The 2009 WIN photo competition rewards photo visualizing either the impact of corruption and/or anti-corruption efforts in the water sector. Here are the top 10 submissions.
The Buriganga River flows through Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. People wash and fish in this poisonous river. Thousands of tonnes of tannery waste, human sewage and industrial waste flow into the river daily. Government inaction is incomprehensible.
A fisherman examined his net casting it in the polluted waters of a river in Shengiu County. After an hour, he caught ten fishes with blisters on their bodies.
Wastewater comes out of a pipe at the state-owned Lianhua MSG Factory. Lianhua is the largest producer of MSG in China and the largest polluter in the Huai River Basin.
“DROUGHT! Because of the lack of water ground cracked commonly appear in the “High sertão” of the State of Alagoas, Brazil. Temperatures reach up to 45° C during the long summer, in addition to no rain.
Debris lies near a pipe that released polluted water from the Lianhua MSG Factory in China. Villagers protested the secret dumping after many became sick with intestinal ailments.
Government neglect of populations versus UN-support to refugees. Water supply of Afghan refugees in Western Pakistan (near Quetta) is compromised by uncontrolled diverting of water from surrounding host villages, which have no access to safe drinking water.
Migrant workers in the city of Bangalore, India collect water from the leakage of a pipe that carries water to various apartments. These workers lack drinking water facility and they depend on the available water source. The picture conveys the impact of the failed (corrupted) public distribution system in providing drinking water.
Women face problems with no property rights, no housing and lower literacy. “By becoming water pump mechanics we have more control, this helps change people’s attitudes.” Sheela Singh, Mahoba, India.
“No one would let us touch the village water point,” explains Ram Rati Malik from Beli, Nepal. Her ethnic group were excluded and so had to drink water from this pond
Rio Ipanema in the region of “Sertão” of the State of Alagoas, Brazil, has been providing a basic source of water for many of the residents.