Sept 15 Washington DC event, and exciting news stories from Stockholm

Event – September 15: Clean Water and Sanitation in Africa

Constituency for Africa and its partners will host a Forum on Clean Water and Sanitation in Africa at Shiloh Baptist Church, 1500 9th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, September 15th between 9:00 a.m. and noon. This will be the first concerted effort to involve African-American church leadership in making safe drinking water and sanitation an integral part of the African-American experience. Please respond to Rev. Yolanda Giles at yogiles (at)  comcast.net.

And some related news items from World Water Week:

ITT Expands ITT Watermark program
ITT Corporation announced on September 7 at World Water Week that it has pledged $10.5 million over three years (2011-2013) to provide one million more people around the world with access to safe water and sanitation. This announcement marks a significant expansion of the company's signature corporate citizenship program, ITT Watermark.

http://www.ittwatermark.com/news/news_2010-09-07.htm  

PepsiCo Releases Inaugural Water Report
PepsiCo, Inc. published on September 7 its inaugural water report titled “Water Stewardship: Good for Business. Good for Society.” The report details the company’s efforts to conserve and replenish water use in its operations and expand access to clean water across the globe (three million people by 2015).

http://www.pepsico.com/Download/PepsiCo_Water_Report_FNL.pdf

Stockholm Water Prize Awarded to Bindeshwar Pathak and Sulabh International

I have been following Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak's work for years at Sulabh International, including a visit to his workshop and the Toilet Museum in New Delhi a couple of years ago. Don't forget to check out the Sanitation Fashion Show.

Great to see Sulabh win the Stockholm Water Prize a few days ago in Sweden. It's about time to see sanitation included in water discussions and global water events instead of it being the unruly red-headed stepchild at the kiddie table. We won't solve the global safe drinking water challenge, or stay on top of it when we do, if we don't deal with the untreated human waste of 2.5b people.

As the India Journal quoted:

If water is honored by the Prize being named after it, the importance of sanitation, its sibling, cannot be left far behind. The two complement rather than compete with each other,” Pathak said in his acceptance speech.

Yes. Go Dr. Pathak.

WASH in Schools - UNICEF at World Water Week

It's a busy time for global water and sanitation challenges at the World Water Week in Stockholm.

Of note: UNICEF is using its time there to promote part of its approach to the challenge, which they call WASH in Schools - Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Education in Schools.

If you are at all unsure about the impact that safe drinking water and single gender sanitation can have on schools, please watch a brief video that UNICEF has produced here.

And more on UNICEF's website:

http://www.unicef.org/wash/index_50832.html

And more from Water Advocates here.

I have been saying for a long time that the only thing that can compete with safe drinking water and sanitation on the hierarchy of development needs is girls' education. UNICEF's work with WASH in Schools pulls it all together nicely.