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March, 2011

Amur Initiative Program Results

The problem of water pollution in Amur River is still crucial, but the Amur Initiative has helped to find effective means of addressing it on a community level

In 2007-2010, the Fund for Sustainable Development, with support from USAID and Khabarovsk Krai Government organized and carried out the Amur Initiative Program (“Organizing  a  public monitoring system and improving drinking water quality in settlements along Amur River in Khabarovsk Krai”) that was a response to the catastrophic contamination of the river after the tragic events at the chemical plant in Jilin (Northern China) in 2006. The key goal of the Program was to diversify water sources in small riverside settlements and provide these communities with clean and safe drinking water and also to support the effort of putting in place an efficient public water monitoring system.

The Program included 18 projects of a total cost of $725,000, (of which $324,000 were provided by USAID). As a result of these projects, 83,000 residents of 20 settlements who are among the socially less protected groups of the population (indigenous peoples, pensioners and children) have received access to clean drinking water. One of the significant results of this work is a 15% reduction of the rate of intestinal diseases in these communities.

Thanks to the Amur River water public monitoring system organized under the Program, over one million residents of Khabarovsk Krai received access to operational information about the quality of drinking water.

Ten effectively operating partnerships of local citizens, businesses and administrations are currently disseminating Program results to other Amur riverside communities. For this purpose, over $400,000 were allocated from local sources. Khabarovsk entrepreneurs invested over 11,000,000 rubles into the replication of the results of Amur Initiative, thus laying the foundation for local sustainable economic development and the creation of new jobs. As a result, each grant dollar was matched with 3 dollars from local sources invested in project development and allowed to save and reinvest in further community development another dollar.

“Thanks to the Amur Initiative, an old out-of-service pipeline that was built 15 years ago in Yelabuga was repaired and now residents use high-quality water without any interruptions and at a much lower price,” said Elena Nelubina, chair of the Council of Deputies of Yelabuga, one of the grantees of Amur Initiative.

The Program proved to be a success, which is reflected in the many letters of gratitude from Khabarovsk Krai Government, local self-government bodies of Khabarovsk Krai, entrepreneurs and citizens. With the Inclusion of the replication of the projects of Amur Initiative, over 200,000 people now have clean drinking.