USAID Nepal projects to improve water & sanitation in schools

Feb 7, 2011 – Kathmandu, Nepal: USAID recently began two new projects directly with two local Nepali organizations to improve access to water, sanitation, and hygiene for more than 65,000 people in Nepal’s mid- and far-western region, a US Embassy press release said Monday.

The first project – School-Led Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Improvement project – (SWASTHA) will benefit approximately 45,000 people in the mid-west. The second – Safe Practices on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene project (Safe-WASH) – will improve access to safe drinking water and sanitation facility and provide training on environmental sanitation, personal hygiene, irrigation and kitchen gardening to 27,000 rural people in the far-west, according to the release.

WSUP water & sanitation project in Kumasi

 Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), an innovative organisation that brings local and global expertise to deliver water and sanitation services to the urban poor, has interacted with the media in Kumasi, as part of moves to solicit ideas towards solving the problem of water and sanitation in the country.

The project, dubbed the Oforikrom Water and Sanitation (OWAS) project, offers an opportunity for the media to learn at firsthand, some interventions and approaches being used by development partners and Government of Ghana to arrest the appalling water and sanitation situation in the country.

According to the Project Manager, Mr. Issaka Balima Musah, the project was under the African Cities for the Future Project, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

USAID/CDC Slow Sand Filtration Fact Sheet

Household Water Treatment Options in Developing Countries: Slow Sand Filtration. USAID; CDC, 2010.

Download Full-text (pdf, 144KB)

The Slow Sand Filter (SSF) is a sand filter adapted for household use. Please note that although commonly referred to as the BioSand Filter (BSF), the BSF terminology is trademarked to one particular design, and this fact sheet encompasses all SSFs.

The version of the SSF most widely implemented consists of layers of sand and gravel in a concrete or plastic container approximately 0.9 meters tall, and 0.3 meters square. The water level is maintained to 5-6 cm above the sand layer by setting the height of the outlet pipe. This shallow water layer allows a bioactive layer (“schmutzdecke”) to grow on top of the sand, which contributes to the reduction of disease-causing organisms. A diffuser plate is used to prevent disruption of the biolayer when water is added. To use the SSF, users simply pour water into the SSF, and collect finished water out of the outlet pipe into a bucket. Over time, especially if source water is turbid, the flow rate can decrease. Users can maintain flow rate by cleaning the filter by agitating the top level of sand, or by pre-treating turbid water before filtration.