A set of trainings under the Climate Resilient Water Safety Planning to Improve Water Supply and Public Health project were launched in February 2019. The trainings are the first phase of the project that seeks to address how utilities can use WSPs to better prepare and respond to extreme weather events. Climate projections have shown evidence that freshwater resources are vulnerable and will be strongly impacted by environmental changes with wide ranging consequences to drinking water supplies. These trainings will build capacity within utilities that may face radically new environmental conditions in the coming years.
The first training was with Kisumu Water and Sanitation Company (KIWASCO) in Kenya. The utility provides water and sanitation services to Kisumu City and its environs. The Climate Resilient Water Safety Plan (CR WSP) training had a total of 28 participants. Carried out by IWA, it gathered participants from KIWASCO, the County Government of Kisumu, Ahero Catholic Water Project, Gulf Water and Sewerage Company, and Nyanas Water and Sewerage Company. The training was sponsored by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and Kenya Integrated Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (KIWASH) project, a 5-year USAID funded project in Kenya. OFID is the main partner in the CR WSP project together with IWA.
Group photo of participants of the CR WSP training 25 February to 1 March 2019, Kisumu, Kenya.
The next training is will be ongoing for the Central Region of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in Cape Coast. 18 participants will partake from GWCL, Gomoa West District Assembly, Water Resources Commission, UNICEF and the Hydrological Services Department. Under the CR WSP project, IWA is additionally collaborating with WHO and UNICEF to develop a Water Safety Plan Policy/Guiding Document for Ghana Water Company Limited that will help guide the development and implementation of CR WSP in the various regions of GWCL.
Participants of the CR WSP training engaged in group work in Cape Coast, Ghana, 18 – 22 March 2019.
The next stage of for KIWASCO and GWCL will involve the development and implementation of the CR WSP. IWA will guide the aforementioned utilities through the various stages of development and implementation under the project. Additional trainings are planned for April in Senegal for Sénégalaise des Eaux (SDE), and in Burkina Faso for Office National de l’Eau et de l’Assainissement (ONEA).