Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage in Emergencies

1. Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage in Emergencies

2. DISCLAIMER Mention of specific products in no way constitutes an endorsement of that product by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

3. Water Quality When is water clean? When is it dirty?

4. Why Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage? • Something people can do themselves • Quick • Effective • Dispersed • Buys you time to carry out long term programs • Sustainable (?)

5. Methods for Water Treatment • Straining • Disinfection • Boiling • Solar • Chemical • Sedimentation • Three pot • Chemical • Filtration

6. NO DISTRIBUTION WITHOUT TRAINING

7. Straining Straining alone is unlikely to make water from a contaminated source completely safe to drink. But it makes household water treatment more efficient and effective.

8. Boiling • Boiling will kill all organisms that cause disease • Boiling water is something people can do themselves NOTE • It takes 1 kilogram of firewood to boil 1 litre of water for one minute. • Boiling will not make water less cloudy. • Boiling has no residual effect. Boiled water should be stored safely and used within a few days.

9. How Long Do I Boil? Low elevation one minute rolling boil High elevation three minutes rolling boil For boiling to work, water must be brought to a rolling boil.

10. Solar Disinfection • Kills germs • People can do themselves. • No residual effect. • Takes time • Requires sunny weather. (Rainy season?)

11. Clean plastic Fill bottles Aerate the water Fill bottle or glass bottles partly to ¾ by shaking completely Expose bottles Put bottles Expose the bottles Drink the water to sunlight on roofs for 6 hours from the bottles

12. Chemical Disinfection • Easy and safe to use. • Residual effect gives some protection against contamination after treatment. • These products must be brought from outside the community; it is not something they can do with local resources. • Chlorine disinfection will not get rid of all organisms that cause disease.

13. Chemical Disinfection • Talk to people about the product. • Is it easy to use? • How is the taste? • Leaving a container open and exposing it to heat (direct sunlight for example) will reduce the ability of the chemical to protect against contamination. • Encourage people to keep water covered and out of direct sunlight whenever possible.

14. How many tablets? Clear (0-10 NTU) Cloudy (10-100 NTU) One tablet Two tablets CHECK THE RESIDUAL AFTER 24 HOURS!!!

15. Double Dosing of Chlorine First strain the water through a cloth • Chemical disinfection, especially a double dose, can leave a taste that people do not like. • Chemical taste can be reduced by using the correct amount of chemical and by shaking the water in a bottle to increase the air content.

16. Any experience with disinfection products?

17. Chemical Disinfection

18. Sedimentation

19. Three Pot Method Each day when new water is brought to the house: • A Drink water from pot 3. • B Slowly pour water stored in pot 2 into pot 3. • C Wash out pot 2. • D Slowly pour water stored in pot 1 into pot 2. • E Wash out pot 1. • F Pour water collected from the source (bucket 4) into pot 1. Strain through a cloth if possible. Allow the water to settle for a day and then repeat the process.

20. Chemical Sedimentation

21. Chemical Sedimentation

22. Chemical Sedimentation

23. Chemical Sedimentation • Makes muddy water safe to drink. • Residual effect of disinfection gives protection against contamination after treatment. • More complicated to use and require more training and follow up. • Expensive • People will need more than one container to properly use these chemicals.

24. Candle Filters

25. Biosand Filter

26. Safe Storage All efforts to make water clean are pointless if the water is improperly stored or handled. Narrow necked containers prevent contamination but are difficult to clean. Wide necked containers are easily contaminated but easily cleaned. But there’s a problem In emergencies, people will use containers they already own or containers that they are provided with during the intervention. Or both. Work with what you have.

27. NO DISTRIBUTION WITHOUT TRAINING

28. Training • Make a training plan before the distribution. • Work with people to find the right dose for their water and their container.

29. Training Tips • Clear buckets for Watermaker and PUR • Issues of trust can arise if people are unfamiliar with the products, especially chemicals. • Try out the product yourself in full view of the population!! • Demonstrate the use of the products at the beginning so that you can drink it in front of the audience at the end

30. Other training tips/experience??

31. Follow Up Training One lesson on how to use these methods is not enough. Follow up training and monitoring should be carried out after the initial training. You and your field team are looking for: • People’s satisfaction regarding the product selected • Correct use of the products • People’s hygiene practices at household level in relation to water handling and storage.

34. Wrapping up… • Consider HWTS in emergencies involving dispersed populations with issues of quality rather than quantity of water • Choose your product well • Choose your dosage well • Don’t forget about safe storage • NEVER, EVER distribute chemicals or products without training people in their use