Alexandra E. V. Evans

Water Quality: Assessment of the Current Situation in Asia

The uncontrolled release of sewage, industrial wastes, and agricultural run-off continue to affect Asia. Although many Asian countries are getting closer to meeting the improved sanitation targets, much of the waste remains untreated. Comprehensive databases are rarely available and national data indicate that the water quality situation is serious. However, there are many signs of hope. Water quality monitoring efforts are improving and several countries now have systems in place that could guide other nations in the region. The efforts of basin agencies, such as the Mekong River Commission, could lead the way to transboundary or even regional assessments. Many regulatory and economic options are being tested for pollution control, but institutional and social challenges remain, in particular those related to population growth and the various ways in which it is affecting water quality across the region.

Fighting for the right to use wastewater: what drives the use of untreated wastewater in a peri-urban village of Faisalabad, Pakistan?

This case study from Chakera village, Faisalabad City, Pakistan describes the transition from canal-water irrigation to wastewater irrigation over a period of several decades. It shows that while the initial motivation for wastewater use was water scarcity and a lack of choice, farmers soon realized there were benefits associated with this alternative water supply. In the subsequent decades, they made great efforts and overcame organizational, infrastructural and legal obstacles to establish wastewater irrigation as the only irrigation on most of the villages agricultural area.

Water Resources Planning and Management: Cities, agriculture and environment – sharing water in and around Hyderabad, South India

In Grafton, R. Q.; Hussey, K. (Eds.). Water resources planning and management. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press