Water blog posts

Sanitation services and waste collection have long been a financial burden for the public sector. A new series of business models shows how this trend cannot only be reversed, but how recycling and reusing waste can be a lucrative endeavor.

Can innovative policies and regulations reverse the trend of groundwater depletion? A three-year USAID-funded project implemented by IWMI, WLE and national partners across the Middle East-North Africa region investigated just that. Highlighted here are five problems that prevent the MENA region from properly addressing groundwater issues, as well as some potential solutions. 

This week marks the launch of the new CGIAR research portfolio. Izabella Koziell, Program Director, lays out the ambitions of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE).

Many large programs have failed to effectively clean this sacred but highly polluted river. One overlooked opportunity is to tackle septage and focal sludge pollution from smaller cities. WLE offers sustainable and cost-effective solutions.

UN-Water has designated 2017 as the year of Wastewater and is releasing a report on World Water day, United Nations World Water Development Report 2017: Wastewater/The Untapped Resource. WLE/IWMI and FAO have co-authored a chapter on the risks and opportunities of using wastewater for agriculture.

In rural settings, women are not typically seen as political activists or public figures involved in front-line negotiations. Yet, a new CGIAR study shows they help resolve potential conflicts around land and water use.

Irrigated agriculture can contribute to lasting deterioration of groundwater quality, preventing its use for drinking and endangering ecosystems and bio-diversity. If we're going to get global agriculture right, we'll need to promote good groundwater governance.

Did you receive roses for Valentine's Day? If so, they may have come from the Kenya, the 4th largest supplier of cut flowers in the world. Originally from the CIAT Blog, this piece looks at work done in the Tana Basin to ensure good management of land and water resources make sure this industry can continue.

Laos’ rivers sustain millions of people as sources of food and water; they also provide some of Laos’ most popular tourist attractions. Policy makers in the Nam Xong river basin are getting a clearer understanding of how potential directions and decisions could affect the future of their region thanks to a modelling project sponsored by WLE. 

Building a dam can provide tremendous amounts of energy and desperately-needed water for agriculture; at the same time, dams have significant impacts on ecosystems and livelihoods. A new tool from SERVIR-Mekong can help decision-makers understand the impacts of dam construction.

In June, WLE-Mekong published a series of maps identifying a massive range of dams across the major rivers of the Greater Mekong Subregion. In this interview excerpt, the second in a series of two, Thrive discusses how strong partnerships led to the creation of these maps and continues to identify hot spots and spaces for new research.