Emergency Capacity
Building Project
Water & Sanitation (WATSAN)
Emergency Water Supply,
Sanitation & Hygiene Promotion

Establish conditions that allow people to live with good
health, dignity, privacy, comfort and security.

To mitigate health risks associated with waterborne and
sanitation related diseases

Promote the active participation of women and men from the
affected community in the response

To bring about behavioral changes among effected
communities in favor of safe hygiene practices



Water Supply - is the means by which people are provided
with water for domestic use. This is water used for drinking,
cooking, washing, and other domestic activities
Sanitation - all aspects of excreta disposal, including sanitary
structures (e.g. latrines); material needed for the proper
operation and use of the structures (e.g. water, soap)
Hygiene Promotion - mix between the beneficiary's
knowledge, practice and resources and agency's knowledge
and resources, that enables risky hygiene behaviours to be
avoided.
Susceptibility
People affected by disasters
are generally much more
susceptible to illness and
death from disease, due to
fatigue, malnourishment, stress
and removal of traditional
social structures and coping
mechanisms
Change in lifestyle
There is a fundamental change
in the way people live –
overcrowding, lack of services,
and forced adoption of
unfamiliar practices increase
the likelihood of disease
transmission
Watsan & HP activities can be reflected in the Code of conduct
in the following areas:
 The right to receive humanitarian assistance and to offer it (
humanitarian imperative)
 Response is not imposed upon beneficiaries- full community
participation
 Working to reduce future vulnerabilities as well as meeting basic
needs
 Accountability of humanitarian agencies
 Disaster victims are treated with Dignity
What are minimum standards?
 Sphere definition: minimum levels to be attained in the provision
of water, Sanitation & Hygiene promotion. Mainly qualitative in
nature.
 Water supply - Access+ Quantity, Quality, facilities on water use
 Sanitation –Access+number of toilets, design, construction & use of
toilets,
 Vector control affected community having the knowledge and
means to protect themselves form disease vectors; physical,
environmental & chemical protection measures
What are indicators?
Sphere definition of indicators:
 Indicators are signals that show whether the standard/s have
been met.
 Provide a way of measuring and communicating the result of a
response.
 Can be qualitative or quantitative. E.g. 15 l/p/d, 20
people/latrine, population at risk understand mode of
transmission and possible methods of prevention
Priorities ( first phase intervention):



Water quantity and quality
Clean environment (safe excreta & solid waste disposal)
Hygiene promotion
 Appropriate
potable
water systems
 Consider
quality and
treatment needs
 Organize
awareness
raising activities
Bang
Bang
Identify most important Watsan health risks
 Safe excreta disposal (impact on diarrhea reduction 36%)
 Drinking safe water (impact on diarrhea reduction 15-20%)
 lack of water
 Hand washing (impact on diarrhea reduction 33%)
 Mortality and Morbidity
 Diarrhea diseases
 Malaria
 Human Rights & Dignity
 Rights based approach to humanitarian response


Defined as the mix between the
population’s knowledge, practice and
resources and agencies knowledge
and resources, which together enable
risky hygiene behaviours to be
avoided.
Its three key factors are
a) a mutual sharing of information and
knowledge
b) the mobilisation of communities
and
c) the provision of essential materials
and facilities.







Informing
Educating
Consulting
Communicating
Enabling
Mobilising
Advocating
In an emergency we
target the three
highest risk
practices first
Often it is the case that
use of latrines,
handwashing and
disposal of child faeces
are the highest risk
practices to target



Conduct an Assessment by going to your mentors and
interviewing them about their habits, living conditions and
environment.
Using the SPHERE standards
• 4 key indicators
• List 4 priority questions.
Make an action plan for responding to the immediate needs
using these indicators and priorities.

The following is a short Scenario to consider







About 2,000 displaced are sheltering at a mission.
Only one borehole but it is broken.
There is no nearby surface water.
You have a small (500 litre) trailer to draw water for use from a
large borehole 20km away.
A local contractor can provide one 5,000 litre tanker and one
10,000 litre tanker. These could make up to 3 trips a day each.
What are the possible solutions?
What should you do and why?




At least 15 liters of water per person
per day
There is at least 1 water point per 250
people
A maximum of 15 minutes waiting
time
The maximum distance is 500 meters




The need is 30,000 litres per day (2,000 people at 15 litres
per day each)
The 10,000 litre tanker could supply this with 3 trips a day
Hiring both tankers to make two trips a day each gives you
reserve capacity if one breaks down
You could also have 3 trips a day at the start to fill whatever
storage the mission has




You need to follow up on the borehole repair
If the fault was a result of poor maintenance you could think
about training
You could consider drilling a second borehole at the site to
avoid this problem in future
If more refugees are expected to arrive, plans must allow for a
substantial spare capacity over the initially assessed needs.