After three decades of water quality management efforts, the inability all over the world to halt water pollution remains a serious failure. The crisis of water pollution is increasing steadily in the developing world.
Water is the victim of economic growth due to the widespread “willful neglect” of the fact that waste production is intimately linked to the wealth generating processes but degrades the water for other users dependent on the same systems.
Every cubic meter of contaminated wastewater discharged into water bodies and water courses spoils between eight and ten cubic meters of pure water. (UNESCO).
In developing countries, between 90% and 95% of sewage and 70% of industrial wastes are dumped untreated into waters where they pollute the usable water supply.
Water must become part of the political agenda since it is a key element in poverty eradication, health improvement, nutrition of malnourished people and an army of unborn babies, and protection of indispensable ecological services and regional development. Water management strategies, whether at the national, international or project level, should focus more on the interdependence between the environment and socio-economic development. Strategies should clearly visualize how effective water management policies contribute to a more sustainable economic and social development. The language in such strategies should be clear and unambiguous - only then can policy and decision-makers use the information appropriately.
There are a lot of graduate students (in public health, geography, and beyond) who could do the initial research here for free. Many public health schools ask their students to use GIS technology to do the sort of mapping this project would require--it would be quite useful to gather a team of them to perform this initial data-gathering for you. You'd get your mapping, they'd get a thesis.
Hello Constance, It is great to have both of your entries in the competition. Can you please explain in what way are the beneficiaries also the service providers? With this pilot are you planning out future drainage or are you working to change the current structures? Do you have an estimate of the cost of the construction, operation and maintenance of the drainage system you are proposing? Do you have a curriculum for your educational training component?
I love the way in which you have created a sustainable financial model while addressing waste and the need for recycling at the same time. It's great! Is this recycling system part of KWENCH? How many people could this potentially employ? Does Nairobi currently have any recycling program? Is there any potential for partnership?
I really like Erin's idea about reaching out to graduate students. I hope you look into that further.
Lastly, has this superimposition/photographic/contour mapping been used elsewhere?
Thank you for your response.
Dana Frasz
Changemakers
Question 1. The service providers are residents of the pilot project area, rather than employees of local areas as is the case in formal settlements. Therefore, they will benefit directly from the project.
Question 2. We are planning future drainage. The drains that have been constructed cover very little of the pilot project area.
Question 3. We estimate the cost of construction at $135,000, broken down as follows:
1.Personnel (salaried except for laborers) $24,000
Channel Designers:
a.Aerial photography and contour map overlay: $2,000
b.Pegging and acquisition of levels (10 workers/$50 per week/12 weeks): $6,000
Channel Construction Crews:
a.Channel Excavation (7 workers/$40/week/28 weeks): $8,000
b.Laying and cementing of slabs (7 workers/$40/week/28 weeks): $8,000
2.Materials and Equipment (for constructing 8 kilometers of drains)($110,003)
a. Ballast (channel lining slabs and hardcore): (560 tons at $32/ton): $17,920
b. Waterproof cement: ($.40/kg x 144,000 kilos) $57,600
c. Sand: (1312 tons at $8/ton) $10,496
d. Timbers: (2400 feet at $.46/foot) $1104
e. Nails: (120 kg at $2.68/kg) $322
f. Wire mesh: (120 8 x 4 meter pieces at $21.34 each) $2561
g. Concrete culverts: (500 at $40 each) $20,000
Tools ($997)
a.Wheelbarrows: (7 at $75 each) $525
b.Large metal buckets: (6 at $25 each) $150
c.Hammers (fiber glass handled claw hammers): (7 at $7 each) $49
d.Trowels: (7 at $4 each) $28
e.Shovels: (7 at $10 each) $70
f.Leather work gloves: (7 pairs at $25 each) $175
Operation and maintenance should be very inexpensive. We estimate four workers per day to clear garbage out of the drains, paid $3 per day each. Using waterproof cement, the need for repairs should be negligible.
Question 4. Curriculum for the community outreach, awareness raising and training components have been outlined as follows:
a.Consultative community workshop. KWENCH and the Nairobi Central Business District Association (NBCDA) will convene a workshop to present the project concept to the community and to other stakeholders and to receive their reactions and suggestions.
b.Training and awareness-raising. KWENCH and NCBDA will raise the awareness of the residents about the importance and proper maintenance of the drainage system and train them to assist in maintaining the system. In addition to addressing the maintenance of the drainage system, the training and awareness-raising component will promote awareness of the function and proper maintenance of sewers. The inclusion of the sewer component is necessary to prevent residents from disposing of garbage in manholes, a common occurrence in informal settlements. Clogged sewers overflow into storm water drains and pose severe health hazards to people.
d.Follow-up workshop. KWENCH and NCBDA will organize a second workshop with the community and other stakeholders to assess how progress on the project is being perceived, allowing the project team to make any necessary mid-course corrections.
e.Validation workshop. Following completion of the storm water drains, KWENCH and NCBDA will convene a third workshop. This workshop will provide stakeholders with an opportunity to assess the success of the project. Opinions expressed during the validation workshop will be incorporated into a final assessment and evaluation report as qualitative input, to complement the final, post-project health survey.
Question 5. KWENCH’s constitution provides for a solid waste management component that will involve a heavy focus on reuse and recycling. We anticipate that the pilot project will employ 14 people in collecting, sorting and transporting garbage, including the resale of reusable or recyclable materials.
Question 6. Nairobi does not have a formal recycling program. However, most residential areas are served by private garbage collection agencies that are scheduled to pick up garbage from clients on specific days of the week. The garbage accumulates in holding areas until the pick up day arrives. People come and sort through the garbage while it is awaiting the pick up day and sell whatever they can find that has any value. This is an indication of the dire poverty and unemployment that is pervasive in Nairobi, where an estimated 60 percent of the population lives in slums and unemployment is estimated at 30%, though many people consider that the unemployment rate is actually much higher. We believe that an organized effort to collect, sort and add value to reclaimed garbage could provide a much higher rate of return than the ad-hoc efforts of individual garbage pickers.
Question 7. There is potential for partnership, particularly with the solid waste management component of Practical Action. Practical Action is in the process of establishing several recycling plants as well as community cookers which produce energy from combustible garbage.
Question 8. As far as I know, the superimposition/photographic/contour mapping approach to planning a drainage network has not been tried.
Hello again Constance. You proposed innovation involving superimposition contour mapping is neat and its exciting that you are looking to address flooding and drainage with some new techonology. After reading your entry, the Changemakers team is most excited by the waste management component of your work. It seems that the impact is more clear, it is sustainable and it has proven its success. It is great that you are thinking about partnering with Practical action. Are there others that you could partner with to expand your waste management approach? Is there a way you could begin to employ more people? It would be great if you could focus more of your entry form on the waste management and recycling component of your work.
Thanks
Dana Frasz
Hello again Constance.
Your proposed innovation involving superimposition contour mapping is neat and its exciting that you are looking to address flooding and drainage with some new technology. After reading your entry, the Changemakers team is most excited by the waste management component of your work. It seems that the impact is more clear, it is sustainable and it has proven its success. It is great that you are thinking about partnering with Practical Action. Are there others that you could partner with to expand your waste management approach? Is there a way you could begin to employ more people? It would be great if you could focus more of your entry form on the waste management and recycling component of your work.
Thanks
Dana Frasz
The problems and challenges you describe are all too common, unfortunately.
To overcome such issues is critical and yet the compounded problems make it as if one were pushing against a very large soft pillow that offers almost no resistance.
One of the interesting technologies that I have looked at recently is known as "AIRVAC" and their website is www.airvac.com. They have technology which allows rapid connection of sewer systems without the need for trenching and heavy equipment and pipes...even so, it is still not "free" and so the underlying issues of poverty and lack of financial means still must be solved.
Ms. Hunt: I may have some ideas for how you can add a dimension to your program; for utilizing a virtually "no cost" effective, natural element to the process; which will help with first stage purification of water from drainage areas (including removal of heavy metals.). Then, as a dynamic renewable resource, can also then be harvested & converted to an excellent Mulching Compost material, for reclaiming depleted soils &/or re-desertification lands (or even serve as supplementary livestock fodder, in drought areas!).
E-mail me % atac-iunltd@sbcglobal.net, if at all interested in even exploring this option. It is NOT untested; even in the US, it was used for a number of years in one of the most populated counties in CA. I'll be in Kenya soon, probably in April, if you'd like to meet. I need to meet with people in your Water Resources Ministry as well.
Comments
After three decades of water quality management efforts, the inability all over the world to halt water pollution remains a serious failure. The crisis of water pollution is increasing steadily in the developing world.
Water is the victim of economic growth due to the widespread “willful neglect” of the fact that waste production is intimately linked to the wealth generating processes but degrades the water for other users dependent on the same systems.
Every cubic meter of contaminated wastewater discharged into water bodies and water courses spoils between eight and ten cubic meters of pure water. (UNESCO).
In developing countries, between 90% and 95% of sewage and 70% of industrial wastes are dumped untreated into waters where they pollute the usable water supply.
Water must become part of the political agenda since it is a key element in poverty eradication, health improvement, nutrition of malnourished people and an army of unborn babies, and protection of indispensable ecological services and regional development. Water management strategies, whether at the national, international or project level, should focus more on the interdependence between the environment and socio-economic development. Strategies should clearly visualize how effective water management policies contribute to a more sustainable economic and social development. The language in such strategies should be clear and unambiguous - only then can policy and decision-makers use the information appropriately.
Agreed.
There are a lot of graduate students (in public health, geography, and beyond) who could do the initial research here for free. Many public health schools ask their students to use GIS technology to do the sort of mapping this project would require--it would be quite useful to gather a team of them to perform this initial data-gathering for you. You'd get your mapping, they'd get a thesis.
Sounds great! Let's correspond more by e-mail. You can contact me at kwenchproject@yahoo.com.
Hello Constance, It is great to have both of your entries in the competition. Can you please explain in what way are the beneficiaries also the service providers? With this pilot are you planning out future drainage or are you working to change the current structures? Do you have an estimate of the cost of the construction, operation and maintenance of the drainage system you are proposing? Do you have a curriculum for your educational training component?
I love the way in which you have created a sustainable financial model while addressing waste and the need for recycling at the same time. It's great! Is this recycling system part of KWENCH? How many people could this potentially employ? Does Nairobi currently have any recycling program? Is there any potential for partnership?
I really like Erin's idea about reaching out to graduate students. I hope you look into that further.
Lastly, has this superimposition/photographic/contour mapping been used elsewhere?
Thank you for your response.
Dana Frasz
Changemakers
Dear Dana:
Thanks for your queries. Here are my responses.
Question 1. The service providers are residents of the pilot project area, rather than employees of local areas as is the case in formal settlements. Therefore, they will benefit directly from the project.
Question 2. We are planning future drainage. The drains that have been constructed cover very little of the pilot project area.
Question 3. We estimate the cost of construction at $135,000, broken down as follows:
1.Personnel (salaried except for laborers) $24,000
Channel Designers:
a.Aerial photography and contour map overlay: $2,000
b.Pegging and acquisition of levels (10 workers/$50 per week/12 weeks): $6,000
Channel Construction Crews:
a.Channel Excavation (7 workers/$40/week/28 weeks): $8,000
b.Laying and cementing of slabs (7 workers/$40/week/28 weeks): $8,000
2.Materials and Equipment (for constructing 8 kilometers of drains)($110,003)
a. Ballast (channel lining slabs and hardcore): (560 tons at $32/ton): $17,920
b. Waterproof cement: ($.40/kg x 144,000 kilos) $57,600
c. Sand: (1312 tons at $8/ton) $10,496
d. Timbers: (2400 feet at $.46/foot) $1104
e. Nails: (120 kg at $2.68/kg) $322
f. Wire mesh: (120 8 x 4 meter pieces at $21.34 each) $2561
g. Concrete culverts: (500 at $40 each) $20,000
Tools ($997)
a.Wheelbarrows: (7 at $75 each) $525
b.Large metal buckets: (6 at $25 each) $150
c.Hammers (fiber glass handled claw hammers): (7 at $7 each) $49
d.Trowels: (7 at $4 each) $28
e.Shovels: (7 at $10 each) $70
f.Leather work gloves: (7 pairs at $25 each) $175
Operation and maintenance should be very inexpensive. We estimate four workers per day to clear garbage out of the drains, paid $3 per day each. Using waterproof cement, the need for repairs should be negligible.
Question 4. Curriculum for the community outreach, awareness raising and training components have been outlined as follows:
a.Consultative community workshop. KWENCH and the Nairobi Central Business District Association (NBCDA) will convene a workshop to present the project concept to the community and to other stakeholders and to receive their reactions and suggestions.
b.Training and awareness-raising. KWENCH and NCBDA will raise the awareness of the residents about the importance and proper maintenance of the drainage system and train them to assist in maintaining the system. In addition to addressing the maintenance of the drainage system, the training and awareness-raising component will promote awareness of the function and proper maintenance of sewers. The inclusion of the sewer component is necessary to prevent residents from disposing of garbage in manholes, a common occurrence in informal settlements. Clogged sewers overflow into storm water drains and pose severe health hazards to people.
d.Follow-up workshop. KWENCH and NCBDA will organize a second workshop with the community and other stakeholders to assess how progress on the project is being perceived, allowing the project team to make any necessary mid-course corrections.
e.Validation workshop. Following completion of the storm water drains, KWENCH and NCBDA will convene a third workshop. This workshop will provide stakeholders with an opportunity to assess the success of the project. Opinions expressed during the validation workshop will be incorporated into a final assessment and evaluation report as qualitative input, to complement the final, post-project health survey.
Question 5. KWENCH’s constitution provides for a solid waste management component that will involve a heavy focus on reuse and recycling. We anticipate that the pilot project will employ 14 people in collecting, sorting and transporting garbage, including the resale of reusable or recyclable materials.
Question 6. Nairobi does not have a formal recycling program. However, most residential areas are served by private garbage collection agencies that are scheduled to pick up garbage from clients on specific days of the week. The garbage accumulates in holding areas until the pick up day arrives. People come and sort through the garbage while it is awaiting the pick up day and sell whatever they can find that has any value. This is an indication of the dire poverty and unemployment that is pervasive in Nairobi, where an estimated 60 percent of the population lives in slums and unemployment is estimated at 30%, though many people consider that the unemployment rate is actually much higher. We believe that an organized effort to collect, sort and add value to reclaimed garbage could provide a much higher rate of return than the ad-hoc efforts of individual garbage pickers.
Question 7. There is potential for partnership, particularly with the solid waste management component of Practical Action. Practical Action is in the process of establishing several recycling plants as well as community cookers which produce energy from combustible garbage.
Question 8. As far as I know, the superimposition/photographic/contour mapping approach to planning a drainage network has not been tried.
Hello again Constance. You proposed innovation involving superimposition contour mapping is neat and its exciting that you are looking to address flooding and drainage with some new techonology. After reading your entry, the Changemakers team is most excited by the waste management component of your work. It seems that the impact is more clear, it is sustainable and it has proven its success. It is great that you are thinking about partnering with Practical action. Are there others that you could partner with to expand your waste management approach? Is there a way you could begin to employ more people? It would be great if you could focus more of your entry form on the waste management and recycling component of your work.
Thanks
Dana Frasz
Hello again Constance.
Your proposed innovation involving superimposition contour mapping is neat and its exciting that you are looking to address flooding and drainage with some new technology. After reading your entry, the Changemakers team is most excited by the waste management component of your work. It seems that the impact is more clear, it is sustainable and it has proven its success. It is great that you are thinking about partnering with Practical Action. Are there others that you could partner with to expand your waste management approach? Is there a way you could begin to employ more people? It would be great if you could focus more of your entry form on the waste management and recycling component of your work.
Thanks
Dana Frasz
Hello Constance,
The problems and challenges you describe are all too common, unfortunately.
To overcome such issues is critical and yet the compounded problems make it as if one were pushing against a very large soft pillow that offers almost no resistance.
One of the interesting technologies that I have looked at recently is known as "AIRVAC" and their website is www.airvac.com. They have technology which allows rapid connection of sewer systems without the need for trenching and heavy equipment and pipes...even so, it is still not "free" and so the underlying issues of poverty and lack of financial means still must be solved.
Good luck, hope this helps a little.
Brian
Thank you Brian. I'll check out the site. Do you also work in the water and sanitation sector?
Ms. Hunt: I may have some ideas for how you can add a dimension to your program; for utilizing a virtually "no cost" effective, natural element to the process; which will help with first stage purification of water from drainage areas (including removal of heavy metals.). Then, as a dynamic renewable resource, can also then be harvested & converted to an excellent Mulching Compost material, for reclaiming depleted soils &/or re-desertification lands (or even serve as supplementary livestock fodder, in drought areas!).
E-mail me % atac-iunltd@sbcglobal.net, if at all interested in even exploring this option. It is NOT untested; even in the US, it was used for a number of years in one of the most populated counties in CA. I'll be in Kenya soon, probably in April, if you'd like to meet. I need to meet with people in your Water Resources Ministry as well.
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