Report: Dong Lam Hamlet Safe Water System

Piped water system for village in Central Vietnam

The water system produces potable water of high quality in accordance with national water quality standards. The residents no longer have to travel long distances to fetch water, buy water at high prices, or use contaminated water due to primitive filtration methods. The number of water-borne diseases such as trachoma, cholera, typhoid, viral gastroenteritis, and diarrhoea—which may kill young children—will be reduced. Time will be saved, which will give children more time to study and play, and allow adults to generate additional income or spend time with their family.

Residents now pay VND 2,000 (around USD 0.12) for one cubic meter of clean water, as opposed to VND 50,000 (around USD 3.20) when buying from vendors. These water fees cover the water manager’s salary, electricity consumption, and system maintenance and development.

Description of Dong Lam-Tam Hoa-Dai Quang Water System

The new piped water system will consist of:

• Twodrilled wells.
• Two submersible pumps. Each pump will each have capacities of 3 to 5 m3/hr, ie a combined capacity of up to 360 m3/day assuming 24 operations per day. The two pumps operate on the rorating basis.
• Water treatment consisting of aeration, sedimentation, clean water stogare tank, a disinfection system.
• An elevated storage tank of 20 m3.
• A water production meter.
• Reticulation pipelines.
• Piped house connections with a shutoff valve and a water meter for each connected household.

• Aeration: To aerate the water at the start of the treatment process to remove dissolved gases such as hydrogen sulfide and methane (thereby reducing corrosiveness) as well as to oxidize iron. Chlorine will be added at this stage to assist in oxidizing iron.
• Sedimentation: To settle out large particles of sand, silt and clay in suspension in a settling tank at the start of the treatment process.
• Disinfection: Chlorine will be added to the storage tank to kill potentially dangerous microorganisms that can cause illnesses such as diarrhea, especially in young children. This is a relatively easy but effective method to disinfect water. EMW will continue to monitor residual chlorine levels to ensure that:
o the chlorine level is sufficiently high to eliminate E coli bacteria (most E coli strains are harmless and are used as indicator organisms to test for fecal contamination in water); andthe chlorine level is not so high that it can be tasted because people do not like the taste of chlorine in drinking water

All maintenance and operating costs, including salaries of water managers, is covered by user fees.

The project is financially self-sustaining; all operations and maintenance are covered by user fees, typically about $8 per year per family. Two local water managers have been hired and trained by EMW to collect water fess and carry out all required O&M.

To reinforce the water program and enhance the benefits from clean water systems, EMW will, in the future:
- Provide educational activities such as showing films or holding training sessions on safe water use to raise residents’ understanding and awareness of the importance of clean water and hygiene.
- Provide more information about the EMW Water Programme to beneficiaries to ensure that there are no misperceptions about all parties’ responsibilities before the start of the project, and to ensure full commitment to contributing and connecting to the system.
- Make sure the management team selected by the local authorities has the trust and support of the beneficiaries, to avoid beneficiaries dropping out due to mistrust.
- Conduct more training workshops for water managers, so that they can learn and exchange experiences on better practices for managing and maintaining water systems, and help one another in solving problems.