PROJECTS

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Improved Water Sector Management and Governance (IWSMG) - January 2016 to December 2020

This project is implemented by a Consortium of firms including Water4Life and led by Tetra Tech. IWSMG is designed to strengthen the Government of Jordan’s reform, policy development and implementation, and capacity-building in the water sector management and governance. Water4Life is working with the water utilities and municipalities to develop and support the implementation of demand management action plan for urban water conservation and increased water reuse by the private sector; supporting the Jordan Valley Authority (JVA)  in transferring the retail irrigation management responsibilities to Water Users Associations (WUAs); introducing smart technologies for irrigation water distribution and on-farm water management and increased irrigation productivity; and supporting institutional strengthening and sustainability of JVA and the WUAs services. Water4Life is also supporting the development of a new legal and administrative framework for groundwater management to reduce water theft and groundwater over-extraction including key compliance and enforcement recommendations.

Water Resources Integrated Development Initiative (WARIDI) - January 2016 to December 2020

The Tanzania Water Resources Integration Development Initiative (WARIDI) is a key activity of USAID/Tanzania which seeks to achieve improvements in health, water resources management, agriculture, climate change adaptation and the environment in Tanzania. The five-year WARIDI activity promotes state of the art approaches in the management of water-related resources and services in select districts of the Rufiji and Wami-Ruvu river basins. The project includes developing climate change prediction scenarios and modeling water availability, developing analytical and decision support for evidence-based planning climate change resilience, improving hydrometeorological and socioeconomic data monitoring and information systems, and establishing minimum environmental flow requirements in Rufiji Basin. The project will also develop water allocation simulation models for evidence-based planning to allow decision makers and water organizations to develop and assess water allocation and water development change scenarios for various sectors including water and sanitation, irrigated agriculture, hydropower, and mining.

Roadmap for Designing an Effective EWS and Strengthening Hydromet Services in Afghanistan - July 2016 to December 2017​

Water4Life is leading the implementation of this project. Water4Life is supporting the assessment of the current status and capacity of the Hydromet and early warning services (EWS) in Afghanistan and the identification of users’ needs for these services for disaster reduction and recovery and for socio-economic development in the sectors that are sensitive to weather and climate and water. The assessment includes the evaluation of the status of infrastructure and density of the Hydromet monitoring networks, the weather and hydrological forecasting systems, as well as procedures of data collection, processing, validation, management, and dissemination and capacity to communicate hydrological information and early warnings.​​
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Based on these assessments, Water4Life is developing a road-map and an investment plan for strengthening a nationally integrated and effective hydromet and early warning services. The project also includes institutional analysis and strengthening of hydromet and EWS service providers, and recommendations for institutional arrangements and amendment of the legal framework and regulations for effective and sustained services that meet users’ needs.

Modernizing Hydromet Services in Africa - November 2015 to July 2016

Water4Life is leading the implementation of this project. Water4Life is working with the National Hydrological Services (NHSs) and hydrological data and information sector users in four selected countries in Africa; namely Cameroon, Madagascar, Senegal, and Tanzania; on the assessment and recommendations for strengthening and modernization of NHSs.  The project includes identification of water-related hazards, hydrological context/regime, and water resources issues faced by each country; identification and assessment of hydrological data and information needs for disaster reduction and recovery and for socio-economic development in the sectors that are sensitive to weather and climate and water; assessment of the capacity of the NHSs of each of the four countries to meet the identified users’ needs; identification of the major factors for the sustainability of NHSs and taking them into consideration for the improvement and durability of the hydrological services; assessment of socio-economic benefits of modernized NHSs; development of the concept of National Hydrological Services Users Group (NHSUG); and development of a National Action Plan for Improvement of Hydrological Services (NAPIHS) for each of the four countries based on the assessment. The NAPIHS will be designed to strengthen the operational capacity of NHSs to provide hydrological services required by users and to create an enabling environment for the transformative modernization of NHSs to improve their capacity. The main hydrological services sector users targeted in this project include as appropriate to each country: 1) Water resources management, 2) Agriculture and food security, 3) Disaster risk management, 4) Research and development, 5) Land use and planning, 6) Energy, 7) Transport, 8) Fishery, 9) Forest industry, 10) Construction, 11) Tourism, 12) Insurance, 13) Health, 14) Environment management, 15) Water quality, 16) Climate change, 17) Watersheds management, 18) Regional and international cooperation, 19) Media, 20) Emergency responders/civil protection agencies, and 21) Education sector (schools).

Design of Nile Basin Hydrometeorological Monitoring System - April 2014-October 2015

This project is implemented by a consortium led by Riverside Technology. Water4Life provided support to the Nile Basin Countries on the design of comprehensive systems for strategic regional and national hydrometeorological (Hydromet) and water use monitoring in the Nile Basin. The objective of these systems is to advance knowledge based transboundary/national/local decision making for fourteen (14) socio-economic issues related to water management.  The fourteen issues are:  1)  water resources planning and management, 2) productive and climate-smart rainfed agriculture, 3) water efficient and productive irrigated agriculture, 4) improved hydro-power planning and management, 5) improved flood management, 6) improved water quality management and water pollution control, 7) groundwater management, 8) soil erosion control and sediment reduction, 9) improved watershed management, 10) enhanced drought management, 11) strengthened wetland management, 12) climate change resilience, 13) navigation development and management, and 14) fisheries protection.
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​​The hydromet and water use monitoring systems include ground observations on meteorology, agrometeorology, surface water discharge, groundwater level, reservoir and lake levels, surface water and groundwater quality, sediment load, water use for agriculture, urban and rural water supply, and hydropower. The hydromet systems also include satellite earth observation data and remote sensing/geographical information system (GIS) support for analysis of satellite observations related to precipitation, evaporation, soil moisture, and land cover.

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Sector and Trends Assessment in Haiti  - March 2014 to September 2014

This project is one of seven WASH assessments conducted in prioritized countries in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. It was implemented in partnership with Chemonics as a prime contractor.Water4Life led a tailored analysis of the WASH sector in Haiti. The principal audiences for the assessment are USAID/Haiti Mission staff, the Water Office, and Global Water Coordinator in USAID/Washington’s Economic Growth, Education, and Environment Bureau.This assessment focused on rural community WASH provision, and is based on the analysis of the following sustainability factors: 1) institutional, 2) management, 3) financial, 4) technical, 5) environmental, 6) social, and 7) behaviorial change.The main objective of this evaluation was to strategically inform WASH programming in Haiti under USAID Water and Development Strategy. It included: 1) design of a questionnaire to collect and analyze information for rural water, sanitation, and hygiene sustainability factors; 2) interviews with national institutions, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Haiti mission, donors, and implementing partners; 3) field visit to Boucan Carré community in the Central Plateau to  meet with representatives from this community, the Head of the Regional Water and Sanitation Office for the Central department, and the Communal Water and Sanitation Technician; and 4) key findings and recommendations for future interventions by USAID-Haiti.

​Guide for Performance Improvement Plans for Water Utilities -  September 2013 - February 2014

Water4Life led the developmentn of this guide. Water4Life worked with mentor and mentee utilities in Europe, North America, MENA, and Africa to prepare a guide to assist water utilities in improving their performance to increase access to water and sanitation services and achieve the Millennium Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on drinking water supply and sanitation. The development of the guide includes: 1) identifying utility improvement areas from the following activities or modules:  Human Resources Development, Institutional Strengthening and Governance, Policy and Legal Support, Business Planning, Financial Management, Communication and Customer Relations, Billing and Revenue Collection, Non Revenue Water Management, Operation and Maintenance, Asset Management, Information Communication Technology, Extension of Water Supply Services, Extension of Sanitation Services, Expanding Services to Poor Households, Wastewater Treatment and Reuse, Water safety plans, Integrated Water Resources Management, Water Demand Management and water conservation, Energy Efficiency, and Climate Change Resilience; 2)  describing the process for the participatory development of the performance improvement plan (PIP) between utility mentors and mentees including an assessment tool that helps utilities in identifying the activities or modules that need improvement at the short-term, mid-term, and long-term, 3) presenting the process for preparation of short term, mid- term and long term plans for the implementation of the PIP, 4) assisting mentees to use short-term plans to strengthen their institutional and management capacity and identify donor funding and bankable funding opportunities to extend and sustain sanitation and hygiene services, and 5) preparing of a monitoring and evaluation plan for the PIP. Trained 20 utilities at the UN-Habitat-GWOPA headquarters in Barcelona, on the development and use of the guide.

​Building Resilience Through Innovation, Communication and Knowledge Services, Sahel and West Africa  -  April 2013 - October 2013

Led the preparation of project implementation manual for knowledge management and monitoring of a portfolio of $1 billion for a World Bank/GEF program on sustainable use of land and natural resources for 12 Sahelian and West African countries in support of the Great Green Wall Initiative. Designed activities for the establishment of a regional decision support web portal; identification and dissemination of best practices on integrated management of natural resources, biodiversity conservation, water management, water harvesting, Water supply and sanitation, Irrigated farming, dry land farming, climate change prediction and adaptation, and flood and drought management. Designed tasks on conducting regional and environmental economic analyses on successful NRM approaches that conserve biodiversity, accumulate soil and biomass carbon, and safeguard ecosystem services; monitoring and modeling of land and water resources and land use change in the 12-country portfolio; and providing technical support for harmonization of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems across the 12 country projects and aggregation and bench-marking of results at the regional level.

Instituting Water Demand Management in Jordan (IDARA), Jordan - March 2008 - July 2012

Under DAI, Water4Life led IDARA and stakeholder team to develop the Jordanian Water Demand Policy. Led the design and implementation of two surveys, a nationwide baseline survey on socio-economic factors (wealth, education, culture, gender…) affecting water demand and water use, and another survey on the evaluation of the impact of water saving devices on water use efficiency. Headed the design and implementation of water audit for 12 large Government buildings, 24 hotels, 10 hospitals, and 95 residential units. Principal author of five best management practices guides for water use efficiency in hotels, hospitals, offices, residential units, and high rise high density buildings (The guides include energy saving related to water saving); headed the development of urban water efficiency standards and water and sanitation plumbing code, development of water use efficiency plans for water utilities, and institutionalization of water demand management in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and three major water utilities; and led the establishment of public-private-partnership program between water utilities and the private sector to support water use efficiency initiatives. In April 2010, IDARA won the Global Distinction Award in the category of water efficiency from the Global Water Intelligence network. IDARA has 32 activities covering policy, legal and institutional, technical, socio-economic, environmental, and communication aspects.