An Internet user has drawn our attention to the relationship between water and energy. He highlights the need to explore alternative ways of producing energy in order to power drinking water production and treatment facilities.

More than 53 billion tons of polluted water are released back into the natural environment each year in China without being treated. Because of the economic and health risks that that causes, the Chinese government has decided to allocate 1.35% of its GNP to the environment.

During a seminar held on 3 December 2009 in Hanoi (Vietnam) on public-private partnerships for water management and the environment, Charles Chaumin (President of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT Asia) and Frédéric GOURDIN (Director of SUEZ ENVIRONMENT China at that time) submitted responses to help Vietnam “reinforce its environmental policies”.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) published a report on 6 July in Geneva assessing the progress achieved with regard to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). More than halfway to the 2015 deadline, the important progress made in the fight against poverty and hunger is starting to slow down and in some cases regress due to the global economic and food crises. Nevertheless, access to drinking water, which is Target 3 (Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water) of MDG no. 7 (Ensure environmental sustainability), is on track to be achieved by most of the affected countries.

As part of its Infrastructure Recovery and Assets Platform (INFRA), on 23 April the World Bank decided to grant 45 billion dollars to developing countries to support investment in infrastructures. Some of the funds loaned will serve to develop the water sector, from resource management to distribution and wastewater services.

On 15 and 16 April, the “Water and Sanitation” sector review was held in Bamako to discuss progress made towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). One objective of the MDGs is to reduce by half the proportion of the world population without access to drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015, and Mali intends to make access to drinking water and wastewater services one of the essential components of its approach to fighting poverty.

Due to the increasing pressure caused by economic and demographic expansion on water resources, increasing numbers of regions are recycling their wastewater. Recycling wastewater, however, comes up against consumer reticence, often referred as the “yuck factor”.

Evaluating the Forum just a few days after its close is no easy feat, given the over 100 sessions and as many side events held… Before the members of the delegation each begin to focus on their respective field and concrete cases, and use information and exchanges from the Forum to enhance the analysis and approach of their teams, we have asked each of them to indicate the highlights of the Forum.

We have selected six:
1. Participants spoke much more about resources than services
2. The need to better link issues in Water and Energy
3. Wastewater finally front and centre
4. The concept of participation-consensus is no longer “Nice to have”, but is now a “must-have” for the sustainable management of water resources and services
5. A more closely shared vision of the economic issues involved in water
6. And lastly… The financial crisis: risk and/or opportunity for water and wastewater networks?

Diane d’Arras is Technology and Research Senior Vice President of SUEZ ENVIRONMENT.

In this interview, she emphasizes the fragility of water and the need to protect it. Thus, wastewater treatment is a crucial issue.
Research is in this field focuses on two main objectives : treatment techniques must be improved and the energy consumption of stations must me reduced.

For the 5th World Water Forum, UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments) and SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT are jointly publishing a booklet entitled “Role of Local Governments in Water Supply and Sanitation – A Global Overview of Governance Models”.