Water and Sanitation

Everyone has the right to water. This right is recognized in international legal instruments and provides for sufficient, safe, acceptable, physical accessibility and affordable water for personal and domestic use.

Adequate amount of safe water is necessary to prevent death from dehydration, to reduce the risk of water related diseases and to provide for consumption, cooking and personal and domestic hygiene requirements. The right to water is extricable related to other human rights, including the right to health, the right to housing and the right to adequate food.

The importance of water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion

Water and sanitation are critical determinants for survival in the initial states of disasters. People affected by disasters are generally much more susceptible to illnesses and death from diseases which are related to a large extent, to inadequate sanitation, inadequate water supplies and poor hygiene. The most significant of these are diarrhea diseases, and infectious diseases transmitted by faeco-oral route. Other diseases include those carried by vectors associated with slid waste and water.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES -

• + To provide easy access to more functional bore holes which give safe water and improve the livelihood of people in Panyijiar county
• + To minimize long distance movement in search for water for either household use or agricultural purposes
• + To eradicate possible water borne diseases such as Diarrhea by making clean water available and training the locals on how to handle safe water and hygiene.
• + Advocate for the implementation of environmental, sanitation and hygiene policies that will provide a framework allowing the community to access appropriate sanitation facilities and live in safer and more hygienic environment.
• + Raise awareness of the Water Sector Policies which will empower the community to improve governance of their own water resources.
• + Advocate and initiate the water and sanitation hygiene programme in schools to encourage good hygiene practices.
• + Reduce the transmission of faecal-oral diseases and exposure to disease carrying vectors through the promotion of good hygiene practices.
• + The provision of safe drinking water and the reduction of environmental health risks by establishing the conditions that will allow people to live with good health, dignity, comfort and security.

The term -sanitation' hereafter refers to excreta, disposal, vector control, solid waste disposal and drainage. Providing sufficient water and sanitation alone is not enough, and in order to achieve maximum benefits it is imperative to ensure that war-affected people have the necessary information, knowledge and understanding to prevent water and sanitation related disease, and to mobilize their involvement in the design and maintenance of those facilities, e.g. boreholes.

In most disaster situations the responsibility for collecting water falls on women and children. When using communal water and sanitation facilities, e.g. in refugee or displaced persons situation, women and adolescent girls can be vulnerable to sexual violence or exploitation. Hence to minimize these, it is important to encourage women's participation in water supply programs.

An equitable participation of women and men in planning, decision making and local management will help ensure that the entire affected population has safe and easy access to water supply and sanitation services. Close coordination and collaboration with local authorities and other agencies is also necessary to ensure that these needs are met and efforts are not duplicated and that the quality of water and sanitation responses is optimized.