Drinking Water Treatment Becomes More Affordable with U.S. Help

Drinking Water Treatment Becomes More Affordable with U.S. Help. By Nancy Pontius
International partnerships expand treatment facilities in developing world

Littleton, Colorado — An affordable, sustainable drinking water treatment system designed by a U.S. laboratory is being used successfully in Ghana, India, Sri Lanka, Mexico, South America and the Philippines.

The technology, which uses ultraviolet light to disinfect water safely and cheaply, was designed by Ashok Gadgil at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

“The lab conducts research in all areas of science and encourages transfer of innovations to the marketplace, including technologies benefiting the developing world,” lab spokesman Allan Chen told America.gov.

The lab licensed the purification system to the U.S. firm WaterHealth International (WHI), which is working to expand access to affordable drinking water in developing countries and thereby reduce diseases such as cholera, typhoid and dysentery.

“Around the world, waterborne diseases kill more people than AIDS and have a huge health and economic impact,” Tralance Addy, WHI president, told America.gov.

His organization provides a weapon to fight waterborne disease, and works alongside nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in developing countries to improve living conditions.

For instance, 1 million people have access to clean water from more than 200 WHI water centers in India, where the technology was introduced in 2006 and established through a partnership with the Naandi Foundation.

Other NGOs such as the Lions Club also have provided funding, as have several foreign-born physicians residing in the United States who want to support their home towns.

Individuals in these communities have reported that they and their livestock are healthier with treated water, according to WHI, which studies health improvements from the water centers.

“WHI also partners with foreign governments who provide an umbrella of support to establish water centers, and sometimes provide funding,” said Addy, who was born and raised in Ghana.


WATER TREATMENT CENTERS

In the past, donated or purchased water treatment technology sometimes failed, Addy said, because communities had to struggle to maintain the facilities.

To overcome this, WHI developed “WaterHealth Centres” where water is treated centrally for a small community using a variety of approaches, including:

• ultraviolet water disinfection technology, which is highly effective against harmful germs, and does not require high energy, high water pressure or sophisticated maintenance procedures.
• new buildings, which also can be used for community meetings and social events, to house the systems.
• local personnel hired and trained to operate and maintain the systems.
• hygiene and health education programs that emphasize the economic benefits of avoiding waterborne illnesses.
• narrow-neck water-storage containers to avoid water recontamination.
• marketing to inform residents of the water treatment and its benefits.
• financing for a portion of initial installation costs ($20 per person for a small village in India, for example).

WHI asks communities to make a down payment — sometimes provided by a local government, philanthropist or NGO — and then helps finance the remaining balance. Once the loan is repaid, the community owns the center.

To cover loan payments and operation and maintenance costs, consumers are charged a small fee for purified water. “Currently, one village in Ghana charges 5 cents for 20 liters of treated water,” Addy said.

Local entrepreneurs often start businesses delivering treated water by bicycle or truck. For many families, the time spent collecting water takes away from income-producing activities. “Men and women often walk long distances to get water, and water collection is a common reason why girls don’t go to school,” Addy said.


GHANA

In Ghana, as in many developing countries, it is believed at least 50 percent of all illnesses are related to waterborne contaminants, Addy said. Ghana has a high number of reported cases of Guinea worm, a debilitating infestation by waterborne parasites.

To help its citizens, the Ghanaian government encourages private participation in the water sector and is working to improve water supplies to all rural citizens by 2010, Addy said.
In this West African country, WHI partners with U.S. nonprofit World Vision Ghana for the health-education component of the program. In December 2007, WHI opened a pilot water center in Afuaman, serving about 3,700 people.

“WaterHealth Centres are important because they provide potable water to communities out of reach from conventional water supply and empower communities by making them involved in the water supply process,” Bismark Nerquaye-Tetteh, a retired water supply specialist with World Vision Ghana, told America.gov.

“Women in Afuaman who use the treated water have noticed a reduction in the incidence of diarrhea and cholera in their households,” said Nerquaye-Tetteh, who has worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s West Africa Water Initiative.

Construction of five additional WHI centers in Ghana will be completed by March in partnership with the U.S. nonprofit Safe Water Network, which funds the project.

“The government of Ghana has been extremely supportive at both the district level, by assisting the communities in raising the down payments, and at the federal level, by waiving import taxes and duties on imported equipment,” Nerquaye-Tetteh said.

This expansion “brings an important and crucial service to communities that would, under prevailing circumstances, not have this service,” he added.

WHI hopes to expand into other African countries in the near future.

More information on the program is available on the WaterHealth International Web site.