Regardless of the ownership of a water utility (public, private, or cooperative), a utility may return polluted water to a river or the sea — especially if downriver users are not able to make an impact on decision-making.
TBS has worked with rural villagers to revive the use of traditional water-harvesting solutions.
TBS advocated for these and other methods of water management as a way to bring about a culture of self-sufficiency to local farming communities.
Following the revival of the Arvari River in 1990, representatives from the area’s 72 villages formed the transparent, community-driven "river parliament" to maintain the health of the river.
This has led to extensive administrative challenges over clean water and public sanitation.
In response, the Lusaka Water and Sewage Company, the Lusaka City Council, and various nongovernmental organizations worked together to develop Resident Development Committees (RDCs).
Many neighborhoods now have access to a reliable and largely self-sustaining source of clean water.
Learn more from the review of Bangalore and Lusaka case studies, a paper on groundwater self-supply in Zambia, and this article on Zambia’s water service gap—Nikolas Kichler 3. depave: Communities Turning Pavement Into Green Public Space Paved surfaces contribute to stormwater pollution, by directing rainwater with toxic urban pollutants to local streams and rivers.
Since then, they formed depave, a nonprofit organization that promotes the removal of pavement from urban areas to address the harmful effects of stormwater runoff, as well as to create green public spaces.
depave has coordinated over 50 depaving projects in Portland.