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Biography |
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Margaret Catley-Carlson operates at the Board level in support of improved water resource management and the twin issues of agricultural productivity and rural development. She is Chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Water, of the Foresight Advisory Committee for Group Suez Environment, and a member of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water, the Rosenberg Forum, the Canadian Water Network, and Patron and past Chair of the Global Water Partnership. She Chairs the Board of the Crop Diversity Trust, and serves on the Council of Advisors of the World Food Prize, and the Boards of the Syngenta Foundation, and the IFDC (Fertilizer Management). She has Chaired the Global Water Partnership, ICARDA (Int Center for Agricultural Development in Dry Areas, CABI (Center for Agriculture and Biosciences), and been Vice Chair of the IDRC (Int’l Development Research Council), IWMI (International Water Management Institute, and Board member of IIED (International Institute of Environment and Development), the Library of Alexandria. She was President of the Canadian International Development Agency 1983-89; Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF in New York 1981-1983; President of the Population Council in New York 1993-98; and Deputy Minister of the Department of Health and Welfare of Canada 1989-92. Ms. Catley-Carlson has ten honorary degrees and is an Officer of the Order of Canada
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Abstract |
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Creating Sustainability – with A New Look at Used Water
1.The Problem context
a) The current approach to safeguarding water is philosophically flawed. Attitudes of policy makers, planners, and investors are notoriously rooted in the logic of “no return, no investment". Environmental sanitation is considered an investment dead end. This flaw needs redressing.
b) A major factor contributing to investment delay is exorbitant cost of building or extending new systems especially in major cities. Applying traditional concepts means that miles of pipe are needed to collect carry away and process the water wastes. Significant energy is required to deliver water and to process waste (often 30-40% of municipal energy bills) – so change can bring significant energy savings.
c) With system revision it is possible to harvest energy and resources in the waste. Current techniques and designs render these less accessible through wholesale collection from highly differentiated sources and massive dilution.
d) New technology creates new possibilities – most of them in use, in part, around the world. Membranes create extraordinary range of possibilities – especially with new system designs:
i) Promotion and acceptance of ‘cascading use’ – clean water for drinking and personal use, cascading down to grey water which can be ‘cleaned enough’ for agricultural, urban, and industrial use which can be ‘cleaned enough’ for recycling or environmental recharge etc. Sewage, either harvested for energy and/or nutrients then ‘cleaned enough’ for agricultural or environmental use.
ii) New cities installations and refits of older systems designed around the cascading, modular system.
iii) “As small as possible – as big as necessary”: The development of prototypes for small cities and urban units. A mosaic of modules in the cities, not uniform design types.
iv) Disseminate successful uses of the component model which will use filters and ‘clean enough for next use’ technology for a finite number of households/entities.
2. New Technology and Science needed
e) A Technology Inventory that will focus on least cost (in terms of money, energy, and water) - the decision to clean sufficiently, not more
f) Technologies that create ‘cascading use’ – clean water for drinking and personal use, cascading down to grey water which can be ‘cleaned enough’ for agricultural, urban, and industrial use which can be ‘cleaned enough’ for recycling or environmental recharge etc. Sewage, either harvested for energy and/or nutrients then ‘cleaned enough’ for agricultural or environmental use.
g) Filters, energy sparing devices, re-use devices, reed bed examples – all of it.
h) Example of new big and medium size city installations and refits of older systems designed around the cascading, modular, energy-sparing technologies.
i) “As small as possible – as big as necessary”: The collection of existing prototypes and development of new designs for small cities and urban units. A mosaic of modules in the cities, not uniform design types.
j) Disseminate successful uses of the component models which will use filters and ‘clean enough for next use’ technology for a finite number of households/entities.
3. Will need new analyses of Incentives Packages:
k) Financial mechanisms – taxes, subsidies, concessions, etc. to encourage the extraction of resources from wastewater
l) a lending and capital market financing for new solutions
m)research awards for solutions now: getting pathogens out of sewage and leaving nutrients
4. How do we get there: water engineers are not the decision makers.
n) Targets: Ministerial conclaves, CEO Water Mandate group, Industrial confederations, Chambers of Commerce, Municipality meetings, service clubs, financial analyst meetings, technology and research meetings, companies etc etc. Particular allies needed in the groups that serve cities – municipalities, utility managers, finance, environment, health, and urban development ministries, national planning agencies, financial services, researchers, NGOs, water organizations.
o) Goal: implant these concepts and make them do-able, reflected in investment plans, financial incentive packages and national and municipal policy, to incorporate environmental sanitation in urban management and base the business model on appropriate technology and costs in the right investment climate.
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