Sam Godfrey

How safe are the global water coverage figures? Case study from Madhya Pradesh, India

The World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation was designed to provide reference figures for access in individual countries to safe water. The JMP is based on non-administrative or nongovernment data from national-level surveys such as the Multiple Indicator Clusters Survey (MICS) or Demographic Health Survey. In the 2007 JMP report, India is noted to have water supply coverage of 89% (95% in urban areas and 85% in rural areas) compared to the Government of India estimates of 95%. The central state of Madhya Pradesh is noted by the Government of India to have coverage of 60%. However, the definition of access to safe water currently does not consider the quality or safety of the water being consumed. This paper, therefore, presents results from the application of a statistical tool (random multiple cluster technique—termed Rapid Assessment of Drinking Water Quality [RADWQ]) to Indore Zone in Madhya Pradesh. When results provided by the RADWQ technique are compared to the JMP MICS data, coverage levels reported in the JMP are reduced by up to 40% due to the high risk of microbiological (thermotolerant coliforms) contamination. In Indore Zone, the coverage of safe water reduced from 42% to 25% through the inclusion of the water safety parameters. The study recommends the inclusion of water quality/safety data in reported data under the UNICEF/WHO JMP.

Water safety plans for piped urban supplies in developing countries: a case study from Kampala, Uganda

The World Health Organisation (WHO) promote the use of water safety plans (WSPs) in the 3rd edition of the Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality (2004). WSPs place an emphasis on risk assessment coupled with risk management, with simple indicators to monitor process control and periodic verification through audit and microbial indicators. A WSP was developed for the Kampala piped water supply in Uganda by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation. The use of risk maps was found to greatly aid the identification of hazardous events in the distribution system. A validation exercise was performed that showed the WSP was properly designed. The study shows WSPs can be successfully developed for utilities in developing countries and offer significant cost savings in water quality control. Senior management endorsement was found to be essential to provide the authority to develop and implement the activities required for effective water safety management.

Is your drinking water safe

Does the monitoring of water quality ensure safe water? Or is the real risk poor understanding of the operation of water-supply systems? The new water-safety framework should help utilities and communities identify where contamination is arising, and show how to put problems right.

Safe greywater reuse to augment water supply and provide sanitation in semi-arid areas of rural India

Water reuse is recognized as a tool to increase water supply in peri-urban areas of semi-arid and arid regions of the world. However, it is an option rarely explored for rural areas in developing countries, and has not been documented extensively in the scientific literature. This paper presents results from 6 greywater reuse systems which were built with the objective to augment water supply and to provide sanitation in rural low income areas of Madhya Pradesh, India. The systems are based on reclaiming greywater from bathing for the use in toilet flushing and kitchen garden irrigation. The reuse systems were implemented based on the scientific rationale presented in the WHO (2006) guidelines. The paper presents evidence from the operation and evaluation of the greywater treatment plants under field conditions between 2005 and 2008. The paper concludes that greywater is a highly cost effective solution for water scarcity. In this study, reusing greywater resulted in a 60% increase in water availability, a reduction in open defecation and a fourfold increase in food availability.

Water safety plans for greywater in tribal schools, India

Where water is in short supply, greywater treatment and reuse may be the answer. Such systems have been introduced in tribal residential schools in Madhya Pradesh, India. Both children and parent teacher associations were involved in drawing up and applying water safety plans for greywater reuse, and cartoons were used to publicize them.

Appropriate chlorination techniques for wells in Angola

Traditional wells in Internally Displaced Peoples camps are often contaminated. This eight-stage method describes how to select wells for chlorination, assess the correct dosage of chlorine and involve community members in water testing and hygiene education.

Implementing water-safety plans in urban piped-water supplies in Uganda

When water-safety plans were implemented in Kampala and Jinja, Uganda, they were found to be a cost-effective way of identifying supply problems and a good way of involving operations as well as water-quality staff, thereby reducing response times.

The key focus on challenging environments should be technological, paying special attention to physical design and construction

In our Crossfire debate, Sam Godfrey and Libertad Gonzales discuss the proposition: The key focus on challenging environments should be technological, paying special attention to physical design and construction.