Participating in events on water and sanitation problems in the Netherlands

3-5 March 2005 the delegation of five representatives of pilot eco-sanitation project participated in the two events on water and sanitation problems in the Netherlands: public debate in the Hague and working conference "Women for Water" in Soesterberg.

3 March 2005 - the third round of public debate "At the End of the Pipe" was held in the Hague. The subject of debate was to elaborate the Netherlands official position on water supply, sanitation and human settlements to CSD13, which will be held in April 11-22, 2005 in New York.

Debate was begun in January, 2005. The 3d of March debate theme was about sanitation problems in and out of Europe and new approaches to solve them. The representatives of Duth Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dutch official delegation at CSD13 in New York , different Dutch organizations representatives dealing with water supply and sanitation took place in the open debates. Anna Tsvetkova was invited to participate in debate as one of the key speaker and member of the jury. During the debate some main reports were presented: Joep Bijlmer (Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs) – official Dutch delegation mission at 13-CSD; Anna Tsvetkova (MAMA-86, Ukraine) – state and problems of the sanitation in Ukraine; Sawyer Ron (Sarar Transformacion SC, Mexico) – decentralization in the drainage area management: Mexico experience; Arno Rosemarin (Stockholm Environment Institute, Sweden) – phosphorus geo-policy as an example of the nutrient global balance.

During the debate the recommendations were made for delivering to the official delegation - CSD 13 ambassadors and in the profile Dutch Ministries (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Transport and Social Affairs, Ministry of Water Management).

4-5 March – more than 120 representatives from Africa, Asia, South America and Europe took part in the "Women for Water" working conference organized by "Women for Water, Water for Women" women's alliance and Women of Europe for Common Future (WECF). The conference was financed by the Netherlands Council of Women.

Besides plenary sessions and presentations, the round tables and working groups (WG) meetings were held in the conference framework. On these meetings 8 country cases on water supply and sanitation were considered. One of the WGs has worked on the Ukraine case on water supply problems in Gozhuly village, Poltava rayon during 3 meetings. Dutch experts on water and sanitation, from financial institutions and NGOs working on these problem solutions were invited for participation in WG's activity.

Ukrainian delegation consisted of 5 members: national and regional coordinators of MAMA-86 project, Director of School in Gozhuly; Deputy of Oblast Council, Head of Deputy Council Commission on Ecology and Health; Senior lecturer of the Department of Ecology of Poltava Technical University. In the course of debate the water supply and drainage problems were discussed in details, valuable information about problem of fluorine in water and possibilities of its solution were received, priorities of further project were determined.

The conference results were presented in press-release "From Tributary to Main Stream" which was spread on the eve of International Women's Day – March 8, 2005.