Right to Water as Human Right

Introduction

In the history of mankind, water has taken a central position and guarantees the continuity of human’s life on this earth. Water relates with somebody’s right to live, thus becoming an inseparable part within the definition of human rights. Water entitled as human right indicates two things:

       i.      acknowledgement that water has a very important place in human life, and

      ii.      it is necessary to protect everyone’s access to water.

For that reason, right to water needs to be placed as the highest right in the aspect of the law, which is Human Right.

The Importance of Right to Water as Human Right

Without realising it, there are many benefits as to the resolution of right to water as human right. For instance:

     i.        water became legal right, more than mere mercy-based service;

    ii.        basic access accomplishment needs to be accelerated;

   iii.        those who were ignored receive more attention so that the gap could be reduced;

  iv.        marginalised people and communities will be empowered to take role in the decision making process;

    v.        country will be more focus on fulfilling its duty due to international monitoring.

Who will be impacted most?

Speaking about right to water as human right, there are several groups that will receive most impact by the change about to happen. They will be impacted mostly because their rights have been neglected for so long, and due to various normative and legal excuses were not the target of water supply service providers.

·        

• Low income people: Among the impacted groups, the poor is the most suffering. This was represented by the data showing 80% of the people without access to drinking water were especially low income people who are living in the rural areas;
• Women: Women in many communities have lower status compare to men. Their task is to collect or acquire water for domestic daily needs. Data shows that 70% out of 1.3 billion of very poor people are women (WHO, 2001). Research shows that African household spent approximately 26% of their time to collect water, and in general, it is the task of women (DFID, 2001). This condition has prevented women to work, even to go to school;
• Children: Improper water condition increased the change of children to suffer from many diseases. Their immune system has not fully developed. Children also often share the women’s task as water collector. As effect, in many countries, may children do not go to school;
• Indigenous people: Actually, it was these indigenous people who are utilising the traditional water sources. However, with the growth of an area, the water source was then contaminated or being used exceeding its capacity. This condition has left them without access to water.

Main Principle

The main principle of human right in relation with water supply and sanitation development is:

•   Equality and without discrimination. This principle is the most prominent among other basic principles of the human rights framework. Consolidating this principle into Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation (WSES) development policy requires special effort to identify the most marginalised and vulnerable individual and groups in water supply and sanitation access availability. Moreover, proactive actions are necessary to ensure that marginalised individuals and groups are included in the target and become the focus of interventions. Included in these groups are women, children, rural communities, slump areas, low income communities, nomadic communities, refugees, senior citizens, remote communities, disabled people, and the people at water-vulnerable areas. Establishing integrated data of these groups has become a necessity. The main issue that also served as hot topic is affordability without differentiating whether the service provider is private or government. Government is responsible to ensure that water is affordable to all, even those who cannot afford to pay. The effort can be made among others through provision of certain amount of free water, tariff block systems, cross subsidy mechanism and direct subsidy;
• Safe and acceptable. Water must be safe for domestic use, and the minimum volume must be available for drinking water: 

• Affordable service. What is affordable? Payment is considered affordable when it reduced someone’s ability to buy other basic needs, such as food, housing, healthcare and education. It is not recommended for a household to spend more than 3% of its income for drinking water: 
• Accessible service. When is a service accessible? Government must ensure that access to water is available inside or within the proximity of house, school, or workplace. If possible, tolerable condition which is the time required to get to the water sources is 30 minutes at most. Safety during the process of collecting water must also be considered; 
• Sufficient water. How much water per person is considered a minimum requirement? UN indicates that water be sufficient for drinking, sanitation, clothes washing, and cooking at 20 litre per person per day in required; 
• Accessible information. Right to water as human right also ensures available access to information on government’s strategies and policies, and also enables the people to participate.

Right to Water as prerequisite of Other Human Rights.

Right to water has become a prerequisite to fulfilling other human rights. As illustration:

•  Right on food. Unsafe water consumption has prevented the effort to sufficient basic nutrients and thus right on food;
• Right to live and right on health. Insufficient safe water has become the main cause of babies death al around the world;
• Education right. Collecting water in many countries are the task of women and children, whereas time and distance sometimes require over 2 hours trips as to prevent them to attend school. This includes absence due to diarrhea;
• Right on housing. Drinking water availability is an important condition of proper housing or human settlement.

Country’s Obligation

The emerging issue is then how to place the country in its relation with water as public or social asset that has been acknowledged as part of human right? Based on the UN Committee’s general comment Number 15, regarding Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that right to water as other human rights has raised three types of obligations for the country to take, which is the obligation to respect, to protect and to fulfill.

•  Obligation to respect: maintaining the existing access. This implies that the country does not disturb either directly or indirectly the present of right to water. Other obligation includes not restricting access of anyone.
• Obligation to protect: involving the third party. This obligation compels the country to prevent third party’s involvement at any mean on the right to water. Third parties including individual, groups, companies, and government institutions. The obligation also includes adopting effective regulations.
• Obligation to fulfil: facilitation, promotion and provision. this obligation compels government to take measures to fulfil right to water.

How about local governments? In reality, the determinant factor of fulfilling right to water as human right lies in the hand of the local government. UN General Comment Number 15 states that the central government must ensure that local governments have sufficient capacity both in terms of financial and human resources to provide water supply services. Furthermore, the service must also comply with the fulfilment of human right principles.

Indicators of Right to Water Fulfilment.

Water sufficiency as prerequisite of right to water fulfilment, must comply in any circumstances with the following factors:

•  Availability: water supply for everyone must be sufficient and sustainable for individual and household needs;
• Quality: water for everyone or every household must be safe, free from micro-organism, chemical and radiology elements which are hazardous to human health;
• Accessible: water as well water facilities and services must be accessible by all without discrimination. Accessibility is marked by:

a.      Physical accessibility. Water along with its facilities and services must be accessed physically by everyone in the population;

b.      Economically affordable. Water along with its facilities and services must be affordable to all. Cost incurred, both directly and indirectly and other water related costs must be affordable;

c.      Non-discrimination. Water along with its facilities and services must be accessible to all, including vulnerable or marginalised groups, both in terms of the law and real field fact without discrimination;

d.   Information access. Access to water also includes the right to seek and receive water-related information.

Materialising Water as Human Right.

In reality, numbers of factors are required to ensure water as human right.

1. Government must have effective regulations and institutions, including public authority with clear mandate with proper and sufficient financial and human resources;
2. Information and education is important in ensuring transparent and responsible water management. The people must know and understand their rights. In turn, they must also know their obligation. In addition, public authorities must also know their obligations;
3. Multi-parties dialogue must involve numbers of parties from the private sector, NGO, low income communities, who will contribute in the process of planning, development, and management of water services. This will generate a more transparent and responsible public authority;
4. Cost-sharing solidarity mechanism. As an example, tariff systems may use cross subsidy, where the “have” pays more.

Meanwhile, right to water is not only applicable to public companies, but also to private. As an illustration, the International Federation of Private Water Operators, “AquaFed”, that represents various water service companies from small to international scale, has included the issue of right to water in the companies regulations. There are three required elements in order for the operator to implement the concept of right to water, namely,

• Clear contract including the role and responsibility of the operator;
• The presence of subsidy or low tariffs for low income communities;
• The presence of sustainable social mechanism on services toward marginalised groups (poor, homeless, etc)

Published in PERCIK

(The Indonesian Information Media of Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation, 3^rd Edition, 2010)

Flooding in Delta and Coastal Cities

Jan T.L. Yap

CKNet Indonesia

General ^{1, 2) ,3)}

1. More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, especially in delta cities. By the mid of this century, the majority of the world’s population will live in cities n or near deltas, estuaries or coastal zones, resulting in even more people living in highly exposed and vulnerable areas to the changing global environment. It is estimated that more than two thirds of the world’s largest cities will be vulnerable to rising sea levels and climate change, with millions being exposed to the risk of extreme floods and storms. It is also expected that the frequency, intensity and duration of extreme precipitation events will increase, as well as the frequency and duration of droughts. 
2. Socio-economic trends further amplify the possible consequences of future floods, as more people move toward urban areas and continuous investments are being made in ports and harbours, industrial centres and financial business in flood-prone areas. 
3. At the same time, many delta cities suffer from severe land subsidence, because of uncontrolled groundwater extraction for water supply purposes. As a consequence of these urban developments, trends and projections for land subsidence and climate change, the vulnerability of delta cities is expected to increase in the decades to come. 
4. The choices made today will influence vulnerability to climate risk in the future. It is important to link adaptation measures to ongoing investments in infrastructure and spatial planning, and to draw up detailed estimates of the benefits of adaptation. In this way, adaptation becomes a challenge rather than a threat, and climate adaptation may initiate opportunities and innovations for investors and spatial planners.
5.       Sea level rise is a natural phenomenon, and historical measurements in several cities which could be attributed mainly to regional subsidence of the earth’s crust, which is still slowly readjusting to the melting of ice sheets since the end of the last Ice Age. Land subsidence in Rotterdam and New York accounts for 3-4 mm per year, mainly due to post-glacial geological processes. Much higher subsidence rates occur, for example parts of North Jakarta are sinking at a rate of 4 to 10 cm per year due to groundwater extraction.
6.       Important elements of Flood Vulnerability are

a.      Probability of a flood occurring,

b.      Possible consequences of a flood in terms of casualties, direct economic damage and intangible damage, and

c.      The adaptive capacity of a city or system following the event through evacuation, recovery, financial aid and insurance relief options.

Estimates of flood risk and vulnerability can be further disaggregated into vulnerability to coastal floods, vulnerability to river floods, and vulnerability to extreme rainfall. In all these cases the impact can be very high with numerous casualties and much damage to property.

Delta and Coastal Cities in Developing Countries

Population Growth and Land Use

7.    Population growth in many large cities in developing countries is putting huge pressure on the urban environment. Traffic is gridlocked, air quality is at crisis point and city drains and rivers are choked with human waste and garbage. Poor sanitation also creates serious health threats. Population pressure converted a large part of the city’s small lakes and green areas into residential or commercial areas, leading to severe reductions on retention capacity and increases in peak flow discharges. Some of these large cities at present have less than 10% of city area that can be defined as open and green areas, while such area should cover minimal 30%, according to many government regulations.

8.      As the built-up area expands, its water retention capacity for direct rainfall reduces while overflow of the rivers and streams flowing through the cities increases runoff from the upper watersheds due to uncontrolled deforestation and overbuilding in these watersheds. The upper watershed runoff has increasing sediment loads due to erosion and landslides from the deforested build-up areas and, in turn, this exacerbates the damage of flooding downstream. In some coastal cities, such as Jakarta, large areas of the city are below average sea levels. It is clear that floods coinciding with high tide are further exacerbated by back-up of the flow of rivers and drains.

Land subsidence due to uncontrolled groundwater extractions

9.  Rapid urbanization along with severe uncontrolled and over-extraction of groundwater in areas not connected to the municipality water supply distribution system leads to continuous subsidence of the ground surface. Over pumping of the shallow and deep aquifers underlying the area causes land subsidence that, in turn, exacerbates local flooding due to poor and impeded internal drainage and reduction of outlet capacity. Failure to address groundwater abstraction controls could exacerbate local flooding and traffic disruption from normal rainfall in the medium term and require expensive “pumped polder” systems and large outlet infrastructure over large areas.

10.   A recent study revealed that the coastal area in north Jakarta has reached a very critical level in terms of land subsidence. Recent subsidence measurements indicate that a 2.5 cm/year subsidence rate was too conservative and recommends that the value should be considered much higher. Most experts assume a rate of 7.5 – 10 cm/year, but the latest figures show that locally subsidence rates may reach 15 – 25 cm/year. This will bring the northern parts of Jakarta some 4 to 5 metres below sea level in the 15 – 20 years to come. When subsidence is not stopped, by 2100 north Jakarta will sink at least another 5-6 meters from 2010.

11.   This will leads to impeded drainage even for normal rainfall and permanent inundations from the sea even at low tides. These areas will become unsuitable for human settlements, unless a polder concept (expensive) is being applied for these areas.

Urban Development and Management

12.   Many coastal cities are prone to flooding due to their unfavourably low location on the coast. Some are located within river basins of several rivers transporting large amounts of water. Over the years the water contains more and more silt and sediments, while the peak flows becoming higher and skewed. Most of these changes in flow pattern are due to developments in the upstream parts of the river basins. For the past decade, climate change has probably also contributed to a change in river flows due to higher rainfall intensity and thus higher peak flows.

13. These changes in rainfall pattern and river flow characteristic together with land subsidence along the coasts created a major challenge for the drainage system of these coastal and delta cities. Because of land subsidence the natural outflow into the sea does not exist anymore at many sea-outfalls.  Although technically speaking engineering solutions for the flood problem may be identified, these will require enormous amounts of funding, apart from the question of their social and environmental feasibility.

14. The reduction of open space and green area also affected the drainage flow pattern in the cities. The direct runoff within the city is much higher than originally estimated for the design of the drainage system. In addition, the drainage system itself is very much affected by land subsidence leading to low and ineffective performance of the system.

15.  Any structural solution and adjustment of the physical infrastructure to appropriate protection levels will require careful economic, financial and social trade-offs. If financial and social constraints require a lower standard, then an enforceable system of non-structural flood control measures (flood insurance, flood proofing, and flood zoning). In many coastal cities in developing countries to date these systems have been inconceivable and/or for which no appropriate urban and regional institution exists, and should be seriously considered.

16. The issue of sustainable of any design standard is a major problem where no agency accepts or is allocated operational responsibility for maintenance and/or inadequate Operation and Maintenance (O&M) funding is provided. Maintenance neglect and lack of a sustainable fiscal framework for O&M is as large a cause of flooding through under-capacity as any physical or land-use control reason.

17.   Spatial Plans of almost all large coastal cities in developing countries underscore the problems of limited water supply, annual flooding, inadequate garbage and sewage management, and the continuing challenge of providing enough decent and affordable housing for low income families. A lack of open space and massive air and water pollution problems topped the list of some spatial plans of most metropolitan cities. Air and water pollution, including industrial waste, are cited as related environmental deficiencies.

18. The rapid loss of the open spaces and green areas means that even mid storm events result in excess water that cannot be naturally absorbed or retained. In some cities a system of key flood gates exists in some of the urban area canals and retention ponds. However, these suffer from blockage and may not be properly operated in a regional manner as they were designed for a smaller city and are not operationally adapted to the present land-use or present urban flood hydrology. Recent storms in the last decade thus brought out the consequences of a failure to follow a logical urban development zoning plan in a natural floodway area. Certainly, a more integrated operation of the floodwater regulation network is required, especially one that reflects a consensus between upstream and downstream communities.

Institutions and Management Issues

      19.  Most of the coastal and delta cities flood studies, listed the following institutional root causes of flooding              in these areas:

·    Lack of enforcement of regulations on groundwater abstraction.  Some municipalities prohibit groundwater abstraction without a license.  In practice, this regulation is not enforced.

·          Lack of enforcement of spatial plans and building regulations.  Regulation of buildings according to a spatial plan (based on floodplain management) is not carried out or enforced.  Furthermore, new housing developments within and around the coastal cities have not been regulated by a spatial plan designed to ensure retention of adequate green areas that would have stored and absorbed normal flood runoff.  The increased paving resulting from extensive build-up of housing and roads further reduces soil capacity to store rainfall and exacerbates runoff within the city.  The lack of enforcement of building regulations also contributes the land subsidence, riverbank encroachment, and the rapid disappearance of city lakes.

·          Limited coverage of solid waste collection services.  Many municipalities in developing countries collect less than 40% of solid waste that is generated within its boundaries.  In the absence of alternative options for waste disposal, the remainder is discarded in uncontrolled dumpsites or into the city’s canals and lakes, thereby clogging floodways and drains.

·          Insufficient funding for operations and maintenance.  Actual O&M budgets of the Municipality Public Works Departments are substantially lower than budgets required to properly maintain the infrastructure (for example, in 2002, NEDECO estimated that spending by Jakarta Municipality on routine maintenance was less than 10% of the required amount).

·          Limited technical expertise.  The organizations responsible for flood control systems in these cities lack the technical expertise to manage these systems according to the standards needed for a large size metropolitan area.  Many do not have structural systems for annual inspections of flood control systems, flood preparation drills, or collection of flood data (such as post-flood mapping).  In addition, flood warning and disaster management systems are not well developed or effectively operated.

·          Lack of enforcement of forest law and regulations.  After many years of illegal logging, most forests in many river catchments have disappeared. In some cases a planned reforestation program exists, which would mitigate erosion along the river and its tributaries, but has not been implemented accordingly.

·          Insufficient funding for investments in new flood control infrastructure.  Because of budget constraint, national and sub-national governments spend available funds almost exclusively to operations and maintenance.

·          Lack of coordination between authorities responsible for water resources management.  No platform exists for the coordination of the planning, operation and maintenance of the entire flood control system among the various national and sub-national governments responsible for water resources management (including activities closely related thereto, such as solid waste management).

·          Lack of incentives for interregional coordination.  Provinces, districts and cities in upstream areas do not have financial or other incentives to mitigate floods that mainly affect citizens outside their jurisdictions.

·          Absence of political leadership to address the above issues in integrated manner.  This is perhaps the most important constraint to the mitigation of coastal and delta cities’ annual floods.

      20.   Although many of these issues have been given more attention in the various project initiatives in the                   past, many of these institutional arrangements that has been included or initiated ceased to exist after                 termination of the projects. These initiated institutional arrangements and systems need further                           development, facilitation and guidance after the project has ended, to become a sustainable institutional               instrument and platform for collaboration and coordination.

References:

1)     Connecting Delta Cities, 2010, City of Rotterdam, Arcadis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Rotterdam Climate Initiative

2)     First UCCRN Report on Climate Change in Cities, Forthcoming, Rosenzweig, C., Solecki, W. and Hammer S.

3)     Ranking Port Cities with High Exposure and Vulnerability to Climate Extremes Exposure Estimates, OECD Working Paper No 1, 19/11/2008.

Coastal Zone Management

Introduction

Coastal areas contain some of the world’s most productive and diverse resources, including extensive areas of mangroves, coral reefs, and sea grass beds which are highly sensitive to human interventions. These ecosystems are also the source of a significant portion of global food production and support a variety of economic activities including fisheries, aquaculture, tourism and recreation, industry, transportation, ports and harbours, and navy activities. Because of these and other economics, about 50 - 70% of the world population are concentrated along the coastal areas. The world’s population is predicted to grow at a high rate and by far the greatest increases are expected to occur in the coastal areas of tropical nations, primarily in coastal and delta cities.

Increasing pressures of rapid population growth and economic development and the resulting conflicting interests and competing demands for use of coastal areas and resources often calls for trade-offs between conservation and development. Policy makers are faced with the challenge of ensuring economic development while limiting the impacts of such development on natural areas and protecting human life and infrastructure. Sectoral development interests which prevails in coastal areas makes decision making even more difficult and require mechanisms for cross sectoral cooperation. Coastal Zone Management (CZM) is now widely recognised as the most appropriate process to address the complex and tightly woven issues hat a coastal management programme must deal with.

Initially, the coast provided food and security for people. Later, the coast became foci for industrial and commercial development, and in recent years emphasis has shifted towards leisure and conservation, although the former uses remain important. Through these shifts of emphasis, man’s perception of the coast has changed from one of respect to one of depreciation. It is best to view the coast as a common resource, available to all. However, we need to apply certain standards of resource allocation through enlightened management. Such enlightenment comes only through an understanding of coastal systems, enabling management to balance pressure and to minimise risks. There is no doubt that this management will be a complex and difficult task, which requires knowledge over a wide range of disciplines.

In developing nations the coastal areas are often densely populated, fertile and the centre of economic activities and infrastructure development. But they are vulnerable to the effects of climate change, in particular sea level rise. These areas are currently experiencing difficulties as a result of rapid population growth, not integrated coastal zone management and conflicting resource utilisation. The problems frequently identified in the coastal zone relate to population safety (from flood-defence to contaminated drinking water), food supplies (from crop selection to harvest failure) and socio-well-being.

What is Coastal Zone Management?

The terms coastal zone management, integrated coast resources management, and coastal area planning and management are often used interchangeably in the international literature. There are two components to these terms: planning and management. Integrated planning is a process designed to interrelate and jointly guide the activities of two or more sectors in planning and development. The goal of integrated planning is the preparation of a comprehensive plan which specifies the means to effectively balance environmental protection, public use and economic development to achieve the optimum benefit for all concerned. The integration of activities usually involves coordination between data gathering and analysis, planning and implementation.

Coastal management is the process of implementing a plan designed to resolve conflicts among a variety of coastal users, to determine the most appropriate use of coastal resources, and to allocate uses and resources among legitimate stakeholders. Management is the actual control exerted over people, activities and resources. Public participation plays a key role in both planning and management. One may summarise this with the following description of the objective of Coastal Zone Management: The objective of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) is to analyse the autonomous coastal processes and their interactions with human activities with a view to develop the best strategy for management of existing and development of future activities.

CZM is different than IWRM. In IWRM we are managing water and its resources, while in CZM we are planning the development of the coastal zone in a sustainable way. Water and water quality management are important elements but it is part of the spatial plan of the coastal zone. CZM is more spatial planning and decision making of coastal development scenarios. The coastal areas are water users as they are part of river basins. Example, the river basin authority cannot use all fresh water flowing in the river to serve the various water users in the upper areas of the coast, since the coast also need a large amount of fresh water to protect the environment in the river mouth or delta from becoming too brackish. A minimal amount of fresh water (especially in the dry season) is required to control salt water intrusion in the river mouth during high tide. In simple term to push back the salt tongue entering the river mouth during high tide. Failure to do this will result in a brackish environment along the river mouth that may have negative impact on the quality of water supply for irrigation, industrial and domestic purposes. Problems in the coastal zone are of temporal (decades to centuries) and spatial scales (from coastal cells to regional -districts and provincial-, national, and even international levels).

A simple definition: “CZM is to plan coastal development in order to reach specific objectives”.

Objectives follow from a general policy regarding the coastal zone. Consequently, there are no CZM without a proper policy. The starting point is that on high (political) level a policy has to be defined regarding the coastal zone (e.g. “The coastal zone has to be developed in such a way that nature may keep a prominent place in future” or “The coastal zone has to be developed in such a way that it can give a sustainable living to as much as possible inhabitants”). From such a policy one can derive a development strategy and a related set of objectives.

Coastal Zone Management components:

CZM comprises of the following components:

Spatial and Socio-Economic Planning:

a.    Macro and project economy,

b.    Demography,

c.    Regional planning,

d.    Sociology,

e.    Specific sectors: fisheries and aquaculture, mining, tourist, transport (inland & maritime), industry & commercial activity (mainly private sector), national security (marine & navy).

2.     

      Environmental:

a.    Chemistry,

b.    Water quality,

c.    Biology,

d.    Ecology.

3.      

      Engineering:

a.    Coastal morphology,

b.    Tidal engineering,

c.    Hydrodynamics,

d.    Density currents (salt and fresh water control),

e.    Meteorology,

f.     Geology,

g.   Sea defence and coastline protection.

Sustainability of the coastal zone

Growing awareness about the limitedness of resources, about environmental degradation and consequent problems to mankind has triggered numerous studies to provide a long term resolution of the resources problem. Such studies are based on the concept of carrying capacity in terms of guidelines for socio-economic activities to achieve long term conservation of vital elements and areas of the environmental system. The importance of sustainable use of resources is extensively discussed in the Brundtland Report on Sustainable Development. The World Conservation Strategy defined three objectives in this context:

• Maintenance of essential ecological processes and life-support systems,
• Preservation of genetic diversity,
• Sustainable utilisation of species and ecosystems.

Although the concept of the “sustainable development of planet earth” is common currency, it is not very clear where it really stands for. It will become more obvious when we focus on a smaller scale: the Coastal Zone.

Source:

               Lecture note on Coastal Zone Management (H.J. Verhagen and J.T.L. Yap)

               SP-I Professional Study Programme on Water Resources Management

               Bandung 1997