About Akvopedia

From Akvopedia, the open knowledge source for water and sanitation.

Akvopedia. Open source water and sanitation knowledge

Akvopedia is a Web-based, free content project about water and sanitation subjects. The name Akvopedia is a portmanteau (combination of words and their meanings) of the words akvo (water in the language Esperanto) and encyclopedia. Akvopedia articles provide links to guide the user to related pages with additional information.

The Akvopedia is written collaboratively by volunteers and specialists mainly from the water and sanitation sector since the creation of Akvopedia during the summer of 2007.

Visitors do not need specialized qualifications to contribute, since their primary role is to write articles that cover existing knowledge; this means that people of all ages and cultural and social backgrounds can write Akvopedia articles. Most of the articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet, simply by clicking the edit this page link. Anyone is welcome to add information, cross-references or citations, as long as they do so within Akvopedia's editing policies and to an appropriate standard. Substandard or disputed information is subject to removal. Users need not worry about accidentally damaging Akvopedia when adding or improving information, as other editors are always around to advise or correct obvious errors, and Akvopedia's software MediaWiki (which also powers the Wikipedia) is carefully designed to allow easy reversal of editorial mistakes.

Users who edit and contribute to the Akvopedia should follow the policies and guidelines which are available.

Trademarks and copyright

Akvopedia and Akvo are trademarks of the nonprofit Netherlands Water Partnership. It is anticipated that as soon as the Akvo Foundation (Stichting Akvo) has been set up, the trademarks will be transferred to the Akvo Foundation.

All of the text in the Akvopedia, and most of the images and other content, is covered by the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). Contributions remain the property of their creators, while the GFDL license ensures the content is freely distributable and reproducible. (See the copyright notice and the content disclaimer for more information.)

Aknowledgements

The Akvopedia started as an open collaborative effort of Akvo, initiated by Netherlands Water Partnership, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, UNESCO-IHE, GreenOcean and The Movement Design Bureau. Prototype funding has been provided by Partners voor Water.

Much of the initial content of in this wiki comes from the books Smart Sanitation Solutions and Smart Water Solutions produced in collaboration with Netherlands Water Partnership, WASTE, PRACTICA, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, SIMAWI and Partners voor Water