“About WaDImena- Environmental and Natural Resource management” 11 Apr. 2008 <http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-118981-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html>

      WaDImena is an initiative by the International Development Research Center (IDRC) which  is turning attention toward a model based on future human needs and environmental sustainability. WaDImena advocates methods that focus on improving water-use efficiency, equity, and sustainability of existing water resources.

     WaDImena aims to improve research in to water management, strengthen individual and institutional capacity to implement water demand management, create a network to share experiences and promote partnerships between governmental organizations, NGOs, NPOs and Corporations. 

This website provides a link of all WaDImena’s partners which comprise some strategic corporate partners. This is extremely interesting as it shows how it takes a combinations of different organizations and firms to create a platform for execution of such an initiative.

“Waste Not: WaDImena, an excerpt from the IDRC Bulletin,” 11 Apr. 2008 <http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-110941-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html>      

     Mentions a few projects undertaken by WaDImena; in Farafra Oasis, Egypt, traditional practices in managing groundwater are being documented and assessed to help local communities develop an integrated, participatory water management plan for recently reclaimed land. Also, in Tafilalet, Morocco, reservoir-based drip irrigation — a system using saline water instead of fresh water — is being tested to validate equipment performance, uniformity of watering, effect on soil salinity, crop tolerance, and yields.

The above exemplifies how a big project which is being jointly undertaken with so many corporate and non-corporate partnerships can have an effect on many smaller communities in Africa.

Faruqie, Nasir “Making the most of Minimal Water - The IDRC-supported WaDImena project is helping countries in the parched Middle East and North Africa share lessons on how demand management can avert a looming water crisis.” 11 Apr. 2008, Mar. 2008

<http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-94457-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html>

     This article from the IDRC website talks about the WaDImena project. The article reiterates that simply increasing Water Supply through mega sea-water desalination projects is not enough and won’t solve the water problems in Africa. It is more important to use poorer quality water for particular uses, or changing the timing of water use to avoid losses.

Certain suggestions made by the article in relation to the Water Demand Management (WDM) that they intend to undertake were interesting in that they involved various business and economics oriented decision making. Some of these ideas were reforming the pricing and valuation of water delivery, raising water tariffs to bring them closer to the actual cost of delivering water may bring several benefits, such that higher fees will ensure consumers rationalize their water consumption patterns. Increasing tariffs may also generate more revenue to fund improvements of the water system. These suggestions indicate an arena of management where for profit corporations can come in to help streamline financial decision making.