Upscale: The Safe Water Review, Aug 2012. 300in6.org
As a quarterly popular science journal,UPSCALE reviews progress in scaling-upthe selection and adoption of safe household treatment of water, and of services of decentralised treatment in the proximity, where there is no (safe) pipe,in low-income communities.
In this issue:
Status of National Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage Policies in Selected Countries, 2012. WHO.
Household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) is a proven intervention to improve drinking-water quality and reduce diarrhoeal disease. Achieving meaningful health gains from HWTS requires scaling-up of the intervention to those populations most at risk. Such scaling-up depends, in large part, on national enabling environments and policies. To assess the status of national HWTS policies and regulations and progress towards the global policy targets, WHO conducted a brief survey.
This report details the responses from this survey and categorizes countries into three tiers of readiness to scale-up HWTS. Based on identified challenges, greater support is needed to develop and implement national HWTS policies, encourage integration with other health interventions and diarrhoeal disease prevention efforts, and strengthen monitoring, evaluation and regulation.
Evidence Matters, Aug 2012
Safe drinking water: Who is willing to pay the price?
This issue is based on a recent systematic review of people’s willingness to pay for cleaner water.
Over 700 million people lack access to safe drinking water. Piping water to all households is too expensive and not sustainable in rural areas where families live far apart and maintenance would be difficult. Where piped water is not available, a variety of point-of-use technologies have been developed, including locally-produced ceramic filters, chlorination, solar disinfection, or simply boiling the water.
Used in combination with safe storage containers that allow users to access water without actually touching it with dirty fingers, thus preventing recontamination, these methods are inexpensive and can substantially improve the quality of the water. Evidence shows the health benefits of drinking clean water. Treating water can reduce the prevalence of diarrhoea by up to 70 percent. So why does a child die every 15 seconds from waterborne diseases when inexpensive technologies are available?
A recent systematic review asks: are people willing to pay for clean water and is pricing the only factor influencing how people view its benefits? The review summarises research from Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya and Zambia.
Policy messages
Cambodia – Distribution of Ceramic Water Purifiers through Direct Sales and Retail Sales Pilots in Cambodia, 2012.
Prepared for:PATH. Prepared by: Abt Associates Inc.
Introduction – The PATH Safe Water Project (SWP) aims to develop sustainable distribution models for ensuring access to Household Water Treatment and SPATH Safe Water Storage (HWTS) products, together with promoting sustained use of those products over time by low-income populations. Pilot commercial models are implemented in several countries to assess and refine various HWTS products and business approaches.
In Cambodia, the SWP piloted two models for the distribution of a branded ceramic water purifier (CWP) Tunsai and an improved-design version introduced through the pilot under the brand Super Tunsai. The models included a retail sales model using existing retailers at the community/village level, and a direct sales model. The direct sales model had two variants: a door-to-door sales pilot and a pilot implemented through a partnership with a microfinance institution (MFI) which provided loans for the purchase of the promoted brands of CWP.
The retail sales model tested three different CWP price points through coupon-based discounts to consumers. PATH’s partners in the pilots were Hydrologic Social Enterprise, manufacturer and distributor of Tunsai, and VisionFund, a MFI operating in 17 provinces across Cambodia. This report presents the results from an evaluation of the pilots conducted by Abt Associates in 2010-2011
Distribution of Chujio Ceramic Water Purifier through a Basket of Goods Model in Rural Kenya, 2012.
Evaluation of a Pilot Partnership between Chujio Ceramics and the Safe Water and AIDS Project.
Prepared for: PATH; Prepared by: Abt Associates Inc.
Introduction – PATH’s Safe Water Project (SWP) aims to assess gaps in the household water treatment and safe storage market and to determine how well private sector companies can successfully and sustainably reach lower-income consumers with effective household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) products.
The basket-of-goods model is one of a number of pilot projects that PATH and partners undertook in Kenya and other countries to find ways of overcoming distribution and marketing barriers that make it difficult for manufacturers of household water treatment and safe storage products to penetrate lowerincome markets. Abt Associates lead the evaluation of the SWP pilots.
Objectives of the Pilot – The basket-of-goods model piloted in Kenya seeks to test whether a network of micro-entrepreneurs distributing a basket of health and household products, such as the vendor network of the Safe Water and Aids Project (SWAP), can be leveraged to promote and distribute the Chujio ceramic water purifier to consumers sustainably, and the extent to which such a model can increase uptake and use of the ceramic water purifier among low- and middle-income consumers.
The key questions for the basket-of-goods model are:
Pilot Description - The basket-of-goods pilot of the SWP was implemented in the Nyanza and Western provinces of Kenya. The pilot was implemented in partnership with Chujio Ceramics, the manufacturer of the Chujio ceramic water pot (CWP) filter, and SWAP, a non-governmental organization managing a network of vendors selling a basket of health and household products door-to-door. The pilot was implemented for seven months from December 2010 to June 2011 and covered an estimated 56,000 households1 through the 800 SWAP groups in Nyanza province.
From: Julie Straw, MPH
CARE USA Water Team
SWASH+ is an action-research and advocacy project focused on increasing the scale, impact and sustainability of school water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions in Kenya. Since September 2006, SWASH+ has collaborated with teachers and students in 185 primary schools in four districts in Nyanza Province, Kenya to identify challenges and analyze innovative solutions for sustaining school WASH. The project’s randomized controlled trials and numerous sub-studies have resulted in a compendium of research publications, one-page research summaries, stories from the field, photo essays and short films now available for the public on the new SWASH+ website. 
Six years of research was not conducted to simply share findings among academics and non-government organizations; from day 1 the project was designed with a strong advocacy-for-policy-change to reach successful implementation of school WASH throughout Kenya. The Government of Kenya has been a key contributor and the ultimate target audience for the lessons and recommendations from the SWASH+ project.
This research-based advocacy approach has led to wide-spread change across Kenya. SWASH+ research directly contributed to the Kenya’s Ministry of Education decision to double funding for school WASH ($840,000/year) with potentially more to come. This increase makes a difference in whether or not a school is able to purchase consumables such as soap, WaterGuard for treating water, and latrine cleaning supplies – thus affecting student wellbeing and attendance. Research also brought national attention to the menstrual hygiene needs of young women in Kenya, resulting in Kenyan government allocation of $3.4 million for sanitary pads for school girls this year. SWASH+ research also impacted the adoption of new curriculum and…(want to read more? Check out the new SWASH+ website)
Procedia Engineering, Volume 33, 2012, Pages 254–260
Coagulation Flocculation Test of Keddara’s Water Dam Using Chitosan and Sulfate Aluminium
Hassiba Zemmouria, et al.
Chitosan is a natural polymer prepared from crab, shrimp and lobster shells. It has been used as coagulant in watertreatment to avoid the human health problems caused by the residual aluminum and chemical polymers in water. In this study, the raw water from Keddara dam characterized by low turbidity was treated using chitosan as primary flocculant and as coagulant aid with aluminum sulfate. The result shows that chitosan was not too efficient as alum, if it is used as primary coagulant for treating Keddara raw water.
However, when chitosan was applied as coagulation aid agent with aluminum sulfate, highest turbidity removal (97%) was carried out with 0.2 mgl-1of chitosan after 45 minutes of settling time. The organic carbon contribution on the coagulation flocculation performance is negligible because chitosan is used in small doses. Hence, chitosan could be used as natural coagulant aid for drinking watertreatment with lowest risks of organic release.
CLEAN – Soil, Air, Water, Volume 40, Issue 8, pages 798–807, August 2012
Designing Iron-Amended Biosand Filters for Decentralized Safe Drinking Water Provision
Chicgoua Noubactep, et al.
There are ongoing efforts to render conventional biosand filters (BSF) more efficient for safe drinking water provision. One promising option is to amend BSF with a reactive layer containing metallic iron (Fe0). The present communication presents some conceptual options for efficient Fe0-amended BSF in its fourth generation. It is shown that a second fine-sand layer should be placed downwards from the Fe0-reactive layer to capture dissolved iron.
This second fine-sand layer could advantageously contain adsorbing materials (e.g. activated carbons, wooden charcoals). An approach for sizing the Fe0-reactive layer is suggested based on 3 kg Fe0 per filter. Working with the same Fe0 load will ease comparison of results with different materials and the scaling up of household BSF to large scale community slow sand filters (SSF).
Source – WASHfunders Blog, Aug 17, 2012
Editor’s Note: This guest post was authored by Malaika Cheney-Coker, the learning and influencing advisor of the Water Team at CARE USA. Her work includes support on internal and external communications, the application and use of monitoring and evaluation tools, and technical guidance on learning strategies and activities within partnership programs of the Water Team. In this post, Malaika discusses the implications of a school WASH project study on action-research projects.
In the summer of 2007, SWASH+, a school WASH project in Nyanza Province, Kenya, with a large and complex research operation, conducted a small study. The study was a simple identification of the recurrent costs needed to pay for materials and for labor to maintain and repair water containers, stands, taps, and to re-purchase soap and water purification items. Very different from the larger randomized controlled trials and studies being conducted by the project, this study cost little and did not require a large research team (it was conducted by a graduate student over the course of a summer) or complex design and analysis. However, the findings of this simple cost research were immediately adopted by the Ministry of Education and resulted in a doubling of the Ministry’s Free Primary Education allotment for electricity, water, and conservancy — a budget line item that schools have traditionally used to pay for WASH costs.
Parent volunteer helps monitor school WASH conditions by ensuring soapy water is available for hand-washing, drinking water is treated, and latrines are clean. Credit: CARE / Brendan Bannon, Kenya, 2012
From this experience, the SWASH+ team gained some important insights into how action-research projects can achieve results:
Water safety planning for small community water supplies: Step-by-step risk management guidance for drinking-water supplies in small communities, 2012.
World Health Organization.
The WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality recommends the application of a comprehensive risk assessment and risk management approach called Water Safety Plans (WSPs) to most effectively ensure the safety of drinking-water supplies. The WSP approach is systematic, comprehensive, cost-effective and appropriate in a wide range of circumstances and thus are an important tool for small community water supplies.
This manual is designed to engage, empower and guide communities in the WSP development and implementation process. Guidance is provided on how to develop and implement a WSP through six achievable tasks. By following the WSP approach as described in this manual, small communities can improve the management of their drinking-water systems to achieve incremental and sustainable improvements in their drinking-water quality.
