Malawi: Statistics Mask Struggle to Meet MDG for Water and Sanitation in Urban Areas - Malawi is failing to meet the Millennium Development Goal for water and sanitation in its urban areas and misleading official statistics are hiding the scale of the problem, according to research published today by the International Institute for Environment and Development and the Scottish Government. [AA Urbanisation]

Zimbabwe: Major Cities' Sewage Plants to Be Upgraded - GOVERNMENT will soon embark on the rehabilitation and upgrading of water and sewage plants in the country's main cities and towns to meet demands of the growing urban population. [AA Urbanisation]

Zimbabwe: City Council Gets U.S.$17 Million for Sanitation - Government yesterday availed more than US$17 million to the Harare City Council and warned the local authority not to abuse the facility meant to upgrade water and sewerage infrastructure. [AA Urbanisation]

Egypt: Country Making Progress in Water, Sanitation - UN - Egypt has made great strides in improving access to drinking water and is well-situated to address remaining challenges related to water and sanitation, a United Nations independent human rights expert said today. [AA Urbanisation]

Zimbabwe: Ruwa Residents Get Water After Two Years - RUWA residents, who had been without water for nearly two years, last Friday finally had water supplies restored to them after the local board resumed works at its water treatment plant. [AA Urbanisation]

Nigeria: Group Scores Ohakim High On Sanitation, Urban Planning - Imo state governor, Ikedi Ohakim has been commended for the giant strides recorded in the "Clean and Green initiative programme" which has given the state the status of one of the cleanest state capitals in the country. [AA Urbanisation]

Ghana: Chorkor - a Suffering Community - Chorkor is a community in the Greater Accra Region surrounded by suburbs such as Dansoman, Mamprobi, and the Atlantic Ocean, with the fishing and fish mongering as the main occupation of the people. [AA Urbanisation]

Zambia: Illegal Extensions Delay Construction of Lavatories in Wusakile - THE completion of the K800 million project for the construction of individual lavatories in Kitwe's Wusakile Township by Nkana Water and Sewerage Company (NWSC) has been delayed due to illegal extensions of structures in a number of houses. [AA Construction]

Busani Bafana interviews NOMA NESENI, WSSCC water, sanitation and health coordinator.

Lack of water, a large homeless urban population, and mushrooming informal settlements mean sanitation in Zimbabwe's cities is poor.

As part of the International Year of Sanitation in 2008, Zimbabwe developed a national strategy for sanitation, launched in February 2008. Just five months later, a cholera outbreak that was to claim over 4,000 lives began.

One of the strategy's key proposals was to call for expanded resources for sanitation including public-private partnerships to expand access to proper toilets across the country.

The task force included representation from key ministries such as health, water development, and finance, as well as civic organisations like Plan International, World Vision and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), for which Noma Neseni is the water, sanitation and health coordinator in Zimbabwe.

Neseni told IPS why she viewed the task force's work as less than a disaster. Excerpts of the interview follow.

Kenya: Sanitation - 'This is the Way We Live' - In 1925, Mahatma Gandhi remarked that "Sanitation is more important than political independence." More than 80 years later, access to basic sanitation remains out of reach for 546 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. [AA Urbanisation]

Unicef Agrees to Drill Boreholes At UZ - Unicef Agrees to Drill Boreholes At UZ - A UNITED Nations agency has saved the Zimbabwe government from further embarrassment after it emerged that five of the eleven boreholes at the University of Zimbabwe have been contaminated with human waste prompting authorities to delay opening the college twice in the same semester. [All Africa : Zimbabwe] [AA Zimbabwe]

Nigeria: Sokoto Battles Poor Sanitation - The sanitary condition of parts of the Sokoto state capital has been source of concern to many. Rubbish of all sorts overwhelmed some areas in the metropolis, which gave an appalling face-paint unfit for the state capital. [AA Urbanisation]

Nigeria: Abaji Council Officials Embark On Sanitation - Officials of Abaji Area Council Environmental Department yesterday went round Abaji town to evacuate heaps of dirt from major streets and places. [AA Urbanisation]

Ghana: Coastal Dwellers Cry for Toilet Facilities - The people of Elmina in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem District of the Central Region (KEEA) have made a distress plea to government to provide more toilet facilities for coastal dwellers. [AA Urbanisation]

Sewage may contaminate Gaza drinking water

GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) - With Gaza's sewerage system on the verge of collapse, a top water engineer has warned of the risk of groundwater contamination in the enclave, making clean water scarcer than it already is. Gaza is particularly vulnerable to groundwater contamination since its sandy desert soil easily absorbs water -- or sewage from leaking sewage pipes. Compounding the risk is the fact that groundwater is relatively near the surface, and wells dug to access it tend to be shallow. [Palestine]