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Tag: Drinking water

  • Impact Water: providing safe drinking water solutions at scale

    Impact Water: providing safe drinking water solutions at scale

    When non-profit Impact Carbon was first introduced in Uganda, it sought ways of advancing the production and quality of improved, clean-burning cook stoves as a way to mitigate carbon emissions and reduce indoor air pollution.

    As operations at Impact Carbon progressed, there was a realisation of the need to simultaneously introduce water purification systems.

    “We found that we could also look into introducing water purification systems as a channel to reduce consumption of wood based fuel so instead of having to boil water and use lots of wood which has a negative impact on the environment, households and institutions could use purification systems,” Mark Turgesen, Director of Impact Carbon and Impact Water in Uganda explains.

    In 2012, Impact Carbon carried out a pilot study to identify how it could help schools in particular, primarily because it would allow the organisation to deal with a large population that needs safe drinking water and more so because children are part of the most vulnerable people in society.

    Statistics from Water.org, an organisation that provides water solutions on a large scale and operates in fourteen countries around the world, indicate that about 8 million Ugandans cannot access clean water. According to Turgesen, children have a right to survival and part of survival is adequate food, adequate water and proper shelter.

    “It should be accessible not for children to just meet their basic rights but to also enjoy the health implications which can affect attendance rates at school and attention in class,” he says.

    The Water and Sanitation Program Africa Region (WSP-AF) reported that 440 children die every week in Uganda because of waterborne diseases. Impact Carbon estimates that 40 per cent of diarrheal cases are attributed to water consumption at schools.

    However, amidst all this, one thought lingered on the minds of the team at Impact Carbon.

    “Do we offer free water purification systems to schools? Is that sustainable? What could we do that would have a profound impact to ensure that when we have introduced these systems, we are able to maintain them,” they wondered.

    The solution lay in operating the project as a business. More so, buying the systems would encourage schools to own the responsibility of carefully utilising and maintaining them. The idea birthed Impact Water which was registered in 2015, a social business that provides reliable safe drinking water to Uganda’s institutions.

    The process

    The water goes through a three stage process. For the first part of purification, Impact Water connects its Ultraviolet purification system to existing water sources such as national water taps, wells, boreholes and rain water harvest. The water is then filtered to remove dirt and large pathogens. To make it taste fresh, activated carbon purification removes dissolved substances and improves the odor. The water is then treated in the ultraviolet chamber to kill all bacteria and viruses that pass through the filters. The filtered water is finally kept in stainless steel tanks designed for schools.

    Response

    Mr Turgesen says the response from schools is the same as when Impact Water opened shop in 2015. “The response is, ‘when can I get started’? It is because schools are looking for solutions because they know it is a problem,” he notes.

    This was the case for Mr Adam Kakembo, a teacher and sanitary master at Kawempe Muslim Secondary School in Kampala. Kawempe now has three Impact Water systems and consumes about 4500 litres of water a day.

    Kakembo explains that before the installation of the purification systems, “We would boil 300 litres for the boys and about 200 litres of water for the girls in the students’ kitchens. We would consume about three to four lorries of firewood per week.”

    Kakembo notes that besides the cost implications, the water boiled in this way was inadequate, unreliable and laborious to supply.

    The students “would get water only during lunch time. Sometimes firewood would get wet and we would go three days without boiling water. Also, we would store the water in saucepans which exposed it to contamination,” he says.

    Today the school’s story is similar to that of Kibuli Secondary School, another beneficiary in Kampala. The deputy head teacher Hajjati Masitula says the system is convenient and provides easy access to safe water.

    Kakembo says safe drinking water is now always available, the system is energy efficient and affordable; the costs can be met within the confines of the school’s budget. Cases of typhoid have also been reduced.

    “Any school can afford it. The barriers between those who have the system and those who do not is the information gap,” Kakembo adds.

    This is possible because when business commenced, Impact Water sought a new way to make the water system affordable for schools. It put in place a credit facility that allows schools to pay over a two and five year long payment plan, each child paying an average of Shs800 per term.

    Since Impact Water’s inception, 650,000 students in 1300 schools have been able to access safe drinking water thanks to its systems.

    Impact Water is looking to expand further in institutions such as health facilities by specifically targeting bulk sales with non-governmental organisations and via partnerships with school associations.

    For now, the company hopes to extend safe drinking water to 1 million children daily by the end of 2017, reach 5000 schools in Uganda by the end of 2018 and 10,000 schools globally by the end of 2020.

    “Down the road five to ten years from now, I hope that with these meaningful engagements – with school associations for example – that safe drinking water will be expected in the school and that when a parent takes their child to school they know safe drinking water will be available just like food,” Turgesen says.

    http://www.impactwater.co

     

     

     

     

  • Race for sustainable safe drinking water

    Race for sustainable safe drinking water

    Globally, an estimated 663 million people are living without safe water supply. In Nigeria, about 70 million are said to be affected. Experts believe that access to safe water is one of the most-effective instruments in promoting health and reducing poverty. The importance of this commodity was  stressed at this year’s World Water Day celebration. Amid the citizens’ cry for potable water, the government says it is taking steps to meet their need, MUYIWA LUCAS writes. 

    Original Suffer Head”, an album by the late Afro beat king, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, is generally accepted as one of his greatest hits. The song, released in 1981, captures the sufferings of Nigerians in the battle to have access to clean water. Although Fela is no more to see the continued water challenge in the country and beyond, his song, 36 years after its release, remains a constant reminder to the government and stakeholders ofz the importance of having in place, clean water for the populace.

    The need to have sustainable safe drinking water has now become a global issue. It was, therefore, instructive when the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) included this commodity as one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target.

    On March 22, this year’s edition of the World Water Day was celebrated to attain sustainable drinking water for all and direct the attention of government to the plight of people without this essential of life. The theme was: “Why Waste Water?”

    Globally, experts say waste water from homes, cities, industries and agriculture flow back to nature. And that since it is not treated or reused, it pollutes water for drinking, bathing, and irrigation, losing valuable nutrients and other recoverable materials.Therefore, it is believed that reducing and safely treating  waste water will make it available for use.

    At an event to mark the day in Abuja, the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, described waste water as “any water that has been adversely affected in quality by anthropogenic influence,” saying this could originate from a combination of domestic, industrial, commercial or agricultural activities, surface run off or storm water from sewer inflow or infiltration.

    Adamu expressed concern that “no part of Nigeria has fresh water of sufficient quantity and quality that can continually be misused, abused and mismanaged in the way it has been in the past decades without dire consequences.”

    The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs. Rabi Jimeta, said waste-water “as a valuable resource in the secular economy and its safe management is an efficient investment in the health of humans and ecosystems.” Therefore, she said, it is pertinent to situate the place of planning and effective management as the crux of proactive policy to give access  to safe water for drinking and providing water for domestic and economic use in the country. Hence, this year’s theme was a booster for the government to leverage the recycling technology as obtainable in other countries with more difficulties to access  water, in resolving multi-sector demands of water in Nigeria to boost sustainable development.

     

    Staggering statistics

    Investment in water infrastructure will play a major role in every nation’s plan for development. As an essential component of national economies, huge investments in water have more benefits towards attaining many of government’s policies. This is why stakeholders are of the opinion that without critically looking at the water sector, it may not be feasible to create and maintain more jobs across the economy because of its usage across the entire economy.

    For instance, a 2016 report of the United Nations World Water Development said half of the global workforce is employed in eight water and natural resource-dependent industries. It is, therefore, pertinent to note that sustainable water management leading to access to clean and safe water is critical to improved living standards and social inclusion. Beyond sanitation, the report further said, only proactive water management can be annexed to drive the green growth and sustainable development. The report disclosed that Africa has about nine percent of the world’s fresh water resources. In  a similar vein, the World Bank reports that African agriculture is mostly rain fed farming; regrettably less than 10 percent of the available cultivated land is irrigated. This places more responsibilities on the imperatives of effective water management to feed humans and animals, as well as maintain its nutritional demands. UNICEF also reported that about 70 million Nigerians lacked  access to safe drinking water, and over 110 million lacked access to improved sanitation in 2013. According to the world body, about 124,000 children under the age of five die because of diarrhoea, mainly due to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene. Lack of adequate water and sanitation are also major causes of other diseases, including respiratory infection and under-nutrition.

    “Conversely, neglecting water issues runs the risk of imposing serious negative impacts on economies, livelihoods and populations with potentially catastrophic and extremely costly results. Unsustainable management of water and other natural resources can cause severe damages to economies and to society, thus reversing many poverty reduction, job creation and hard-won development gains,” the report stated.

     

    Govt effort

    Adamu  hinted of government’s thinking to include water recycling as a target policy to manage wastewater for agriculture, sanitation and other uses for disease control, food security and job creation in realisation of  the “Change” mission and diversification effort of the President Buhari’s administration.

    To achieve this and change the face of the sector, the Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, noted that it requires multi-level partnership and synergies for the effective implementation of the agenda, as no single individual or government agency can meet the required development needed all alone.

     

    The journey so far

    Although the country has made substantial progress in developing policies and strategies for water supply and sanitation service delivery, translating these into deliverable actions are challenges confronting the nation. Notwithstanding though, stakeholders are quick to point out that in the last one year, government’s effort has been commendable. For instance, within this period, the administration has provided water and sanitation facilities to Nigerians to end open defecation. The Executive Director of Water supply and sanitation collaboration Council (WSSCC), Mr. Chris Williams, supported the initiative with $5 million through its Global Sanitation Fund for the implementation of sanitation and hygiene promotion activities across six local government areas (LGA’s) in Benue and Cross River states. Non-availability of sanitation and hygiene affects the health of women. The need to provide it will reduce mortality rate.

    Also, the government was able to initiate a bilateral engagement to organise an international conference on Lake Chad to draw international attention to the drastic drying up of the Lake Chad basin in order to save the over 47 million people  living around the lake who depend solely on it for farming, fishing, livestock production as well as water supply for drinking/sanitation. The Lake Chad Basin Commission and Power China International Group Limited have signed a memorandum of understanding to actualise the transfer of water from the Congo basin to Lake Chad basin.

    Importantly, the implementation of the Rural sanitation and Hygiene Promotion in Nigeria (RUSHPIN) is a  project across six LGA’s in Benue State and Cross River State. It is a five-year sanitation and hygiene project  which seeks to stop open defecation through the construction of toilets and shallow wells with hand pump. The project has yielded success in three LGA’s across Cross River State.

    Other commendable efforts include the commencement of work on the Adada Dam River site project which has about 1.4 million cubic meters of water capacity. The dam is expected to serve Nsukka community and environs by providing adequate potable drinking water and for other domestic users. Commencement of nationwide construction of boreholes to address the need of internally displaced persons’ (IDP’s) access to water. The ministry has also partnered the Katsina State Government to complete Zobe Regional water supply project. Zobe regional water supply was conceived in 1992 to meet the water supply shortfall in Katsina State. Also, the N5.9 billion water supply projects which will supply water to Otuoke, and 12 other communities in Bayelsa State has been inaugurated, just as there has been a  technical audit of 117 abandoned water projects; 25 per cent of the viable ones will be completed this year.

    The launching of the recently gazetted water use  licence 2016 is another landmark. The document will address a lot of issues like protection, conservation, control, equitable development and maintenance of environmental integrity of the nation’s freshwater and non-freshwater, including its strategies for achieving set goals in the sector.

     

    The Road Map

    The government has also put in place a roadmap to stimulate activities in the water sector. The roadmap will: establish a policy and regulatory framework for the water sector; prioritise and implement the Ministry’s Projects; see to the development and implementation of a National Irrigation Development Programme between 2016-2030,  to boost food production; development and implementation of a National Water Supply and Sanitation Programme to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); development of a blueprint to strengthen the River Basin Development Authorities as enablers for food  security and socio-economic development; identifying alternative sources for funding the delivery of Water Supply and Sanitation through enhanced collaboration with Development Partners, States and Local Government Authorities, Communities and the Private Sector.

    To actualise the Roadmap, Adamu said there is a strong collaboration with Federal Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Power, Finance, Budget & National Planning, Environment, Health, as well as Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Bureau for Public Enterprises, state governments and other stakeholders.

    “I am confident that implementation of the Roadmap will be accelerated as we move into the third quarter of the year and beyond,” a confident Adamu said.

  • We struggle with cows to get drinking water

    We struggle with cows to get drinking water

    Kuchingworo, Pyakasa and several other communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)  are currently plagued by difficulty in getting  potable water and consequently suffering from water borne diseases.

    Checks in the affected areas showed that a good number of the residents, struggle with cows to get water from streams. In fact, some residents get drinking water from the same spot they bath and wash their clothes.

    Sauka Mapanyi community in Kuje Area Council of the FCT is one of  the embattled community.  The only borehole in the community has never functioned since it was constructed forcing the residents to compete with  cows to get water to drink. Salisu Ladan, the leader of the community  said that residents of the community have to struggle with cattle from the only stream in the community for water to drink. “We always  struggle with cows before we get water to fetch. Sometimes, we fight with Fulani herdsmen before we get water since the borehole is not pumping water. We are really suffering and daily  risking our lives  in the hands of the herdsmen all in the name of looking for  water to drink and meet other domestic needs”.

    The story of residents of Passali 2 community in the Kuje Area Council of the FCT is another pathetic  case as the residents still drink from the same place where they wash their clothes and bath. They care less about the unhygienic practice since they have no alternative to the water they get from the stream.

    The head of the community, Joseph Makerri, said: “We drink from the river although the water is not good. It is so bad that you will find it difficult to wash or bath with the water we drink. We are farmers and there is no other source of water in the community that we can drink from. We do not care to boil the water before drinking it. The hope that we have is that  some people have started digging wells from which we may be getting  cleaner water.”

    Kuchingworo is just about 10 minutes drive from Abuja city centre. It is located few meters away from Umaru Musa Yar’adua expressway leading to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. It is home to a large number of workers both in the public and private sector. But this community, like many others spread around the Federal Capital Territory lacks basic infrastructure to make life comfortable for the residents. It lacks potable water, good access roads, drainages, among others. It boasts of only a primary school and a health centre established by the local government.

    Bode Olagoke, a journalist who resides in the community told The Nation that water vendors make brisk business daily selling water to the residents. He said that  a 20-liter of water is sold for N25, adding: “I buy six kegs of water every day and there are people who buy more than that. We don’t have pipe borne water supply from the FCT Water Board and I know that the government spent billions of naira to connect to the federal capital. Some people spend up to N400 daily on water, depending on their water usage”.

    He also lamented the nature of the community which he said lacks proper planning and wants the government to remember the community in its future plans.

    A few kilometres away from there  is Pyakasa community where the residents also have to make do with water vendors for their daily needs. Unlike Kuchingworo, it is located behind a vast expanse of land where the government has created series of motorable roads that are currently not in use because houses have not been built there. Unfortunately for them, the road construction ended right on the edge of the community. Francis Oboh, a resident, told The Nation that even though many workers reside in the community, both the Abuja Municipal Area Council and the FCT administration have not deemed it necessary to remember them and give them good water supply.

    The residents, he said, are forced to buy water from water vendors daily for their household needs or resort to fetching water from wells  dug in almost every house in the area.

    Boreholes sunk by individuals in the area provide water for the residents of the community located about five minutes drive from the Lugbe Federal Housing Estate and it is a common sight to see water vendors parading the whole community, pushing their truck and selling water to residents. Another resident of the community who simply identify herself as Faith, said she spends about N400 daily buying water, especially when she has laundry to do.

    The story is not different for residents of Dutse Alhaji located a few kilometres away from the multi billion naira Lower Usman Dam which supplies water to the FCT. Investigations revealed that despite being close to the dam, residents do not have access to potable water. Some of them told The Nation that they are yet to fathom why they have to spend so much buying water from water vendors, while those who cannot afford to do that resort to the use of wells for their water needs.

    “I wonder why the government is finding it difficult to provide us with water when the dam providing water to the rest of Abuja is located just less than two kilometres away from here. In spite of their failure,  they boast daily of providing water to the people. Are we not part of the FCT that the Lower Usman Dam is supposed to serve? I have read in the papers the billions of naira they claim to have spent on this project and yet, many of the surrounding communities don’t  have water. Do you know that some communities around here drink water from the River?” a resident said.

    The Nation also gathered that residents of the community sometimes had to go to an other neighbouring community to fetch water from burst pipes conveying water from the Lower Usman Dam thereby exposing them to water borne diseases. The burst pipes from where they get water are located a few meters away from Jabu community.

    At the entrance to the community is a spring. Around it, the villagers have smartly built a block of bricks to make it easy for them to scoop water. The water gushes out of the pipe ceaselessly and flows gently down a furrow into the nearby bush.

    Interestingly, one of the components of the Millennium Development Goals, is to reduce  the number of the population without  access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. The government has consistently said that it was committed to the provision of water to all Nigerians. Through the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDG, the government has said that the provision of potable water for all Nigerians remains one of its major focuses.

    The Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Ochekpe, recently, was quoted to have said  that the government has provided water for a vast majority of Nigerians.

    In its report on the implementation of the MDG goals, the National Bureau of Statistics said that water supply to urban centres across the country has increased considerably to about 74.6 percent as against 57 percent in the rural areas.

    However, the statistics released by the bureau and  the MDG’s office revealed a slight difference. The MDG office states that the number of people with access to  improved source and use of improved drinking water stood at 62.20 per cent which is 14.8 per cent less than the MDG’s benchmark of 77 per cent.

    Investigations around the FCT revealed that several communities across the territory are drinking unclean water from ponds and streams, while several others either drink from wells or buy water from water vendors who on their part patronize boreholes sunk by some wealthy individuals. There are motorized boreholes also in some of the communities, but majority of these are sunk by individuals.

    Kwaita community in Kuje Area Council is not that lucky to get water from such wells.  The only borehole sunk for them by the government has not worked for a long time.

    When our reporter visited the community located along the Abuja/Lokoja highway, the  residents were busy fetching  murky water from a well. A resident of the community who identified himself simply as Mallam Musa said the community is dire need quality water supply. He appealed to government to come to their aid.

    Another community suffering from lack of potable water supply is Several other communities around the FCT are suffering from the same fate and they are daily crying to government to come to their aid and save them from water borne diseases which is ravaging  the areas.

  • WHO/UNICEF highlights need to improve drinking water

    WHO/UNICEF highlights need to improve drinking water

    According to a new WHO/UNICEF report, entitled Progress on drinking water and sanitation: 2014 update, the number of people practising open defecation is declining steadily in most areas of the world, but is still increasing in 26 of 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to the transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid. In addition, inadequate or absent water and sanitation services in health care facilities put already vulnerable patients at additional risk of infection and disease according to the report.

    Those with no access to a sanitation facility continue to defecate in gutters, behind bushes or in open water bodies, with no dignity or privacy. Nine out of 10 people who practise open defecation live in rural areas.

    “The vast majority of those without improved sanitation are poorer people living in rural areas. Progress on rural sanitation – where it has occurred – has primarily benefitted richer people, increasing inequalities,” said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.

    “Too many people still lack a basic level of drinking water and sanitation. The challenge now is to take concrete steps to accelerate access to disadvantaged groups. An essential first step is to track better who, when and how people access improved sanitation and drinking water, so we can focus on those who don’t yet have access to these basic facilities,” she added.

    Overall, the world is not on track to meet the sanitation target in the Millennium Development Goals; 69 countries were not on track in 2012, 36 of them were located in sub-Saharan Africa.

    According to the call to action on sanitation issued by the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations in March 2013, “open defecation perpetuates the vicious cycle of disease and poverty. Those countries where open defecation is most widely practised have the highest numbers of deaths of children under the age of five, as well as high levels of undernutrition, high levels of poverty and large disparities between the rich and poor.

    “There are also strong gender impacts: lack of safe, private toilets makes women and girls vulnerable to violence and is an impediment to girls’ education”.

    In addition to the disparities between the rich and poor, and between urban and rural areas, there are often also striking differences within towns and cities. People living in low-income, informal or illegal settlements on the outskirts of cities or small towns are less likely to have access to an improved water supply or better sanitation.

    “When we fail to provide equal access to improved water sources and sanitation we are failing the poorest and the most vulnerable children and their families,” said Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. “If we hope to see children healthier and better educated, there must be more equitable and fairer access to improved water and sanitation.”

    As we approach the 2015 Millennium Development Goals deadline, the lessons, successes and remaining challenges are becoming increasingly clear. Although sub-Saharan Africa is not on track to meet the MDGs drinking water target, progress has still been made.

    “Since 2000, almost a quarter of the current population gained access to an improved drinking water source – that is, on average, over 50 000 people per day, every day, for 12 years in a row,” states the report.

    “In 1990, 95 per cent of people in urban areas could drink improved water, compared with 62 per cent people in rural ones. By 2012, 96 per cent people living in towns and 82 per cent of those in rural areas had access to improved water”.

    In 2012, over 50 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa’s population is now using improved drinking water sources. Despite progress, more progress is needed – much more.

     

    Dr Couillard is an international health columnist that works in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s goals of disease prevention and control. Views do not necessarily reflect endorsement.

     

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