Water as Leverage

Cities around the world are feeling the effects of water-related challenges, growing population density, coupled with rapid and unplanned urbanization.

Water as Leverage is an initiative by Henk Ovink, the Dutch Special Envoy for International Water Affairs. In this program water is seen as a unifying force: a catalyst, that can be leveraged for sustainable development. It is the fundamental conviction of the Water as Leverage program, that water is not only a major risk factor but very much also an opportunity to address an all-encompassing challenge as a global community.

Water as Leverage started out in 2018 in a collaboration with three Asian cities: Semarang (Indonesia), Khulna (Bangladesh) and Chennai (India) to tackle their urban water-related problems. In 2023 it was scaled up to include Cartagena (Colombia).

The photos shown here are part of a larger series, and set the backdrop for the specific water challenges each of these four cities face.

CHENNAI, INDIA

November 2018
Against the backdrop of blue water tanks and a wall of pumps and hoses, a woman discards a bucket of water that was just lifted from a flooded basement in the Mambalam neighborhood of Chennai, India.
Photo: Cynthia van Elk │ Water as Leverage
CHENNAI, INDIA

July 2019
In many neighborhoods in Chennai residents rely on hand pumps for their water needs. In 2019 Chennai was tackling its worst drought in years and the wells had run dry for months. Water had to be trucked into the city. Tankers delivered water to different neighborhoods, at times not known in advance. Leaving the house, if only for one hour, was not an option. Water was rationed: a small household would get a maximum of five jugs.
Photo: Cynthia van Elk │ Water as Leverage
CHENNAI, INDIA

July 2019
A view into the settlements along the Cooum River, the heaviest polluted river in Chennai, India.
Photo: Cynthia van Elk │ Water as Leverage
KHULNA, BANGLADESH

November 2019
A late afternoon scene at the Rupsha river in Khulna; washing and bathing, while barges are being off loaded. Rapid urbanization, sediment obstruction and waste disposal have severely polluted the river.
Photo: Cynthia van Elk │ Water as Leverage
KHULNA, BANGLADESH

December 2018
A man is cleaning a stretch of the heavily polluted Mayur River in Khulna. Floating waste and water hyacinths are the main reason for water logging in the city.
Photo: Cynthia van Elk │ Water as Leverage
KHULNA, BANGLADESH

March 2019
The rear of shops on the Boro Bazar, overlooking the Rupsha River in Khulna, Bangladesh. Rapid urbanization, sediment obstruction and waste disposal have severely polluted the river.
Photo: Cynthia van Elk │ Water as Leverage
SEMARANG, INDONESIA

December 2019
A husband and wife on a narrow walkway over the water in front of their home on the Northern shore of Java. Due to land subsidence the house has been sinking for years. Combined with rising sea levels people’s homes flood 5 to 6 months a year during high tide. The houses have become unsellable. Without money for a new home people have no choice but to stay, and elevate their homes to keep them from flooding.
Photo: Cynthia van Elk │ Water as Leverage
SEMARANG, INDONESIA

December 2019
Programs have been initiated by local organizations to restore the forests by planting mangrove saplings. While some attempts are successful, it is a disconcerting fact that land subsidence and flooding often happen too fast for the seedlings to grow roots. Mangroves are of paramount importance, not just for their water filtering qualities, but especially for stabilizing sediments and breaking waves.
Photo: Cynthia van Elk │ Water as Leverage
SEMARANG, INDONESIA

December 2018
Roads are flooded due to heavy rainfall in the Jalan Kaligawe area of Semarang, Java. Flash floods paralyzing traffic are a frequent phenomenon.
Photo: Cynthia van Elk │ Water as Leverage
CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA

March 2023
A little boy posing for a photo in the San Francisco neighborhood, located behind the hill of La Popa, one of the tourist places in Cartagena. The area is on the shores of the La Virgen swamp, where a hundred neighborhoods have arisen from invasions that were erected after filling the bodies of water with solid waste. This is just one of the many contrasts in the city.
Photo: Pedro Gilmore │ Water as Leverage
CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA

March 2023
Years ago, San Francisco neighborhood was the garbage dump of Cartagena. The first settlers built their houses on land filled with garbage. It is a space unsuitable for permanent residences as the land is unstable and the soils easily flood. San Francisco has more than 40.000 inhabitants and it is one of the critical points of the city for the accumulation of solid waste.
Photo: Yojan Valencia │ Water as Leverage
CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA

March 2023
Guillermo is an artisanal fisherman. Behind him is Las Quintas, a lake for fishing and a spa for the inhabitants several decades ago. These days it collects the waste from the Bazurto market, a traditional and iconic market in Cartagena. Bazurto is one of the sources of contamination in the city while offering over 30,000 jobs for the population. Today, Guillermo accompanies tourists to show the two sides of Cartagena.
Photo: Yojan Valencia │ Water as Leverage