Welcome to the October 2009 edition of 'REEDS NEWS'. From end of September it has become a flood season with many parts of Asia witnessing the worst floods in decades. The flash floods caused by heavy rains in the two southern states - Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka has left almost 250 people dead and affected an estimated 2 million. About 300 Filipinos died and hundreds of thousands of others were displaced from their homes by the storm, which brought the equivalent of a year's worth of rain in just 12 hours to some areas of Manila. Philippines authorities warned of another flooding and landslides as Typhoon Mirinae strengthened over the Pacific. Tropical Storm Ketsana brought heavy rain to five Northern provinces in Vietnam leading to over 160 deaths.
The Karnataka government has estimated the loss to property and crops at Rs.20,000 crores while Andhra Pradesh has put its losses at Rs.12,500 crores. Inevitably, when natural disasters strike it is the marginalized groups that suffer most. While flood risks are not the only threat to natural resources and livelihoods, the changes they induce in resource flows will affect the viability of livelihoods unless effective measures are taken to protect them through adaptation and other strategies.

Isn’t it the time to explore the resilience strategies of vulnerable rural communities to flood risks associated with in increasingly frequent and severe events linked to climate change to mitigate the negative impacts? Let’s also think for a while on what can be done by us to support those destructive impacted livelihoods apart from offering deepest sympathies to the affected people!

Ravi K Reddy, November 1, 2009

REEDS has responded to the humanitarian emergency caused by devastating floods by deploying its Mobile Drinking Water Treatment Unit at one of the worst hit area in Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh. Having introduced, first-of-its-kind, two years back, the Mobile Unit [MU] is meant to meet the specific drinking water needs of communities at remote rural habitations; and also the critical need for safe drinking water during calamities: 6 MUs placed at temporary relief camps by Khammam District Administration had proved their utility during last Godavari flood calamity management in ensuring safe drinking water supplies to the victims.

On the request of the Chief Engineer, Rural Water Supply and Project Director, State Water and Sanitation Mission, REEDS located one 5000 liters per hour capacity MU at Sunkesula village meeting the drinking water needs of about 3000 people in 10 surrounding habitations with suppliesof about 40000 liters per day. REEDS is operating its MU in the affected and marooned habitations, since 14th October. The supplies and quality of the water have been well accepted by the communities. REEDS is grateful for the appreciation it is receiving for its MU from the officials, media and community. We take this opportunity to thank all those who had extended financial and other support for the purpose while we specially acknowledge the efforts of Mr. Sudhir Paul, our technical director and Mr. Srinivas Reddy and Mr. Bose, the team members attending the MU for their dedicated efforts in this regard.

Numbers at a glance of the populations – country-wise, affected by the floods from the end September through October 2009:

Country Estimated Affected Population India 247 dead; 2 million affected Laos 16 dead; 207,500 affected Philippines 712 dead; 7 million affected Samoa 142 dead; 4,500 affected Tonga 9 dead; 470 affected Vietnam 163 dead; 29,995 affected

Source: OFFICE OF U.S. FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE (OFDA)

On October 17, 2009, the president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, and his ministers held an official cabinet meeting underwater to bring increased global attention to climate change. With a backdrop of coral, the meeting was a bid to draw attention to fears that rising sea levels caused by the melting of polar ice caps could swamp this world’s lowest-lying Indian Ocean archipelago nation within a century. In 2007, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that a rise in sea levels of 18 to 59 centimeters by 2100 would be enough to make the country virtually uninhabitable. "If it is Maldives today, you cannot save yourself tomorrow," and ".... . I know there is only one choice. Going green might cost a lot but refusing to act now will cost us the Earth." President Mohamed Nasheed remarked on this occasion.

Don’t you think if we’re going to cope with climate change, all of us needs to get involved?

The increasing privatizaion of the rights to water brings in serious issues on equity; is water a public good on which all users have equal rights or is it a commodity?

The results of privatization of water use have not been very encouraging in countries across the world , especially where World bank has followed the policies of privatization of public rights. Serious water shortages were experienced by the poor, partly due to the control of resources by the people who have been given access to these rights and partly due to the inadequate participation by all the stakeholders in determining their mutual rights and obligations. The price of water shot up in many places leading to issues of law and order. Further, in the absence of equitable access to water as a right and not by contract, the poor are denied their just share in the resource. Clean water as a resource is now costing Rs.11 per litre in public spaces, sold by private entrepeneurs. Water, filtered by the government, should not cost more than 10ps per litre, indicating the wide gap between the cost of treating water as a public good and a private right. Increasing usage of private resources to bottle water will deny the weak access to water and strengthen the hands of the profiteers. Our public representatives should put more pressure on the government to treat water as a public good and create spaces for equitable access to all sections of the society at low or no cost. There must be renewed emphasis on safe and continuous supply of drinking water as a primary right. it is arguable whether the right to drinking water is superior to the right to use water for other purposes, including agriculture and industry. There is however no doubt that this must be determined in the legislatures and not by contracts with the government by private entrepeneurs.

November , 2009