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Water and Sanitation

IETC's Water and Sanitation Programme aims to improve access to safe drinking water and sanitation, particularly wastewater management. IETC focuses on identifying Environmentally Sound Technology (EST) options and management practices that are suitable for local environmental and socio-economic conditions; raising technical and institutional capacity to assess, introduce, and manage such options; supporting on-the-ground implementation of ESTs and associated management practices on a pilot basis; and providing information to support implementation using electronic and other means. By implementing projects that encompass these focus areas in partnership with key institutions, IETC contributes to achieving the Millennium Development Goal and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) targets of halving the proportion of people lacking access to save drinking water and sanitation.

Since IETC’s inception, water has been a key focal area with initiatives on the management of lakes and reservoirs, Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) based on the ecosystem approach, and promotion of water-related ESTs including the phytotechnology concept. The current programme builds on the experiences from such initiatives, as well as expertise in large-scale integrated project implementation gained from the Support for Environmental Management of the Iraqi Marshlands project (2004-2009). The Iraq project team received the 2007 UN 21 Award Commendation, marking the first occasion for IETC to be recognized by the UN system-wide award. Another implementation example is a project to promote environmentally sound water and wastewater provision at the community level in Jamaica. IETC has also published technical and policy-relevant materials, including "Lessons Learned on Mainstreaming Pilot Projects into Larger Projects", "Every Drop Counts: Environmentally Sound Technologies for Urban and Domestic Water Use Efficiency," as well as modeling applications to support EST design.

IETC’s Water and Sanitation projects within the 2010-11 UNEP Programme of Work are anchored in two thematic areas of UNEP Medium Term Strategy, namely Ecosystem Management and Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption and Production.

In the area of Ecosystem Management, IETC will continue with an initiative in the Iraqi Marshlands. The UNEP-UNESCO Joint Project “Natural and Cultural Management of the Iraqi Marshlands uses the World Heritage inscription process as a tool to addresses the priority need for longer-term sustainable management of the area that reflects the unique historical, cultural, environmental, hydrological, and socio-economic characteristics of the area. IETC also plans to carry out a project to demonstrate ESTs for ecosystem water regulation and purification services, with assessments of policies and strategies including those relevant for the Convention of Biological Diversity.

In the area of Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption and Production, IETC is coordinating a project on technology assessments, technology policy and ESTs to empower public and private organizations. One key component is the refinement and applications of emerging concepts, including the water footprint concept, especially in the water stressed geographic locations. The water footprint project is being implemented jointly with UNEP’s Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch and UNEP Finance Initiative. Another project supports municipal level water and sanitation initiatives to advance best practices through capacity building and demonstration projects on the use of appropriate tools and models that display the link between efficiency, environmental health, and quality.