The purpose of this book is to assist the reader in choosing the best method for providing clean water in a developing country. Various approaches are clearly described, and case studies are provided to illustrate the importance of matching need and method when resources are limited.
All profits from the sale of this book will go to the Rotary Foundation or other NGOs that are working to provide clean water to developing countries.
Available in paperback, ebook, and unabridged audio download.
The sites needing clean water can be diverse, e.g., an individual household, an entire village, a group of villages, a school, a clinic, an orphanage, etc. The focus of this book is to provide the reader with a basic understanding of how to bring clean water supplies to these entities. The optimal approaches will depend on both the Point of Use (POU), which may be large or small, and the state of the water (quantity, turbidity, type and concentration of pathogens/bacteria/viruses present) at the water source. Point of Use (POU) is the location where the water is to be consumed.
The majority of those impacted by unsafe water live in isolated rural areas of the developing world. Cost, sustainability, cultural differences and acceptance by those who will use the water are all important factors in providing clean drinking water to these people.
Presented in the first five chapters is the “Multi-Barrier Approach” required to provide clean water in a developing country. Centre for Affordable Water & Sanitation Technology (CAWST) provides more information on the Multi-Barrier Approach at: https://www.cawst.org/services/multi-barrier-approach
If the source is a well, it should be covered with a concrete slab. If it’s from a stream or channel, you will have to make sure that it doesn’t run though a pasture where animal waste can enter the water.
The clarity of the supply varies with the amount of suspended sediment (turbidity) in the water. The removal of the sediment is essential for minimization of the necessary filtration of the supply.
Once the sediment is removed, the water must be filtered to eliminate pathogens. Filtration is one of the most important steps in providing clean water to developing countries. This chapter will cover three types of filters in depth: Biosand, Membrane and Ceramic.
This step ensures the removal of any remaining pathogens in the filtered water. Methods include boiling of water, solar disinfection using sunlight (known as SODIS), chlorination (the primary means in the developed world), and Ultraviolet Light (UV).
The clean drinking water must be stored where pollutants, from such sources as dirty hands and bodily fluids, cannot contaminate the clean water. Generally, this involves the use of a water-tight container with a spigot.
Following the removal of sediment, filtration, and disinfection, the clean the water must be moved from one location to another (usually in jerrycans) without secondary contamination.
The factors involved in the selection of the optimal fresh water source, (ground water, surface water or rainwater harvesting) must include consideration of quantity, quality and cost.
Provides an overview of pathogens and how these serve to compromise the hygiene, drinkability and safety of the water. The chapter includes a section on water testing in the field to determine the presence of the various pollutants.
Centrifugal pumps and compressed air pumps require the use of electrical energy, either from a grid, solar panels, or other source. Rope pumps and/or hand pumps are useful in those parts of the developing world that lack access to electricity (some 16 percent of the world’s population, or 1.2 billion people).
The proper disposal of human waste is a vitally important corollary to attaining and maintaining clean water. Presented in this chapter is how to provide adequate sanitation to households, villages and schools via both the pit toilet and the EcoSan (Ecological Sanitation) toilet.
Educating individuals on the necessity of simple hand washing with soap and clean water is one of the most effective ways to prevent disease. Hand washing is an important component of hygiene, especially after using the toilet, changing diapers and before cooking. The Tippy Tap device is an effective and inexpensive hygienic method.
In some areas of the developing world, people embrace the continued use of polluted water simply because they always have. Customs, such as open defecation, become a social time in the evening in many villages. In addition, there may be an inherent distrust of toilets. A new well, which may be located in the village, may stop the women from walking together to the distant water source – an essential rite of socialization.
It goes without saying that systems that provide clean water to developing nations need to be inexpensive and/or paid for by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) or other humanitarian groups. This chapter provides some examples and the attendant price tag for bringing clean water to those in need.
There are six deadly sins of marketing that NGOs often commit when providing clean water to developing countries.
Efforts to sustain the long term use of clean water systems have led to common failures related to community, training, behavioral change, inadequate funding and solutions – but technological advances, including the use of mobile phones, enable troubleshooting issues.
As an inspiration for anyone looking to tackle the clean water issue, some 16 case studies demonstrate how others have solved the riddle worldwide. The ingenuity of human beings to serve others in the water arena takes center stage.
The final chapter is a guide to additional resources beyond what is discussed earlier, including newsletters, online booklets, volunteer information and a selection of educational institutions in the United States that include some of the best programs serving the student community with courses related to providing clean water to developing countries.
A primer on hydrology.
A primer on water resource engineering.
The world is full of opportunities. Every day there's something new that you can do. For example, you could make dirty water potable. Why does anyone not have potable water? Because it's a problem that hasn't been solved yet, but it can be.
- Ursula Burns
Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.
- W.H. Auden
We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one.
- Jacques Yves Cousteau
For many of us, clean water is so plentiful and readily available that we rarely, if ever, pause to consider what life would be like without it.
- Marcus Samuelsson
Water is the most critical resource issue of our lifetime and our children’s lifetime. The health of our waters is the principal measure of how we live on the land.
- Luna Leopold
People in Ethiopia, the Sudan, etc. don’t know Audrey Hepburn, but they recognize the name UNICEF. When they see ‘UNICEF,’ their faces light up, because they know something is happening. In the Sudan, for example, they call a water pump ‘UNICEF’.
- Audrey Hepburn
If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.
- Loren Eiseley
If there's a choice between tap water and bottled water, the consumer can make that choice. In a very large geography in the world, that choice does not exist.
- Muhtar Kent
Water is a very good servant, but it is a cruel master.
- Charles G.D. Roberts
We have grown accustomed to the wonders of clean water, indoor plumbing, laser surgery, genetic engineering, artificial joints, replacement body parts, and the much longer lives that accompany them. Yet we should remember that the vast majority of humans ever born died before the age of 10 from an infectious disease.
- Jay Olshansky
Water is at the center of every chemical reaction, and therefore should be the earth’s most precious gift.
- Janine Benyus
In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.
- Benjamin Franklin
Water is the most critical resource issue of our lifetime and our children’s lifetime. The health of our waters is the principal measure of how we live on the land.
- Luna Leopold
We shall not defeat any of the infectious diseases that plague the developing world until we have also won the battle for safe drinking water, sanitation and basic health care.
- Kofi Annan
Soap and water and common sense are the best disinfectants.
- William Osler
All the water there will ever be is right now.
- National Geographic
Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over.
- Mark Twain
John Dracup was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, where his parents settled because the climate reminded them of their native Glasgow, Scotland. He is a civil engineer and hydrologist. He holds degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge and the University of California, Berkeley.
He has taught water resource engineering and hydrology at both the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of California, Berkeley for over 50 years. In his research, he has focused on the optimization of large-scale water resource systems and the impact of climate change on hydrologic variables. He has conducted clean water projects in Africa as well as in Central and South America.
Professor Dracup is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Geophysical Union among others. In 2001, he was a Fulbright Scholar to Australia. In 2015, the Rotary Foundation cited him for his efforts in supplying clean, safe water in developing countries. He lives in Santa Monica, California with his wife and family.