme at UNICEF Viet Nam.

Beyond the MDGs

While Viet Nam has reached the MDG targets, the country has its sights set on universal access. By 2025 the country plans to eliminate open defecation, and by 2030 all Vietnamese should have access to safe drinking water. Public awareness campaigns, additional investments in rural areas and sustainability measures will be the key to success, says Dr Nguyen.

“The problem we still face is not everyone knows how to use a latrine,” he says. “Many people in Viet Nam have a motorbike or a mobile phone, but they do not have a toilet. We need to work to change attitudes and beliefs on sanitation.”

Agua4All campaign brings clean water to communities that rely on groundwater laced with arsenic

-by Haya El Nasser, originally published on April 6, 2015

by Haya El Nasser, originally published on April 1, 2015

LOS ANGELES — Four years of a historic drought that has left California parched forced Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday to declare the first mandatory water restrictions in the state’s history.

He ordered the State Water Resources Control Board to enact mandatory cuts in water use by 25 percent, which could save 1.5 million acre-feet of water over nine months. An acre-foot contains 325,851 gallons of water.

Brown issued the executive order while visiting the Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada — an area that would normally be blanketed with snow more than 60 inches deep at this time of year.

“Today we are standing on dry grass where there should be 5 feet of snow. This historic drought demands unprecedented action,” he said in a statement.

“Therefore, I’m issuing an executive order mandating substantial water reductions across our state. As Californians, we must pull together and save water in every way possible.”

Snowpack measurements registered at about 5 percent of the state average on a day when it’s usually at its peak. Levels are the lowest they have been in more than 70 years.

Without snow, California’s reservoirs will not fill up. Runoff from melting snow usually accounts for 30 percent of the state’s water supply.

Brown on Wednesday called for the replacement of 50 million square feet of lawns with drought-tolerant landscaping and the creation of a statewide consumer rebate program to replace old appliances with water- and energy-efficient models.

Campuses, golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscaped locations have been asked to make significant cuts in water use. And new homes and developments have been barred from irrigating with potable water unless water-efficient drip irrigation systems are used. Brown also barred watering of ornamental grass on public street medians.

Moreover, local water agencies have been asked to adjust rates — higher rates for higher users — to encourage water cuts and discourage waste.

“We’re very happy to see mandatory conservation,” said Sara Aminzadeh, the executive director of the California Coastkeeper Alliance. “Voluntary conservation wasn’t working well enough.”

However, she expressed concern that the restrictions are based on a percentage of prior usage rather than gallons per capita. That means those who used a lot of water before the mandatory cuts will be allowed to use more water than others.

Per capita quotas “would provide a more equitable approach,” Aminzadeh said.

Historically, the state has preferred to let local districts manage how they want to reach their goals rather than dictate specific rules.

Agricultural users are now also required to report more detailed water use information to state regulators, which can help them catch illegal water diversions and water waste.

“We know that in order to address the drought effectively, we need much better information both on how much water we are using and at what rate,” said Adrienne Alvord, California and Western states director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, in a statement. “This is a critical requirement that we need to make permanent, since we know that you can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

Water agencies also have to report what they’re doing to conserve water and how they’re enforcing user guidelines.

In March the state water board toughened restrictions by ordering urban districts to limit the number of days residents may water their yards. Brown and state legislators passed a $1 billion emergency drought relief plan that includes funding for long-term alternatives, such as desalination and sewage water recycling.

The state must focus on modernizing water management systems to deal with climate change, Alvord said.

“While the governor’s water reduction actions are crucial and even more may be necessary if the drought continues, it is also important for Californians to keep in mind that in a warming climate we are entering a new era, and water managers and state planners need to incorporate future projections into their scenarios,” she added.

by Tom Barry, originally posted on October 8, 2014

When you cross into Sonora from Arizona, you leave one hydraulic society and enter another. Both states are at risk. Their medium-term water futures are uncertain.

The water megaprojects – dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, and cement irrigation canals – that have made Sonoran Desert bloom with farms and cities are no longer sufficient. As temperatures rise, evaporation takes its toll, and droughts persist, there is an alarming shortfall — between the water that people and business demand and the water that can be found.

Since the 1930s, Arizona and Sonora have confidently kept expanding their desert societies with the conviction that water would always follow money. Which proved to be true on both sides of the border. Federally funded dams and water-transfer projects transferred water from mountains and river valleys to some of the hottest and driest places in the transborder West, giving rise to such cities as Hermosillo, Guaymas, Ciudad Obregón, Tucson, Phoenix, and Las Vegas.

A mostly arid or semi-arid region that hosts North America’s four major deserts — the Chihuahuan, Great Basin, Mojave, and Sonoran Desert – it is a transboundary region that has also been called the North American Southwest.[1]

When surface water proves insufficient, there’s always been groundwater to tap. First, diesel-fueled pumps penetrated deeper into the aquifers and bolsones, then as the federal governments in Mexico and the United States brought subsidized electricity to rural areas. Scores of well-drilling firms opened previously untapped reservoirs of fossil water.

Subsidized electricity prevailed throughout the transborder West. In Mexico, however, electricity costs for agribusiness have been especially negligible when calculating profit margins. Mexico’s agricultural sector benefits from the highest electricity subsidies for agriculture of all the Latin American and Caribbean nations.[2]

To drive nonstop on federal four-lane highways from northern Arizona through the nearly 400-mile length of Sonora takes about 12 hours. For those who might wonder (few people do) where the water comes from that makes the desert bloom with cities and monoculture agriculture, there are few readily discernible answers.

The water megaprojects that provide water to cities and farms are far away and out of sight. During the seven hours it takes to travel from the U.S.-Mexico border twin cities of Nogales to Sonora’s southern border with Sinaloa, you cross only dry rivers and arroyos.

In Sonora, like Arizona, water for the desert bloom comes from sparsely populated narrow river valleys and high mountains to the east and the north. Most residents of the desert cities never see the dams, reservoirs, and inter-basin aqueducts — that have made their hydraulic societies possible. Ask someone in Phoenix or a tourist in the seaside resort of San Carlos on the Mar de Cortés where their water comes. Few know.

Hermosillo, the capital and most populous city of Sonora, is a good place for a field visit to consider the future of the transborder West. Situated a bit more than three hours south of Nogales, Hermosillo offers a clear but disturbing view of the past and the future of hydraulic societies in this transborder region.

Hermosillo also stands at the center of the most bitterly fought water wars of the desert West – a conflict that pits Hermosillo at the center of the state against the Yaquis and other water consumers of the Yaqui Valley in southern Sonora. Following the pattern of other regional water wars, the Yaqui water war is a complicated struggle involving urban and rural water users, the more and less powerful, and historically evolved special interests.

For those considering the water future of the transborder West, there are two must-see sites in Hermosillo. The first is the downtown headquarters of Sonora SI (Integrated System), which offers an up-beat scenario in which hydraulic megaprojects capture and redistribute scarce water resources.

Hermosillo Dam: First for Irrigation, Then Drinking, and Now Mostly Dry

Next, a short drive to the east takes you directly to Hermosillo’s very own water megaproject. Constructed in 1949 by the federal government, the Abelardo Rodríguez dam and reservoir were designed to capture Sonora River flows for use by Hermosillo.

At first, the federal government intended that all the water would be used by the rapidly expanding agribusinesses in the municipio (county) of Hermosillo — which spans more than 14,885 sq. kilometers (5,745 sq. miles). A trip from Hermosillo’s center to the coastal town of Bahía Kino cuts through the vast coastal plains (known as the Costa de Hermosillo) of the Hermosillo municipio – a distance of 108 kilometers through arid scrublands converted to agribusiness by way of a labyrinth of irrigation canals and ditches.

In the 1980s, as the city of Hermosillo grew desperate for drinking water, the National Water Commission shifted the reservoir water from irrigation to domestic water consumption. But the onset of the drought in 1996-97 caused the reservoir to completely dry up, leaving the city once again without a dependable source of water.

Except in cases of heavy monsoon rains, the reservoir is usually a dusty bowl. When the city in 1998 gave up on the reservoir as a dependable source of drinking water, the old plans to transfer water to the city from the Yaqui River were resurrected. Yet it wasn’t until Sonora SI built the aqueduct in 2011-2012 that water from the Yaqui River began flowing to Hermosillo.

Surging fountains that rise outside Sonora SI building tell a story of a future made possible by hydraulic technology and infrastructure, with plenty of water for everyone – expanding desert cities, new agroexport industries, and a booming mining sector.

Can a new network of hydraulic megaprojects – including Sonora SI’s highly controversial Novillo-Hermosillo aqueduct — keep Hermosillo growing and solve the state’s multitude of water crises and water wars? Governor Guillermo Padrés Elías, who launched Sonora SI in 2010 as part of his “El Nuevo Sonora” political platform, believes new dams and aqueducts will do the trick. The Yaquis and the Movimiento Ciudadano para el Agua in the Yaqui Valley think differently, as do the Guajirío indigenous settlements that will be displaced by the dam that Sonora SI is constructing across the Mayo River in southeastern Sonora.

Published 6 October 2014

-By Thomas Wildman and Carol Brady, originally posted on November 2013

As of September 2013, the crisis in Syria had seen over half a million Syrian refugees flee to Jordan, the vast majority of them (some 400,000) living in rented accommodation in host communities. This influx – equivalent to 5% of Jordan’s population – is placing increasing pressure on service provision and infrastructure, including water. An integrated needs assessment carried out by Oxfam GB in March 2013 found that, while the majority of refugees in host communities can access water through the municipal supply system, the cheapest source of water, this is intermittent and unreliable, and many are forced to buy water from private vendors in order to meet their needs. To supplement their access to water households can pay upwards of 80 JD ($110) a month to meet their water needs during the hot summer months, when demand peaks.

To address humanitarian needs identified through the integrated assessment, Oxfam designed a water, sanitation and health (WASH) proposal for working in the urban areas around Amman. As the construction of new water facilities in Jordan is highly regulated and the over-extraction of groundwater aquifers is a major concern, any humanitarian intervention aimed at emergency water provision for refugees will not focus on the development of new water sources, but on ensuring that refugees can access existing water systems in a fair and equitable manner. In this context, where water markets are significant, large-scale and complex, it was essential to understand how the market functions, what constraints people face in accessing water and whether the existing water market systems had the capacity to deliver an adequate quantity to refugee populations.

To develop this understanding a market assessment was undertaken in Oxfam’s operational areas (the urban areas of Balqa and Zarqa Governorates, and in the informal tented settlements around factories and agricultural land) based on the Emergency Market Mapping & Analysis (EMMA) approach. The assessment was carried out in August and September 2013. This article focuses on the findings in urban areas of Balqa and Zarqa Governorates, where Oxfam has been distributing cash grants and vouchers for hygiene items to refugees and vulnerable members of the host community (comprising an estimated 30% of targeted beneficiaries). These are densely populated urban areas where refugees typically live in rented apartments in multistoried buildings.

Key findings: water supplies in Balqa and Zarqa Governorates

The market assessment analysed both the water market system and the factors determining access to water. People obtain water from a variety of sources; water for domestic use is obtained from either the piped system or privately owned wells, directly or via water transporters. However, this water is not seen as suitable for drinking, and drinking water is typically purchased from supermarkets or small shops.

Over 98% of households in Balqa and Zarqa are connected to the municipal water supply system. Although municipal water sources operate at virtually full capacity year-round, they are not sufficient to meet people’s needs. As an uninterrupted water supply is not possible, water is supplied on a rotating basis in 24-hour blocks; during the summer months, different areas receive water anywhere from once every ten days to three times per week. During the winter months, when demand is lower, supply improves to 1–4 times per week. The availability and reliability of the municipal system has recently improved with the construction of a 325-kilometre pipeline to convey water from the ancient Disi aquifer in southern Jordan to Amman. Since the pipeline was commissioned, Zarqa Governorate has received an additional 1,500m3 of water a day, with an additional 500m3 available when additional wells become functional. At current estimates, this should ensure that almost all households receive water a minimum of 1–2 times a week.

Given the deficiencies of the municipal supply, private wells are a critical part of the water market system. These wells, which are privately owned and operated, sell water to the Water Authority, to supplement supplies in the piped network, and to businesses, water transporters (water trucks) and individual households. Demand at private wells fluctuates between the summer and winter months; the majority of wells operate at full capacity during the summer, and then scale down by 50% during the winter. Balqa and Zarqa have a total of 39 private wells; water is sold at 0.7–1 JD per m3 ($1–1.4), and there are no limits on how much can be extracted. This is substantially more expensive than water obtained through the municipal supply, which is charged at a flat rate of 2.1 JD (around $3) for the first 18m3, equivalent to 0.12 JD per m3 if all the water is used.

The private water transportation market consists of an estimated 5,500 water trucks, ranging in capacity from 3–20m3. Truck owners are the largest buyers of water from the private wells, selling it on to households and private businesses. Virtually the entire population uses the water trucking market during the summer, with prices ranging from 4–7 JD per m3 ($5.65–9.9), based on the distance the water is transported and the level of demand. Water trucks also supply small shops, which filter and bottle drinking water into 20-litre containers. Nearly all households (of all socio-economic levels) in the Greater Amman area purchase bottled drinking water, even though it is the most expensive source by volume, ranging from 0.5–1 JD per bottle. Booklets of vouchers are commonly available for sale at these shops, with each voucher redeemable for a bottle of water. Voucher booklets are pre-paid and a small cost saving is earned through this purchase.

The market assessment established that poorer groups pay significantly more for water (per unit volume) than the better-off. Poorer households are only able to access a limited amount of water from the piped network because they tend to live in areas with low water pressure, and (more importantly) also have limited storage capacity. As there is a blanket fee of 2.1 JD for the first 18m3 of water accessed from the piped system, those who extract less water actually end up paying more per cubic metre than those who can store greater quantities. Truck operators tend to have a set of regular customers whom they serve first. Refugees may often not have access to truck operators, and rely on their neighbours and landlords to make contact with them. As clients must purchase the entire volume of water in the truck (typically 3–10m3), households with smaller storage capacity organise themselves into groups to share the water. Refugees with limited contact with their neighbours struggle to set up these types of arrangements. Even if these households manage to access truck operators, they may not have the capacity to store all the water that they have paid for. Finally, in prioritising bottled water, poor households end up purchasing less non-drinking water, and so reduce the frequency with which they bathe, wash and flush toilets in order to set aside money for drinking water. This has an impact, not only on those households directly affected, but also on the city’s infrastructure. According to the Water Directorate in Ayn Al Basha, the reduced flushing of toilets has led to increased blockages in sewer pipes.

In summary, the market assessment established that access to water for poor households (in particular refugees) is primarily determined by purchasing power and the availability of adequate water storage capacity within the household. More fragmented social connections also restrict access to the water trucking market.

A problem of supply and demand

Overall the water problem in Balqa and Zarqa (and in Jordan as a whole) is a supply issue, as water is not sufficient to meet demand. This is perhaps unsurprising in a country ranked the fourth most water-scarce on the planet. However, it is also a demand issue in terms of conditions of access – people do not possess the necessary purchasing power and links to market actors to obtain an equitable share of the water that is available.

The market analysis showed that the market can cover the unmet drinking and domestic water needs of the target population as water can be made available in sufficient quantities from water shops and private wells, and transportation capacity is sufficient to bring domestic water from water points to users. This means that the response can rely on the market, as long as the main limiting factors – purchasing power and access to sufficient water storage – are addressed.

The market analysis enabled a range of response options for immediate implementation.

Increasing access to drinking water through water vouchers linked to local water vendors.

Water vouchers (commodity vouchers) for bottled drinking water are distributed to beneficiaries, to be redeemed from contracted vendors. Vouchers are already an important part of the market system; extending their use should not create a parallel system, and vendors have already designed and printed vouchers with anti-counterfeiting measures in place. Beneficiaries will be given a central role in the choice of the shops.

Increase access to drinking water by providing household water filters.

The distribution of water filters to individual households is a viable solution. Filters are available on the local market, and beneficiaries have requested them.

Increase households’ water storage capacity.

The extra water being supplied by the Disi pipeline allows all users to fill a minimum tank size of 3m3, and so the aim is to increase the storage capacity of households possessing less than this. The type of storage tank distributed will depend on beneficiary choice, the type of dwelling and the space available (roof tanks, smaller tanks that fit inside the home, etc.). Tanks will be portable, so that people can take them with them if they move.

Increase domestic water access through vouchers linked to local water transporters.

In areas of high vulnerability, blanket targeting of refugee and host community households may be used to supply water vouchers to redeem with local water trucks pre-selected by beneficiaries. Blanket targeting will ensure that nearby households can group together and share a truckload of water. It is critical that Oxfam does not distort the existing market or take away business from water trucks normally operating in intervention areas. Payment would be made by Oxfam to contracted trucks upon receipt of the vouchers. This response option would, again, form part of the longer-term exit strategy. The present project includes the facilitation and support of mixed community groups (refugees and host community residents). Priority activities with these groups will include the development of water conservation strategies at the household and community level, and the design of communication and promotional materials.

The market assessment confirmed that, for the urban areas of Balqa and Zarqa, the market system is vital for water access. In water-scarce and densely populated areas such as these there are few viable options for WASH programming. Critically, the market assessment was able to analyse the functionality, capacity and scope for expansion of the market system, making possible a range of short- and longer-term responses to help refugees to access water in an equitable manner and at a fair price, without stretching the market beyond its capacity.

Future outlook and follow-up

Refugees typically experience a shortfall between their income and their expenditure, which they cover by drawing on savings, selling assets and using remittances from abroad; as these resources become depleted, so their ability to purchase water and other essentials is likely to decrease. Electricity tariffs have risen recently, and water tariffs are predicted to rise in the near future. The Disi pipeline has substantially increased the quantity of water available in the piped network in both Balqa and Zarqa, reducing demand for water from private wells and water trucks, and as a result these market actors will have the capacity to expand to meet needs arising out of future refugee influxes. The scope of this expansion is finite, however, and is difficult to measure with precision. It is likely that any additional inflows that match or exceed what Jordan has seen to date would stretch the capacity of the system to its limits once again.

-By Aryn Baker, originally posted on April 4, 2013

Now that spring has arrived in the Middle East, Syria’s estimated 1.2 million refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan can hope for relief from the snow, the rain and the bitterly cold nights of winter. But that relief will be as short-lived as the region’s balmy weather. Summer is fast on its way, and in Jordan in particular, life for Syrian refugees, and the border communities that support them, is about to get a lot worse.

Jordan is one of the most water-stressed countries in the world, subject to an ongoing drought that has devastated agricultural prospects in the country’s northern areas for nearly a decade. The large and rapid influx of Syrian refugees into the border cities of Ramtha and Mafraq, home to the Za’atari refugee camp, has strained water supplies to the breaking point — for two weeks in February, parts of Mafraq town had no water whatsoever. Summer’s soaring temperatures will put additional demands on a poor region that can hardly support its own population, let alone the surge of new refugees that are expected as the war in Syria grinds on. When the peaceful Syrian uprising evolved into a bloody conflict nearly two years ago, residents of Mafraq welcomed refugees fleeing the violence. That hospitality is starting to wane. Competition between Syrian refugees and local residents over limited resources, from water to electricity, food, schooling, housing and health care could boil over, potentially causing unrest in one of the few stable countries left in the Middle East. “As temperatures rise, so too will tensions,” says Nigel Pont, Middle East Regional Director for Mercy Corps, an international development agency actively involved with the Syrian crisis. Resentment among the Jordanians is palpable, he adds, and could easily escalate into violence if the underlying issues are not addressed.

Some 3,000 Syrians are crossing the Jordanian border every day, and aid agencies working with the 363,000 refugees already in the country anticipate that at this rate they will see another million in Jordan alone by the end of the year. Border towns like Mafraq have seen populations double since the start of the Syrian conflict, driving prices for rent, food and utilities sky-high. At the same time, the Jordanian government is considering reducing its historically generous subsidies on fuel. So costs are rising along with demand—a perfect storm for the Jordanian economy that has many grumbling about unwelcome guests.

International assistance can help with food, housing and even fuel to supply Jordan’s burgeoning refugee population to a certain extent. Water, however, is the one thing that can’t be airlifted in. For decades Jordan has relied on extracting groundwater to supply its own growing population, but those supplies are dwindling. According to antipoverty charity Oxfam, which is also involved with the Syrian conflict, groundwater extraction is nearly three times the recharge rate in some areas, which means that wells are quite literally going dry. To make things worse, Oxfam estimates that 50% of water in Mafraq district is lost through leaks in aging pipes or by people illegally siphoning water from the municipal system.

“The Syrian refugee emergency is highlighting one of Jordan’s most pressing problems — water,” says Christian Snoad, Oxfam’s water, sanitation and hygiene coordinator in Za’atari, in a recently released statement. “Solutions need to be found to deal with Jordan’s water scarcity, and this will need to be done as a matter of urgency.” As it is, towns that used to have running water one day a week are now only getting it once every two weeks. And with more than half of the Syrian refugees living in towns like Mafraq, it’s all too easy for Jordanians to blame the newcomers for the shortages. To fill in the gaps residents must rely on water delivered by private tanker companies, a costly alternative that is fueling further resentment.

Aid agencies such as Oxfam and Mercy Corps have dug wells in the Za’atari refugee camp to assuage shortages there, but it’s a short-term solution, especially as numbers grow. To help residents and refugees outside the camp, the U.S. Agency for International Development has partnered with Mercy Corps on a $20 million project to refurbish Jordan’s ailing water system where the influx of Syrian refugees has disrupted supplies.

These initiatives will only help if the incoming numbers stay stable, all the more unlikely considering the worsening violence across Syria. The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 6,000 Syrians were killed in March, making it the deadliest month since the start of hostilities in 2011. On Tuesday, rebel forces attacked a Damascus suburb in an attempt to reach the heart of President Bashar Assad’s stronghold. The regime retaliated with a barrage of rockets, mortars and air strikes on northern suburbs allied with the opposition. It is impossible to predict where the war will go next: the rebels are determined; so too is the regime. But if Damascus does fall, or any of Syria’s southern cities for that matter, a surge of Syrians heading for the Jordanian border is a given. Instead of 3,000 refugees a day, Jordan might find itself forced to accept hundreds of thousands — a catastrophic burden for any country, not least one already on edge because of its own dwindling resources.

UPDATE: Jordan’s Prime Minister-designate, Abdullah Ensour, warned in parliamentary debate that an increased influx of Syrian refugees would be “catastrophic” for the country. In  a subsequent conversation with journalists, he suggested that the government was considering alternatives, including the establishment of buffer zones in southern Syria that would serve the dual purpose of protecting Jordan from spillover from the ongoing conflict, as well as house would-be refugees seeking safety across the border. On 5 April the United Nations warned that it would soon have to start cutting aid to Syrian refugees across the region, due to inadequate funding. “The needs are rising exponentially, and we are broke,” Marixie Mercado, a spokeswoman for Unicef, told reporters in Geneva according to the New York Times. “Across the region, a lot of our operations are going to have to start scaling down unless we get money.” Unicef warned that it had received only a quarter of requested funds, and as a result would be forced to stop deliveries of 3.5 million liters of water to 100,000 Syrian refugees by June – just when demand will peak.

Judge Approves $97 Million Settlement To Replace Flint’s Water Lines.
The state of Michigan has agreed to spend up to $97 million for new water lines in the city of Flint, which has been struggling with a crisis over lead in its water for the past three years.
A federal judge at the U.S. District Court for Michigan’s eastern district approved the agreement Tuesday.
The state is required to allocate $87 million for the pipe replacement, according to the terms of the deal.
The money will come from both state and federal funds.
"This is a win for the people of Flint," plaintiff and Flint resident Melissa Mays said in a statement.
But the wire service adds that for some residents, three years waiting for replacement pipes sounds like a long time.
"The residents who filed this lawsuit had also wanted bottled water delivered to every Flint home without a working water filter," Michigan Radio’s Kate Wells tells our Newscast unit.
The agreement requires state monitoring of homes where it has replaced service lines.
Michigan has also agreed to keep funding above federal levels for health programs, particularly those applicable to pregnant women and children affected by the high lead levels.

Insidious New Threat Could Lay Waste to the Prosperous Persian Gulf States.
Despite the fact that the Middle East is currently being torn apart by a number of violent armed conflicts, it turns out that these local wars are not the greatest threat to the region.
The people living in the Persian Gulf states risk dying a horrible death or being forced into a bloody and desperate fight for survival due to the growing lack of probably the most basic necessity there is: clean drinking water.
The people are far more likely to die not “at the hands of Sunnis or Shias like the US media says,” but of thirst, Saudi daily newspaper Okaz grimly predicts.
“According to some reports, the world is on the verge of a water crisis, and the Persian Gulf states are among the countries with highest water scarcity (in the world): there’s very little surface water and groundwater here,” the article’s author warns.
At the same time, the newspaper points out, local industries tend to use the already scarce water resources in a rather wasteful manner: for example, dairy plants in the region spend about 800 liters of water per each liter of milk they produce.
“Therefore a unified approach to solving the water scarcity problem needs to be developed as soon as possible, especially considering the high economic growth rates in the region,” the author concludes.