NICARAGUA: Cleaning Up ‘World’s Biggest Toilet’

After dumping its untreated wastewater into lake Managua for more than 80 years, the capital of Nicaragua has started to clean up the huge source of water in this country, where 80 percent of fresh water sources are polluted.

Q&A: Water Crisis Could Affect Billions

The United Nations has warned that about half the world's population - over three billion people by today's count - may suffer water shortages by the year 2025.

WATER-NAMIBIA: ‘Decentralisation’: Code for Recovering Costs From the Poor

What if a well-intended programme to democratise water management is really a poverty trap? This is a question a soon to be published study on Namibian rural water supply poses to decision makers.

WATER-NAMIBIA: Policy to Create a Water Scarcity?

Several 20 litre buckets of water are crammed inside the small enclosure around the only tap in Epingiro, a small gathering of kraals in the Kavango woodlands in northern Namibia.

Q&A: Sanitation Crisis Runs Deep in Africa, Asia

As part of the International Year of Sanitation (IYS), the United Nations launched an aggressive campaign last year to fend off what it called a "silent global crisis": the woeful lack of adequate sanitation in the world's poorest countries.

Q&A: "Sanitation Is Becoming a Social Movement"

While 2008 - declared by the U.N. as the "International Year of Sanitation" - came and went with 2.6 billion people, including almost one billion children, still living without basic facilities, UNICEF's sanitation and hygiene senior advisor, Therese Dooley, says there is reason for hope.

SWAZILAND: Simple Solution – Save Rainwater

It's so early, the frogs are still croaking, as women push forward holding firmly onto their buckets while dodging cattle that are also scrambling for water in the pond at Gebeni. It has rained only a few times since the wet season began in October, and competition for water begins as early as 5:00 am.

Q&A: Zimbabwe – Fighting Cholera on a Shoestring

Nearly 50,000 cases of cholera have been reported in Zimbabwe by the World Health Organisation; the death toll stood at 2,755 on Jan. 21.

HEALTH-MALAWI: Rains Expose Poor Sanitation

Zimbabwe - where cholera has claimed more than 2,700 lives so far according to the Red Cross - is not the only southern African country facing increased disease as rains set in across the region. Malawi is also battling a cholera outbreak which has killed 19 people since the onset of the rainy season, an unusually high death toll.

ZIMBABWE: Holy Water Is Serious Business

"I am making much more profit selling seawater than I used to get from selling groceries and small household goods," Carlos Marufu, a holy water dealer based in Harare told IPS.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Climate Change Threatens Livelihoods

Climate change will affect the Zambezi River basin more severely than any other river system in the world, according to Kenneth Msibi, Water Policy and Strategy Expert for the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Increased floods, drought and increased levels of disease threaten lives and livelihoods all along the river’s length.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Sanitation: 'This Is the Way We Live'

In 1925, Mahatma Gandhi remarked that "Sanitation is more important than political independence." More than 80 years later, access to basic sanitation remains out of reach for 546 million people in sub-Saharan Africa.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Building Regional Water Management

As southern Africa braces for the negative effects of climate change, calls for integrated water resources management become more strident.

Q&A: South Africa Suffers Sanitation Backlog

Sanitation is a key element of health, and hygiene a basic need for survival. Yet, millions of South Africans, especially those living in rural areas, do not have access to basic services, such as clean, running water and sanitary toilet systems.

HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Cholera Now a National Emergency

"Funerals of people dying of cholera are a common feature of our daily lives," said Tapiwa Hove, a resident Budiriro, a high-density suburb of Harare. "But it seems no one cares. Sewage is flowing all over. It's like living in hell."

DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Celebrating Sanitation

Everywhere there was the seductively deep bass sound of Indian drums as crowds of local villagers shouted ‘Jai Swachhta’ (long live cleanliness) and punched the air.

DEVELOPMENT-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Harnessing the Zambezi

If the socio-economic development goals of the eight countries that share the Zambezi River basin are to be met, countries along the river should quickly implement plans towards managing water resources in an efficient, effective and sustainable manner.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Groundwater: How Much Is There?

A shortage of trained specialists who can assess and manage groundwater resources is a factor inhibiting its use in the Southern Africa region.

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Sanitation Concerns Shift Into Space

India may be grappling with problems of basic sanitation but, at another level, its top scientists are turning their attention to human pollution in space.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Groundwater: Protecting a Hidden Resource

Groundwater - water located beneath the ground in soil or rock formations - is a secure source of water that if properly managed can last for centuries. The challenge is how to locate it and monitor the effects of its use.

BOOKS: Finding Humour and Tragedy in That Daily Ritual

We each spend, on average, three years of our lives going to the toilet - assuming we have one, that is.