  Ek Sonn Chan, head of Cambodian Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority | Credit: SIWI
By Erna Wolf
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
BONN (IDN) - The critical importance of water for human development and international peace has been underlined by the announcement of two prestigious awards and launch of a 'coalition' to coincide with the climate change talks under way in Bonn, Germany.
The eminent Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) announced on June 2 the Cambodian Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) as the winner of the Stockholm Industry Water Award 2010 and named the American public health champion, Dr Rita Colwell, 2010 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate.
The SIWI has also joined hands with a number of well known international organisations and research centers to highlight the role of water in the context of climate change. The alliance, named the Water and Climate Coalition, was officially launched on June 3 at a side event at the climate talks in Bonn.
PHNOM PENH
Historically, the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, thrived by the rivers of Tonle Sap and the Mekong. However, decades of conflicts left the water supply system running low until the 1990s. In 1993 Ek Sonn Chan was appointed as General Director of PPWSA.
Announcing the awardee, the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) said that together with his team, Ek Sonn Chan had managed to refurbish the whole supply system, introduce cost-effective billing and payment collection methods, as well as world class management to provide water to almost all of the city’s residents.
"The PPWSA has successfully fought corruption and shown this can be achieved in a developing country on a large-scale basis using simple but effective management techniques that are based on well-accepted business principles and strategies.
"As a self-sufficient company, operating without subsidies from the state, PPWSA today provides 24-hour service and 90 per cent coverage to a city of 1.3 million and fully recovers its costs as it continues to develop both its infrastructure and management," said the International Award Jury in its citation on June 2.
The PPWSA will receive the award during the World Water Week in Stockholm 2010, September 5-11, 2010.
The Award was established in 2000 by the Stockholm Water Foundation in collaboration with the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. It is administered by SIWI, a policy institute that contributes to international efforts to combat the world's escalating water crisis.
Accepting the award on behalf of PPWSA, Ek Sonn Chan said the Stockholm Industry Water Award puts his organisation in the same league as other world class water industry organisations, reinforcing their drive towards achieving future objectives.
"My team is encouraged by this prestigious award to carry on our mission to increase our collection efficiency, improve water regulation, and deliver affordable water to the poor. We will continue to work to provide water continuously for a price affordable by our society through good management and cost-recovery practices and despite increases in electricity and other costs," he said.
In 1998, the PPWSA provided clean drinking water to all households in the city area. By 2008, its customer base had increased nine folds which lead to higher profitability. Water losses due to leakages in pipes and pumps declined from 72 per cent in 1993 to 6 per cent by 2008, which is very low in an international comparison.
Meanwhile, the bill collection ratio reached over 98 percent -- which improved the PPWSA's costs-recovery. Today, the authority meets international standards as it provides leading edge services to its customers.
According to Ek Sonn Chan, the road ahead is full of ambition. "Our future goals pave a challenging road ahead, as we aim to expand water provision at the same rates and standards to Phnom Penh’s suburban areas and surrounding regions. We're working on reducing water loss from current 5.9 percent to 4 percent by 2020, which would place us in the same league as Singapore and Tokyo. We will continue to improve the efficiency of our staff and revision practices as we work towards providing water at a cheaper price."
The PPWSA was supported by international donors in its efforts to reach where it is today. However, it managed to become entirely self-sustainable as it benchmarked itself against the best operators in both developing and developed nations.
PPWSA's work has contributed to visible improvements in public health and a reduction of constraints to industrial, social and economic developments in Cambodia’s capital.
"The PPWSA has a strong commitment to social and environmental responsibility. It has shown the developing world as a whole that large cities can expect continuous access to clean water. It stands as a role model for those committed to improving their business practices and increasing their level of service to customers," the international jury said.
It added: "The PPWSA has now taken on the challenge to improve Phnom Penh's sanitation system, and is also scheduled for an initial public offering on Cambodia's new stock exchange later this year."
Ek Sonn Chan is proud of the PPWSA’s achievement. "We provided an important role model for the development of our nation, Cambodia, which helped improve the country’s image internationally after decades of strife and conflict. Developing nations must believe in their own people’s capabilities to achieve their own goals," he said.
STOCKHOLM WATER PRIZE
Naming Dr Rita Colwell, a distinguished Professor from the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health in the United States, the 2010 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate, the SIWI said her pioneering research on the prevention of waterborne infectious diseases has helped protect the health and lives of millions.
Dr Colwell, 76, is widely recognized as one of this century’s most influential voices in science, technology, and policy associated with water and health. She has made exceptional contributions to control the spread of cholera, a waterborne pathogen that infects 3 to 5 million people and leads to an estimated 120,000 deaths each year.
"Dr Rita Colwell’s numerous seminal contributions towards solving the world’s water and water-related public health problems, particularly her work to prevent the spread of cholera, is of utmost global importance," noted the Stockholm Water Prize Nominating Committee in its citation.
She has shown how changes in climate, adverse weather events, shifts in ocean circulation and other ecological processes can create conditions that allow infectious diseases to spread, and through that link she has led the ability to craft preemptive policies to minimise outbreaks.
Her research in the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh, for example, demonstrated that warmer surface ocean temperatures have stimulated the growth of cholera-hosting zooplankton and directly led to an increase in the number of cholera cases.
In the United States she was the first to lead research experiments on the impact of El Niño on human health and the aquatic environment. In the 1990s, Dr Colwell was the first scientist to research the impacts of climate change on the spread of infectious diseases. She serves on dozens of international panels, including the Global Health Assembly, and as a top government public health advisor on adaptation strategies to climate change.
During the cholera pandemic in Latin and South America in the 1990s, Dr Colwell worked as national advisor to multiple governments. In Ecuador, her discovery of the presence of Vibrio cholerae in the hospitals and in the shrimp industry saved countless lives. In Peru, she was honoured by the national government for her work to develop of drinking water criteria that helped guide policies to curb the spread of the disease.
Dr Colwell has held many advisory positions in the U.S. government, in non-profit science-policy organizations, within private foundations, in the international scientific research community. She was appointed by President Bill Clinton as the first woman to serve as Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) from 1998 to 2004.
In 2000, she was inducted into the United States National Academy of Sciences. A passionate educator, some of her major interests include primary and high school science and mathematics education, graduate science and engineering education, and the increased participation of women and minorities in science and engineering.
King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, who is the patron of the Prize, will formally present Dr Colwell with the 2010 Stockholm Water Prize at a Royal Award Ceremony in Stockholm City Hall on September 9 during the 2010 World Water Week in Stockholm.
2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the Stockholm Water Prize and the World Water Week in Stockholm.
WATER AND CLIMATE COALITION
The Water and Climate Coalition, previously known as the Global Public Policy Network on Water Management (GPPN), seeks to place water resources management at the heart of climate change policy.
Recognizing that the impacts of climate change on water resources have a dramatic effect on vulnerable people and fragile environments all over the world, the Coalition advocates for integrated water and climate policy responses to climate change.
In connection with the climate talks in Bonn, the Water and Climate Coalition has issued a statement outlining a number of issues for the climate negotiations to consider in an outcome from CO16 end of the year in Cancun, Mexico. The Coalition's Secretariat is run by Stakeholder Forum and SIWI. (IDN-InDepthNews/03.06.2010)
Copyright © 2010 IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters
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Related IDN articles:
http://www.indepthnews.net/news/news.php?key1=2010-03-22%2002:13:23&key2=1
http://www.indepthnews.net/news/news.php?key1=2009-12-03%2014:36:41&key2=1
External links:
http://www.siwi.org
http://www.worldwaterweek.org
http://www.waterclimatecoalition.org
http://www.stakeholderforum.org/fileadmin/files/wccstatement.pdf
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