| A unique community-led
initiative in West Africa
By Malick Gaye
Global water consumption
has increased so dramatically over the last
50 years that it is now at the top of the
agenda of many organisations.
The 1994 figures for people
in the developing world outside Asia with
access to household running water were 65
per cent for Africa, 89.7 per cent for the
Middle East and 92 per cent for Latin America.
In the Sahel region of Africa, less than half
the population had access to piped drinking
water. Due to the low level of access to household
running water, public standpipes have become
an important source of water supply for poor
families.
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| The water treatment plant at Rufisque.
Photo © Eric Moukoro/UN-HABITAT,
Dakar |
A joint study by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank showed that
of seven west African capitals - Cotonou, Ouagadougou,
Abidjan, Conakry, Bamako, Nouakchott and Dakar
- Ouagadougou had the highest rate of water
distribution at 86 per cent.
This was in spite of a rather low rate of supply
of less than 34 litres per day, per person.
Ouagadougou's high rating comes from the fact
that a considerable portion of its water supply
is distributed through a system of public standpipes.
Cities such as Cotonou or Conakry, where the
public water standpipe distribution system is
barely operational, have water distribution
rates of less than 40 per cent
Poor management of used
water affects the health of both the local
inhabitants and of workers in charge of used
water evacuation. This can not only lead to
environmental degradation, but can also contribute
to the contamination of marine resources.
A study undertaken in 1990
in the bay of Dakar revealed fishing resources
were being contaminated by polluted water.
In urban areas, it is quite common to find
untreated water being used for agricultural
purposes.
Achieving better management
of used water in developing countries would
necessitate the use of various water treatment
systems. For poorer countries, policies involving
the possibility of establishing alternative
sanitation systems, alongside the conventional
sewage disposal systems, should be explored.
As part of the Water
for African Cities programme UN-HABITAT
and the international NGOs ENDA Tiers Monde
and ONAS are helping Senegal evaluate a successful
community-based waste water collection, treatment
and disposal system.
The system, in an informal settlement called
Rufisque, has been developed by ENDA and comprises
a low-cost shallow sewage system linked to
a decentralised treatment plant. It is based
on a lagoon system with floating macrophytes.
The system is used to collect
the waste water from over 500 households where
water consumption is between 10 and 30 litres
a day.
Indeed, even if conventional
water purification plants are necessary or
even indispensable, they cannot adequately
satisfy demand. For example, the costly Senegalese
water purification station at Cambrene can
hardly cope with one tenth of the used water
regurgitated by the capital city, Dakar.
The Rufisque system was
inspired by a determination to provide under-privileged
population groups with access to water purification
services.
Although the demonstration
project at Rufisque has been in operation
for some years, and has been internationally
acclaimed, the national sanitation agency
asked UN-HABITAT to develop an evaluation
approach in collaboration with the Senegalese
government. The idea of the study is to ratify
the system and produce national codes of practice
and design manuals, so that the technology
and the recommended modifications can be replicated
nationally without compromising health and
the environment. As well as providing environmentally
sound water treatment, it can provide income
generation for local people through urban
agriculture.
Comparative epidemiological
studies have shown that the purification plants
installed in residential quarters do not favour
the proliferation of malaria, as was widely
believed by the general public. In fact, they
show the system has had a positive impact
on the health of the local population.
Malick Gaye, an architect,
is the Co-ordinator of Enda Tiers Monde
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