Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
study should include consideration of all parameters that significantly affect
the planning and implementation of public tap projects, including (1) techni-
cal design criteria, (2) institutional aspects, including procurement of land,
and provisions for management, (3) operation and maintenance, (4) finan-
cial aspects, (5) economic and socioeconomic aspects, and (6) provisions
for continuing monitoring and feedback.
RURAL SANITATION
Very Low Priority for Attention
Rural sanitation is a major problem in most DCs because of the simple fact that
governments are very sensitive to the urban centers (which have the potential for
serious revolts) and are generally quite insensitive to rural areas (which have little
such potential and are “out-of-sight, out-of-mind”). A typical situation is govern-
ment responsibility for provision of rural town water supply in Thailand, which
used to be the responsibility of the Public Health Ministry, where it received little
attention for the reason already noted. Then in the 1980s, this was transferred to
the Provincial Waterworks Authority in order to have water supply responsibility
for all communities in the country (excepting the capital city of Bangkok) in a
single agency, where it seems to be again receiving very little attention for the
same reason
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.
WHO Manuals
WHO has produced a series of manuals covering virtually all aspects of rural
sanitation, and these contain a great deal of pertinent basic sanitation. However,
it is good to keep in mind that the standards utilized by these manuals sometimes
are a bit too idealistic and too expensive for use in DCs, so some adjustments
may need to be made. In the 1970s to 1980s, the World Bank decided to produce
its own series of rural sanitation manuals titled “Low Cost Sanitation Manuals”
(the “John Kalbermatten series”), which were planned to suit poor DC financing
limitations. An example is
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on use of pour flush toilets with leaching pits at
Jakarta (Indonesia).
Xiaolangdi Resettlement
Sanitation Improvements
The World Bank project for resettlement of fam-
ilies displaced by the major Xiaolangdi dam on the Yellow River completed in
year 2001
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gave careful attention to provisions of (1) use of wells for water
supply, with protection from surface contamination, for all homes in the more
than 60 resettlement villages, together with use of elevated water storage tanks,
which served the very useful purpose of enabling ready disinfection of the sup-
ply using hypochlorite powder, plus periodic monitoring of chlorine residuals in
selected house/public building taps, (2) provisions for handwashing by students
