water and sanitation in (post) conflict areas of ne sri lanka

8/14/2019 Water and Sanitation in (Post) Conflict Areas of NE Sri Lanka

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Water and sanitation in (post) conflict areas of N-East Sri Lanka

Technical solutions based on quick impact and do no-harm

1. Introduction

Water and sanitation are vital for human health, generates economic benefits, helps theenvironment and contributes to dignity and social development. Irrefutably, water, sanitation andhealth are interrelated. Thus access to adequate sanitation and quality water is essential forbetter health and overall living conditions.

This is applicable in general, but above in (post) conflict situations. People in such circumstancesdo already have a difficult time and are often more vulnerable. As well in emergencies during aconflict period (or disaster like the tsunami) as in the recovery phase specific water and sanitationoptions need to be provided.

In each phase a specific approach is needed to provide the people with suitable watsan solutions.The interventions should be based on quick impact and do no-harm.

This paper suggests basic solutions that can be implemented fast enough as timely interventionin emergencies and that can assist people quickly for rehabilitation, but that have no significantnegative (long term) impact. Also for development specific options are mentioned. Several

technical solutions are described, but also issues like the sustainability, ownership, communitymobilization (participation), etc. are included.

2. Need for Watsan in (post)conflict situations

As mentioned, water and sanitation are especially important in post conflict situations. Inemergencies water and sanitation is often essential to survive and needs to be provided as quickas possible to prevent from outbreak of epidemic diseases causing more casualties.

After a conflict like during the CFA or after a disaster like the Tsunami, when people settle downagain to live in a particular place, they need the rehabilitation of water and sanitation facilities tobe able to recover and to restart their lives. The rehabilitation becomes gradually replaced bydevelopment when additional facilities are provided or facilities are improved. When people can

take enough water close by their home, it does not only safe a lot of t ime and energy to bring thewater to their home but also ensures enough water can be used for cleaning, bathing and oftenalso for purposes like home gardening or even some agriculture. Sanitation is not only needed forsafe health, but also improves the self esteem and psycho social well being. When toilet facilitieson the own compound can be used instead of going to common places like the jungle or sea itprevents from problems for women like harassment or abuse or that they tend to drink (too) lessto reduce the frequency of urinating especially at night.

The relief, rehabilitation and development solutions should not only be technical feasible, but alsobased on quick impact and do no-harm. In emergency it is probably more important to providehalf of the required (Sphere) amount within say 2 or 3 days, than the full amount after one or twoweeks. For rehabilitation it is important that all people get as soon as possible basic facilities, toassist them in starting up their lives and to increase their self esteem to enable them to focus onother issues than their daily struggle to survive. Special attention is needed for the extremelyvulnerable households, like female headed households, families with many small children,families with disabled members, etc. Without basic facilities being restored, it is difficult for themto think about peace and future developments.


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Figure 1 Need for basic facilities (shelter and watsan) in (post) conflict areas

The interventions should also be based on do no-harm. In emergency this means that providingbad quality water could create more risk than providing no water at all. In rehabilitation there is arisk of providing the wrong solutions, like a toilet that becomes flooded during the rain or assistinga family that doesnt fit into the criteria. However, there is also a perhaps more serious risk thatpeople are not getting enough assistance, if quickly restoring the basic facilities it is not wantedfor certain reasons by (local) authorities or if the expectations are too high. If technical standardsare raised to a very high level, people are actually prevented from getting assistance while donorsare not able / willing to provide such facilities and / or the progress of assistance becomes very

low.

For development the watsan facilities can be improved like introduction of new technologies, forexample eco-san toilets, or the amount of facilities can be increased while more time is availablefor research and implementation.

Emergency Relief Rehabilitation Development

Situation: Emergency, displacement Resettlement / transitionalphase

Stability / permanent phase

war, conflict (or disasterlike tsunami)

CFA / No war no peace peace

Watsanintervention:

Quick (days) temporaryfacilities

Quick (months-years) basic(semi-permanent) facilities

Gradually (years)improvement / increase offacilities / new technologies

Beneficiary

participation/contribution

In general not possible participation as far as

possible (attention forextremely vulnerablefamilies)

participation & own

contribution to improveownership

Table 1 Different phases with suitable watsan interventions

3. Situation in Sri Lanka

3.1 General situation in Sri LankaNormally people in SL use water sealed toilets. In the cities toilets are nowadays mostly in thehouse, but in the rural areas toilets are mostly built separate. In urban areas these toilets areconnected to a sewerage system, septic tank or soakage pit. In rural areas the toilets are ingeneral connected to a soakage pit and only rarely to a septic tank. The poor households whocannot effort to build a toilet use often a dry pit in their compound.

3.2 Situation in (post) conflict areas (North-East)In the rural (post) conflict areas, people expect to have a pour flush toilet with soakage pit. Ingeneral people have relatively large compounds (> acre) and therefore a minimum requireddistance (100 feet) between toilet and wells can be kept. Most families do not even have a privatewell. Due to the conflict and displacements toilets were damaged or families have never beenable to build a toilet, while they had no income and there was no cement. In certain districts only


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well, there are no real negative impacts of these temporary toilets. If cleaning materials areprovided as well, people can keep the toilets clean or a hygiene promotion committee needs to beorganised.

Figure 2 Constructing temporary toilets with local materials

4.2 Watsan rehabilitation

When the situation improves for the ordinary people, like during the CFA, rehabilitation can start.When people return to their original often also water and sanitation facilities are missing. Ingeneral a private (cement block lined) well is not affordable, so for water they depend on commonwells. If they build a toilet this is mostly a pour flush toilet with a simple pit. While manyhouseholds, especially the extremely vulnerable households, are not in a position to constructsuch toilets, some programmes of the GoSL and NGOs assist with this type of toilets.

Figure 3 Pour flush toilets with soakage pit complete with room

Although a septic tank might technically at first impression seem to be a better solution (no directcontact with groundwater), a toilet with simple soakage pit is for many circumstances as part of arehabilitation programme still the most suitable option. The following reasons are given:


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- generally no or limited budgets for expensive options like septic tanks are available in a(post) conflict situation, while for rehabilitation quick impact is required (many toilets in ashort period) and therefore less costly options are preferable;

- in rural areas with relatively large plots, large distance between toilets and wells can bemaintained and often households do not even have private wells;

- in areas with high groundwater table, the whole construction can be elevated higherabove ground level;

- often the groundwater table is only for a short time per year (the raining season) at itshighest level, so most of the time groundwater pollution will not take place;

- if wells are in the neighbourhood of a toilet, these are normally designed for the dryperiod, so groundwater that becomes slightly polluted by pits (at about 6 below surface)during the raining season will not enter the wells while water enters from the bottom (at20 30 depth)

- proved solution, except for some highly populated town areas (Jaffna: groundwaterpollution) no negative impacts;

- the construction of the pit is a simple technique and can be done by the beneficiaries(participation / ownership), for a septic tank of reinforced concrete skilled mason have toexecute the work

- because of the simple technique, no risk for failure (if a septic tank is not water proof, itactually doesnt function properly)

- no or very low maintenance (if septic tanks are not cleaned after some years, they will notfunction properly

In several manuals / guidelines, it is recommended that the bottom of the pit should be 2.5 m or 3m above the static groundwater level. Based on the points mentioned above, it seems forrehabilitation reasonable to accept (raised) toilets with a soakage pit also if the groundwater levelreaches a higher level (f.e. up to about 1.5 m during the raining season) and even a very highlevel could be for a few days per year acceptable if distances to wells are large and in soils with alow permeability. Therefore, it is recommended not to decide only on the maximum height of thegroundwater table but to take into account as well the period of high groundwater level, thedifference between the minimum and maximum level, the soil conditions and the populationdensity / plot seize (distances to wells). For example villages with land plots acre could beconsidered as rural areas where a normal soakage pit toilets is acceptable and only in urban,densely populated areas septic tank toilets or other options could be considered.

People normally prefer a completed toilet with cement block wall room. However for health andhygiene reasons, a proper base with water sealed squatting pan connected to a (lined) pit with

some cheap kind of room around the base would be enough (f.e. cadjan or tinsheet). There areseveral reasons that agencies assist with a complete toilet: some (local) authorities allow only fullassistance, some donors like to see complete products, only a base and pit doesnt lookprofessional (no nice photos), etc.

Figure 4 Pour flush toilets with soakage pit room to be constructed by beneficiary

Room to beconstructed

raise for highgroundwater level

raise for highgroundwater level


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However, if assisted with only the base and pit it is possible to provide with the same budgetmany more households (2-3 times). Beneficiaries can be mobilised to do some part of this workthemselves, while it doesnt require much skilled work. For example they get cements and sandto make blocks if a pit is excavated and they get a second batch of cement and the othermaterials to finish the work. So also a higher number of toilets can be implemented in a certainperiod compared to providing full toilets (probably 3-4 times). The beneficiaries can finish theroom whenever they want and according to their own choice. This participation and need to finishthe room themselves, will also improve the ownership of the toilet. If it turns out that specificvulnerable households really cannot finish a toilet, the room can be provide as part of adevelopment programme.

The small risk of groundwater pollution by simple soakage pits, is in most situations a muchsmaller risk than giving no assistance because of lack of funding of expensive options (like septictanks) or too low progress.

For the transitional phase after the tsunami, also semi permanent watsan solutions have beenprovided. For example in Vaddamarachchi East and Mullaitivu per 10 families 5 toilets connectedto one pit were provided. These toilets had a normal squatting pan fixed in a base of cement andwere finished with a room of tinsheet. At certain transitional camps, piped water was providedfrom an overhead tank for as well drinking water as for bathing places. ZOA Refugee Caredecided to provide only water for drinking, while for bathing one well per 20 families wasconstructed. This proved to be a much more sustainable solution. Less water had to be pumpedfrom the drinking water wells (preventing for capacity problems and salt water intrusion) and the

bathing water could be drawn from a larger number of wells by people themselves as they areused to do. Also much less operation and maintenance was needed.

Figure 5 Semi-permanent watsan facilities in Tsunami transitional camp

Similar as for the Sphere standards for relief, it would be good to set a time target forrehabilitation like 40-50% of the people should be provided with basic facilities within 2 years upto 100% within 4 years. Donors and authorities can based on the targets make together an actionplan. Again as example Kilinochchi district is used as it had a high need for rehabilitation after theCFA. If the above approach had been followed it is realistic to state that the watsan facilities of80 - 100% of the people could have been rehabilitated instead of 10-25%. Assuming in 4 years(2002 till 2005) about 30,000 families should have been assisted that means about 7,500 familiesa year. With an average of 750 families a year assisted through about 10 channels /organisations (like NEIAP, NECORD, UN organisations, INGOs, LNGOs, etc) this could havebeen realistically achieved. However, now people are continuing to live without facilities and withmore people getting displaced again the situation has only worsened. Besides that such anapproach would have at least had a positive impact on the chances for peace.


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4.3 Watsan development

For water and sanitation in development the facilities can be improved or more facilities (likewells) can be provided. If needed, simple soakage pits can be replaced by septic tanks or newtechnologies like ecosan (composting toilets) can be tested. Also for septic tanks still the effluentneeds to be diverted somewhere. An easy solution is a soakage pit or trench, but also anevaporation bed or sewerage system can be used.

Figure 6 Pour flush toilets with septic tank and soakage pit or infiltration trench

In situations with high groundwater table, the problems for a normal soakage pit toilet or septictank are more or the less similar. The water level in the soakage pit needs to be somewhat higherthan the groundwater level to be able to infiltrate and therefore the toilet and pit have to be raised(see figure 4). The effluent from the septic tank also needs to infiltrate and therefore also a toiletwith septic tank needs to be raised completely (base, tank and soakage pit). For (urban)situations with high groundwater levels it is in fact the best solution to lower the groundwater levelfor the whole area in combination with raising the ground level and / or a sewerage system.Further improving the operating of the septic tank is possible by introducing secondary treatments

before the water drains into the ground or surface water, like a biofilter, lined / unlined wetland orseepage bed.

In the development phase, more attention can be paid to community mobilisation, to be able tointroduce common systems like water pipeline and / or sewerage. The time frame can be longer,while people already should have the basic facilities, so that funds can be arranged and properplanning / designing can be done.

In sandy areas with shallow groundwater, private wells can be relatively easy provided by usinghume pipes. This can also be considered for rehabilitation as shared wells (f.e. 4 families).Although not popular in Sri Lanka, shallow tube wells with hand pumps could be a goodalternative to open wells. Some misunderstand the use of hand pumps, while they think that thishas a negative impact on the groundwater, however if water is taken from the same aquifer as bythe open wells, the impact is same or even less (less wastage, less chance for pollution). While

families are not used to hand pumps awareness and explanation will be needed. Alsomaintenance issues have to be taken into account.


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Figure 7 Well made of hume pipe

5. Conclusion & recommendations

For proper water and sanitation solutions it is important to consider the particular situation forwhich these solutions are provided, like for relief, rehabilitation or development. In general moreattention is paid to technical standards, but less to progress and impact. Even the internationalSphere standards (emergency) do not focus on the progress, although it would be good if anindication of a timeframe was given like within 3-5 days one toilet per 50 persons and withinanother 3-5 days increased up to 1 toilet per 20 persons. In this paper it is advocated thatsolutions also should be based on quick impact and do no-harm.

Similar for rehabilitation it is impossible to provide within a short time the best water andsanitation systems and to expect people in the mean time to live without water and sanitationfacilities at all. Likewise as after the tsunami as it was widely accepted that people first got a

transitional shelter and after that a permanent house. It is suggested to provide as soon aspossible all families with basic facilities, that do no harm and can be further developed / improvedin future. As for the Sphere standards for relief, it would be good to set a time target forrehabilitation in (post) conflict areas like 40-50% of the people should be provided with basicfacilities within 2 years up to 100% within 4 years. Donors and authorities can based on thetargets make together an action plan. If the above approach had been followed in for exampleKilinochchi district, it is realistic to state that the watsan facilities of 80 - 100% of the people couldhave been rehabilitated instead of 10-25% during 4 years of the CFA. Besides that such anapproach would have at least had a positive impact on the chances for peace.

For the choice of type of toilets in general the groundwater level is used as an indicator. However,it is recommended to also include other indicators as whether it is for rural or urban areas, soilconditions, whether the highest ground water level occurs only for a short time and the differencebetween high and low groundwater level (sometimes more than 20 to 30 feet) and whether

distances to wells are large. Based on such indicators it seems for rehabilitation most adequate toprovide in rural areas (land plots acre) normal soakage pit toilets and only in urban, denselypopulated areas septic tank toilets or other options.

To be able to have high progress for the rehabilitation, to improve the participation and ownershipof the people it is recommended to provide only a proper base with squatting pan and pit, but tolet the families finish the toilet room. In this way more families can be assisted with a technicalgood solution in a short period and the rehabilitation phase finished early. In the development


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phase specific families can be assisted further or systems improved to f.e. septic tanks orsewerage systems.

Special attention is required for areas with high ground water level (also this occurs only for ashort period) to ensure that the toilets can be used always. Normal soakage pit toilets can becompletely raised but same is needed for septic tank toilets.

In (post) conflict areas like the rural areas in the north east, many people live without basic waterand sanitation. For them it is important that they can live as soon as possible with basic facilitiesand therefore rehabilitation is needed. Without basic facilities being restored, it is difficult for themto think about peace and future developments. In the guidelines for water and sanitation not onlythe technical aspects need to be included, but the solutions should also be based on quick impactand do no harm. The solutions should not cause any direct harm (f.e. drinking water pollution),but also no indirect harm like preventing people from getting assistance by raising the standardsand required budgets to too high levels. For development more time can be used and funds canbe arranged to introduce more sophisticated systems or new technologies.

Herald Vervoorn (M.Sc. Civil Eng. Technical University of Delft)Civil Engineer, ZOA Refugee Care, 2003-2006

REFERENCES

1. Achieving sustainable sanitation: Lessons from tsunami reconstruction in Sri LankaM.A.I.B. Navaratne, 32nd WEDC International Conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2006

2. Ecological Sanitation Compost Toilets in Sri Lanka: An Appropriate Solution? ConstanzeWindberg, Germany, Philippe Barragne-Bigot, 32nd WEDC International Conference,Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2006

3. Draft Sri Lanka Standard, Code of Practise for the Design and Construction of SepticTanks and Associated Effluent Disposal Systems (First Revision), SLS 745 : 2003

4. Standards for the Provision of Water and Sanitation Services in DevelopmentProgramme; INGO Water and Sanitation Group Kilinochchi, draft v1.1

5. Minimum Standards for the Provision of Water and Sanitation Services in Emergency,Water and Sanitation Group Trincomalee Sri Lanka, Trincomalee, 11th March 2005

6. Water, sanitation and hygiene for populations at risk, Action Contre la Faim, 2005

7. Infrastructure Manual, Designs and Specifications, 2004-2008 Draft, ZOA Refugee Care

water and sanitation in (post) conflict areas of ne sri lanka

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