Water and Sanitation Resources - Haiti Earthquake

[MarkButler]

The following document has some information on emergency POU water treatment in Haiti.It’s main points concerning Haiti is that ceramic filters and chlorine are proven technologies. The document mentions that there are a number of existing household water treatment programs in Haiti including local production of chlorine and aquatabs. It also mentioned that there is high knowledge of water treatment with chlorine due to years of missionary education recommending chlorination across Haiti. Ceramic filters are also a well known water treatment technology option. In addition, distribution of ceramic water filters is listed as a good practice. Finally, the document mentions that use of PUR was not accepted by relief agencies in both 2004 and 2008 because it was unknown and “in the acute phase, impractical”. In response to Tropical Storm Jeanne, 410,000 PuR sachets were donated to relief efforts in Haiti (Colindres, 2007) but NGOs reported they had competing demands and different water supply strategies, as well as no training in the use of PuR, and chose not to distribute the PuR, and sachets were warehoused until the non-emergency response.

lantagne-pou_emergencies2009.pdf

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The following is also a very useful document for those involved in Earthquake Response..

ALNAPLessonsEarthquakes.pdf

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[MarkButler]

The best source of informatin on the emergency can be found at Relifweb.
I've attached the latests UNOCHO sitreps.

OCHA Sitrep Haiti #1.pdf

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OCHA Sitrep Haiti #2.pdf

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[Sumo]

There is a helpful Water Supply and Sanitation in Haiti page on Wikipedia.

I've attached the most recent national water and sanitation coverage figures from UNICEF/WHO.

HTI_wat.pdf

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HTI_san.pdf

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[ClaireY]

There was a recent WASH Cluster Review in Haiti. It was concentrated on the floods and Gonaives but has some general WASH background information.

[Jimbo]

Some information from FAO on WASH in Haiti:

The water supplies in villages generally flow to the village by gravity in open channels from the mountains and people collect it in concrete underground cisterns, many of which will probably be fractured. There has been some development of wells with rope and buckets to raise water. There is concern about saline intrusion to wells near the coast. Port Au Prince has a rudimentary water system. It is expected that the earthquake would affect water sources in the following ways.

* Collapsed wells/boreholes
* Fractured pipe networks
* Pollution of groundwater from damaged septic tanks/sewage pipes
* People forced to use polluted water sources
* Failed electricity supply to any electric pumps
* Disrupted fuel supply to motorised pumps
* Death/injury of water supply operational staff

[BushProof]

Hi

Some maps I've had on file for some years, including water resource maps. Might help.

Cheers

Eric

[dlantagne]

Wow - good to see all this information here. Attached please find information on who is doing what local HWTS programs in Haiti.

1-pager-haiti-chlorination2.pdf

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1-pager-proven-new-logo.pdf

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Also, I would also say:

"At this point the immediate needs in PaP are to supply food, water, medical care, and shelter to the affected population, and to keep the peace in a highly unstable environment. It is unlikely that HWTS will play a large role in the immediate response - although in certain areas or in rural areas where displaced populations may migrate to, HWTS may be a larger role."

Contacts with water treatment equipment:

In terms of household water treatment, there are a number of ongoing water treatment programs in Haiti, including:

- Chlorination programs using (these programs are described in the attached file - 1-pager-Haiti-chlorination.pdf).

-- locally made solution (michael.ritter2@gmail.com)
-- AquaTabs (Michael Gately - mgately@medentech.com)
-- Dlo Lavi liquid solution (PSI - Megan Wilson and Natache Riviere, mwilson@psi.org, nriviere@psihaiti.org
-- PuR (PSI again)
-- NaDCC powder in bottles (Jon Steele - jon@madewell.com)

Michael and Natache are both in Haiti at the moment. Michael is available via email - michael.ritter2@gmail.com. There is no issue of taste resistance to chlorine in Haiti and a dosage between 2-4 mg/L. There is high knowledge of water treatment with chlorine due to years of missionary education recommending chlorination across Haiti.

- Charles Adams (Pure Water for the World - charles@taeria.com) and Lisa Ballantine (FilterPur - lisaballantine@aol.com) are producers of BioSand Filters and Ceramic Filters, respectively, and have offered their assistance in providing filters. They are both in the DR right now.

[CarlBrunner]

It's not focussed on water an sanitation but there is another useful ALNAP document Responding to Urban Disasters: Learning from Previous Relief and Recovery Operations. It includes experience from earthquake
responses in Bam (Iran); Bhuj (India), Izmit (Turkey), and Kobe (Japan).

Responding to Urban Disasters (ALNAP).pdf

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[BushProof]

Jetting / washboring:

I remember looking into creating rapid protected shallow water sources a few years back after some other natural disaster in Haiti. It seems that the combination of shallow groundwater and unconsolidated sediments in many areas make it ideal for jetted wells. It would probably be more of a rehabilitation action for damaged water points, but BushProof has quite some experience jetting wells in Madagascar as part of emergency response projects. Anyone who needs some expertise on this topic on ground, do get in touch.