Status of past project(s)

By Project Well Posted on Sun 20 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

Some of the questions may have been asked before: (1) what is the status report of the project that will be completed in august 2009? (2) the pictures are fab and in one it shows that the water from few taps were wasted, is there individual stop valve system or is there only one main valve to control the flow from all the taps? (3) Please enlighten me, is the gravity flow water system being treated at all? What about harmful contaminants collected on the way down, are they removed at the point of use? (4) Studies show that bacterial contamination occur after the point of use, the collecting buckets are seen to be new and clean, would it be the same after 3 years down the road? Is there any knowledge imparted to the users regarding maintaining proper practice of personal hygiene and how to keep the collecting vessel clean? I am sure with 30 years of experience you know what you are doing and it is important to have the system set up to be sustainable and does not lead to another problem in future. Thank you.

Status of past project(s)

By Protos Posted on Sun 20 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

Just some comments and pieces of answers.
One has to understand the context where this project is happening:
- 10 years of war displaced more than 1 M people; 44% of the girls between 16 and 21 have been raped; ethnic genocide has been committed in great parts of the project zone.
- DR Congo has no formel local authorities, no water policy, no public service delivery outside the main cities.
- In the rural areas (Muhito, Logo) there is no monetary economy, for the limited services they people have, they pay in kind - e.g. work on the field of the school teacher. In Aru and Mahagi - close to the Ugandan border, and more urban, there is some trade and monetary economy but no low, no rules.
In this context, 10 of the 11 WUC and water schemes do still work. During the war, different ethnic groups continued to meet in the WUC - the only place where they met ! Water schemes, offices of the WUC or there stocks have never been attacked.
More detailed answers on the questions raised by Meera:
1°) We started on April 1st with a 3 year program for rehabilitation and organisational reconstruction of the 11 WUC and schemes. The 4 mentionned water schemes are prioritised for the first year.
2°) One of the objectives of the rehabilitation is to reintroduce water meters, stop valves and sofort. The pictures you see are taken at the non-rehabilitated water scheme; I don't of course have no pictures of the rehabilitated water scheme. Water meters and valves have not been replaced in the recent years since they were not available in the region (remember the war).
3°) There is no water treatment. Spring catchment is done through a sophisticated drainage system in the mountains and delivers safe water in the system. The decentralised reservoirs in each neighbourhood are regularly cleaned with a chloride solution. Water quality is monitored with the DelAqua-kit. Adding a chemical treatment is not an option since i) the costs, ii) problems with technology and availability of pieces.
4°) There is a sensitisation on "water hygiene" in each neighbourhood with great succes; the project will try to build on this to integrate also sensitisation on hygiene, basic sanitation and so on.
Stef

My comments sometimes overlap with some of those above.

By East Meets West Foundation Posted on Wed 23 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

This proposal is a little confusing to me, as there are several different components in the proposal that seem to overlap. Under details, you mentioned that “sustainable access will be secured for 40,000 people using four existing systems”, and an additional 3,500 people four existing systems providing coverage for. Then you mention seven other water committees (in charge of other nearby systems) that will involved in training activities.

What exactly are you planning on doing to sustain access for 40,000 people? Spring protection and tank construction? How much will that cost? Surely more than $8,200. You should specify exactly what that $8,200 will be spent on. It is not clear in your attached budget.

Your spreadsheet doesn’t seem to include any community co-financing for water or sanitation. Aren’t they required to pay at last some of the cost of the facilities and services? Your spreadsheet needs to be broken out into all the relevant components, including parts and materials (separated for water supply, sanitation construction, training, hygiene promotion, etc.

For example, if 2,000 people will get sanitation, how much will that cost? Typical pour-flush family latrines run about $100 each. At five people per family (just my guess) that’s 400 latrines or a total of $40,000 to the project, unless there is a household contribution (which there should be) to reduce the cost to the project and to demonstrate ownership. Typically, individual families should pay at least 75% of the construction cost, leaving 25% for the project subsidy (if any).

My comments sometimes overlap with some of those above.

By Protos Posted on Wed 23 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

OK Ricky, let me try to clarify.
CIDRI - our Congolese partner - assists 11 water users committees managing each their own system - constructed with support from PROTOS in the last 25 years and serving more than 200.000 people.
This proposal will:
- rehabilitate the main constructions of 4 water schemes - serving 40.000 people; the rehabilitation of their distribution network is the responsibility of the water committee and is fully financed by the water users;
- extend these 4 water schemes so that 3.500 additional persons can be served;
- provide training to all of the 11 water committees on hygiene education and management tools.
Details of the budget are shown in the additional file I added two hours ago.
No budget is asked for construction of sanitation facilities. If the social studies in the villages show needs and interest for these facilities, after the hygiene education, PROTOS will provide additional funds for the construction of some demonstration latrines.
We don't see the added value of detailing the specific interventions covered by the eventual 8.200 USD grant of BPR since this is a cofinancing mechanism. For CIDRI, they need 82.000 USD for their program and we need the 8.200 USD as a leverage to get the other 72.800 USD. CIDRI does't work with 8.200 USD for work A and 72.800 USD for the rest. We are talking about an integrated program where BPR is one of the cofunding partners.
Best regards,
Stef

money transfer and water analysis

By Project Well Posted on Wed 23 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

Hi Stef, thanks for your response and explanation. This project is indeed a real challenging one and one should not step back no matter what constraints they have to face because somebody need to start somewhere to alleviate peoples' living conditions in the war torn areas. 1. I am interestested to know that last week some money has been 'transferred', where has it been transferred to, I mean to whose account? govt or ngo's?. If it is to the govt. account would you face any delay in getting the money out as happens in most developing countries? 2. Kindly specify the contaminants that are monitored by the DelAqua kit and how often? Can you put up or send some reports of the analysis? 3. regarding 'no pictures are available' because of the prevailing conditions my advice is that just get them a digital camera so that when you or somebody who has access to the computer can get the pictures and put up on the web. Recently we bought a camera for Aqua Welfare Society that is kept in a member's house and used by the group whenever needed. But they are not using as much as I would but learning to document main events. It is important for authenticity and public awareness. Wish you and your team the very best with the challenge ahead.

money transfer and water analysis

By Protos Posted on Fri 25 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

Mira,
1) Thanks for your encouragement.
2) The money we recieved last week is the first part of the Belgian Government Grant. It comes on the account of PROTOS in Belgium. PROTOS is an NGO with HQ in Belgium and subsidiaries in different countries - also in Uganda, our office in charge of this project.
3) DelAgua is used for tests on Chlorine, E-coli, pH and turbidity. Tests are done when the springs are protected and then three or four times a year at the distribution network.
Regards,
Stef

water analysis

By Project Well Posted on Sat 26 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

Hi Stef, Thanks for the response. Did you cross check the report of DelAqua for e-coli with any reliable laboratory located close to the sites? In the last few months was there any incidence of diarhhea that may have been caused by the well water? I know it is hard to assess the cause of diarhea, if any, since you are using the kit so often you would probably have some data right? Meera