When prioritizing a site to develop for safe water, we look for three things.

• The site has low water supply coverage.
• The surrounding communities have limited access to water.
• Women and children are marginalized.

If a site meets all these characteristics, we start development plans.

First, we conduct a baseline survey in partnership with the region’s District Health Office and the Agricultural and Rural Development Office.

The District Health Office provides sanitation expertise and health extension workers in the villages, while the Agricultural and Rural Development Office approves the project’s implementation.

In addition, different divisions within the Agricultural and Rural Development Office (the district water office, cooperative promotion desk and agricultural extension) provide management, development facilitation and education throughout the process.

Next, ORDA conducts focus groups with religious and community leaders at the selected site. Our goal is to get information from the community about where the best place to create a water source would be. We particularly pay attention to what the women of the community have to say, as they usually have a good knowledge of where water already exists.

Finally, after we’ve gathered all the information and reviewed it, we select a water point site.

When it’s time to construct the water point,ORDA provides technical expertise, oversight and direction. The people of the community provide labor, locally available construction materials and transportation for any industrial materials needed. Whenever possible, the community makes a cash contribution of up to three percent of the total cost of the project.

ORDA team members and the community work side by side to construct the water point, which makes the process run more smoothly—and allows the community to have ownership in the construction of their future success.

In order to make sure a water point continues to operate long after it’s been constructed, ORDA sets up several different committees within the community.

First, ORDA names a water and sanitation (WATSAN) committee to manage the water point. The committee is comprised of five community members, at least two of whom, ideally, are women. With input from the community, the committee develops by-laws for water point maintenance and usage. They also collect a water fee from people in the community, which is used for the water point’s upkeep and repair.

Next, ORDA selects and trains two water caretakers per community, who are responsible for general water point maintenance. If a problem arises that they can’t fix themselves, the issue is reported to the District Health Office, who helps make the repairs.

Finally, two village hygiene educators are elected by each community. ORDA trains them in basic hygiene practices. The educators are then responsible for teaching their communities how to keep the water point clean and uncontaminated.

Although ORDA conducts an annual inventory of all water points, these committees keep the water points running smoothly and give the people of the communities ownership in their success.

Most drinking water supplies for urban areas in the region come from sources such as wells or boreholes. However, in rural areas people may live near hills containing perennial springs and streams. Water from these sources may be piped or pumped to the location where people live. Unlike boreholes or wells, which have very limited capacity, one piped supply can serve hundreds or thousands of households and achieve economies of scale.

As the source which yields the highest quality and quantity of water, development of springs is the first priority. The yield is enough to use for other purposes like showering, watering livestock and even small irrigation. To date, ORDA has developed nearly 500 springs, benefiting 165,000 people.

In areas where there are no springs, the second option for water supply is a well dug by hand. The depth is usually between 8m and 15m. Unlike spring development, hand dug wells are only for home consumption because the yield is much lower. They are designed to provide 20 liters of water per person per day to everyone within the service area. The majority of people are served by public tap stands, where they pay for water by the bucket (the cost is determined by the community and the money pays for maintenance). 1,100 hand dug wells have been constructed to date, benefiting 378,500 people.

This kind of water supply development is costlier compared to a spring development or hand dug well. For that reason it’s used only where absolutely necessary, such as areas where the water table is low and there are no surface water sources. It’s common in low lands and requires a drilling machine to be able to reach the necessary depths. To date, ORDA has developed 42 drilled wells benefiting more than 21,000 people.

In areas where both surface and ground water is limited, rain from roofs is collected for household and school consumption. ORDA builds and distributes structures for collecting water, and also teaches people how to construct simple collection mechanisms of their own.

What differentiates safe water from unsafe water is the purity of the water when it is consumed. For this reason, ORDA has focused on sanitation and hygiene as a main component of clean water development. By the end of 2006, the program has resulted in:

• Construction of 4,105 traditional & improved pit latrines and 800 refuse disposal pits.
• Establishment of 3160 WATSAN (water and sanitation) committees trained on water supply scheme management and sanitation/hygiene promotion.
• Training of 650 water care takers on maintenance and operation of the water supply scheme.
• Provision of education on hygiene and sanitation to 56,000 people.