Sustainable Water Partnership

Video: Where is Our Water Going?

How is the world’s water being used? And how can we manage it better? SWP Director Eric Viala explains in this new video.

Thinking Like a Water Model

An innovative water management exercise fosters hands-on learning in SWP’s Cambodia activity. In the Stung Chinit basin of Cambodia, rice farmers and fishermen depend on the same water. More...

September 2018 Newsletter

Gordon Mumbo grew up watching frequent floods disturb the peaceful flow of village life in Kenya. Now, after 30 years as a water engineer, he has returned to his home country...

Women, Water and World Hunger

How addressing women’s burdens from water risks could help promote global food security. For hundreds of millions of women, providing food to feed their families is a daily imperative....

“The River Belongs to the People”

Team Leader Gordon Mumbo brings a lifetime of experience to the Mara River Basin. Gordon Mumbo grew up in the small village of Kamuga, in Kenya’s Kisumu County. Year...

Towards More Resilient Solutions

SWP’s Liz Kendall looks back on World Water Week. On August 26, water professionals turned their attention to Stockholm, Sweden. At World Water Week, the world’s premier conference on water issues, attendees chose from hundreds of panels, presentations and...

August 2018 SWP Newsletter

SWP’s sofa event will discuss work “safeguarding water-related ecosystems” in the Mara River and Tonle Sap Basins. Featured in this issue: — SWP to Present at World Water Week...

Seeing the Forests for the Water

Applying the Latest Science on Forest-Water Interactions to Decision-Making The world is experiencing both unprecedented forest loss and increasingly severe floods and drought events. These issues are often approached...

Local Investment, Lasting Impact

Cambodian local leaders pledge to lead SWP’s Water Security Improvement Process. In Cambodia’s Stung Chinit watershed, 40 leaders from civil society and the private sector have pledged to actively participate...

SWP at World Water Week

Sofa event will discuss work “safeguarding water-related ecosystems” in the Mara River and Tonle Sap Basins. The USAID-funded Sustainable Water Partnership (SWP) will participate in a sofa session at...

June/July 2018 SWP Newsletter

At the fourth and final “Sustainable Water, Resilient Communities” event at D.C.’s Wilson Center, SWP’s panel of experts discusses solutions to the challenge of erratic water. Featured in this...

“Hope Is Not a Strategy”

SWP’s panel of experts discusses solutions to the challenge of erratic water. “Water variability has always existed,” said USAID Climate Change Adaptation Specialist Jonathan Cook, opening the fourth and...

“We Are the Water Users”

Sustainable Water Partnership Director Eric Viala discusses water management in crisis on Africa 54. The devastation of torrential rains and flooding in northern Kenya grabbed the headlines last week. Cape...

SWP to Conclude Wilson Center Series with “The Challenge of Erratic Water”

Water is indispensable, but also highly variable. Communities around the world need a reliable and predictable supply of fresh water, but outdated infrastructure, poor management, and political battles can...

May 2018 SWP Newsletter

Ramping up water infrastructure means looking beyond building new pipes and pumps. Natural infrastructure, like healthy forests, plays a valuable role in supporting clean water. Featured in this issue: —...

When Improving America’s Infrastructure, Don’t Forget Forests

This Infrastructure Week, we should remember to focus on growing, restoring and preserving our nation’s natural infrastructure. America’s water infrastructure is in a state of disrepair, as evidenced by...

Solutions for Pollution

SWP’s panel of experts discusses how best to address challenges of poor water quality. Addressing the crowd at Washington D.C.’s Wilson Center, Sasha Koo-Oshima immediately establishes the stakes of...

No Water, No Power

Experts from partner World Resources Institute explain water’s crucial effects on the energy sector. In 2017, drought in Kenya and neighboring countries became so severe earlier that the government...

Avoiding a Water Crisis: What’s Next for Cape Town – and Beyond?

Sustainable Water Partnership Director Eric Viala discusses water shortage on Wilson Center podcast. Intense drought in South Africa’s Western Cape Province has led the world-renowned city of Cape Town...

April 2018 SWP Newsletter

At Washington D.C.’s Wilson Center, SWP’s panel of experts discusses how best to address challenges of poor water quality. Featured in this issue: — Solutions for Pollution — Watershed...

New Webinar: Watershed Moments in the Mara

New Beginnings in Transboundary Water Cooperation Winding for nearly 14,000 kilometers, the Mara River is a vital source of life in Kenya and Tanzania. The river traverses the towering...

New Date: SWP to Continue Wilson Center Series with “Solutions for Dirty Water”

Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink. Around the world, pollution and disease contaminate essential supplies of drinking water. In this third part of its “Sustainable Water,...

Analytical Tools to Support Water Security Decision-Making

This supporting paper presents local decision-makers and practitioners with various tools that can be used within the context of a Water Security Improvement (WSI) process. The goal of the...

March 2018 SWP Newsletter

As mounting risks threaten the water security of the region, the health of the Mara is at stake. That’s why, this month, the Sustainable Water Partnership (SWP) is officially...

Safeguarding Sustainability

At the launch of a groundbreaking new effort in the Mara River Basin, cooperation is key. In the Maasai language, “Mara” means “spotted,” and as you look out over...

SWP Launches Toolkit #6

Monitoring is a process of continuous assessment. It involves collecting data on the current situation (baseline) and on changes that are brought about through activities, projects and policies, or...

Why the Mara River Basin?

A combination of risk and receptivity fuel a promising SWP activity in Kenya and Tanzania. Winding for nearly 14,000 kilometers, the Mara River is a vital source of life...

February 2018 SWP Newsletter

As climate change and variability produce erratic water conditions near Cambodia’s Tonle Sap lake, locals are struggling to adapt. The Sustainable Water Partnership is here to help. Featured in...

Staying Afloat

How Cambodia’s erratic water conditions make it the perfect pilot for SWP If you travel to Cambodia’s Tonle Sap basin, you might see flooded fields full of what look...

Putting Monetary Value on Kenyan Forests to Encourage Conservation

If you’re talking about water, you’re talking about trees. The value of Kenya’s high-elevation forests extends beyond their great beauty and geological diversity. The country depends on five major...

SWP Launches Toolkit #5

Water Security Implementation The success of a WSI process depends on the implementation of activities or measures defined through collaborative planning and decision-making with the purpose of addressing and...

New Webinar: How to Improve Water Security

The Sustainable Water Partnership’s Water Security Improvement (WSI) process helps stakeholders address water-related risks in a specific geographic area. This free webinar focuses on WSI processes and creating participatory,...

SWP Launches Toolkit #4

Funding Water Security Funding is essential to translate the WSI process into activities that provide tangible benefits to water users. Funding must be identified and secured early to: Cover...

SWP Launches Toolkit #3

What is Water Security Planning? Water security planning aims to identify, define, evaluate, and choose water security activities in terms of: Mitigation of targeted priority water risks Direct and...

Unseen and Unrecognized: Allocating Water to Nature in River Systems

IUCN’s Rebecca Welling explains the importance of accounting for nature’s needs in water planning. Water for nature is too often sidelined in discussions around built water infrastructure development and...

January 2018 SWP Newsletter

SWP’s Water Security Improvement (WSI) process helps stakeholders address water-related risks in a specific geographic area. Join SWP Director Eric Viala and Deputy Director John Parker Tuesday, January 23...

December 2017 SWP Newsletter

Panelists at “The Challenge of Too Little Water,” the second installment in the “Sustainable Water, Resilient Communities” series, discuss how flood resilience goes beyond mere survival. Featured in This...

Saving Lives, Saving Livelihoods

Flood resilience goes beyond mere survival, say panelists at Sustainable Water Partnership event. When Eric Viala was a student in engineering school, heavy rains triggered a landslide that buried...

Water Security and the Global Water Strategy

On November 1, in what otherwise might have been a typical congressional hearing, Republican Congressman Charles Dent looked toward his former colleague, newly installed USAID Administrator Mark Green, and...

SWP Launches Toolkit #2

What is a Water Security Assessment? A water security assessment aims to enhance the understanding of water risks within a defined water security improvement (WSI) space (defined geography, actors,...

SWP to Continue Wilson Center Series with “The Challenge of Too Much Water”

From Hurricane Harvey to Typhoon Damrey, this season’s extreme weather events have made it clear that too much water can be as deadly as too little. Flooded streets, destroyed...

November 2017 SWP Newsletter

In this guest post, David Purkey of the Stockholm Environment Institute gives us the history of water planning, from ancient times to today. Featured in This Issue: – What’s...

Keeping Heads Above Water

WRI’s Arivudai Nambi Appadurai shares lessons for building resilience after flooding in South Asia and Texas. Arriving in Katmandu days after Hurricane Harvey made landfall, I watched footage of the storm’s...

Hydraulic Despots and the Origins of Water Planning

David Purkey of the Stockholm Environment Institute explains how water planning began — and how it looks today. To understand modern water management, it helps to go back thousands...

Taking a Big Picture Look at Water Security

Why water infrastructure isn’t always the answer. As the world faces drought, floods, water pollution and other risks, countries often respond by building infrastructure — anything from community pumps...

A Stepping Stone to Security

Children with dirty hands. Long lines at public water points. Cholera sweeping through a densely populated settlement. In the short-term, these public health issues can often be solved through...

October 2017 SWP Newsletter

In the first event of a four-part series, a panel of experts from SEI, IUCN, Tetra Tech and Mars Inc. discusses issues of water scarcity at Washington, D.C.’s Wilson...

The Challenge of Too Little Water

SWP’s expert panel discusses issues surrounding water scarcity at D.C.’s Wilson Center. There’s a hum in the air, an audible energy, as more than 60 water experts, practitioners and...

Private Sector Engagement in the Water Security Improvement Process

Improving the sustainability of a watershed requires active engagement with all major water users — particularly private sector actors, which can be large, impactful and politically influential water users....

In Cities, Water Security is a WASH Issue

As John Feighery of mWater explains, water security is not just a rural concern. Over a long weekend in September, Dar es Salaam suffered a water shortage, causing residents...

Water Stress is Driving Conflict and Migration. How Should the Global Community Respond?

World Resources Institute’s Aqueduct Director Charles Iceland discusses the far-reaching consequences of water insecurity. Water insecurity has driven social distress throughout history, from the Mayan Empire to modern-day Syria....

September 2017 SWP Newsletter

Achieving and maintaining water security is a fundamental development challenge. This toolkit, the first in a series of six, aims to inform stakeholders on water issues, and outlines SWP’s...

Water and Ecosystems: The Importance of Environmental Flows

John Parker of SWP partner Tetra Tech explains how natural flows support the environment. Water is an essential resource that underpins human societies and is a requirement for ecosystem...

SWP to Begin Water Security Series at Washington D.C.’s Wilson Center

Event on September 26, “The Challenge of Too Little Water,” will feature panelists from Mars, SEI, Tetra Tech and IUCN Water fuels every aspect of life. It plays a...

Making a Splash at World Water Week

It’s 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 31, in Stockholm, Sweden. For five days now, the halls of the Stockholm City Conference Centre have been humming with the impassioned discussions...

SWP Launches Toolkit #1

The Sustainable Water Partnership is proud to present Toolkit #1, a resource for working to improve water security. This is the first in a series of six toolkits which...

August 2017 SWP Newsletter

Water drives all aspects of life, from basic health and hygiene to industries like agriculture, energy and transportation. But what do we mean when we say “water security” –...

What is Water Security?

Water fuels every aspect of life. It’s essential for basic health and hygiene, and it drives society’s most essential industries: agriculture, energy and transportation. Without water security there can...

Musing on Water in Northern Ghana

On rain, sun, hippos — and new answers to old challenges. By Gabriel Sidman, Winrock Spatial Analyst As an intense sun beat down on northern Ghana, a barefoot child scooped...

What is the Water Security Improvement Process?

Improving water security means empowering everyone — water managers and users, businesses, and citizens — to regularly assess and address water risks. By collaborating with communities, we can negotiate...