Our Clean Water Work
A Partnership with the Department of Family Medicine @ University of Rochester
A beneficiary of our Greater Good Project in 2006
Introduction
The Department of Family Medicine (DFM) at the University of Rochester operates a Global Health Program. The Department has partnered with a non-governmental organization called Shoulder to Shoulder and a rural community called San Jose San Marcos de la Sierra in the Southwestern state of Intibuca, Honduras. The needs of the target community are great. By listening to the concerns of the local community members and performing qualitative community assessment, the DFM is creating interventions designed to address the common problems. The following are a summary of the problems and possible solutions related to water.
The San Jose Area
San Jose San Marcos de la Sierra is a poor mountainous rural community. The San Jose township is composed of 7 villages that are spread over 5 square miles. An estimated 2,000 people live in the area. There is no local industry so most people farm small plots of land and work as migrant farm workers during the harvest season picking coffee. The majority of people live on less than $1 US a day. The 5 main problems identified by community members are: lack of water, malnutrition, limited education, limited access to health care, and poverty. In most people's minds, water is the biggest problem. The DFM is addressing each concern, but our church's Greater Good Project donated $30,000 to help address water specifically. Here is how our money is helping.
The Water Problem
In the entire region, water is scarce and the surface water is contaminated. Poor hygiene and lack of latrines further worsens water quality. During the six month rainy season, most women and children can find surface water within a 30-45 minute hike up or down a mountainside. During the six month dry season it is not uncommon for them to spend up to two hours a day collecting water. This time and energy spent collecting water takes away from other important activities such as child care and education. Carrying water burns additional calories that most people cannot afford to lose. Many families in the area cannot afford more than about 5 cents/month to support water systems.
Possible Water Solutions
Given the extremely limited water resources, the poverty and the limited educational level of most residents, solutions to the water problem must be simple, affordable and able to be maintained with limited or no external input. Finding low cost reliable methods to purify contaminated water presents another challenge.
Local springs
In a small number of cases, we hpe to improve local springs by building retaining walls and piping water downhill so that access points are closer to people's dwellings. However, only a small number of community members will benefit from this.
Water storage tanks
Building water storage tanks and using gutters to collect rain water is a proven technology that requires no energy inputs, can be built and repaired using locally available materials and delivers the water right to the dwelling. Our group is using a technology called ferro-cement to reduce the cost of a 4,500 gallon tank to about $1300 per unit. This technique significantly reduces materials and is a proven method used for over 50 years.
Water Quality
Even when adequate water is present, it is contaminated and can lead to illness such as diarrhea. Simple low-cost solutions need to be introduced that can be made locally, are affordable and are acceptable to local populations. The following techniques are being explored to improve water quality.
Slow sand filter
(picture at right) It is possible to purify water to more than 99.99% pure using just a plastic barrel, rocks, sand and a small amount of PVC pipe. These slow sand filters are being introduced into the area and studied for performance and local acceptance. The cost to build a slow sand filter is under $40 US.
Clay-pot home filter
A small home-level filter that is composed of a silver-impregnated clay pot and a five gallon plastic pail is another possible low cost filter solution being explored. Made in Honduras, these filters cost about $15 each. Every 2 years the clay pot needs to be re-charged with silver at a cost of $5.
Flocculation and chlorination unit
A small number of community members live near a large river that flows year round. The river is very polluted and full of silt. To reduce the silt, a simple mixing tank built with local supplies and a chemical called Alum is used to clear the water. After the water is cleared, chlorine is added to purify the water. Current estimates suggest all drinking water for a family can be provided for about 5 cents/month.
For more information contact church members:
Barbara_gawinski@urmc.rochester.edu
mjcurry@warner.rochester.edu
For donations: fotoshonduras.com.
December 12 2007