Start Date : 3 May 07   End Date : 3 May 07 Location: UN Headquarters in New York (Conference Room 7)

Access to clean and safe water and sanitation services remains a major challenge in developing country cities. In some countries, water borne diseases account for a majority of the sick population at any one time. Water delivery in some urban settings depends directly on national power supply, and rationing or frequent blackouts disrupt this supply of water. Different cities/towns still rely on diesel pumps for their water delivery. The recent rapid rise of oil prices has had direct consequences on the price of water, making this basic commodity less accessible to the urban poor. In some cases, the water pumping stations have been closed down for lack of resources to cover operational costs. The cost of fuel also affects the transport of water from the source to the end user. It is therefore evident that energy plays an important role in water service delivery. The type of energy and the way it is used considerably affects the final cost and the availability of water and sanitation services to the end user.

The objective of this side event is to explore more energy efficient as well as renewable energy options to better deliver affordable and reliable water and sanitation services to people living in poor urban settlements. The event will also act as a review of current knowledge and will identify knowledge gaps that are relevant to the work of UN-Habitat in this area.

The speakers will address the following topics: (i) State of the Utilities: Water, Electricity and the Poor; (ii) Serving the Slums: A New Strategic Framework; (iii) Using Energy for Water and Sanitation Services in the Lake Victoria Region; and (iv) Investments in Access to Modern Energy Services in the East Africa Community.