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2006 CTAUN Conference The Global Challenge of Water Friday, February 3, 2006

Afternoon Special Guest—Mrs. Nane Annan

Nane Annan, lawyer, artist and wife of Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General Before moving to New York in the early 1980s to pursue her interests in art, Mrs. Annan served as a lawyer in her native Sweden, working in the court system there and subsequently as a legal officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva. In her capacity as wife of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, she often travels with him and visits U.N. projects. She is especially interested in issues concerning women and initiatives in which they have a chance to pull themselves out of poverty, beginning with girls’ education. She is also the author of two books for children: The United Nations, Come Along With Me! and Tip and Top, The Adventure of Two Water Drops. Mrs. Annan described the “WASH in Schools” global program, which was launched by UNICEF and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC). The focus of this program is water, sanitation and hygiene. She has spent much time traveling to schools where children are part of WASH groups in which the importance of learning about these issues is stressed. “Young people are great agents for change,” she said in explaining the importance of this project. In the course of her travels to schools, Mrs. Annan said, she has “come to appreciate ever more the role of teachers.”

First Afternoon Panel—Innovations to Meet the Challenge

Carolyn Donovan, Primary NGO Representative for American Association of University Women and member of CTAUN, Moderator. Dr. Pradeep Aggarwal, Programme Manager, Water Resources, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Dr. Aggarwal opened his talk by taking a sip from a glass of water. He explained that from his point of view as a scientist he wanted to know where that water came from and how old it is. Where does it go? How fast does it travel? Water molecules carry distinct “fingerprints” that make it possible to tell much about water sources from these data. Through isotope hydrology, it is possible to tell the origin, age, flow, size and other facts about a source of water. This information can aid in developing water policy and conservation. His agency is attempting to build a data set about water under the ground. Dr. Aggarwal explained that when a source of water is young and recently derived from rain, it is renewable. When wells contain water that is found to be very old, it must be used with care so as not to exhaust the supply. In discussing water in a desert, he said that the reason there are wells is because at some time in the past the climate was different, there was rain, and it went into underground aquifers. Aquifers are the equivalent to buckets of water underground. His agency works on such projects as tracing the source of arsenic poisoning in water in Bangladesh. They are, for instance, able to trace which aquifers need treatment and which do not. Jim Bodenner, Thirsting to Serve, Rotary Clean Water Projects Mr. Bodenner described the Bio-Sand Water Filter, which is a type of water filter invented by Dr. David Manz of Canada that is small enough to be placed in a home to purify contaminated water. Dr. Manz offered the patent to humanitarian groups “free of charge, because in my view, providing safe, affordable drinking water is a basic human right.” A Bio-Sand Filter (BSF) can be provided for approximately $50 to $60 dollars. “Thirsting to Serve” Rotary districts are cooperating with the Rotary clubs in developing areas and with the United Nations and non-governmental organizations to help local people learn to install and maintain these filters. Rotary is also now cooperating with micro-businesses in under-developed areas. In these activities, however, Mr. Bodenner said that “technology must be supported by education, education, and education.” Every Rotarian worldwide is being asked to participate in some way in a water project. Mr. Bodenner said that teachers are encouraged to motivate and mobilize their students and develop a willingness to take action. Educators who have an idea for a project are encouraged to contact their local Rotary to see whether a partnership would be possible, or whether there is currently a local Rotary project in which their students could participate. Mr. Bodenner also announced that there would be World Water Day on March 22. For such occasions, sometimes children will organize a “Walk for Water,” carrying a bottle of water for three miles, which is about the distance a woman in a developing country might have to walk for water. Through activities such as this, private organizations can help make governments aware of water as a basic human right. Maria Smith-Nilson, Founder and Executive Director, Water 1st International. There is a need to make sure when water technology is initiated in a developing area, that what is installed is actually sustainable said Ms. Smith-Nilson. Among factors that make projects sustainable are that they are implemented with indigenous non-governmental organizations, that they are locally based, that there is local knowledge to work with the installation, and that those who are implementing the project can speak the local dialects. It is also necessary to have a commitment from local communities that they will be responsible for the long-term functioning of the project. There is a need for new projects to be integrated with others that are being planned or are already in place. There is also a need in all communities for better protection of the water sources. Finally, Ms. Smith-Nilson joined many of the earlier speakers in stressing the importance of women’s involvement in the planning and maintenance of projects. Thomas Clasen, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, representing Verstergaard-Frandsen, Inc. Mr. Clasen demonstrated and described the LifeStraw, a small and inexpensive device manufactured in Switzerland by Vestergaard-Frandsen, Inc., which can be used by an individual when drinking to ensure that the water is actually safe. He told about how he had practiced law for some 20 years in Latin America and had become keenly aware of water-connected problems there. Even when there are wells with safe water, by the time it gets home it may have become contaminated. Filters at the point of use are the most effective. A LifeStraw is an enlarged drinking straw with built-in filters that will protect one person for about a year. It is particularly useful in preventing waterborne diseases like diarrhea and typhoid fever in emergency situations such as tsunamis, hurricanes, and earthquakes. It is also useful for people when away from home or working in the fields. The company that Mr. Clasen represents is also increasing its production capabilities to manufacture disease-resistant mosquito netting for the private sector. Comment from the Floor Carolyn Donovan, moderator of the panel, closed the session by reading aloud an anonymous comment that was handed up from the floor: “If the number of people dying monthly from water-related deaths equals the number of people who died in last year’s tsunami, and if the number of deaths per day equals the number of people who die in a plane crash many times over and is more than the deaths of September 11, 2001, where are the people’s outrage and action? How can we have the ability to respond and not the will?”

Second Afternoon Panel—Engaging Students to Find Solutions.

Narin Stassis, First Vice-Chair of CTAUN, and ESL teacher and coordinator for the West Paterson School District in New Jersey, Moderator. Ms. Stassis introduced the panel by pointing out that 2 billion of the world’s population is under 18 years of age. It is important to understand how these young people view global problems today and what their contribution to solving them may be. Magano Ickua, Brandeis University student; United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs intern. Ms. Ickua told how she grew up in a village in Namibia where one of her earliest duties was to fetch water. The women and girls rose before dawn to walk for two hours to the nearest water hole, and then two hours more to carry the heavy loads back home. By the time the girls got to school they were too tired to learn. Her family eventually moved to a mining town near the Orange River where they had a house in which they experienced for the first time the availability of running water and the joy of warm showers. Most people, however, do not have the option of leaving their villages, so the question becomes one of equalizing the standard of living between the villages and towns. As water is needed for every aspect of household and farm activity, including the care of HIV/AIDS patients, and as women are expected to provide it, any improvement in its availability benefits women and girls. Community based “water points” are being built – supervised by women – and latrines for girls at schools. Only a few months ago electricity came to her village. Access to water is an aspect of poverty reduction, but the real issue is the equality of women in labor and decision making. Ms. Ickua closed by saying that before she came to university, she just took poverty for granted—“this is how things are.” Now she is able to see it as part of a broader worldwide social issue. Lorraine Loken, Water Environment Federation, and David Kashi, New York State Recipient of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize. Ms. Loken gave some background to the Stockholm Water Prize, modeled on the Nobel Prizes. A Junior Prize was inaugurated in 1997 with HRH Crown Princess Victoria as it patroness and sponsored by ITT and Coca Cola. There are 250 participants at the local level. David Kashi is the New York State winner. There is a pressing need to attract the best and brightest to dealing with innovation in water technology. Fifty percent of the present workforce in the field will be retiring in the next ten years. The average age of physicists working at the Nobel Prize level of research is 23. David Kashi is a senior at the Solomon Schechter High School in New York City and volunteers with local EMS units. He studied the ways in which cholera is distributed through natural water resources. Poor sanitation enables the diarrhea, which is the usual cholera vector, to infect water resources through contact with sewage, but there is another way. David found that mosquitoes can also be a vector, and that colonies of mosquitoes can carry the infection to good sources of water also. He showed a new perspective on the disease that had not been previously considered. Faye Keller, Pumped Up for Peace, and Henna Saljooki, Long Island (NY) student, Half Hollow Hills High School East. Ms. Keller explained how Pumped Up for Peace has inaugurated many programs between schools in the United States and projects in developing countries. This organization is one of the ways in which the Decade for Education on Sustainable Development can be realized. More information about it can be accessed on www.cyberschoolbus.un.org. Henna Saljooki, whose family is from Afghanistan and who is a student at Half Hollow High School on Long Island, described the activities of a club at her school, Magenta and the Magic Cloth. It is a fashion club the aim of which is to raise money to contribute toward making clean drinking water resources available to villages in the developing world. The color magenta represents water and the interwoven threads of cloth connect people. In one project, the students used material such as old jeans to make and decorate bags in their fashion clubs and filled the bags with toilet articles and school supplies. They have also had fashion shows at school as well as sales and exhibitions to raise money. Proceeds from these projects, along with the bags they had made, were sent to Peru. Henna was thrilled to see a photo of a girl wearing a bag she had designed! They have raised thousands of dollars to construct wells in villages so that the children have time to go to school. The club raises people’s awareness of how much water is wasted when we run long showers or wash our cars. It gives young people a way to help others, and demonstrates how through an interest in fashion students can starts similar clubs in their schools. One person can make an impact – an important message to both teachers and students.

Closing Keynote Address—Dr. Peter Gleick

Dr. Peter Gleick is Co-Founder and President, Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security. As he opened his remarks, Dr. Gleick directly addressed the teachers in the audience: “Teaching is the toughest and most important job there is, and kids are natural scientists, so go to it! They must realize that ‘water is the tie that binds’ at the core of the care of the whole planet.” He went on to say that we face enormous challenges around the world. This is especially true with water and the environment. There are plenty of old problems we have failed to address as well as many new problems that arise. These are not necessarily irreversible, however, because different ways of thinking and smart and innovative solutions, such as have been presented at these sessions, reveal more options. In a comprehensive overview, Dr. Gleick described two main ways of dealing with water challenges that have emerged. The “hard” path recognized throughout the twentieth century relies on large, concrete, centrally administered projects that deliver and take away at enormous benefit and enormous cost. Even while these programs have resulted in treated drinking water, the curbing of typhoid, numerous economic, social and sometimes environmental improvements for some, this path alone is not enough and will not reach the millennium goals for 2015. But the second, the “soft” path, while drawing upon centralizing information, complements the investments of the first path by decentralizing particularly the social side of our systems by delivering to diversified needs at the community level. We now certainly have crises, but many are humanly and usually politically driven and therefore inexcusable. Dr. Gleick cited the fact that although arsenic was discovered in wells in Bangladesh ten years ago, the population is still drinking this water because the social and distribution issues remain unsolved. He went on to mention various historic conflicts from ancient times to the present over water sources and distribution. Dr. Gleick stressed that the environment is definitely altering and is specifically threatened by human activity. Some rivers no longer reach their deltas and biological and chemical contaminants, which in the 1960’s were pretty well known, are now developing further complications requiring better monitoring and quality enforcement. But there seems to be a well-connected capacity, perhaps campaign, to ignore these conditions, and not only in the United States. Teachers have long taught the hydrologic cycle of precipitation, evaporation, and run off, but need to expand it to the “hydro-political cycle,” which will involve seeing that politicians are trained to understand engineering. Politically complex and dangerous situations of this millennium arise because half the land of the planet has hydrological/water-based problems stemming from shared boundaries and nervous neighbors. Dr. Gleick also emphasized certain connections: crises worsen because the population is growing and the amount of water is fixed; there is no problem that is not made worse by population pressure; it is critical to notice and act upon the fact that educated women are less likely to have too many children. So far solutions, especially for water supply and sanitation problems, are inadequate to deal with issues of scale, but it is also indisputable that we have the money if we choose to spend it in the right ways. Dr. Gleick maintained that the water crisis is resolvable—absolute scarcity is not the problem. It is the unevenness of distribution that is the problem. The “soft” path emphasizes sustainability. The “hard” path has many costs that need revising to different standards of impact particularly on the economy and the environment. We have the technology to rethink the use of rainwater and the treatment of wastewater. Why, for example, are golf courses and toilets still using potable water? The goal is quality of life delivered by governments and services. Rethinking the efficiency of water use is essential both locally and globally. The U.S. already uses less water than twenty years ago despite its larger population and economy for two reasons: efficiency and a change toward a service economy. Smart economies view water both as an economic good to be paid for and also as a social good to be protected in the public interest and supplied free if necessary. Often the most effective program is locally designed, especially when local people are not urban and live in families. Dr. Gleick is optimistic that transition to the “soft” path is already underway and will become more apparent as we become increasingly aware of the technical innovations and the social implications of how we manage the world’s water.

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