WATER ACCESS, QUALITY & SOLUTIONS
BACKGROUND MATERIAL
prepared by the BAS Social Responsibility Committee
1. WATER ISSUES AT KINU PRIMARY SCHOOL IN UGANDA
Water Situation at Kinu Primary
A report on the water situation at Kinu Primary School was conducted by a water technician on November 8th 2008
The technician studied the feasibility of a rain water harvesting tank
The investigation involved visiting the school, village and surrounding area
Findings showed:
they need water for cooking and for cleaning the class rooms & latrines
they would also like a close source of water to help with irrigating a school garden and to drink
for the 600 students at Kinu Primary School the nearest source of clean water right now is a bore hole 2.5 km away
the children are tired when they return with the water (which is quite heavy), making it hard for them to concentrate on their studies
because the walk is so long and takes a lot of time, the children have less time available to be in school
the children are between 6-14 years old and the 2.5 km journey to collect water can be unsafe
children sometimes go to a closer source of water (see photo) but this water is contaminated and the kids get sick with diarrheal diseases. These illnesses can be difficult and expensive to treat.
Proposed Water Solution at Kinu Primary: Rain Water Harvesting Tank
a rain water harvesting tank would reduce health and safely risks for students
a 30,000 liter tank is recommended to support student and staff needs
see diagram of a sample rain water harvesting tank available from SR (available in electronic form)
2. QUICK FACTS ON WATER ACCESS
Though we use it constantly, we think very little about water and its place in our lives. Here are some water facts:
More than half of Africa's people lack access to safe drinking water. (UN)
Of all the renewable water available in Africa each year, only 4% is used because most Africans lack the wells, canals, pumps, reservoirs and other irrigation systems. (Africare)
In developing countries, one person uses an average of ten liters of water per day. In the United States, one person uses an average of 75-80 gallons in the same time period.
Each flush of the toilet uses the same amount of water that one person in the Third World uses all day for washing, cleaning, cooking and drinking.
Twelve million people die each year from lack of safe drinking water, including more than 3 million who die from waterborne diseases. (WHO)
Over 80% of the disease in developing countries is related to poor drinking water and sanitation. (WHO)
The average distance a woman in Africa and Asia walks to collect water is 6 km (3.75 miles).
The weight of water that women in Asia and Africa carry on their heads is equivalent to the maximum baggage weight allowed by airlines 20 kg, or 44 lbs.
Women are the primary caretakers for those who fall ill from water-related diseases, reducing their time available for education and productive economic efforts.
One-third of women in Egypt walk more than an hour a day for water; in other parts of Africa, the task can consume as much as eight hours.
Medical research has documented cases of permanent damage to women's health as a result of carrying water.
In some parts of Africa, women expend as much as 85% of their daily energy intake on getting water, increasing incidences of anemia and other health problems.
Source for the above facts: http://www.dropinthebucket.org/Water_Facts.html
3.BACKGROUND INFO ON HIGH VS LOW IMPACT WATER SOLUTIONS
Research Information about High versus Low Impact Water Solutions
High Impact
There are substantial social, economic, and ecological costs that are often unanticipated. Tens of millions of people have been displaced from their homes by large-scale water projects over the past century. And we regularly neglect the consequences for nonhuman species and ecological systems. Examples of high-impact approaches include:
Damming and diverting rivers for irrigation, drinking water, flood control, and hydropower
Altering the natural courses of water bodies for navigation
Directing waste streams into local rivers, lakes, and coastal marine areas
SR Note: One example is the three gorges dam project in China. The tremendous impact on people and environment is documented in the film “Up the Yangtze” available at Roger’s Video. See: http://www3.nfb.ca/webextension/up-the-yangtze/.
Low Impact
Under a low-impact water regime, the role of management shifts from building and maintaining water-supply infrastructure to providing water services. These include:
Reusing and recycling water
Employing drought resistant landscaping
Redesigning urban spaces for water conservation
Rainwater Harvesting
One of the oldest recorded hydrological techniques, rainwater harvesting is an example of a low-impact water management approach. Since rainwater is relatively clean in comparison with many surface waters, it makes both economical and ecological sense to use rainwater as a resource. It is used around the world on a small scale at homes - called Domestic Rainwater Harvesting (DRWH). On a larger scale, some municipal systems have even incorporated rainwater harvesting. In some arid areas of the US including Arizona and Texas they are collecting rainwater off of public buildings and schools to irrigate landscape and supply restroom facilities.
A. Low Impact Natural Systems for Cleaning Water:
The Case Study of the Navikubo Swamp in Uganda
While technological solutions to water problems is one approach, it often results in solving one problem but creating others related to ongoing costs and environmental impact. Often there are natural systems that can provide benefits at a low cost. A good example of using natural systems to clean water is located in the largest wetland in Ugandan’s Kampala region (this is an area just between where the school with the model garden is located in Entebbe and the pen pal school is located in Kamuli region). Many of the city’s residential settlements and some of its industrial facilities are not connected to Kampala’s sewage system, and as a result contaminated water flows into this wetland. The Navikubo Swamp purifies the discharge before it enters Lake Victoria, which in turn serves as a source of drinking water.
As outlined in the report by The World Conservation Union, Eastern Africa Regional Office in Nairobi, located at: http://www.cbd.int/doc/external/countries/uganda-wetland-cs-2003-en.pdf , of particular significance is the ability of the wetland plants to remove pollutants from the water including phosphorus, nitrogen, and particles. Pathogenic organisms, the tiny organisms that make people sick, can be removed by these swamp plants as well. The study concluded that even though developers want to build overtop of the swamp area, it would not make economic sense in the long run. It would cost over 2 million dollars US each year to replace the work of the swamp in cleaning water through a water filtration facility. The study also concluded that development of the swamp would benefit a small number private individuals or companies rather than help keep water clean for the many people who live in the area who rely on this water.
B. Low Impact Collection of Rainwater:
A Local Case of Using Rain Barrels in Toronto
Rainwater storage systems are developed to harvest rain and use it for daily water needs. They are increasingly being applied in urban settings around the world to reduce water demand. Harvested rain can be used outdoors for irrigation, and indoors for toilet flushing, laundry and if filtered, as drinking water. Benefits include:
• Reduces demand on municipal water supply.
• Allows for storage of seasonal rains for use in off peak times of droughts and urban water bans.
• Harvesting systems reduce erosion, property flooding and contamination by capturing the majority of urban runoff from a house.
• Reusing water saves considerable amounts of energy. 33% of the City of Toronto's electricity use in a year is spent on water pumping and treatment.
Other benefits of rain barrels include:
Simple to install and suitable for virtually any household property size or location
Stores relatively clean water for use on lawns and gardens.
Can reduce domestic water use, lowering water bills and demands on city water system, especially during peak summer periods.
If used and maintained properly there can be a reduction of 65–70 % of runoff.
Also, plants grow better in rainwater compared to tap water. Rain water has a balanced pH and many of the chemicals that we need in drinking water such as chlorine are not in the rainwaer water stored in barrels. This relatively clean water is unlikely to carry disease and is safer for plants and fish.
4. RESEARCH INFORMATION ABOUT RAIN WATER HARVESTING IN DEVELOPING WORLD
A. Source: Conference presentation entitled Better, Faster, Cheaper; Research into roofwater harvesting for water supply in low-income countries? By D. Brett Martinson & Terry Thomas, Warwick University, UK
Summary:
The water situation in many low-income countries is grim. More than one billion people have no access to clean drinking water and those that do often spend considerable time walking and waiting in line to collect it. Many water professionals are becoming worried about the increasingly difficult problems of finding and improving water sources while some existing water sources are now becoming depleted or polluted. Domestic roofwater harvesting (DRWH) provides an innovative solution to meeting water needs and can be implemented quickly
and modularly. It is also very robust against risks of unexpected change. Renewed interest in the technology is reflected in the water policies of many developing countries including Uganda, where it is increasingly being cited as a useful source of household water. While this is about smaller tanks used for individual family homes, rather than larger ones for a school, it may be of interest to BAS students. There are resource on-line that show the different styles of rain collection containers.
B. Source: Domestic Rainwater Harvesting Fact Sheet from the Well Website by Jo Smet 2003. Engineering and Development Centre, Loughborough University.
Conclusions: There are many benefits of Rain Water Harvesting in terms of health, poverty reduction, education and equity:
a. reduction of burdens of the poor: less time spent in collecting water (particularly women and children);
b. reduction in water-related diseases as quality is usually better than water from traditional sources; impact is less sick days, savings on medical expenses and time for more economic activities;
c. improved health status as excess rainwater used for vegetable and crop growing gives improved diet;
d. less back problems and growth reduction particularly among children and women as transportation of heavy loads over long distances is reduced;
e. improved economic and health status from the income from vegetable and other crops, and other economic activities using excess rainwater;
f. more time for education and personal development, particularly for young girls as time saved is now used for school attendance or homework.
Source: Conference presentation entitled Domestic Roofwater Harvesting in the Tropics: the State of the Art. By Terry Thomas, Warwick University, UK
Summary:
roofwater quality has been studied for direct human consumption
In rich countries rain water can be treated (e.g. by UV-radiation or chlorination) to any required standard. In poorer countries cheaper measures are at hand to introduce if there is a general rise in required water quality.
It is clear that reliably and permanently screening tanks against adult mosquito entry is very difficult and quite impractical, so it is important not to have to rely on having to screen them out
roof-runoff event introduces some bacteriological contamination into storage tanks but then given that this is followed by low-nutrient darkness in the tanks, this results in bacterial die-off in about 48 hrs
there is also a process called “first flush diversion” that can be used whereby as the rain starts to come down, that water is diverted away from the tank and only after a period of time it is allowed to enter the tank
Metal roofs (which get very hot and hence sterilize themselves) produce cleaner water than asbestos or tile ones (at Kinu Primary School they have metal roofs). Thatched roofs yield limited quantities of seriously cloudy and polluted run-off and should be avoided
Lowering the nutrient levels of tank water – by pre-entry screening (that can catch frogs and lizards for example), filtering or first-flush diversion – quickens the rate of bacterial die off in the tank
larger tanks generate cleaner water than small ones
evidence shows that water quality improves with time, therefore any system that prevents newer more likely contaminated water from interacting with “aged” water in the tank will also enhance water quality
Full report can be found at:
Source: Rainwater Association in Uganda
Summary from Website:
In the past, Rainwater Harvesting technologies were relegated to the background in Uganda. They were looked at as an inferior source of water supply and this affected the promotion and expansion of RWH. Today, the situation is gradually changing particularly due to the awareness creation and advocacy by URWA. The government now recognizes RWH as one of the sustainable options for raising safe water coverage in the country and to help in achieving the millennium development goals. This is seen through the support of the RWH pilot project in Mbarara and Bushenyi Districts. Government has also put in place a strategy for the development of domestic rainwater harvesting in Uganda, which is yet to be mplemented. RWH is gradually gaining recognition as a viable water supply source among the policy makers and URWA continues to push it forward!
SR Note: this web posting was made in 2002 and Moses is in the process of seeing if the group is still active in Uganda.
Website:
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