plan 300Clean Water, hygiene education, and sanitation for two communities in Trojes, Honduras.

Summary

Providing clean water,hygiene education and sanitation to Buenos Aires de Zepeda and Brisas de Poteca, communities located in Trojes, Honduras. Pure Water will install filters, latrines and provide hygiene and sanitation education to homes and schools

Background

Water supply and sanitation coverage in Honduras is still characterized by poor service quality and poor efficiency in many places. Coverage gaps still remain, particularly in rural areas.
Trojes is a remote area located near the border between Honduras and Nicaragua, there is only 2 NGOS in the area and one of them is Pure Water for the World, the local health centers have few medical supplies, only a nurse and/ or a health guardian, almost no equipments or logistics to mobilized emergencies. Added to this the houses are very disperse one from the other. Access to most of these communities is very difficult especially during rainy season. The roads are narrow, steep and muddy.
The government institutions only invest in larger communities or in towns that have easy geographical conditions and access. Which is not the case of both communities selected, out of the 81 families, half of the families use a hose as conduct to transport their water directly from the river source to their homes. This water is not treated for human consumption. The remaining half of the population use different containers to collect and carry their water from the nearest water source.

Both communities have a serious problem with water contamination due to bad sanitation, lack of water treatment and inefficient hygiene habits. Recently, with less than a month apart, 2 children died due to dehydration after severe diarrhea: Dulce Maria Sanchez a 32 month little girl and Keylin Maria Cruz a 14 month baby. According to the nurses in the nearest health center in both of this communities there has being several cases of diarrhea reported.
Concerning sanitation, 10 homes have a pit latrine and in these are in really poor conditions. There is no denying that safe water supply is a very important component in the overall strategy for achievement of health goals; but the rewards can be fully reaped only if sanitation keeps pace with water treatment. The most used design in a majority of the communities in Trojes is the single pit with a wood sits placed directly over it and most of the superstructures made out of plastic. The life span of these latrines is a maximum of approximately 4 years when the pit in use is filled, the latrines are then abandoned and people go back to open field defecation and the old latrine becomes a focus of contamination. Poorly constructed latrines have the tendency to sink and its infrastructure falls apart or leaves no privacy for the user.

Location

Trojes, El Paraiso, Honduras

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Focus

Primary Focus: Drinking Water - Households
Secondary Focus: Drinking Water - Households

People Getting Safe Drinking Water: 419

Biosand filters will provide clean drinking water for people in the communities of Buenos Aires de Zepeda and Las Brisas de Poteca of the Municipality of Trojes in the District of El Paraiso, Honduras.

School Children Getting Water: 116

Based on this year’s School enrollment obtained by the local Education District ; School Superacion has a total of 62 children (29 girls and 33 boys) and at the school Jose Maria Aznar in Las Brisas de Poteca there is 54 children enrolled.(23 girls 31 boys)

People Getting Sanitation: 419

In each of the 2 communities household pour and flush latrines will be constructed.

People Getting Other Benefits: 419

The project will include substantial education on water treatment, hygiene and sanitation, environmental health, filter and latrine construction, use and maintenance trainings.
All work and trainings will include gender equality as a transversal theme and integral part of this project to ensure appropriate and significant participation of both women and men in the program implementation. It will also ensure the participation of women without increasing their workload, however procuring their active involvement in decision making and part of the community agent team.

Start Date: 2011-01-02

Completion Date: 2011-05-31

Technology Used:

PWW staff will have communication channels with all stakeholders in the area in order to:

-Avoid conflicts or duplicate efforts ( if another NGO is working on water, hygiene and sanitation there has to be an agreement between NGOs on which community each would attend always thinking of what is best for the community. We also have an agreement of cooperation with the local Municipality

-Form alliances and share ideas; always have an open mind to learn new ways of improving project implementation. Local Health institutions and community health guardians will always be in the area PWW will work closely with them so they would be empowered and informed at all times of the project implementation and they help with project follow up.

Water is tested using the membrane filtration method to determine Escherichia coli counts at the source prior to the installation of the filters, and we do follow up monitoring testing the output water of the filters of to obtain a confidence level obtain a 95 % of the filter function. A demonstration house which will be used to show an example of how to maintain a hygienically safe environment in the household the function, capability, use and maintenance of the filter to the rest of the community

House hold water treatment: The method that PWW is going to use for water treatment is BioSand Filters which are constructed from concrete; then filled with gravel and sand which are layered inside the filter with a PVC collection pipe situated at the base of the filter.

Contaminated water is poured through the top of the filter and passes through a plate that diffuses the stream and blocks large contaminants (e.g. stones, large twigs, leaves).The top few centimeters of the sand trap the bulk of micro-organisms, which accumulate and develop into a highly active food chain, called the Biological Layer or Schmutzdecke..

The pour and flush latrine consists of a toilet and with a water seal trap, set in a cement concrete floor. After use it is flushed by hand using a small container holding about 1.5 to 2 liters of water. The excreta are carried through a pipe or drain into two leach pits, which are used alternately. The liquid in the pits percolates into the sub-soil and gases are absorbed by the soil, leaving the solids behind. Each pit is designed to last for about three years before it gets filled; when one is filled, it is taken out of use and excreta are then diverted to the second pit. When the filled pit is left for about two years, the contents turn into rich organic humus which is safe handling.

The latrines superstructure is going to be constructed out of adobe, by each family. They will also be in charge of the pit excavation and of providing local material. The project will provide the rest of the material such as cement for pit leads and latrine base, toilet seat, pvc pipes, aluzinc to make the door and roof, one for each house hold and 2 for schools. The project will also include parasite treatment for 419 people a month after the filter has being installed.

With proper disposal of human excreta by this method, diseases can be brought under control and the entire sanitation situation of the communities can be improved. Without proper sanitation the full health benefits of providing safe water supply are not achieved.

This method offers a long-term (more than 6 years) and appropriate solution for excreta disposal. This system will result not only in the relief of insanitary conditions but will also eliminate insect and fly breeding due to open defecation, as well as minimizing hookworm and other infestations which reduce human productivity

It been observed that all pathogens will die off in a period of about two years and thereafter the cleaning operations can be organized depending upon the weather conditions and demand for humus. A minimum storage capacity of three years has been suggested for the leach pits to facilitate cleaning operations.

Phases:

This project will be completed in one phase with funding divided between the two communities.

Community Organization:

Community agent training:
PWW staff will train, 1 person per 10 filters installed, to be a community agent. They will be selected by the community leaders, and their volunteer job consists of keeping record of the filters function, filling a monitoring format provided by the project staff and to report to PWW staff. The feedback they provide will be the most valuable asset of the project. The main objective of this training will be building local capacity of community agents to support total behavior change in use of filter, latrine, hygiene and sanitation. To achieve this we have designed a curriculum that contains facilitator’s notes, and tools. After this training, community agents will help support village-level hygiene and sanitation improvement activities

Trainings for Children
The objective of this step is to engage school children and teachers as change agents. PWW will establish a hygiene and sanitation club or strengthen and streamline existing school clubs to develop a capacity development program. These clubs will train school children in hygiene and sanitation and enhance their involvement as change agents in their respective households and communities

The subjects or lesson planned for this training will be suitable for children between the ages of 5 and fourteen, the age at which most children complete their primary education. The training will consist of participatory methods and tools which help young children to engage in developing behavioral changes towards good hygiene habits and environmental protection including gender empowerment. Staff will conduct and evaluation before and at the end of each training.

Trainings for Community
The community agents will be in charge of organizing the hygiene and sanitation 8 hour training the first day and then house hold reinforcement during house visits for the first 5 months for adults in the community the groups of participants will have no more than 20 people at a time. The people who attend training will be prioritized for project implementation but also in behavioral change towards hygiene habits. To engage the families all the adults are going to be trained in how to process of making a latrine and giving maintenance to both the bio sand filter and latrine.

Community Organization
The community members are the ones who demanded the project. They have been involved in the planning process from the very beginning. All though the criteria used to select these 2 communities and not others that have almost the same need we considered the mortality rate due to diarrhea cases. As such, they know their needs and are committed to seeing them through. They have organized health committees for project implementation and are willing to contribute to the project in cash and labor.

Government Interaction:

By partnering directly with the Health Centers, Secretary of Health, Education District and local NGOs over time to enhance skills, and thereby strengthen the District capacity as a whole to effectively contribute to development work and increase overall project activities.

Ancillary activities:

A parasite treatment campaign to treat the community members. We have incorporated environmental protection (water shed protection) trainings for adults and children in both of the communities.
Interchange of experiences between community agents will be held to discuss lessons learned and project follow-up.
Capacity building jobs and skill enhancement are all integral pieces of this program. The members of the family will learn about latrine construction and maintenance.

Other Issues:

These communities are located in Trojes, Honduras which has been identified by UNICEF as one of the poorest regions in Honduras. Many of these communities lack the infrastructure, jobs, clean water, and proper hygiene and sanitation thus causing much sickness.

Maintenance Revenue:

The model for long-term sustainable impact, including ongoing maintenance and revenue… By training individuals to become “community stewards” who will learn how to maintain the filters and latrine. Including education on for all ages will also ensure that proper hygiene and sanitation methods are followed. The community stewards will also follow up on these practices as well as help maintain the filters and latrines. Each household pay $8.00 for filter and $8 per latrine which funds the monitoring of the household for 2 years. As mentioned above home owners also give materials and sweat equity as part of ownership for the latrines.

Latrine monitoring or maintenance plan:

During the first year after installation, PWW staff will be in continuous communication with the community agents and local health guardians assigned by the Ministry of health and selected by the community to keep track of the latrine use and maintenance.
In rural communities there is always a health guardian that works in the nearest health center. They will be assigned in each village to work with the community agent and families, to keep track of life span of the first pit and registration of health records.
The community health guardian will keep track together with the local community board of the usage of latrines and two years after the installment of the latrines and the capacity of the first chamber is filled, they will monitor to ensure the family is responsible with the emptying process. This includes making sure people use protection such as gloves, long sleeves, rubber boots and covered mouth, and working with the families to make sure that they reuse the inactivated solids from first latrine after at least two years or so of closure, in the alternating double pits.
The recommended method for using this resource will be for compost in the tree green house which the program has contemplated, to assist with reforestation micro sheds. Human excreta are a rich source of nitrogen and other nutrients necessary for plant growth. The most common method of reuse is direct application to the soil as a fertilizer. Nightsoil contains about 0.6% nitrogen, 0.2% phosphorus and 0.3% potassium, all of which are valuable plant nutrients. The humus formed by decomposed feces also contains few trace elements of bacteria which reduces the susceptibility of plants to parasites and diseases. Humus improves the soil structure, enhancing its water-retaining qualities and encouraging better root structure of plants. Soil containing humus is less subject to erosion by wind and water and is easier to cultivate.

Health risks
The solids are not going to be used as compost for crops only for fertilization of trees to comply with strict surveillance by the health authorities. This practice is most common in arid climates, where trees are watered to control desertification, to provide shade and windbreaks, or to cultivate coconuts and some other food crops. The main health risk is to workers and members of the public who have access to the plantation.
Excreta may be treated in various ways to eliminate the possibilities of disease transmission. Apart from storage in double-pit latrines, the most appropriate treatment for on-site sanitation is composting.
Composting consists of the biological breakdown of solid organic matter to produce a humic substance (compost) which is valuable as a fertilizer and soil conditioner. It has been practiced by farmers and gardeners throughout the world for many centuries. The process may be aerobic or anaerobic.

Maintenance Cost:

Metrics:

Prior art before metrics

Cost: $34,440

34440.62. Please see attached budget

Co Funding Amount: $4,904

$4904 from Pure Water for the World

Community Contribution Amount: $4,557

Contributions in cash 1224
Contributions In kind 3333

Materials and labor
The community contribution in cash and in kind represents 17 % of the projects cost. Their contribution will be in work days is the following: 2 days and half per pit excavation ( 5 days work per family), 1 day for adobe block construction, installation and 1 days work for carrying sand and gravel for constructions, a total of 7 days work ( 175 lempiras about 9 dollars per day of work).
They will also give a total in cash of $16.50 contribution for latrines and biosand filter.

Fund Requested: $24,907

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    by Peer Water Exchange

Name Status Completion Date Final Cost
Clean Water, hygiene education, and sanitation for two communities in Trojes, Honduras. completed Jun 2011 29,464