Indonesia Earthquake: Provide Clean Water

Bill Brower is a Field Program Officer with GlobalGiving who is visiting our partners’ projects throughout South and Southeast Asia. On February 27 and 28 he visited three sites where WMI has installed chlorination units for water purification. His “Postcard” from the visit:

Following the earthquake off the coast of Sumatra last fall, WMI put their water purification units in the back of a truck and drove around as an improvised mobile water source. After the initial relief period, WMI moved to permanent installations of the units in affected communities—moving past disaster relief to community development, according to Deddy Edward, Operational Coordinator for WMI in Indonesia.

WMI’s goal for this year is to establish community water teams in these villages. The team will be in charge of operation and maintenance and will manage the money collected from user fees—profits from which are to be used for operation of the unit, with surplus funneled back to community projects. This should go a ways toward increasing a sense of ownership of the units in the community, which seemed to be lacking a bit in the sites I visited. This is likely due to the units being delivered and installed at no cost to the community, and consisting entirely of materials shipped in ready-to-go from the U.S. Also people don’t apparently particularly like the taste of the chlorinated water and were not given a choice in the technology that was implemented.

Deddy, one of five WMI staff in Indonesia, is very competent and passionate in his work. The three units we visited were all operational, though we didn’t visit during the windows in the morning or evening when the units were running so I was unable to see how many people are using them. The units, according to Deddy, require minimal maintenance beyond periodic flushing of the filters and so should provide these communities with safe drinking water for years to come.

Late last week, Water Missions International began treating surface water and distributing it to refugee camps in Padang. Because the water source is located a lengthy distance from the camps, WMI technicians loaded the water treatment system onto a small trailer to mobilize it, making it possible to deliver safe water directly to those in need.

Twenty safe water storage tanks were transported to Padang yesterday. The tanks will allow WMI to set up multiple distribution points and serve more people.

An additional water treatment system is being transported to Pariaman, another city that suffered extensive damage from the quake. The system is expected to arrive early this week, once roads are cleared enough to get through by pick-up truck. This system will provide safe drinking water for up to 5,000 people.

Four more water treatment systems are being flown in from Jakarta and are expected to arrive today, Tuesday, October 6. Once WMI technicians on the ground can complete more assessments, the location of these water systems will be determined.