REPORT on Water quality assessment and Recommendation on treatment solutions, monitoring the water quality in Huong Khe and Vu Quang Districts, Ha Tinh Province doc

1 REPORT on Water quality assessment and Recommendation on treatment solutions, monitoring the water quality in Huong Khe and Vu Quang Districts, Ha Tinh Province Conducting Consultative group: 1) Doan The Loi, group leader 2) Dang Ngoc Hanh, group member 3) Tran Duc Anh, group member HANOI: APRIL 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION, OBJECTIVE, TASKS, EXPECTED OUTCOMES AND CONDUCTING METHOD 2 1.1. Introduction 2 1.2. Objective and Tasks of the Consultative Group 3 1.3. Expected Outcomes: 3 1.4. Conducting method: 4 II. OVERVIEW AND CURRENT SITUATION OF THE SURVEY AREA 6 2.1. Economic and Social situation 6 2.2. The current situation of water resources and usage of water for drinking and daily activities 9 2.3. Organization of implementing the project (building wells, filter tanks and latrines) 12 III. RESULTS OF THE ANALYSIS AND, EVALUATION OF WATER QUALITY AND RECOMMEND ON APPROPRIATE SOLUTIONS 14 3.1. Evaluate water quality base on the results of analysis in the laboratory of water samples 14 3.2. Propose some solutions to water treatment works 15 3.3. Recommendation on the specific solutions to treat and monitor the water quality in the affected flood areas 18 IV. RECOMMENDATIONS ON DESIGNING AND BUILDING WELLS, FILTER TANKS AND LATRINES 19 4.1 Latrine works 19 4.2. Wells and filter tank 20 4.3. Organization and implementation 20 V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 21 Annex 1: 22 General information about the water sample selected to analyse 22 a) Samples at Huong Khe district 22 b) Samples at Vu Quang district 23 I.At Huong Khe district 24 Annex 3: The result of water samples analysis 29 I. Huong Khe district 29 II. Vu Quang District 36 Annex 4: 44 I. Communes of Huong Khe district 44 II. The communes of Vu Quang District 45 Annex 5: 47 Questionnaire collecting the information about the evaluation of water quality in Huong Khe and Vu Quang districts, Ha Tinh Province 47 A. General information 47 B: Detailed information about clean water and environmental sanitation 49 I. INTRODUCTION, OBJECTIVE, TASKS, EXPECTED OUTCOMES AND CONDUCTING METHOD 1.1. Introduction In early October 2010, the two consecutive severe floods (from 1 st to 6 th Oct and from 14 th -18 th Oct) happened in the five provinces of the Central Vietnam including Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue. Ha Tinh was the place that suffered from the most serious damage, in which Huong Khe and Vu Quang, the poor districts of Ha Tinh province, were damaged very seriously. Floods made the people, who were already poor became poorer and influenced greatly their life, daily activities and production. According to the report of the project on relief and livelihood recovery after flood in Ha Tinh province conducted by Oxfam, 15 communes of Vu Quang and Huong Khe districts were selected by Oxfam for emergency relief and recovery after flood (7 communes of Huong Khe districts are Loc Yen, Huong Thuy, Hoa Hai, Phuc Dong, Ha Linh, Phuong Dien and Phuong My and 8 communes of Vu Quang district are Vu Quang town, Huong Minh, Huong Quang, Huong Tho, An Phu, Duc Linh, Duc Giang and Duc Lien). To continue to carry out the activities supporting building latrines and wells as per the approved plan, the consultative group conducted the survey, evaluated the quality of the water resource, recommended the solutions to treat and monitor the quality of the water for daily activities of 10 communes as per Oxfam’s recommendations. Oxfam decided to support: + Huong Khe district: 120 wells; 120 latrines (for Ha Linh, Phuong Dien, Phuong My and Loc Yen communes) + Vu Quang district: 150 wells và 150 sand filter tanks; 150 latrines (for Duc Lien, Huong Tho, Duc Giang, Duc Linh and An Phu communes) The households eligible for assistance haven’t had or already had wells, their latrines were destroyed after the two floods and they are poor households and are usually affected by floods. Among the activities for assistance, Oxfam appreciate the solutions that maximize the usage of local labour and use materials at the localities and maximize working to increase income for people. To carry out the above activities well, to ensure scientific characteristics and in accordance with the real situation of of locality, the consultative group is responsible for conducting the survey, evaluating and giving recommendations on the best solution to reach the objective of the project. The tasks of the consultative group were stated in the TOR and the outline for activities approved by Oxfam, specifically: 2 1.2. Objective and Tasks of the Consultative Group Objective 1: Establish a baseline of water quality through analysis water samples in 10 communes of Vu Quang and Huong Khe districts (list water samples in communes, see Annex 1). Objective 2: To recommend necessary interventions, including advocacy issues to Oxfam and partners in order to improve water quality and monitor water quality in flood affected areas. To achive the above objective, the consultative group implemented the following activities: + From March 13 to March 22, 2011, the consultative group conducted the survey on the real situation of 10 communes of 2 districts. - The consultative group worked with Oxfam’s project management board in Vu Quang and Huong Khe districts to catch the general information and listen to the report on the results of the implementation of the project, its advantages and disadvantages. The group discussed the plan and selected the place for the survey. - Conducted the survey to identify the information according to the outline submitted to Oxfam. - Selected the place to take the water sample; took the sample, made the sample record (focusing on the places where there is problem with water source as per people’s reflection). Considered, evaluated the quality of the treatment constructions that are currently applied in localities, people’s experience in water treatment and people’s preparedpareness and prevention against floods. 1.3. Expected Outcomes: According to the TOR and the research outline, the consultative group achieved the following main results: Result 1: The report on analysis of the water quality test of 05 communes of Huong Khe and 05 commune of Vu Quang. Result 2: Evaluate designing dug wells, latrines and recommend necessary solutions to help Oxfam’s management board in two districts to implement projects efficiently. Result 3 : On the basis of the result of sample analysis, recommend the specific solutions to treat and monitor the water quality in the affected flood areas. Result 4: Training on community supervision. Guide for managment, reparing the dug wells and solutions to cope with during flood happening. 3 1.4. Conducting method: The methods used during the research include: - Statistics, collecting the available documents, - Group discussion, - Participation of community, - Surveying, measuring, evaluating, taking the photos of the scene, - Analysing quality, - Comparison, evaluation, measuring, designing. The methods of implementation are described in the logical research framework as follow: 4 The logical research framework: Evaluating the well samples and water treatment designing of consultative unit designed for Oxfam, suggest the solutions to adjust/ fix and add (if any any) Deal with data, recomment and give tecnical design treatment structure, works, develop training material etc, reporting and the training at two districts Group discussion with the participation from community, specialists, local authorities (including staff, local technical staff of districts) and Oxfam’s representative to define issues - The water sources used, preliminary information about the water sources, define the main water sources - Local information about water treatment and using custom - The sign of some diseases that can be caused by using the unhygienic water etc Information about exploiting works, treatment works which are good, not good, which are destroyed in flood etc - Observe, evaluate preliminarily the ability of the water souce and water quality by the indirect indicators Participatory survey method to measure, observe, take photos etc to have field evaluation, understand information and experience of people - Surveying, evaluating and defining the typilcal of water exploiting works (drilled wells, dug wells) for all good , not good and structures that can easily be destroyed by flood, experience works of local people to prevent by flood etc - Surveing, evaluating water treatment works built by people themselves using sand filter (techinical, diagram, materials used, maintaining and effecttive of treatment) - Design sample program, define water samples record including: position, characteristics of water source, the ability to provide etc, evaluate preliminarily the quality etc Analysis method - Get samples, measuring field indicators - Maintain as regulated - Analyse the indicators about water quality in the laboratory, prepare results in the table. - Evaluate the quality, predict the negative effects caused by using the current water source, usage warning etc 5 II. OVERVIEW AND CURRENT SITUATION OF THE SURVEY AREA 2.1. Economic and Social situation a) Natural, economic and social conditions of the project area: + Huong Khe district: Huong Khe is a mountainous district of Ha Tinh, it borders Laos in the west, Quang Binh in the south, Can Xuyen and Thach Ha districts in the East, Vu Quang and Can Loc districts in the North. It has a moutainous terrain, Rao Co moutain is highest (2,235 metres). Ngan Tuoi river flows through the area into Ngan Sau river. Its total natural area is 1,278.09 km² with a population of 107,996 people (January, 2009) including Tho, Thai, Kinh, Chut people, but the majority is Kinh people. Huong Khe has more than 22 affiliated administrative units. Agricutural is the main livelihood of the people in the district. The farm land is little, infrastructure hasn’s been developed, the living standard of most housholds is still low, the rate of poor household is still high. Vu Quang district: Vu Quang is a moutainous district of Ha Tinh, it is 70 kilomitres far away from Ha Tinh, 70 kilometers from Hanoi in the West, it has a 42- kilometer border with Laos, has a moutainous terrain and especially has the Vu Quang national garden. Vu Quang district has the natural area of 62,284 ha with a population of 35,877 people (January, 2009); it has 12 affiliated administrative units that are the Vu Quang town and provinces Duc Lien, Duc Huong, Duc Bong, Duc Linh, Duc Giang, An Phu, Huong Tho, Huong Minh, Huong Dien, Huong Quang and Son Tho. Its farm land is little, infrastructure hasn’s been developed, the living standard of most housholds is still low, the rate of poor household is still high. The communes that are sopported by Oxfam are poor communes of the district, the rate of poor households is very high (55.38% in Huong Khe district and 50.27% in Vu Quang district). People’s life mainly depends on agricultural production while the land is little, in Huong Khe, the land for each household on average is only 0.34 ha per household and 0.29 ha per household in Vu Quang. The land is little, and is mainly cropland, the rate of cultivated land for a rice crop is very low (Huong Khe: 43% and Vu Quang: 49%). During the year, there is only one certain cultivated crop (spring crop), the seasonal crop is very uncertain because of the annual flood. The annual floods have caused many dificulties for farmers such as poor crop, lack of food, diseases etc (see Table 1). 6 Table 1: The area of agricultural land and the rate of poor households No Commune No. of household s Populatio n The rate of poor household (%) Agricultural area (ha) Total One-crop paddy I Huong Khe District 5440 23.356 1866 812 1 Phuong My 638 3218 58,0% 489 196 2 Phuong Dien 510 2236 56,0% 330 116 3 Ha Linh 1566 6700 50,0% 560 200 4 Loc Yen 1541 6280 58,4% 487 70 (two-crop paddy) 5 Duc Bong 1185 4922 54,5% - 230 II Vu Quang District 4190 15753 1239 608 Duc Lien 612 2700 50,03% 240 132 Duc Linh 1506 5584 48,60% 485 214 Huong Tho 715 2750 51,27% 170 105 An Phu 512 2019 50,00% 154 87 Duc Giang 845 2700 51,30% 190 70 b) Disaster, flood: The communes that have been supported by the project are all in the lowland, and are very close to the river bank, therefore, they are easily to be submerged by flood. Flood often starts in july and ends in october, and sometimes lasts till early november. On average, each year there are 2-3 flood phases, the duration of flood submergence for each phase is often 4-7 days. In the years when there are big floods, historical floods (eg 2007, 2010) that appear every 10-15 years, each time the flood lasts from 5 to 7 days, and there is time it lasts about 10 to 15 days. c) Flood’s impact The floods that come annually have caused great destruction for people in the communes. When floods come, that mostly the agricultural cultivated land is submerged from 3 to 5 days, which has caused great destruction for production, especially in the years when floods come early and destroy crop, especially farm crop of seasonal crop, there are even the years when great may-rain floods caused great impact on agricultural production. When there is flood at the main crop time, there is usually 34-45 % of the households in the commune is submerged (water submerges floor), if great flood comes, there is 70-80% of the household is submerged, in Phuong Dien, Loc Yen, Ha Linh communes, in the flood in year 2010, there is even 90-95% of the houses was submerged. 7 That flood destroys people’s property and farm crop influences directly production and people’s life, influences community health and ecological environment such as: poor crop, houses and furniture swept away; the outbreak of epidemic diseases, polluted environment; destroyed infrastructure etc. For having been living with floods for many recent years, people as well as local authorities have been active carrying out very well the preparedness against flood, contributing to minimize the destruction caused by flood. All communes developed the plans for preparedness against flood very early (finished by April). Their plans have mentioned the situations that can happen and the responding solutions such as evacuating and gathering people to some places etc. Moreover, people’s sprit to respond to flood is very good. Before the flood season, they had prepared well the necessary tools for their families such as boats, canoes; evacuating buffalos, cows and cattles (send them to the households who live in higher area) before 1 to 3 days since the flood forecast etc. Therefore, the impacts of flood are also limited, especially there is little loss of humans. d) Flood prevention at localities Authorities at all levels are interest very mach on flood prevention and disasters; local organizations such as farmers association, women association, veterans association coordinate with local authorities to develop the plans for preparedness against flood. This has attracted the participation of most members who are the key officers as well as the local organizations. Through the survey at 10 communes of the flood area, the consultative group evaluate that the preparedness against flood is carried out very seriously and effectively, specially: - The plans for flood prevention and disaster are all developed by April annually. Meetings to generalize and carry out those plans are held in hamlets, residential areas and all households know about them. - The plans are prepared quite detailed and fully the situations when flood happening such as: + Design the places to assemble people to evacuate them (when necessary), the necessary conditions for daily activities when flood comes. + The plans about information and contacting, boats for the guiding board (usually at the office of the people’s committee). + Assign tasks for each hamlet, especially interchanging and integrating households living in the low and higher places to ensure the high community character when flood comes. + Arrange and assign the responsibility for evacuating people and poverty of each area for each specific key officer of hamlets and organizations. 8 + Plans for carrying out the common sanitation work, repairing and restoring the public works such as channels, rural roads after flood. To each household, strictly follow the plans for preparedness against flood of the commune, at the same time develop the plan for its own family such as: + Prepare boats and canoes or rafts to use on emergency. + Prepare for the plan to move furniture to a higher place and evacuate buffalos, cows, pigs and chickens etc to a safe place when there is the flood announcement of the commune (in year 2010 for the flood was too great and came so quickly, people couldn’t respond timely). All the households knew to take the highest flood level of the great floods or historical floods to make the guard larder to protect property (eg year 2007, 2010). After the historical flood in year 2010, many households increase the height of the guard larder to prevent the floods of the next years. 2.2. The current situation of water resources and usage of water for drinking and daily activities a) The current situation of water resources: The main water resource used for eating, drinking and daily use of the communes in the project area is from the underground. The underground water is exploited and used by households through dug or drill wells and using directly for drinking, eating and daily use. On the basis of the real survey result and people’s feedback, it is evaluated in general that the background water resource of the project is good, its reserves is quite plentiful and can meet the demand of eating, drinking and daily use of people in the area. Most dug wells are normanlly from 7-10 meters in depth; therefore, some area is often not enough water to use in dry season, especially in the years when there is great drought. The current tendency is that people use drilled wells of 20-25 meters in depth, some drill wells of 30-45 meters in depth. However, water from drill wells are normanlly have proplem with iron contamination. b) The current situation of the quality of water used for eating, drinking and daily activities: According to the general comments and evaluation of the communes’ officers, socio-organizations and local people, the quality of the water resource of the communes in the project area is basically good and can be used for eating, drinking and for daily activities. The characteristics to know if the quality of the water resource is good or bad, according to the experience of people, is that the water is considered pure and odorless when it is pumped out, people used for make tea it will be green and keep specifics flavour tea. The water samples from these wells often meet the requirements indicators 9 [...]... Evaluation method: Evaluate the water quality of water samples base on results in the laboratory test conducted by the Preventive Medical Center, Ha Tinh Province (folow to quality indicators of the Ministry of Health) and on obsevation water used for eating, drinking and daily activities b) The general evaluation on the water quality of communes of the project: According to the results of the analysis... where there are stagnant water etc which can make the wells’ water source contaminated On finding out that the water is of microbiological infection, that water must be boiled before drinking (For more detail, see Annex 1) 3.2 Propose some solutions to water treatment works On the basis of the survey results and the results of the analysis of some water samples of the communes of Huong Khe and Vu Quang. .. community by conducting the training that helps them know about the structure, types of materials such as cement, brick, sand and stone etc The consultative group complied the guiding material about monitoring community and the group also integrated the training on monitoring community into the workshop to popularize the results of the research on water source This method /monitoring material should be... the chalybeate water f) About the water treatment works: Most households have quite good water source They use the water immediately after pumping, therefore, they do not need the water treatment works Normally water is pumped into the containing tank, and then it is used for cooking and daily activities Except for some chalybeate wells that are stinking, turbid or wells with water that after pumping... household hasn’t had a filter tank yet or the household of Ms Phan Thi Hong, hamlet 8 – Ha Linh is in the lowland area and is now may be in the list of the household who is under other resettled projects to move to the uper land III RESULTS OF THE ANALYSIS AND, EVALUATION OF WATER QUALITY AND RECOMMEND ON APPROPRIATE SOLUTIONS 3.1 Evaluate water quality base on the results of analysis in the laboratory of water. .. more widely in the project area; - Because of the limited time for building, the building of the works need to be carried out simultaneously at all the targeted communes; - Enhance the role of the commune’s relief board to and enhance the coordination of Oxfam staff in inspecting, guiding the quality monitoring and inspecting with the households that benefit directly and contractors 4.2 Wells and filter... supported) and other hamlets and communes in the district Recommendations: It is recommended that Oxfam enhance the inspecting and monitoring activities to get the project completed with the right progress The project management board of the district considers solutions to support the households that are too poor and cannot contribute more to the fees for building construction (wells) The consultative... Some water samples haven’t met the quality requirement The indicators that haven’t met the requirements are mainly iron cotamination, turbidity, pH; in places where water is highly iron cotamination (water color turns into yellow very clearly and makes the curb yellow etc) However, this pollution rate is not serious, people only need to use the common water treatment methods and then can use the water. .. mm, 25-5 cm in width on the bottom of the bucket, after that continue to pour the sand layer with the diameter of 0.15 – 0.35mm and 15-20 cm in width on the gravel layer 17 Materials 1-Containing bucket 2- Sand filter layer 3- Gravel filter layer 4- Water cock (made by bamboo or cane) 5- Basin to contain the filtered water + Usage: - Pour the water into the bucket which already contains the filter... sanitation of the Ministry of Health after analysis Except for some dug wells that meet the springs that are not good and have the signal of pollution (popular with drilled wells of above 20 meters in depth) such as the water has the stinking smell, water scums and water makes dregs after pumping If the water source is contaminated with iron or dissolved iron it will have the deep red color and it will . 1 REPORT on Water quality assessment and Recommendation on treatment solutions, monitoring the water quality in Huong Khe and Vu Quang Districts, Ha Tinh Province Conducting Consultative. 47 Questionnaire collecting the information about the evaluation of water quality in Huong Khe and Vu Quang districts, Ha Tinh Province 47 A. General information 47 B: Detailed information about. Ha Linh, Phuong Dien and Phuong My and 8 communes of Vu Quang district are Vu Quang town, Huong Minh, Huong Quang, Huong Tho, An Phu, Duc Linh, Duc Giang and Duc Lien). To continue to carry out the