12th June 2009
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| Water for Kids is helping Zambian EHOs to provide safe water and ensure adequate sanitation in one of the poorest countries in the world. Sara Emanuel reports |
Five Water for Kids members were delighted to discover in May that their partners in the Zambian Institute of Environmental Health had completed two water installations, in Fumbelo and Chipapa.
The Zambian government says it is on target to meet the Millennium Development Goals for water and sanitation by 2015. But it is not able to fund much of the badly needed infrastructure itself. WfK is making a small but significant contribution towards these life saving targets not only in Zambia, but also in Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda.
The partnership between WfK and ZIEH goes from strength to strength. The success of the projects in Fumbelo and Chipapa show that working with overseas EHOs is a good way to provide safe and sustainable water supplies and also adequate sanitation and hygiene education.
Like many in Africa, the communities of Fumbelo and Chipapa have suffered from high levels of water-borne diseases, including cholera. Now up to 20,000 people will benefit from having safe water close to their home for the first time.
Fumbelo is at the edge of the capital, Lusaka, something between a village and a shanty town. Until March, 15,000 people living there had to get water from two shallow wells, which dry up for one to two months of the year and were likely to be contaminated. The nearest safe water was 2km away.
To cater for the density of population in Fumbelo, ZIEH advised building a water kiosk. It has six taps for people to draw water without much of a queue and also doubles up as a shop. The person running the shop will look after the water system and collect a fee (a small fraction of a penny for 20 litres and vulnerable people will be exempt). In lieu of rent they will pay for the electricity that powers the pump, supplying water to the two 10,000 litre tanks from the newly drilled borehole.
The village water committee will be responsible for the water installation and the money raised will pay for servicing and maintenance. The environmental health technologist for Fumbelo has been giving door-to-door advice on the hygienic use of water, so the WfK installation is timely.
Last month, the water supply was handed over to the Fumbelo community by Natasha Franklin, WfK chair. Thanking her, the mayor of Lusaka said: ‘Lusaka continues to experience perennial outbreaks of cholera and other water-borne diseases due to inadequate clean water supplies. This project will not only improve the health of the people of Fumbelo, but will also enhance the development of the area.’
Research is be carried out to assess the benefits of the safe water supply to the people.
The second project was originally intended to supply safe water to Chipapa Clinic, which serves a rural community of 10,756 people living in a large area 30km south of Lusaka. But we soon realised there would be enough water to supply taps at a local school and a market and in three villages, as well as the clinic.
The clinic is always full of people, seeking maternity and under-fives check-ups as well as health care for the unwell. It also has a delivery room. Until September 2008, staff had to queue at a borehole 1km away to collect water.
The work to provide water to the clinic and the surrounding area was managed by the ZIEH, with the help of Mathew Chansa, environmental health technologist based at Chipapa Clinic. The work involved relining the borehole, installing a pump and mounting two 5,000-litre water tanks on a tower. Pipes were laid and standpipes erected for the use of people in the adjacent houses and those in the nearest village. In addition, a bank of taps were installed at the school, which has 270 pupils, and at the market. In the clinic, the delivery room now has a flushing toilet, a hand basin and a shower and the two treatment rooms have hand washing facilities with running water for the first time.
All this has been provided at a cost of £17,500. Charity supporter Ged Pike raised the money to pay for the water supply in Chipapa on the death of his wife Jan. He had identified WfK as a suitable charity through its website. He came on the study tour to Zambia in 2007 to ensure the money would be put to good use.
As WfK secretary, I handed over the water system to the water committee last month. Among many messages of thanks and appreciation, the Kafue district director of health said collecting water was time consuming for the staff at the clinic. At times, the pump broke down and health standards were compromised.
He added: ‘Now that is history. I hope that diarrhoeal and water-borne diseases will reduce.’ He asked the WfK representatives to ‘convey our special thanks to the people of the UK for their generosity and for having helped us realise the dream of having safe water’.
Further works are under way in Chipapa to refurbish a second borehole, to increase the supply to the water tower. This will mean there will be enough water for standpipes to be provided in two more villages. Local people will dig the trenches for the pipes, as they did for the first phase of the Chipapa project. The whole installation will then provide safe water for up to 4,000 people and should make a big difference to the health of the community.
Most households in Fumbelo and Chipapa already have a pit latrine toilet but many are not adequate. Now, local EHTs will advise households on how to improve their sanitation.
Two types of training will be organised for local people using the new water installations. First, sessions will be run for the water committee members and other community leaders on the hygienic use of the water and to explain the importance of good sanitation and waste disposal. They will train other members of the community to ensure good practices to minimise the spread of diseases. Second, a few individuals from each community will be trained to carry out simple maintenance and repair of the installations.
A critical factor in the success of these projects has been the dedication and commitment of project manager, Greenford Sikazwe, who has overseen the planning and construction and ensured good value for money.
We hope in the next year or two that WfK will be able to fund more projects. One involves building wells with elephant pumps for a sparsely populated rural area 40km from Lusaka. The project will be carried out with Village Water, a charity set up by the British Association of Dowsers.
Another project will provide water sanitation and hygiene education for a remote village in the Western Province of Zambia, reached by crossing a flood plain, which is only possible four months of the year. Also in view for help is a densely-populated area near Lusaka, where many people have to walk more than 1 km for water.