Corail sources of water

By Blue Planet Network Posted on Sat 25 Jul 2009, almost 17 years ago

While there is a great deal of detail for the Lambi half of this project, can you expand a bit into the Corail side?
- Explain the two water sources; their capacity; their maintenance issues.
- The locations of the 5 schools with respect to the water sources.
- The means of transporting the water from the source to the school/students.

A photo or two would be very helpful.

More clarification on the actual need would be helpful in understanding the impact of this project.

Thanks,
Rajesh

Corail sources of water

By Pure Water for the World Posted on Mon 27 Jul 2009, almost 17 years ago

Corail -- it is on the mainland and is very remote - 3 hours away from Jeremey, the capital of the department Grande Anse. This is one of the most isolated areas - there is no water treatment available. There is not even the typical kiosk where people can walk to get water.

Schools - There are about 20 schools in the commune of Corail, of which 13 have been targets for our services by MSH. The estimated number of students is 4,000 attending the 20 schools. As you know there is no accurate census of student enrollment.

The five schools are in the center of Corail, the water sources are two near by rivers -- which are polluted. We would start with the first five schools - in the center of the communes which serve the most children. They carry the source water in buckets to the school.

Our project director on his way to Lambi Island, he stayed the night at the hospital in Corail. While Roman Cipus was there, he was asked if PWW could help with water as there was not clean sources of water. As a result of this request and the desperate need of the people, we have made a commitment to help these people.

We do not have a photo available. Roman is in the States until the August 6 and will not be back to Corail until late August as the earliest.

Carolyn

Lambi Island - Population

By Ekoventure Posted on Tue 11 Aug 2009, almost 17 years ago

Good Morning,

In the Proposal it has been mentioned that "The island is 330 feet long and 90 feet wide. There are no trees, no agriculture, no school, no church, no meeting place, no government. But 400 people live there in about 55 houses – depending on the last storm."

The area is just 2700 Sq.metre approximately three-fourth of an acre.
Thus each person gets a space of just 6.75 sq.metre which is really unimaginable.
In such a situation why we should not think of shifting them to the mainland, use this island as a resting place for them during fishing.
I see the pictures of children in the island. How they go to Schools?

Lambi Island - Population

By Pure Water for the World Posted on Wed 12 Aug 2009, almost 17 years ago

The island is really small and somehow 400 people manage to live on this small bit of an island. Their main income comes from fishing. They have no property on the mainland and also no source of income there. There is no school and even school aged children stay with their parents on the Island, because parents are unable to afford their school fees.… the island is their solution; there are not many options in the provinces to survive.

RWH for 1 day ?

By Protos Posted on Tue 28 Jul 2009, almost 17 years ago

Hi Carolyn,

I lived in Haiti for more than 9 years and still follow the water sector rather from nearby. The "bourg" (center) of Corail had (still has ?) a gravity fed water supply system run by a CAEP (Comité d'Approvisionnement en Eau Potable - different from CAMEP that only works in Port-au-Prince). Doesn't it exist any more ?
As far as I understand we can store 400 Gal of water on the island for 400 people - this is less than their daily need, while we can have more than 100 days without any drop of rain. Is there enough surface water (or not brackish groundwater) to serve the people for the rest of the dry season ? And what is than the added value of the RWH if it can only help us for one day ?
We want to use ceramic filters for the households in Lambi and bio-sand filters for the schools, isn't it ? What about maintenance of the filters and availability of parts at this isolated place ?

RWH for 1 day ?

By A Single Drop Posted on Wed 29 Jul 2009, almost 17 years ago

Hi Carolyn

I totally understand your challenges in island communities as we are here in the Philippines and access to freshwater is certainly a problem.

BioSand filters we've found have not been in highest demand in island communities. Often one of the first steps would be to RWH and build ferro cement tanks first because many of them must first create an alternative source of water as many have issues around brackish water. Also, access to materials such as cement is another consideration as the decision has to be made where best to use these materials that are often the most cost intensive. As far as Rajesh's suggestion above about putting 2 filters next to the tank can also be a challenge as it does take some time to filter the water through which can create another time intensive activity as people wait to filter. And then there's the pause period.... Lots to think about.

Can you tell me how you've identified which households will get the filters? Was there a consideration about placement based on who is using what water source? Is there a reason they only built one rain catchment and tank? Is there access to chlorine? Do people use/like it?

Also, I'm totally behind and don't have the newest MS Office, so I can't open a xlsx . Is it possible to send the older version?

Thanks! good luck!
gemma

RWH for 1 day ?

By Pure Water for the World Posted on Wed 05 Aug 2009, almost 17 years ago

Gemma,

We use several criteria for households: their has been a determined need for filtration of water -- usually by the health department or water department, and the household wants the filter. What we have found that most in a community will want a filter -- based on our extensive experience in Honduras. Households must contributed a nominal about to pay for the filter and they must maintain the filter. If they do not, we retain the right to remove the filter. We do not install community filters near a water source because it is easy to recontaminate the water without having people having ownership in the filter.

In Lambi, we would not consider putting filters near the source.

Chlorine is usually not used as there is an on going cost and they do not like the taste.

I would be happy to give you the file -- please jog my memory as to exactly you want!

Carolyn

RWH for 1 day ?

By A Single Drop Posted on Wed 12 Aug 2009, almost 17 years ago

Hi Carolyn

Thanks for all the info. It sounds like you have many challenges and lots of considerations. I do appreciate your efforts to explore many of the other household water treatments and offering it the community as options.

I would very much like to see the budget as I believe it was in an xlsx format. Thanks!

I know there has been mention of having clean water access at the schools but not at the households. It is an ongoing struggle to try and find the best solutions to ensure everyone has safe water all year round 24 hours a day. Sometimes based on the circumstances, budget, access to materials, georgraphy etc, that can't be the case in one project. I appreciate that you are trying to do the best with each phase. Is there a plan to do more implementation into all of the households after this project?

Thanks Carolyn
gemma

RWH for 1 day ?

By Pure Water for the World Posted on Wed 05 Aug 2009, almost 17 years ago

Sorry for the delay in responding. I asked Dr. Patrick Pacsal Saint - Firmin to clarify the situation in Corail.

Since I can not cut and paste his response, I will summarize his comments:

There are 3 sources of water in Corail if you consider the public park in the centre of the city.

The three streams are:
1.) 30 mn walk to a stream which is dry for 2/3 months of the year.
2.) 10 mn watk to a stream used by CAMEP for gravity fed water supply system.
3.) 15 mn walk to stream which is has already been collected by a Catholic father.
The CAMEP gravity fed water system is still working and is sufficient quaniaty fo Corail population. The water has fecal as confirmed by a SNEP engineeer. Many children have water borne diseases. There is no maintanancew of the water asources and every time it rains alot the CAMEP installation is contamined for at least 15 days.

His recommendation to PWW is to bring clean water services and hygiene education to the schools because: 1.) Nothing has ever been planned for schools -- health of the children is a national matter of national health.
2.) Of all the institutions financed by USAID through Management Sciences for Health that covers 6 districts -- Corail has one of the highest prevalence of diarrhea.

Ile Lambi -- there is water at 1.5 feet that is not brackish but contaminated. The people of Lambi tell us that they find water even in the driest months if they did deeper.

Yes, bio sand filters in schools and ceramic ones in homes. We train community stewards to help with maintance, hygiene education for homes -- and teacher training for schools. and we monitor the installations twice.

Hope this helps.

RWH for 1 day ?

By Protos Posted on Thu 06 Aug 2009, almost 17 years ago

Thanks for your answers.
I still have some doubts about the Corail approach. As far as I understand, children will have safe water while being at school and contaminated water in the morning, in the evening and during weekends and holidays when school is closed ?
Do we also have a plan for extending safe water service to the village ? Can the sensitization and mobilization in the schools be used as a leverage to clean up the poor water quality of the existing water supply system ?

RWH for 1 day ?

By Pure Water for the World Posted on Mon 10 Aug 2009, almost 17 years ago

There is no water treatment kiosk in Corail and any water of better quality is shipped from Jeremie or Port-au-Prince and available in plastic bags
or jars, however most people are not able to afford that water. Based on our experience working with schools in Cite Soleil and in the provinces
most schools are using the filters for community water treatment and providing safe drinking water for the nearby neighborhood. Further in
our 2 ½ training seminar we teach other water treatment methods (sedimentation, filtration, disinfection … for example: SODIS, boiling water,
chlorine) and good hygiene practices, so even without having a personal filter there are options on how to improve the water quality as needed
in homes.

Hope this helps.

Carolyn