Research: World Water Day 2007

Contact | Search

EU Water Initiative

Introduction

Africa

More on drought and environmental issues

World Water Day - 22 March 2007

Asia

Coping with scarcity and poor quality was a key concern of an action research project called ‘ Women, well-being, work, waste and sanitation (4Ws) ’ working on alternative strategies of environmental sanitation and waste management for improved health and socio-economic development in peri-urban coastal communities in south Asia (INCO-Contract ICA4-CT-2002-10013).

How to make money from night soil and refuse and help the environment at the same time? Some people may think this is not possible, but it is. An international research collaboration between five universities and five NGOs from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, The Netherlands and Finland and coordinated by Christine Wijk and Marielle Snel of the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, Delft, The Netherlands, demonstrated that it really worked in practice.

They cooperated with local Governments in the three East Asian countries focusing on action research on alternative strategies for environmental sanitation and waste management in six peri-urban coastal communities. The objectives were (1) to measure the cost-effectiveness of innovative and replicable approaches to excreta and solid waste management in low income peri-urban settlements; (2) to measurably improve sanitation conditions and practices; (3) to scale up the tested approaches; and (4) to strengthen implementation skills of the participants.

The project used participatory methods to promote the adoption of improved sanitation and hygiene. Local women (and men) were trained to produce and install sanitation facilities, generate work and income and improve their status. The researchers helped and documented this process to assess the pros and cons in comparison to pre-existing conditions.

What did they achieve?

(1) The innovations promoted were toilets and rainwater harvesting tanks built by local women masons. These worked out well with the women in Kerala ( India) and Bangladesh. In Sri Lanka, the masonry work turned out not to be an attractive formula for the participating women.

(2) Sanitation conditions and practices were improved in all participating communities, thus creating potential for reducing water-borne diseases and other negative effects of previous practices. The benefits importantly include lower cost toilets, water tanks and eco-latrines, home composting and vermi composting, all of which can make a difference in resource poor households. The 4Ws formula was 31% cheaper than a government programme in Bangladesh and 20% cheaper in Kerala.

(3) Expansion to two more wards is under way in Bangladesh. Lessons on composting are taken up to the national level through the partners’ roles as advisors to the national sanitation policy. In Kerala, expansion is under way to 12 of 21 Local Self Governments and two municipalities.

(4) The teams also scored well on their own capacity building through the collaboration and have remained in touch after the project.

Read more information on the project ( 112 KB ) and its methodology ( 117 KB ), see individual case studies from Sri Lanka ( 176 KB ), see the people involved in the photo galleries bellow or look on the website.

The project area after the flood in 2004/2005	The location of the project area at the other side of an estuary
Getting to the project area	The main street. The red-and-yellow banner announces a sanitation exhibition
Promoting safe waste disposal: folk play during the sanitation exhibition	Participatory method: mapping houses by welfare level with and without latrines
Woman (assistant) masons in action	Waste bin used by a group of households
The waste can be put in the bin through a hole in the cover.	When the first compartment of the bin is full, the cover can be turned and the other half can be filled up. In the meantime, the waste in the full half will be able to compost.
Rainwater harvesting tank, made out off latrine ring slabs (produced locally by a private producer). When it starts raining the first water coming from the roof will be turbid. To monitor the turbidity and to know when she can open the inlet to the storage tank, the owner of the tank has installed a transparent “looking glass”, made out of a plastic bottle. Furthermore, she has installed a curtain (the red-and-yellow cloth in the background), which she can close when operating the system.

The research area	The research area
Water harvesting tank	Household Chlorinator Research
Woman-mason training centre	Woman mason in training
The vermi-compost bed build-up.	Women compost workers managing the vermin compost bed
Vermin compost bed for bio-degradable solid waste, Alleppuzha	Close-up of the vermi-compost bed. Income comes from selling the compost and the surplus worms that are bred in the bed
Pot Composting	Cultivation using urine

Photo gallery: The 4WS Project in Sri lanka
© Photos by Palitha Jayaweera, Induka Werellagamma, Christine Sijbesma and Marielle Snel

The main street of the project village	Many of the houses are built on the beach
Woman compost-bin mason	Compost bin in use
Pigs are being penned	Bag for collecting polythene for recycling
Traditional way of collecting water	Rainwater is harvested from the roof and collected in this tank
Water disinfection using UV radiation from the sun	Bringing the disinfected water inside
Cleaned dumping site with message against illegal dumping	Environmental friendly households are awarded a plaque of a “Green House” to hang on their wall. New plaques will have more stars, each one a symbol for one environmentally friendly practice.