WASPA

WASPA Asia

WASPA - Asia Sharepoint (Project Team)

BMZ

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WASPA Asia

WASPA-Asia will address the practical problems of wastewater management for use in agriculture in the project areas, including policy and institutional aspects. The project will be undertaken in two different sites, Rajshahi in Bangladesh and Kurunegala in Sri Lanka for a duration of 3 years commencing December 2005. Both cities have areas with inadequate sanitation facilities, open sewers and areas where wastewater is used untreated to irrigate agricultural land. These cities were selected because they are representative of hundreds of similar cities across Asia and therefore provide an opportunity to test solutions that could be applicable to many other cities in the region.

The work will contribute directly to improving sanitation, wastewater disposal and management, and hygiene in the two cities. It will also change wastewater agricultural practices to minimize existing health risks. The major paths for the transmission of human disease from wastewater are: direct contact with applied wastewater; the food chain; improperly treated drinking water; aerosol transport; and contaminated groundwater. The project will address all of these pathways. This will impact on the livelihoods of urban communities and farmers using wastewater, through improved health, better nutrition and agricultural incomes. It will also lead to reduced environmental degradation.

The project has three specific objectives:

To improve knowledge generation and sharing, to strengthen the capacity of local stakeholders at various levels, including community members, government agencies, NGOs, community based organisations (CBOs), scientists and practitioners, and to improve collaboration between them, through the establishment of learning alliances (LAs).

To minimise health risks by reducing urban water pollution through the development and implementation of participatory action plans for appropriate sanitation and wastewater management, in conjunction with improved household and food hygiene.

To improve the livelihoods of poor farmers through the responsible utilisation of domestic wastewater in agriculture and to reduce the associated health risks to farmers and consumers of this agricultural produce.

Learning Alliances

The project will active these objectives by engaging all relevant stakeholders in Learning Alliances. These are essentially stakeholder coalitions or networks at town and national level, that will bring together the main stakeholders including community members, government agencies, NGOs, community based organizations, scientists and practitioners. The Learning Alliances will foster knowledge generation and sharing, which will strengthen the capacity of local stakeholders and improve collaboration

Participatory Action Plans

The Learning Alliances will work with the project team to improve understanding of the current sanitation situation, urban and peri-urban agricultural practices, and the associated livelihoods issues in the area. This will lead on to identification of the needs of the community and development of Participatory Action Plans to test appropriate technologies for sanitation, safe wastewater management and application in agriculture, as well as interventions to improve household and food hygiene

Knowledge Sharing and Capacity Building

The experiences gained in this project will be shared at different levels within the project areas, nationally and internationally, through specific knowledge sharing platforms and activities, such as workshops, individual meetings, focus group discussions, conferences and written materials.

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