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Greetings,
It has been a busy year for the Desert Research Institute's (DRI's) Center for International Water and Sustainability (CIWAS). Thanks to strong collaborative work within DRI and partnerships with NGOs and governments, we have expanded our programs focused on capacity building regarding environmental issues including water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), WASH sustainability, and water quality issues. We have also been actively pursuing new research opportunities around water resources management, water security, and climate change. All of these activities are central to the overall mission of CIWAS - to identify and solve problems related to human health and the management of environmental resources, especially water.
On behalf of the DRI/CIWAS team, I thank you for your interest, and support of our work to improve lives around the world.
- Braimah Apambire, Director
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WASH Capacity Building Program
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Cohort 8 students interacting with local community members
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Cohort 8 Students started their WASHCap Spring semester with International Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (I-WASH), and Project Development and Management for WASH Managers and Leaders (WASH-PDM) courses. Cohort 8 has 35 students from 19 countries. The first Face-to-Face (F2F) spring semester was successfully completed in Ghana from March 13 - 31, 2023. DRI faculty along with our WASH Expert consultants were the main instructors. We also had faculty from the University for Development Studies (UDS) and WASH sector experts who gave guest lectures and helped plan our field trips.
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WASHCapCohort 8 students conducting water quality tests with Solomon Minyila
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| Cohort 8 students visited a World Vision water quality laboratory to study the processes involved in making water safe for consumption. As part of their fieldwork, the students visited a site that had an old engineered landfill and modernized waste treatment facility. The third site visit was to the Nawuni intake works, and Dalun water treatment plant which has the capacity of treating 10 million gallons of water per day from the White Volta River. The system supplies water to Tamale, the northern regional capital, and its surrounding communities. As a part of their water quality class, the students collected samples from different locations – WV Regional Water Quality Laboratory, and Dalun Water Treatment Plant to perform chemical and biological tests on the samples to assess water quality parameters.
For their community field visits, the students visited households and community WASH programs in Nabori and Alhassan-Kura Communities, in the Savana Region of Ghana. Based on the classes on WASH management facilities, the students provided recommendations for the local WASH frameworks. The students also visited the Alhassan-akura Gari (cassava) Processing Centre, a women-led business. The students prepared reports and presented on all the field trips during the F2F. Some recommendations have also been compiled to present to World Vision and managers of the field visit sites. The students also identified areas of knowledge gap in their communities and conducted their own research as part of their final IWASH term papers. Some of the students' topics included the sustainability assessment of mechanized WASH systems, factors affecting the long-term operation of sanitation facilities, etc.
With the conclusion of their Spring Semester sessions, the students began their Fall semester online classes in August and the F2F lessons in Malawi in September. To date, 203 students from 32 countries from Africa, Asia Pacific, and Middle East Regions have received their graduate-level certificates from the University of Nevada, Reno.
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Ghana Circuit Rider Program
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Overall, the Circuit Rider (CR) project in Ghana has made significant progress toward achieving its main objectives, including the installation of mechanized wells, community sensitization, water quality assessments, and sustainable WASH practices. Detailed activities are listed below.
Local partnership
The District Health Director for North Gonja declared DRI-CIWAS as a development partner to Ghana Health Service in the District and the partnership will be introduced to the public as the project progresses.
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Women fetching water during pump testing of anew well
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| Groundwater mechanized wells in HCFs
Working with the District Directorate of North Gonja, five potential well drilling sites were identified through geophysical investigations by a hydrogeologist in five healthcare facilities. Two of the sites were drilled with success, followed by successful pumping and water quality testing.
Communities outreach
Partners from the district assembly and the Circuit Riders (CRs) were provided with funds from CIWAS to visit 40 communities. During these visits, they engaged with WASH committee members and community leaders to discuss matters related to the ownership and maintenance of boreholes in their respective communities. The community sensitization events helped the North East Gonja CR-Team to connect with communities that required their intervention but were previously difficult to collaborate with as the communities were not aware of CR activities.
A second round of community sensitization activities also took place, educating 20 communities in North East Gonja and 30 communities in North Gonja districts. All communities showed willingness to contribute funds for the repairs and maintenance of potable water facilities. During the sensitization trips, two broken-down mechanized systems and a borehole were also repaired in North East Gonja.
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CR training and support
Six assistants were trained during a refresher training to support the Circuit Riders in repairing water facilities in North Gonja. A similar two-day refresher training was organized for the North East Gonja Circuit Rider team which expanded to include the repair of mechanized systems.
Support women-led small businesses
With the support of Circuit Riders and District Assemblies, 10 women have been selected and are currently awaiting training to collect levies at boreholes for repair and improvement purposes, while also engaging in small business opportunities. In addition, the construction of 10 kiosks was completed in February 2023 for women to establish their small businesses and collect tariffs at borehole sites.
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WASH-HCFdata collection in the North East Gonja
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| WASH in Healthcare Facilities (HCF) baseline data collection
Two Staff from the district health management teams for North Gonja and North East Gonja were trained on WASH in Healthcare Facilities (HCF) baseline data collection on January 11, 2023, in Tamale. They were then assisted to conduct WASH in HCFs baseline survey at 12 selected HCFs in the two Districts, from January 23 to February 23, 2023.
Data on WASH in healthcare facilities collected in the two districts were analyzed, and an abstract was submitted for presentation at the UNC Water Institute Water conference in October 2023. The study emphasized the need for improvement in treated water supply, waste management, hand hygiene, and facility cleanliness. CIWAS and our partners are currently addressing these issues.
Microbiological contamination at the household level assessment
In terms of water quality, three communities (2 in North Gonja and 1 in North East Gonja) were assessed for microbiological contamination at the household level. In total, eighty-five households (HHs) in the two districts were assessed. All the HHs recorded greater than 90% coliform presence. HHs in the three communities recorded between 72% and 90% E. coli presence in drinking water storage containers respectively. While borehole wells used in all communities showed no contamination, mechanized wells in one community reported coliform presence.
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Malawi Circuit Rider Program in Healthcare Facilities (HCFs)
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Refresher training on water quality testing
The Technical Circuit Riders (TCRs) organized a refresher training on water quality testing which was attended by 21 participants (4 women and 17 men), including HCF in-charge, Quality of Care Circuit Riders, Technical Circuit Riders, and maintenance department staff. The training focused on discussing water quality issues in healthcare facilities, water sampling, testing, monitoring, and treatment procedures, while also reinforcing the World Health Organization (WHO) water-quality guidelines and Malawian water quality standards. Participants also had hands-on training to use field test kits to assess basic water quality parameters. Following the training, DRI-CIWAS provided the Circuit Riders with water quality test kits for their monthly assessments in their respective HCFs.
The participants also attended a session on the use of the mWater platform. The mWater platform is a data management technology database currently being used by the CRs in Malawi to keep track of all the information they collect. Overall, participants expressed satisfaction with the training and felt well-equipped with knowledge about mWater and water quality testing.
Refresher training on sanitation and waste management systems
The TCRs also worked with the local water authorities to increase focus on improving the sanitation and waste management systems at the HCFs by conducting refresher training to the WASHFIT team on Hand hygiene at Mlowe health care facilities and facilitating the construction of a refuse pit with the support of the WASHFIT Team at Mzunga HCF.
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Repairing a tap at Nthenje HCF
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| Water quality testing and repairs
In April, the project conducted water quality testing and minor repairs in healthcare facilities and nearby villages with a high number of cholera cases. Samples were collected from taps and streams. At Chisimuka HCF, the Technical Circuit Rider successfully repaired four partially functioning taps inside the ward rooms.
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10L Fluoride Treatment Prototype Design
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| DRI-CIWAS, with Dr. Erick Bandala, is researching the use of Moringa oleifera (MO) plant extract with electrocoagulation (EC) technology to remove fluoride from drinking water. MO-EC technology is low-cost and uses local materials that can be easily procured in rural communities. Following the successful 1-liter small-scale lab experiments, the fluoride removal project was successfully developed into an upscaled 10-liter prototype. The 10-liter lab experiments used a continuous flow treatment design to remove fluoride using real groundwater from Beatty, Nevada. Groundwater in Beatty, NV has reported high fluoride concentrations, with the water samples containing 6.9 mg/l of fluoride concentration. The experiments treated around 80 liters of Beatty groundwater within two hours, with fluoride concentration consistently below 1 mg/l after the first 15 minutes, which represents at least 85% reduction in fluoride concentration. The WHO guideline limit for maximum fluoride concentration in drinking water is 1.5 mg/l. A larger prototype is currently being developed to be field tested on wells in Beatty, NV, this fall.
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Dr. Braimah Apambire at the WV WASH Forum in Kenya
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| Braimah presented as a keynote speaker at our partner, World Vision’s, WASH Forum in Kenya. Echoing the goal of DRI/UNR’s WASH Capacity Building Program, Braimah highlighted the importance of empowering, listening, and growing staff capacity that directly leads to improvements in project implementation, work, and leadership abilities. Improvement in staff capacity and skills is critical to achieve the high targets set in SDG's while addressing issues of climate change amidst the ever-increasing demands for WASH services. DRI also presented the certificates for WASH Capacity Building Program Cohort 7 students.
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Conference: Colorado WASH Symposium
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DRI CIWAS team along with our partners at Transform International presented at the Colorado WASH Symposium with the data collected from the Circuit Rider (CR) Program in Malawi. The study was titled “Improving access to effective WASH systems in Health Care Facilities: Results from testing the STREAMS innovation in Northern Malawi.” The CR Program in Malawi specifically focuses on long-term sustainability for Healthcare Facilities (HCFs). The study commpared pre and post-implementation data from the target region of Rumphi district and the neighboring district of Nkhata Bay. Baseline survey data were collected in June 2021 before implementation and then again after a year of operation in June 2022.
The results of the testing identified the project as effective at improving elements of WASH in HCFs and identified areas for improvement of the innovation to make it even more impactful. Some of the key successes were improved infrastructure maintenance and problem-solving, integration of gender considerations into HCF activities thus improving the health of women, and improving staff focus and implementing activities on WASH, particularly cleaning and hygiene.
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