1

Ayeyarwady Basin Water Pollution Survey

Chris O’Neill & Anu Kumar4 July 2017

2

Background

• Mark Stevens “Good science and quality science can inform policy”

• Baseline WQ information for future basin planning

• Limited information available on pollution

• Water Stewardship = understanding risks of scarcity and pollution

• Pollution is a growing issue

• Increasing environmental and anthropogenic pressure

AWP Myanmar Activity 3: Pollution Assessment for Ayeyarwady

3

What are we doing

• Baseline pollution assessment across four sectors:

• Urban, Industrial, Agricultural, Mining

• ‘’Hot-Spot’’ pollution map and Risk Assessment

• Training and capacity building

• Young water professional seminar

4

5

Background

• Mark Stevens “Good science and quality science can inform policy”

• Limited information available on pollution

• WB funded scenario-based basin planning

• New concepts of water stewardship and social licence

AWP Myanmar Activity 3: Pollution Assessment for Ayeyarwady

6

Economic risks

• Intensification

• Deregulation

• Illegal mining

• Small-Medium Enterprises (SME) proliferation

• Human health costs

• Salinity impacts on agriculture

7

State of the Basin Assessment

8

Why?

9

Myanmar

• Mark Stevens “Good science and quality science can inform policy”

• Baseline WQ information for future basin planning

• Limited information available on pollution

• Water Stewardship = understanding risks of scarcity and pollution

• Pollution is a growing issue

• Increasing environmental and anthropogenic pressure

AWP Myanmar Activity 3: Pollution Assessment for Ayeyarwady

10

Same but different• 61 % of land area – 65 % population

• 413,600 km2 (MDB ~ 1 Million km2)

• Climate

• River Transport

• 65 ethnic groups

• Border Conflict

• Cheap power

• Poor regulation – 3,000 illegal mines

• Low connectivity (1 WWTP for 7 Million)

AWP Myanmar Activity 3: Pollution Assessment for Ayeyarwady

11

What we are trying to produce:

12

Ganga River - India

16

Water Values for Indicator Selection

20

To get this:

21

Pesticide use Fertilizer use

Industrial BOD Industrial SS

Domestic BOD Domestic SS

RiversHazard Index

22

We need this:

• Where, When, How Much

• Source and scale:

• Agriculture (type and amount of crops, water usage, rotation),

• Industry (type of industry, processing activities and treatment)

• Mining (small and large scale, processing activities and water management)

• Urban wastewater (level of treatment).

• Pollutants (source, concentrations and scale)

24

But we often just get this:

25

Aggregation

26

Moving Forward

• IPPS protocol – coefficient based estimates

• Ground-truthing in Special Economic Zone

• Primary sampling

• Mining concession data

27

Thoughts

• Collaboration is critical

• Pick your goals (Environment, Human Health)

• Look for secondary sources

• Network, Network, Network

• Start with values

28