Dear Dorothee et al,

I would like to bring to your attention this paper entitled "Global database on municipal wastewater production, collection, treatment, discharge and direct use in agriculture" produced by FAO / Aquastat at the end of last year.

www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/catalogues...y_paper_20121130.pdf

It is a succinct presentation of the issues from a global perspective and the authors neatly puts forwards some proposals for indicators. We can refer to this and use as the basis for discussion.

For instance, the authors refer to the fact that most existing wastewater and sanitation databases (I would have to look into these into more detail) use on sanitation coverage or pollutants loads, whereas the proposed framework uses volumes.

I would have thought that this would be fine if the primary objective was related to water resources. But the argument is less convincing if we also consider the need to reuse nutrients and recover energy embedded into the organic matter.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the paper and the proposed indicators in relation to the above comments.

Best regards,

Jonathan Parkinson - IWA

Dear Dorothee,

I think is a good idea to work on a common statement. The proposal can be worked on using the SuSanA WG space and then you submit the agreed statement to the Worldwewant website.

It is a good question that you raise. I gave send a message asking what happens in the instance where someone wants to make a contribution what does not immediately fall within one of the defined topics/questions. I hope to get a response back to you on this within the next day.

Regarding a draft target-indicator framework to comment on, if there was one then it would come from UN-Water Wastewater and Water Quality Task Force. I have been representing IWA at the meetings and there has been some discussion on this. The nearest there is a consultants report who was asked to consider the issues in order to assist the Task Force consider the different possibilities. I will ask when the report is to be made available.

However, although the report has some suggestions it is not a draft target-indicator framework, it would be good to hear from SuSanA members with their suggestions about how this should be best formulated.

We need target proposals that are clear and not too technical (as they should be adopted and adhered to by Governments) but also based on a sound monitoring system that would have relevance for national reporting (similar to the way MDG global targets are reported).

best regards,

Jonathan

Dear Jonathan

Thank you for your questions to encourage the discussion.
I hope there will be some reactions from other working group leads soon.

Some members of WG1 have expressed the possibility of submitting a common statement for Capacity Development. We will share a proposal for this when we are ready.

I guess what blocks contribution is the difficulty to understand where to place ones' comments within the option of currently open discussions. (As far as I understand – there is "free room" for discussion, is there?)

For instance, for the topic of capacity development, where would you post a suggestion for a target/indicator?

Does IWA have a draft target-indicator framework ready to share, that could be commented?

Best wishes

Dorothee

Dear all,

So far there has been very little contribution to the consultation in relation to the definition of the proposed Sustainable Development Goal on Water and the Targets on :

a) water, sanitation and hygiene
b) water resources management, and
c) wastewater and water quality.

As a member of the UN-Water Wastewater and Water Quality Task Force, IWA is particularly keen for your contribution to the wastewater / water quality sub-consultation. This is an opportunity for any organisation or individual representing any constituency that has concerns about the quality of the aquatic environment to contribute to a discussion about the formulation of the global target which would contribute towards the development agenda for the next 15 years.

The overarching questions that we would like to address are the following :

* What should be the scope of the target in terms of the types of problem related to poor wastewater management?

* What are your aspirations with respect to improvement and how should these be reflected in the target ?

* What are some realistic, but ambitious, targets that could be achieved by 2030 to improve wastewater collection, treatment, and reuse?

* How should we monitor progress towards achievement of these targets and who should be accountable ?

The outcome of the different discussions will be summarized into policy recommendatations presented, first to a High-level Panel on WRM and Wastewater at the end of February and later to a High-Level Panel on Post-2015 Development at the end of March.

The final outcome of the 11 Thematic Consultation, where Water is one, will be presented by the Secretary-General to the General Assembly in September.

We look forward to your contributions to this global debate.

best wishes,

Jonathan

Dr. Jonathan Parkinson
Programmes Manager

email : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Mobile: + 44 770 220 2646

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Dear IWA members and colleagues from partner organisations,

IWA is supporting the Global Thematic Consultation on Water in relation to the formulation of the proposed target related to 'wastewater management and water quality'. The other two discussion streams related to a) water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and b) water resource management.

The specific aims of this sub-consultation which will take place over the next 5 weeks are to :

1) Stimulate a wide range of global discussions with citizens, governments, civil society, academia, private sector, UN agencies among others on wastewater management and water quality related priority issues that need to be reflected in the future post-2015 goals and targets.

2) Analyse and share experiences from the present MDGs including those on water and sanitation and bring out evidence on progress and drawbacks from their implementation as well as evidence to support the necessary inclusion of wastewater management in the future development agenda.

3) Examine policy options and responses for wastewater management at local, national and international level and how these options might be deployed to inform the post-2015 agenda.

4)Suggest practical approaches to the formulation of objectives, measures, and monitoring processes for inclusion in future goals

The sub-consultation will take place around the following topics :

Week 1 - 14-20th Jan : Wastewater in an urbanizing world (led by UN-Habitat)

Week 2 - 21-27th Jan : Impact of wastewater on oceans - The nitrogen and phosphorous challenge (led by UNEP)

Week 3 - 28th Jan -3rd Feb : Wastewater reuse - development and innovation (led by IWA)

Week 4 - 4th -10th Feb : Collecting and treating urban water after use (led by Aquafed)

Week 5- 11 - 17th Feb : Economic opportunities in wastewater (Led by Aquafed/OECD)

I would encourage some discussion between members of different working groups to have some preliminary discussion on the SusSanA forum before the lead of the WG makes a contribution in behalf of the WG. I envisage that this would be more likely to have more influence into the consultation than many submissions as individuals.

Sign up, contribute to the discussion and have your voice heard at :
www.worldwewant2015.org/water/wastewater

Jonathan Parkinson

IWA Urban Sanitation Initiative Co-ordinator and Lead of SuSanA WG on Finance and Econonics