African Water Development Report 2006 - United Nations Economic ...

Making Water Safe in African TraditionalWays – Integrating IndigenousKnowledgeAfrican rural communities have for long usedsimple and rudimentary treatment techniques tofilter out visible impurities from water collectedfrom local sources. Although these traditionalmethods are expedient and can remove certaintypes of particles in water, they do not necessarilyprovide water that would be considered as beingof drinking quality. However, the water providedby these methods have quality acceptable to theserural communities and, in most cases, would requireonly a further simple step of disinfection,to become free of pathogens. Vigneswaran S. &Sundaravadivel M (2002) describe some of thetraditional treatment methods as follows:well water. The practice of cloth filtration is quitecommon in villages in India, Mali, the southernpart of the Niger and many other parts of thedeveloping world. In some Indian villages, if theraw water is muddy and highly odorous, woodash of the Sal tree (Shora robuta) is mixed withthe water which is subsequently filtered throughcloth.Filtration through clay vessels: Clay vessels witha suitable pore size are sometimes used to filterhighly turbid water. Turbid water is collected in abig clay jar where it is allowed to settle down andto trickle through the porous clay wall of the jar.This trickled water is collected in a vessel (usuallya clay pot) by placing it at the bottom of theporous clay jar. This method of water treatmentis common in Egypt.WATER FOR MEETING BASIC NEEDS(a) Filtration through winnowing sieve (usedwidely in Mali).(b) Filtration through cloth (commonly usedin villages in Mali and the southern part ofNiger).(c) Filtration through clay vessels (used inEgypt).Filtration through winnowing sieve: This typeof filtration is used when the water source ispolluted by wind-borne impurities such as dryleaves, stalks, and coarse particles. The raw wateris passed through a winnowing sieve, and theimpurities are filtered. This type of filter is widelyused in villages of the Bamako area in Mali. Thismethod cannot be used when the raw water ishighly turbid or muddy, since the sieve cannotfilter fine suspended particles in raw water.Filtration through cloth: Thin white cottoncloth or a discarded garment is used as the filtermedium. This filter can filter raw water containingsuch impurities as plant debris, insects,dust particles or coarse mud particles. Filtrationof suspended particles present in water can beachieved only to a very small extent. Therefore,this type of filtration is not suitable for highlyturbid water. It is most suitable for filtration ofMajor Problems of Sustainable Waterand Sanitation DevelopmentAs described earlier, IWSSD’s big strides infinding affordable technologies and developingparticipatory approaches helped those withoutaccess to improved water and sanitation services.The Global Water Supply and SanitationAssessment 2000 presented the findings of thefourth assessment by the WHO and UNICEFJoint Monitoring Programme.The Assessment identified the following constraintsto improving water and sanitation systemsin the world, with emphasis on the developingcountries:(a) Financial difficulties;(b) Institutional problems;(c) Inadequate human resources(d) Lack of sector coordination;(e) Lack of political commitment;(f ) Insufficient community involvement;(g) Inadequate operation and maintenance;(h) Lack of hygiene education;(i) Poor water quality; and(j) Insufficient information and communication(Yamamura S. T. el al, 2002).115