An Introduction to Honduras and Water

1
An Introduction to Honduras and Water
2
Honduras Geography

• Location
• Situated in the knee of Central America
• Bordered by Guatemala (northwest), El Salvador
  (west) and Nicaragua (south), with a long
  northern border along the Caribbean Sea
• Population
• 7.7 Million (Tegucigalpa 1 million)
• Much of Honduras geography is defined by a
  growing and expanding population, especially in
  urban areas (Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula)
• Topography
• Primarily mountainous (80)
• Also has a large north coast lowland area and a
  large undeveloped jungle in the east (La
  Moskitia)
• Environment
• Mostly temperate, with pine forests covering much
  of the country. More tropical in the north.
• Problems include deforestation, wild fires,
  waste management, pollution, natural disasters

3
Honduras Society and Politics

• Language/Ethnicity
• Spanish speaking population, with English on the
  Bay of Islands and parts of the Caribbean coast
• 90 of the population is Mestizo, 7 Amerindian,
  2 black and 1 white.
• Religion Roman Catholic 97, Protestant 3
• Society
• The average age in Honduras is 20 years old
  (median) as compared to 36.7 years old in U.S.
• 40 of population is 14 and younger
• Literacy 80, equal between men and women
• Politics
• Government Democratic constitutional republic
• Current President Manuel Zelaya Rosales

• Infrastructure Struggles
• Roadways total 13,603 km
• Paved 2,775 km
• Unpaved 10,828 km

4
Honduras Economy

• Agriculture
• Honduras currently has an agriculture centered
  economy with more than a third of the population
  working in agriculture
• The majority of the farmers grow corn and beans
  for consumption
• The export economy centers on primary
  agricultural products, particularly banana, sugar
  and coffee.
• Also a large producer of timber, gold, silver,
  copper, lead, zinc, variety of other minerals
• Growing Economy
• Honduras is working to develop manufacturing and
  textiles on a greater scale
• Manufacturing focuses on sugar, coffee, clothing
  and wood products
• Expanding exports, mostly to the U.S.
• US 70.6, Guatemala 3.5, El Salvador 3.4
• Poverty
• Despite notable growth in GDP, 50 of the
  Honduran population remains under the poverty
  line.
• 27.8 unemployment
• 50.7 (2004) below poverty line
• Public debt of 29.3 of its GDP
• Comparable to other Central American countries

5
World Water Facts

• 1.1 billion people lack access to an improved
  water supply - approximately one in six people on
  earth.1
• 2.6 billion people in the world lack access to
  improved sanitation.1
• While some believe that water is an endless
  resource, in reality less than 1 of the world's
  fresh water (or about 0.007 of all water on
  earth) is readily accessible for direct human
  use. 2
• Every 15 seconds, a child dies from a
  water-related disease. 4
• For children under age five, water-related
  diseases are the leading cause of death.5
• The average African family uses 5 gal. of water
  each day while the average American family uses
  150. 3
• 88 percent of all diseases are caused by unsafe
  drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor
  hygiene.6

• 1. 2006 United Nations Human Development Report
• 2. World Health Organization Fact Sheet Health
  in Water Resources Development
• 3. U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet "Water QA
  Water Use at Home."
• 4 Number estimated from statistics in the 2006
  United Nations Human Development Report.
• 5 World Health Organization, World Health Report
  2003.
• 6 World Bank, All About Water and Health, CNN,
  December 18, 2007

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The Water-disease Connection

• The Water-disease Connection
• Fecal-oral transmission, ingested fecal matter
• Pathogens can enter peoples mouths via a number
  of routes including water, soil, flies and
  fingers. This is called the fecal oral route
• Diarrheal diseases are the most deadly of the
  water and sanitation diseases killing over two
  million people every year- mostly children under
  the age of five
• Rotavirus (also known as infantile diarrhea or
  winter diarrhea), Cholera, Bacillary dysentery,
  Typhoid, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, etc.
• In Honduras, Dengue fever and malaria are
  indirectly water-related, as sitting water leads
  to increased mosquito numbers

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The Water Sanitation Solution

• Sanitation, the proper access to excreta disposal
  facilities, is primary to preventing disease
• The goal is to eliminate the fecal-oral
  transmission
• Solutions include building latrines, disposing of
  waste properly , education and proper hygiene
• Hygiene education and improved practices helps
  eliminate unnecessary spread of disease
• The simple act of washing hands with soap and
  water can reduce diarrheal diseases by over 40.
• Clean water ensures that humans are protected
  from fecal contamination as well as other
  bacteria that can infiltrate a water system
• This means providing communities with clean water
  projects, protecting the water source and
  purifying the water prior to ingestion

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Water in Honduras

• The Situation
• There is sufficient water in Honduras, but water
  is concentrated in certain areas and must be
  brought to many communities
• Urban areas, such as Tegucigalpa, usually bring
  their water from the mountains in pipes.
  Tegucigalpa gets most of its water from La Tigra
  National Park (shown right) more than 10 km
  outside of the city
• Hurricane Mitch in 1998 left 75 of the country
  without safe drinking water.
• Due to the destruction of water infrastructure
• Causes illness and makes development much more
  difficult
• Water systems used in Honduras
• Gravity systems
• Wells, boreholes and tubewells
• Rainwater catchment systems
• Collection from nearby rivers, ponds, lakes

• The Problems
• Water Scarcity
• --communities have insufficient water
• Insufficient Infrastructure
• --Failed piping system, insufficient storage
• Water Contamination
• --Water contaminated by waste, animals, etc.
• Poor Water Management
• --Communities unable to properly manage water
  system (purification, reparations, etc)
• Lack of education
• --Little awareness of importance of hygiene,
  clean water and sanitation

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Water Sources

• Groundwater
• Usually between 5 and 200 meters below the earth
• Benefits clean, usually sufficient , central
  location
• Negatives often expensive to access and
  difficult to find
• Natural springs
• Usually a clean source (need to be protected)
  able to be brought downhill in a gravity system.
  Often communities do not have springs.
• Rivers, streams
• Very commonly used, usually a more contaminated
  source (by upstream activity)
• Require adequate protection and purification
• Primary source of communities in which we work
• Rainwater
• collected from roofs, where it runs via guttering
  into a storage tank
• Easily accessible, great during rainy season, but
  no help during dry months (January-May)

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Water Systems

• Gravity system
• Water usually from nearby river at a higher
  altitude
• Brings water to a storage tank and after to each
  house
• Initial high investment of labor and cost
• Low long-term/maintenance costs, provides high
  service level
• Rainwater catchment
• Collects rain from cleaned roofs during the rainy
  season
• Stores water in underground cisterns
• Often unreliable
• Wells/Tubewells/Boreholes
• To access underground water source
• Wells hand-dug, in soft ground, water close to
  surface
• Tubewells Small diameter holes drilled by
  hand-powered methods, can go deeper, and are
  often easier to construct, but yield less water
• Boreholes where ground is harder and water
  deeper, use engine-driven techniques, expensive
  to conduct study, to drill and for maintenance
• Pumps hand pumps and diesel/electric pumps,
  required
• Important that all technology used should be
  local, affordable, easily maintained and
  appropriate to geographical and culture
  characteristics

11
Water Purification

• The easiest and best form of purification is to
  use clean water
• Use preventative programs, such as protecting the
  water source and keeping water access points
  (wells, sinks, etc) clean
• Methods of purification of contaminated water
• Boiling
• Simple, but requires large resources (wood for
  burning, time) on the part of the individual.
  Often not done, or done incorrectly.
• Chlorination (top, right)
• Cheap, easy, can be used to purify large
  quantities of water
• Requires maintenance, people do not like the
  taste
• Filtration
• Either large scale (bottom left) or in-house
  (bottom right) this system uses sand and gravel
  to purify water.
• Expensive on a large scale, hard to manage on a
  small scale
• Other
• UV and solar purification, Ozonation chloramine,
  etc.

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Sanitation and Hygiene Projects

• Sanitation
• The proper and safe disposal of human waste,
  including childrens feces, and general
  cleanliness (water storage, home, cooking area,
  latrines, etc.
• Latrines
• Pit latrines, composting latrines
• Clean water storage
• Manage and clean wells, sinks, etc.
• Hygiene and education
• Safe drinking water, covering sitting water,
  keeping latrines far away from water sources,
  keeping animals away from house/latrines, etc.
• Education program requires a survey of
  communitys current beliefs and activities, a
  long-term education program with youth and
  adults, and follow up to make sure the community
  continues with good practices
• Includes training a community member to teach
  lessons in the future

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A Successful Project

• Community First
• Meet with the community, communicate openly, this
  is a community project from start to finish, get
  community support
• The Study
• Allows community to move forward to seek funds,
  design a project and begin construction with
  proper information
• The Design
• Creates direction and technical plan
• The Construction
• Water system source, distribution, storage,
  access points
• Sanitation latrines, waste system, sewer system
• The Education
• Train community to manage project
• Teach hygiene and sanitation practices

• The Follow up
• Post-construction studies to assess
  benefits
• Follow up education and reparations

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Trip Goal
To take part in each step of the process of a
water project and support Honduran communities
through the study, design and implementation of a
water project.