Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
It always helps to enroll a trusted community igure such as a village elder or a health-care
professional to reach out to the people of the community.
22.2.2.5 Employment
In addition to providing potable water, WaterHealth also generates employment for the
local community. During the construction phase, local contractors and workers are gener-
ally hired to prepare the ground, drill a bore well, lay piping, and if required skills are
available, to carry out other civil work to support the structure and the equipment installa-
tion. Operators for running the plant are recruited from the local community and trained.
If delivering water to households is a viable business, local entrepreneurs are contracted to
provide this service. In addition, there is a need for other support functions such as social
education, maintenance, and revenue collection. Personnel to perform these functions are
generally hired locally.
22.2.2.6 Challenges
In its efforts to provide safe drinking water, WHI is facing multiple challenges. For
instance, in India, particularly in the rural areas, the concept of paying for puriied water is
unfamiliar. People living in these areas have access to community hand pumps, commu-
nity wells, or nearby lakes and ponds where they can collect water for free. In other rural
area, as part of the rural development scheme, federal or state government has installed
public standpipes dispensing water that is minimally treated and disinfected. In these
instances, water from a nearby river or lake is iltered through a coarse sand bed and dis-
infected with chlorine before being distributed to public standpipes. This water is avail-
able free of cost to the community. The problem with this water is that organics that may
be present in the raw water are not removed, coarse iltration leaves iner suspended par-
ticles in the water, and chlorine addition is not controlled. Any taste and odor originating
from the organics are often masked by the chlorine taste and smell. There is an added
concern that chlorine may react with organic matter present to form what is termed as
disinfection by-products that may be more harmful to health. People still prefer to collect
water from these public taps because it is free. It will take a considerable effort on WHI's
part to educate the community and help them realize the beneits of drinking clean water.
22.2.3 Partnership
On May 4, 2011, WaterHealth announced a strategic partnership with The Coca-Cola
®
Africa
Foundation, Diageo plc (UK), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in forming
a consortium, Safe Water for Africa (SWA), to provide sustainable access to safe drinking
water in Africa. This partnership committed seed funding of US$ 6 million to provide safe
drinking water to communities in Ghana, Nigeria, and Liberia, and has a goal of raising
US$ 20 million to provide sustainable solutions to at least 2 million people in Africa.
The above is a good example of how WaterHealth works in close partnership with corpo-
rations who are committed to improving quality of life of people in underserved commu-
nities and realize their full potential by providing access to safe water, preventive health,
education, and entrepreneurship. WaterHealth has a sustainable business model. Focusing
on quality and sustainability, it installs, operates, and maintains WHCs that are small and
decentralized, and charges a nominal user fee to cover its operational expenses. The WHCs
provide quality drinking water to vulnerable communities for a long term of 15-20 years.
