GEO Haiti 2010

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GEO HAITI • 2010 132 A research team was created on the issue of “waste” at the Water Quality and Environment Laboratory (LAQUE) of Quisqueya University (UniQ). As key stakeholders in this project and leaders of various investigations, the team has rapidly acquired the necessary experience, particularly in the field of composting, to intervene in other current projects, as the one of OXFAM, within the Eau-Cap project, in Jacmel and Saint-Marc. The UNDP has also established a composting project at Carrefour-Feuilles where interns have been trained. The Quisqueya University was responsible of its scientific follow-up, which would allow the intervention to be renewed in order to make it sustainable. 8.3.2 The Issue of Potable Water Two systems have been put in place regarding the supply of potable water in the country: • CAMEP – Metropolitan Autonomous Potable Water Plant, created in 1989 under the authority of the Ministry of Public Works, is responsible for supplying the areas of Port-au-Prince, Piéton- Ville, Delmas and Carrefour. Its management system still is inadequate and characterized by institutional instability, a lack of investment capacity, low output and insufficient revenue collection. In Port-au-Prince, CAMEP’s network serves all official neighbourhoods, but not the squatter settlements. • SNEP, National Potable-Water Service, created in 1977, was originally intended to supply the smaller towns of all regions throughout the country. However, since 1989, it only serves the regions not covered by CAMEP. According to GRET, in 2000, of Port-au-Prince’s 2.5 million inhabitants, only 27,500, or 1.4% of the population were officially connected to CAMEP’s potable-water supply network, although the water-table on the periphery of the city was capable of supplying the entire population. Water, as healthcare and education, has long been considered a basic service. The price of water billed to the public is generally substantially lower than its true cost and revenue collection is not systematic. Additionally, only the middle and upper classes, mainly in the urban areas, are usually supplied with potable water. The chronic deficit in State revenues hinders the expansion of the water supply network and ensures only a minimum level of maintenance and quality control. Vast segments of the population are forced to obtain fresh water by other means. Some take the risk of drinking from contaminated rivers or decrepit wells and their health often suffers the consequences. Others connect illegally to the public water network. But sooner or later, most end up buying water from private suppliers, legal or illegal, who make attractive profits by carting or trucking water to the poor neighbourhoods. Several studies show that the prices charged by these suppliers can be up to 30 times higher than those paid by households connected to the public network (Constance, 1999). 8.3.3 Sewage Disposal Compared to industrialised nations, in developing countries the load of wastewater pollution contained in the effluents of the urban sanitation systems is discharged practically unchanged into the ecosystems. The inherent danger of these effluents to the ecosystems is apparent in the two management methods explained below. However, it is generally more acute in developing countries because of insufficient or non-existent dilution. a) Disposal of Excreta in Urban Areas Most people in the metropolitan areas do not have a septic tank and are not connected to the sewage system. Excreta directly pollute the natural environment (mangrove forests, riverbeds, underground through cesspools) which of course has repercussions on the quality of water (Les Amis de la Terre, 2005). The following graph shows the evolution in excreta disposal conditions across the country from 1980 to 1997.
State of the Environment Report 2010 Percentage of population Figure 78: Excreta Disposal in Haiti 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1980 1985 1990 1995 1996 1997 Years Source: From PAHO/WHO data, 2003. State of the PWSS Sector as at December 31, 2002. b) Disposal of excreta in rural areas The situation of the management of excreta in rural areas in Haiti is chaotic. Latrines are often simply holes which do not comply with established standards (distance from water sources, direction of flow and water-table level, rules of maintenance and hygiene, respect of users’ privacy etc.). Figure 79: Communal latrine built by an international NGO Urban Rural Figure 80: View of a latrine, Belot 1 (Rural ) This situation significantly impacts public health and the health of the population in Haiti. According to PAHO/WHO “ nowadays, diarrhoeal diseases, partly due to the consumption of water contaminated by bacteria of faecal origin, still represents one of the two major causes of death in children under 5” (MSPP-PAHO/WHO; MSPP, 2004). Other infectious diseases due to “faecal peril” such as cholera, typhoid, intestinal helminthiasis, intestinal protozoa and intestinal schistosomiasis still claim victims in Haiti. Studies have also indicated health risks for immune-deficient persons exposed to the cryptosporidium oocysts in the drinking water distributed in Port-au-Prince and its surrounding areas (Bras, 2005). Nowadays, many institutions involved in emergency situations, during and even after, advocate treating water with chlorine. However, it has also been suggested that the chlorine treatment of water, like that distributed by the water company, is susceptible to cause, due to the presence of faecal coliforms, the formation of trihalomethanes, considered to be carcinogenic substances (Emmanuel et al, 2000). 133
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GEO Haiti 2010

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