IWA Conference in Manila: High Demand on DEWATS

BORDA experienced great encouragement and also a high demand for our solution for Decentralised Wastewater Treatment, DEWATS during the second International Conference on DEWATS (Decentralised Wastewater Treatment Systems) for urban environments in Asia, organised by the International Water Association (IWA)

The IWA conference took place in Manila, Philippines from May 25th to 28th 2011. It was co-organised by BORDA, the World Bank Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The conference’s utmost concern was to “discuss the latest developments in policy and practice related to decentralized wastewater management”.

Challenges resulting from rapid population growth and industrialisation as well as ongoing urbanisation recline in the area of affordable but effective wastewater management systems, such as DEWATS. DEWATS is a proven, reliable, efficient and affordable solution for communities and small and medium entities (SME) in low-income countries.
Therefore topics of lectures held during these conferences were:

• technology options
• community aspects
• management & planning
• Promotion and Advocacy
• Sludge and Septage Management
• Costs and Economics
• Developing Institutional & Regulatory Frameworks
• Up-scaling and Integration

Parallel to this conference the ADB invited IWA members to participate in the 2nd ADB-DMC and Partners Sanitation Dialogue to get involved in the business of making sanitation a reality throughout Asia and the Pacific. In his presentation Anand Chiplunkar, Principal Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist of the ADB said as far as sanitation coverage goes more work still needs to be done in Cambodia, India, Lao PDR and other Asian nations. Pollution of surface waters is an ongoing major challenge in East Asia, especially in China. About 85-89% of Asia’s wastewater is discharged untreated, polluting groundwater, rivers and coasts. He sees DEWATS as viable solution for improving the health & hygiene and the environmental situation.

Both World Bank and ADB recognised the added value of DEWATS CBS as important solution for community based sanitation for at least the next 20 to 50 years. Both institutions calculate more than 100,000,000 $ for sanitation projects in chosen Asian countries.
Attending stake-holders demanded a mass-dissemination of DEWATS but agreed on problems for this up-scaling through fragmentation of the Water and Sanitation sector. It should be avoided that too much unqualified consulting and contracting firms could enter the market. Their occurrence could entail a lack of quality management during planning, construction and operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment implementations.
Mr. Andreas Ulrich, Director of BORDA calls for new methods of financing between “non-profit” and “for-profit” in order to meet the demand for basic sanitation and decentralised wastewater treatment from the side of supply.
“It is irony of fate that on supply side solutions and new approaches are worked out only by fragmented and competing market actors.”