| Abstract: | ABSTRACT: Typically, infrastructure agencies build massive water projects to serve expanding populations in emerging country cities, but collect and treat only a fraction of the resulting wastewater. This effluent often overwhelms existing sewerage systems and fouls waterways. Cleaning urban waterways requires large investments over long terms and the political will to make and sustain them. This challenge - difficult in advanced countries - becomes daunting with the scarce resources and weak institutions typical of emerging countries. This paper presents a framework to structure such a strategy, and applies it to Madras, India. It consists of three parts: (1) setting a vision through a participatory process; (2) macro investments mainly in wastewater treatment that use least-cost methods; and (3) micro investments in small projects that involve local people and galvanize public support. The macro investment, $350 million for Madras, appears very large, but averages out to $66 per capita, far below the $1,000-$2,000 typical of advanced country cities. Micro projects to be undertaken by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) included an independent wastewater monitoring program, sanitary upgrading of slums along waterways banks, a cattle waste demonstration project, and an industrial pollution survey. Together, a macro/micro strategy promises the funding and political will to achieve a balanced vision of waterways quality. |
