Knowledge sharing and learning is critical to establishing and delivering water services that last. Advances in communications technology have made this easier than ever at a global scale. I hope that you have taken advantages of RWSN’s online discussions, webinars and publications – and we know from the feedback that you have given us, that you do value these exchanges.

However, even with such powerful online tools, nothing beats meeting people face-to-face. It is an opportunity to strengthen links with past and current collaborators, and hopefully find new partners for the work ahead. That is why the RWSN Forum is such an exciting opportunity for sharing.

The agenda is set by you, the members, and the contributions that you have submitted.  Complemented by regional pre-events in Peru and Thailand, the 7^th RWSN Forum in November will be a truly global event – and it brings together people with a common purpose, which is expressed clearly in the RWSN Vision:

“of a world in which all rural people have access to a sustainable and reliable water supply which can be effectively managed to provide sufficient, affordable and safe water within a reasonable distance of the home.”

At the last Forum, way back in 2011, delegates agreed on the 10 Kampala Commitments.  The 7^th Forum, this year, gives us an opportunity to reflect on these, the progress we have made, what needs to be done, and what we have learned. Do we still hold to the same principles, or has thinking and experience taken us in a new direction?

Be part of this conversation and I look forward to welcoming you to Abidjan on 29 November.

„ 30^th April: Deadline for submissions for peer-review http://rwsn7.net/participate/submissions/.

„ 13 June-1 September –‘Writing for Water’ online course with Cap-Net (strictly limited places): http://campus.cap-net.org/course/writing-for-water/

„ 30^th June: Deadline for Early Bird rate: http://rwsn7.net/participate/register/

„ 1^st September: Deadline for final submissions

„ 29^th November – 2^nd December: RWSN Forum

Further details of costs and packages for Sponsored Seminars and Exhibition Spaces will be available soon and an announcement will made through Dgroups and on the Forum website.

With many thanks to our confirmed event sponsors so far:

• Gold Sponsors: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), UNICEF, WaterAid
• Silver Sponsors: Skat Consulting Ltd., Government of Spain
• Bronze Sponsors: Caritas, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, IRC, Water4

If your organisation would be interested in becoming an event sponsor, or would be interested in providing financial support for authors to attend and present, then please contact Sean at the RWSN Secretariat: sean.furey@skat.ch

We believe that this is because the mix of topics appealed to both different audiences and to loyal followers. The 2015 online survey provided direct feedback from RWSN members on what is working well, what could be improved, and glimpses into what impact the network is making into rural water service planning, delivery, monitoring and research.

Membership of the network grew strongly and consistently in 2015 from 6530 to 7,980 – and this was after a database clean-up that removed 740 inactive email addresses. This clean-up was important to make sure that the RWSN membership figure is meaningful and reflects our reach.  Collaboration has been a cornerstone of RWSN success and across the themes and the work of the secretariat there were a number of important partnerships that helped the network engage wider audiences.

If you are interested in a summary or RWSN’s achievement in 2015, you can access the report from the RWSN website.

RWSN is represented by several Research & Learning partners of SWA so let us know what evidence and policy messages you would like communicated with political leaders at future meetings.

• UNC WaSH Policy Research Digest ISSUE #3, MARCH 2016 Detailed Review of a Recent Publication: Getting handpump functionality monitoring right can help ensure rural water supply sustainability

Key Policy and Programmatic Takeaways

• Handpumps will break down: robust systems are needed that provide rapid repairs and keep downtime to a minimum
• Detailed functionality data are needed: they should include numerous parameters, including age of pump, frequency of breakdown and length of downtime
• Detailed data can show systematic problems: irreversible breakdown and abandonment early in handpump lifecycles require specific interventions
• Standard definitions and methods are key: governments should require all agencies providing drinking water through handpumps to use them

• Functionality and water quality of Elephant pumps: Implications for sustainable drinking water supplies in rural Malawi (2016)
• National rural drinking water monitoring: progress and challenges with India’s IMIS database (2016)
• The role of handpump corrosion in the contamination and failure of rural water supplies (2016)
• Using Causal Loop Diagramming to Explore the Drivers of the Sustained Functionality of Rural Water Services in Timor-Leste (2016)

“This Symposium will break down the silos of WASH projects by exploring methods for evaluating the context in which these interventions are situated, exploring political economy topics and examining how this whole system can be engaged with to ensure that services last over time.”

For more visit the event website: www.kampalawashsymposium.org/

Inclusive approaches to Rural Water Supply : Thank you to everyone who took part in the webinars and e-discussion. The report of what was shared will be posted on the RWSN website and shared with the dgroup soon.

Please join the ENDI discussions at the forum : This is a great opportunity to share experiences, lessons, solutions and challenges in the quest to make safe drinking water available to all. So please submit papers, posters and films on the www.RWSN7.net

New films on the way!

Last year, RWSN released two animated films (each in English and French): “A borehole that lasts a lifetime” / “Un forage qui dure toute une vie” and “Drilling: the importance of good borehole siting” / “Les forages: l’importance de bien choisir le site d’implantation” to illustrate key concepts from the Code of Practice for Cost Effective Boreholes. These have been enormously popular and used as training resources.

Now two more films are in production, on Drilling Procurement & Contract Management and on Water Well Design and Construction Quality, thanks to a grant from the National Ground Water Research and Educational Foundation, which supplements the existing collaboration between Unicef, Skat and WaterAid.

E-Discussion on Groundwater Regulation 27 June to 17 July 2016

Groundwater regulation remains an aea where much remains to be learnt. Zambia is a case in point. With the enactment of the Water Resources Management Act in 2012, the new Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA) is currently developing regulations (statutory instruments) that cover the licencing of drillers and consultants, permitting and groundwater protection. Once these are passed into law, for the first time in the country’s history, groundwater will be regulated.

As part of the collaboration between UNICEF, Skat Foundation and WaterAid within RWSN’s Sustainable Groundwater Development theme, RWSN will host a three-week e-discussion on groundwater regulation from 27^th June to 17 July 2016. The e-discussion and webinar will enable a global exchange on groundwater regulation, enabling in-country stakeholders to learn from each other and also to provide inputs to the ongoing process in Zambia.

If you would like to participate, please join RWSN’s Sustainable Groundwater Community

Self-supply study on Zambia and Zimbabwe – out now!

Skat, AfricaAHEAD, WaterAid, SWL Consultants and UNICEF have been working hard in 2015 on studying how Self-supply has been developing in these two countries after Self-supply has been piloted and scaled up years ago. Results from the review convinced actors at national level in both countries to include activities for supporting Self-supply in action plans of coming years. Country reports, a Synthesis Report is now available and Policy briefs will be published soon.

Join the Accelerating Self-supply community for announcements and discussion: https://dgroups.org/RWSN/selfsupply_rwsn

Ethiopia – National Self-supply Fair 2016 – an opportunity for key Self-supply actors to meet.

An intensive 3 days event on Self-supply was organized by the National Self-supply Task Force on 21-23 March 2016 in Addis Ababa including a fair and workshop as part of the World Water Day ceremonies 2016. At the fair more than 40 exhibitors presented their products and services suitable for Self-supply. At the workshop a set of 10 papers with case studies and research were presented. A particular focus was on capacity development and technology innovation needed for the further acceleration of Self-supply in Ethiopia. Also progress in using of microfinances for Self-supply were discussed. More details soon to come through IRC newsletter and ACCESS DGroup.

SMART Centre Group proposal

Under the lead of the A4A, MetaMeta and Skat a project and funding proposal is being developed to attract funding and support to further boost a business development approach for supporting and strengthening SMART Centres as business incubators for WASH products and services. In a first round SMART Centres in Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Zambia will be involved to engage and benefit from a joint effort. Organisations interested in funding or supporting this initiative or in joining it are welcome to contact FRANK or andre.olschewski@skat.ch. Further information on www.smartcentregroup.com

EMAS International and Welthungerhilfe sign MOU to collaborate on Self-supply

EMAS (Escuela móvil aguas y saneamiento básico) is well known for its simple and affordable WASH technologies that are used on a large scale in rural Bolivia (see the RWSN publication: EMAS Household Water Supply Technologies in Bolivia). EMAS has been collaborating with the German NGO, Welthungerhilfe, in Sierra Leone to promote Self-supply technologies, such as the EMAS Flexi pump.  The two organisations have agreed to promote Self-supply concepts, at all levels, as a complementary pathway to achieving SDG6 (WASH) and SDG7 (Energy).

More Experiences and applications using the TAF

The Technology Applicability Framework (TAF) was applied to new technologies and in new context such as for HWTS in India. Recently WaterAid America included the TAF as standard tool into its monitoring process of country programmes in Nicaragua. In April 2016, the TAF will be applied on manual drilling in Congo DRC in an UNICEF funded assignment. More insight on results, experiences and progress regarding the TAF will be provided in a webinar in summer 2016 and at the 7^th RWSN Forum 2016.

Sustainability of rural water systems top of the agenda in Latin America

On 8th March, The World Bank Global Water Practice and SDC Global Programme Water Initiatives convened a RWSN session at the Latinosan Conference, in Lima, Peru. This was the first of two pre-Forum events organised by the Bank to bring together key experiences from around the world.

There were 12 presentations that shared experiences from Honduras, Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua, Haiti, Bolivia, Costa Rica and Peru. The common theme was that keeping rural water services going is hard, but progress is being made, with the help of IT systems like SIASAR, which strengthen local and national government regulators and service providers.

The presentations (in Spanish) are available on the RWSN 7 Regional Pre-Events page. The best experiences will be supported to come to Abidjan in November to present to a global audience.

The second of the two regional events, will be held on 10-12 May, in Bangkok, Thailand and is being organised by The World Bank/WSP, SNV and WaterAid Australia. Around 50 participants expected from countries including India, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Timor Leste, Laos PDR, Pakistan, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines and Papua New Guinea.

The e-discussion is running between Monday 11th – Friday 22nd April. Week 1 questions will be posted on 11th April and you will be invited to provide reflections and detail your related experiences. Week 2 questions will be released on 18th April. We’ll provide a synopsis for each week of discussion and we’ll author a RWSN practice paper on the findings. Contributions are welcomed in French or English. We are looking for a broad participation and information sharing from the national governments, local governments, private sector, NGOs, other networks, research institutions and funding organisations.

If you are not already a member of the RWSN Mapping & Monitoring community you can catch up here: https://dgroups.org/rwsn/mapping_rwsn

Water Point Data Exchange (WPDx) – new website now live

On 16 March, the Water Point Data Exchange (WPDx) made available data on nearly 250,000 water points around the world through a new web platform. This platform makes it easier than ever to share and access information about water points around the world. Users can now upload their own data, subscribe to notifications when data is updated for specific countries, and even analyze the data using an online web tool. You can discover the platform, share your data, and explore the wealth of existing information at www.waterpointdata.org.

Hidden Treasure: 10 reasons to know more about groundwater

Groundwater underpins the economies of most countries – so why are political leaders and other decision-makers not taking it seriously? If you have had frustrating conversations because the person you are talking to doesn’t really get what groundwater is and why it is important, then this 2 page graphical briefing note may be for you:

• Hidden Treasure: 10 reasons to know more about groundwater / Two priorities to take seriously – briefing note

Give us your feedback if you find it useful, or missing something, or if you would like it translated into another language. Contact Sean Furey – sean.furey @skat.ch

How do you solve a problem like a broken water pump?

On World Water Day 2016, Katherine Purvis wrote in The Guardian about the challenges of sustaining rural water supplies and highlighted some initiatives underway as part of UPGro and the RWSN Code of Practice for Cost Effective Boreholes collaboration.  The article draws on the early findings of the UPGro Hidden Crisis and Gro for GooD projects.

African Aquifers Can Protect Against Climate Change

Professor Richard Taylor of the GroFutures consortium project explains: “What we found is that groundwater in tropical regions – and Sub-Saharan Africa in particular – is primarily replenished from intense rainfall events – heavy downpours. This means that aquifers are an essential way of storing the heavy rain from the rainy season for use during the dry season, and for keeping rivers flowing. Having a buffer is essential to protect people and livelihoods from extreme hydrological events; groundwater can play an important role, but aquifers need to be well understood, well managed, and this needs good data and competent hydrogeologists in each of these countries.”

Climate change projections indicate that rainfall could become more erratic, but also more intense, and this may mean that when rains do come, the groundwater recharge is higher. To maximise this opportunity, better techniques (such as design roads to capture water) for enhanced recharge can help farmers and communities get through uncertain dry seasons.

Shallow groundwater in sub-Saharan Africa: neglected opportunity for sustainable intensification of small-scale agriculture?

In a new paper from the AMGRAF catalyst team, a way is proposed for farmers to monitor, understand and use their local groundwater resources more intensively to improve irrigation, and boost their household incomes and nutrition. The research focused on an area of Ethiopia but has wide application.

Challenges in groundwater resource management in coastal aquifers of East Africa: lessons from Comoros Islands, Kenya and Tanzania

The Costal Groundwater catalyst team have published their key findings – many coastal areas of East Africa are under increasing pressure from population and economic growth, and from sea level rise. Shallow large-diameter wells, following the traditional model of these areas, consistently prove to be less saline and more durable than deeper small-diameter boreholes. However, promoting the use of large numbers of shallow wells poses a significant challenge for governance, requiring coherent management of the resource at local and national scales and the engagement of local communities.

Latest UPGro publications and papers

Keep up to date with all the stories and research updates on the UPGro website: http://upgro.org/publications-papers/ and the blog: http://upgro.org/news-blog/

REACH Catalyst Grants – an overwhelming response

A call was launched for Catalyst Grants on 10 December 2015. 173 Expressions of Interest (EOIs) for Catalyst Grants were submitted, of which 29 were shortlisted and invited to submit a full proposal. The Science Board found this a difficult decision to make as the overall standard of applications was very high. They will be providing limited, targeted feedback on applications in the coming weeks. Please note that they are unable to provide further feedback due to the large number of applications. There will be at least one further round of Catalyst Grants issued throughout the programme, with a second call for EOIs in 2016. Further calls may be issued subject to available funding.  Keep up to date at: http://reachwater.org.uk/funding/

Water Harvesting, Livelihoods, and Job Creation in the Middle-East

If you missed the recent TheWaterChannel webinar you can find the recording online: http://thewaterchannel.tv/webinars

Speakers
Atif Kubursi, McMaster University (Canada)
Vessela Monta, International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance-IRHA

Description
Water harvesting is often a field-level or landscape-level activity. Its effects are most commonly expressed in terms of ecological benefits, agricultural output, and farm incomes. Less discussed are its relationships with the wider economy such as employment, jobs and growth beyond agriculture.

Articulating this relationship is important- to determining the larger-scale impact of water harvesting, to justifying investments, and to scale it up. This is especially true for water-scarce regions of the world, like the Near East & North Africa (NENA). And especially relevant in the run up to World Water Day 2016, with ‘Water and Jobs- Transforming People’s Lives’ as its thematic focus.

In this webinar, Vessela Monta (Executive Director, International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance) and Atif Kubursi (McMaster University) discussed these relationships and their prospects in the NENA region.

Related Resources

• Atif Kubursi’s bio: https://www.economics.mcmaster.ca/people/kubursi 
• Past Webinar: Water-smart Agriculture in East Africa 
• Website(International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance-IRHA): http://www.irha-h2o.org/
• Report: Food and Water Security in the Arab World- Proceedings of the First Arab Development Symposium
• Paper: Economic analysis of water harvesting in a mountainous watershed in India

MSABI wins ReSource Award 2016

“Pump for Life”, submitted by MSABI. The Swiss Re Foundation will provide MSABI with USD 75 000 and tailor-made coaching over the next three years. Please note that the ReSource Award 2017 cycle has begun: Interested social businesses can submit their proposal till 30 April 2016. You can find more information about the winner and the programme on www.resourceaward.org

Wanted: Innovative ideas and business models!

Do you have an innovative idea that addresses the specific needs of low-income people in developing and emerging countries regarding sanitation, water and resource management?

The cewas Call for Ideas 2016 honours the most promising, interesting and creative idea in sanitation, water and resource management for the poor. The winner will secure CHF 5,000 (USD 5,000) start-up capital, as well as a sponsored place in the cewas start-up programme 2016/17, where she or he will be able to put the idea into practice (value CHF 5.000).

Submit your idea by 15th May 2016 and take your chance to win the cewas

Find out more: cewas.org/call2016/

RWSN in numbers

RWSN membership has reached 8,290 people from 150 countries  LinkedIn group membership is up to 2,955 . At the beginning of 2012 there were around 1,500 RWSN members, so thank you to all for your continued support and commitment to improving rural water supply services.

Call for Papers and Side Event Proposals closes 29 April

•  Bajemos la temperatura – Por qué se debe evitar un planeta 4°C más cálido (Espanol)
•  Engaging Citizens: A Game Changer for Development (English)
•  Financing for Development (English)
•  Les Partenariats Public-Privé (PPP): Comment offrir de meilleures infrastructures pour les services publics (Français)
•  Public-Private Partnerships (PPP): How can PPPs help deliver better services (English)
•  Risk and Opportunity: Managing Risk for Development (English)
•  Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided (English)

•  Villes africaines : Restructuration des quartiers précaires (Français)
•  Villes africaines: Environnement et enjeux de développement durable (Français)
•  Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries (English)
•  Introduction to Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (English with Français/Espanol subtitles)
•  Gestion des aires protégées en Afrique (Français with English subtitles)
•  Planning & Design of Sanitation Systems and Technologies (English with French subtitles)

•  Ebola : Vaincre ensemble (Français)
•  Gestion et Politique de l’eau (Francais)
•  Global Health: An Interdisciplinary Overview (English)
•  Humanitarian communication : Addressing key challenges (English)
•  International Organizations Management (English)
•  Introduction aux droits de l’homme (Francais)
•  Water Resources Management and Policy (English)

• An Introduction to Population Health (English)
•  Global Health and Humanitarianism (English)
•  Introduction to Drinking Water Treatment (English)
•  Introduction to Water and Climate (English)
•  Lessons from Ebola: Preventing the Next Pandemic (English)
•  Water and Wastewater Treatment Engineering: Biochemical Technology (English)
•  Water in a Thirsty World (English)
•  Water Management (English)
•  Water Supply and Sanitation Policy in Developing Countries (English)

UNESCO-IHE is the world’s largest international graduate education facility in water.  The institute, located in Delft, Netherlands,  offers a fully accredited Master and PhD degree program. To learn more about the program visit. UNESCO-IHE. The Rotary Foundation awards annually 10 scholarships to graduate students. For more information of the scholarships visit Rotary Water Masters Scholarships

Special Topics In Water Supply & Treatment For Developing Communities – Summer 2016 Intensive Workshop, Mexico, 25-31 July 2016, USD1,250

More details : http://caminosdeagua.org/2016-water-workshop/about/

BushProof Technical Training in Water & Sanitation Infrastructure

The next training will be held from 12 – 17th September 2016 in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Details on the Bushproof website.

PRACTICAL GUIDELINES & TOOLS

•  Capstan-based design for mechanizing manual well drilling, PRACTICA Foundation (undated)
•  Developing a Water and Sanitation Safety Plan in a Rural Community, Women in Europe for a Common Future (2014)
•  Valuing water, valuing livelihoods: Guidance on social cost-benefit analysis of drinking-water interventions, with special reference to small community water supplies, WHO (2011)
•  Qualitative Research for Development, Practical Action (2015)
•  WASHwatch website – a data sharing hub.

JOURNAL PAPERS

Note that access to many papers is restricted and has to be purchased. Some are open access so that articles are free to download:

•  [OPEN ACCESS]   Comparative evaluation of the cost of water in northern Malawi: from rural water wells to science education
•  [OPEN ACCESS]   Water Quality Index for measuring drinking water quality in rural Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  [UPGro] Beyond ‘functionality’ of handpump-supplied rural water services in developing countries
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  [UPGro] Challenges in groundwater resource management in coastal aquifers of East Africa: Investigations and lessons learnt in the Comoros Islands, Kenya and Tanzania
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  [UPGro] Shallow groundwater in sub-Saharan Africa: neglected opportunity for sustainable intensification of small-scale agriculture?
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  [UPGro-related] The role of handpump corrosion in the contamination and failure of rural water supplies
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  Analysis of Accessibility to Water Supply and Sanitation Services in the Awutu-Senya East Municipality, Ghana
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  Can groundwater secure drinking-water supply and supplementary irrigation in new settlements of North-West Cambodia?
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  Good Governance as Managerialism: Rationalisation and International Donors in Vietnam’s Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sector
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  Moral equality and success of common-pool water governance in Namibia
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  National rural drinking water monitoring: progress and challenges with India’s IMIS database
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  New Ways of Using Well Construction Reports for Hydrostratigraphic Analyses
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  Overview of groundwater for emergency use and human security
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  Sociological Analysis of Community Participation in Sustainable Water Supply in Rural Areas of Punjab, Pakistan
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  The role of groundwater governance in emergencies during different phases of natural disasters
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  Using Causal Loop Diagramming to Explore the Drivers of the Sustained Functionality of Rural Water Services in Timor-Leste
•  [OPEN ACCESS]  When behavior change fails: evidence for building WASH strategies on existing motivations

•  [PAYWALL]   A comparative review of water management sustainability challenges in smallholder irrigation schemes in Africa and Asia
•  [PAYWALL]   Case for integrated development of Urban and Rural Water supply scheme in India and its implementation strategies
•  [PAYWALL]   Climate change and rural communities in Ghana: Social vulnerability, impacts, adaptations and policy implications
•  [PAYWALL]   Climate change impacts on groundwater resources in Mekong Delta under representative concentration pathways (RCPs) scenarios
•   [PAYWALL]   Contextualizing local-scale point sample data using global-scale spatial datasets: Lessons learnt from the analysis of large-scale land acquisitions
•  [PAYWALL]   Planning rural water services in Nicaragua: A systems-based analysis of impact factors using graphical modeling
• n [PAYWALL]   The role of rainfed agriculture in securing food production in the Nile Basin
•  [PAYWALL]  An innovative artificial recharge system to enhance groundwater storage in basaltic terrain: example from Maharashtra, India
•  [PAYWALL]  Arsenic concentration in drinking water of Bihar: health issues and socio-economic problems
•  [PAYWALL]  Assessments of ecosystem service indicators and stakeholder’s willingness to pay for selected ecosystem services in the Chure region of Nepal
•   [PAYWALL]  Detecting a Defective Casing Seal at the Top of a Bedrock Aquifer
•  [PAYWALL]  Evaluation of household drinking water filter distribution programs in Haiti
•  [PAYWALL]  Evaluation of methods for reducing the total cost in rural water pumping stations in Iran: a case study
•  [PAYWALL]  Evidence for Elevated Levels of Arsenic in Public Wells of Bangladesh Due To Improper Installation
•  [PAYWALL]  Farmers’ pro-environmental behavior under drought: Application of protection motivation theory
•  [PAYWALL]  Groundwater Governance: key challenges in applying the Global Framework for Action
•  [PAYWALL]  Health and Environmental Risks Related to Water Supply and Sanitation in the Socio-environment of Rural Bangladesh
• n [PAYWALL]  High fluoride drinking water in Gokwe, northwest Zimbabwe
•  [PAYWALL]  Hydrochemical characteristics of rural community groundwater supply in Blantyre, southern Malawi
•  [PAYWALL]  Hydrologic testing during drilling: application of the flowing fluid electrical conductivity (FFEC) logging method to drilling of a deep borehole
•  [PAYWALL]  In search of safe and sufficient water: a portrait of household wells in rural Guatemala
•  [PAYWALL]  Inequitable allocation of deep community wells for reducing arsenic exposure in Bangladesh
•  [PAYWALL]  Needs and vulnerability assessment (NAVA) indicators for specific hazards in the context of Sri Lanka
•  [PAYWALL]  Remote regions, remote data: A spatial investigation of precipitation, dynamic land covers, and conflict in the Sudd wetland of South Sudan
•  [PAYWALL]  Removal of arsenic and iron removal from drinking water using coagulation and biological treatment
•  [PAYWALL]  Revisiting the history, concepts and typologies of community management for rural drinking water supply in India
• n [PAYWALL]  Semi-quantitative estimation of Escherichia coli levels in public drinking water sources in northern Haiti
•  [PAYWALL]  Study of national rural drinking water programme implementation during last five years (from FY 2010–2011 to 2014–2015) in state of Madhya Pradesh, India
•  [PAYWALL]  The costs of coping with poor water supply in rural Kenya
•  [PAYWALL]  Water Meters and Monthly Bills Meet Rural Brazilian Communities: Sociological Perspectives on Technical Objects for Water Management
•  [PAYWALL]  Water, sanitation and hygiene for homeless people
•  [PAYWALL]  Who really pays? A critical overview of the practicalities of funding universal access

Other

•  Incentive-Based Instruments for Freshwater Management (Pacific Institute)
•  [UPGro-related] Broken Pumps and Promises: Incentivizing Impact in Environmental Health (Springer, 2016)

We have produced two maps to help guide you around the new RWSN website and the various RWSN online platforms, including http://tinyurl.com/c2ducks. If you are still having problems then the new “Help!” page has a video tour of the website: http://www.rural-water-supply.net/en/websitehelp

Join the debates

Our expanded online network means that more and more of you are sharing ideas and experiences, which is fantastic – please keep it up!  Here are main discussion communities:

Accelerating Self-supply; Complex Systems and Rural Water Supply; Country-led monitoring; Sierra Leone WASH; Equality, Non Discrimination and Inclusion (ENDI); Solar Pumps; Sustainable Groundwater Development; Sustainable Services; Rainwater Harvesting; Mapping and Monitoring; Rwanda WASH Working Group; Handpump Services

Thank you to everyone who has put in their time, enthusiasm and knowledge.

Membership and Subscription

RWSN is free to join, all you have to do is register on the RWSN area of Dgroups: https://dgroups.org/rwsn

Organisations can become members of RWSN too. To find out more visit: http://www.rural-water-supply.net/en/rwsn-members

There are no subscription fees. The RWSN Secretariat is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) and Skat with co-funding from a range of partners for secretariat and thematic work.

Unsubscribe

If you do not wish to continue to receive this newsletter, please let us know by sending an email to ruralwater@skat.ch with the heading unsubscribe.

Acknowledgements

The RWSN Newsletter is compiled by the RWSN Secretariat (hosted by Skat Foundation) and supported financially by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), WaterAid, Skat, UPGro (DFID/NERC/ESRC) and RAIN Foundation.

RWSN is supported in cash and in-kind by a number of organisations, which in 2014 included: the Global Programme Water Initiatives of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Austrian Red Cross; British Geological Survey (BGS), Department for International Development (DFID) – including through WASH Facility Sierra Leone, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) – (through the UPGro programme); IRC, RAIN Foundation, Skat Consulting Ltd., UNICEF, Volkart Stiftung, WaterAid, The World Bank, Water and Sanitation Program – WSP, World Vision, and ZH2O.