Akvo secures second stage funding

Open source water and sanitation development venture Akvo has secured €535,000 in grant investments. A group of eight investors led by Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP), Partners for Water and UN-HABITAT has agreed to finance Akvo at Unicef Netherlands’ World Water Day matchmaking event held in Rotterdam on 18 March 2008.

The investment, comprising €425,000 of cash grants and €110,000 of in-kind support, will enable Akvo to develop its core product, extend its global network and complete arrangements for a further €1m loan. This is the second funding round for Akvo which was created in autumn 2006 and grew with €212,000 of seed investment from NWP and Partners for Water. New investors include Aqua 4 All, ASN Bank, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, NEDAP, Union of Waterboards and Simavi. In March 2008, Akvo also signed agreements with implementation partners in the developing world to support over 75 projects in 2008.

Read more: Akvo, 18 Mar 2008

“Virtual Water” Innovator Awarded 2008 Stockholm Water Prize

Stockholm, March 19, 2008 – Professor John Anthony Allan from King’s College London and the School of Oriental and African Studies has been named the 2008 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate. Professor Allan pioneered the development of key concepts in the understanding and communication of water issues and how they are linked to agriculture, climate change, economics and politics.

In 1993, Professor Allan introduced the “virtual water” concept, which measures how water is embedded in the production and trade of food and consumer products.

The USD 150,000 Stockholm Water Prize will be presented August 21 in the Stockholm City Hall. H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is the Patron of the Stockholm Water Prize.

Read more: SIWI, 19 Mar 2008

USA: Water Utility Climate Alliance (WUCA) launched

Eight of the USA’s largest water utilities announced the formation of a coalition to improve research into the impacts of climate change on water utilities and as their first act provided comment on the federal climate change research plan summary.

The Water Utility Climate Alliance (WUCA) was formed by Denver Water, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Portland Water Bureau, San Diego County Water Authority, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Seattle Public Utilities and the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Read more: AWWA, 3 Mar 2008

Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) East Africa Network

The Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) East Africa Network was launched on November 16, 2007, at the Integrated Development for East Africa conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Read more at WASH news Africa 

United Kingdom – “PAWS” joins Loughborough University

A national organisation that supports water and sanitation projects in developing countries is celebrating a move to Loughborough University today (12 March). Partners for Water and Sanitation (PAWS) was established in 2002 in response to the United Nations Millennium Development Goal targets to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation by 2015.

It is a network of UK organisations that work, on a voluntary basis, to help improve access to safe water and sanitation for people living in Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa. PAWS members come from Government, the private sector and civil society, and include water companies, consultancies, development non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Government departments and agencies, law firms and trade unions, as well independent consultants. It is funded by the Department for International Development (DFID).

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MCC and DFID Sign Agreement to Coordinate Poverty-Reduction Efforts in Africa

On Feb., 19, 2008, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) signed a first-of-its-kind Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two organizations which will increase coordination and make their poverty reduction efforts more effective in Africa and throughout the globe.

Focusing initially on Africa, the MOU identifies practical areas for cooperation in countries in which both the US and UK are active, including Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. Areas of cooperation that have been identified are data and statistics sharing, growth diagnostics, environmental protection, infrastructure projects, transparency in large-scale procurements, impact evaluation, and future staff exchanges.

In Mozambique, DFID and MCC will support the government to scale-up of rural and urban water and sanitation. In Tanzania, DFID and MCC will explore possibilities of joint work to support increased transparency in the construction sector through the COST initiative.

Read more: MCC, 19 Feb 2008

El Ing. Jorge Latorre es el nuevo director del Instituto Cinara

La Rectoría de la Universidad del Valle ha designado al Ing. Jorge Latorre Montero como nuevo director del Instituto Cinara de la Facultad de Ingeniería, a partir del 1º de marzo de 2008, por un período de tres años.

El Ing. Latorre se ha desempeñado como docente de esta universidad -considerada la tercera más importante de Colombia- desde el año de 1984. Realizó estudios de maestría en el IHE en los Países Bajos y ha participado en varios grupos de trabajo relacionados con el tema de la calidad del agua, de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS).

Source: Noticias – Agua y Saneamiento No. 57, 10 marzo 2008

CINARA Has A New Executive Director 

The process of nomination and selection of the new Executive Director for CINARA has been completed in the 2nd week of February 2008. Outgoing Director, Mr. Edgar Quiroga was replaced by Mr. Jorge Latorre effective March 1, 2008.

Mr. Edgar Quiroga will continue working as one of the members of CINARA, as teacher in the Universidad del Valle. In behalf of the Management Board of Streams of Knowledge and its secretariat, we wish to thank Mr. Edgar Quiroga for his effort and contribution to STREAMS and in the water supply and sanitation sector.

 Source: STREAMS

Launch of the Aqua Publica Europea network

On March 18th 2008, the Pavillon de l’eau (Water Pavilion), in Paris, will host the launch of the network known as Aqua Publica Europea, the European association for public water management.

The aim of the Aqua Publica Europea network is to bring together European public water and sanitation operators in order to promote public water management at a European level and beyond.

Founding members include public water utilities from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

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