WASH Response to Urban Floods

1
WASH Response to Urban Floods
WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Session 3
• Plan and Response to Urban Floods

2
WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF
Session overview
Session objectives and overview of activities 5 mins
Stakeholders in the response 20 mins
WASH technical solutions in an urban flood setting 60 mins
Questions feedback 5 mins
Case Study Gonaïves, Haiti, 2008 20 mins
Good practices in an urban flood setting 20 mins
Group activity WASH response matrix 45 mins
Questions and feedback 5
Total time 3 hrs
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3
WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF
Stakeholders in planning for the WASH response in
an urban floods setting

• Identify key stakeholders in planning the WASH
  response?
• Role of each group in planning for the response?

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4
WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Hygiene Promotion considerations in an urban
  flood setting

• Additional items may be included in the non-food
  item (NFI) / hygiene kits e.g. impregnated
  mosquito nets, oral rehydration salts
• Additional messages for communication efforts
• Management of diarrhoea, malaria, urinary
  infection
• Operation and maintenance of facilities given
  high groundwater levels
• Hygienic waste disposal - avoiding drainage
  systems and waterways becoming blocked with waste
• Specific targeting of different groups,
  distinguishing between those residing in camps
  and those in dwellings
• Approach to managing diarrhoea to be agreed
  with MoH and Health Cluster

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5
WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Water supply basic repairs to water treatment
  works (WTWs)

• Inform the WASH Cluster / sector agencies
• Acquire resources
• Start clearing the mud and evacuating stagnant
  water
• Repair the electrical system
• Repair or replace damaged pumps and valves
• Repair the water treatment tanks and reservoirs
• Provide chemical reagents and treatment agents
• Repair the pipes

Source Branched distribution network (WEDC)
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6
WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Water supply restart of machinery

1. Switch on power and verify electrical functioning
2. Check functioning of each pump or group of pumps
3. Set in motion the water treatment process
4. Measure the flow and dosage of the treatment
   chemicals
5. Perform the Jar test
6. Measure the turbidity of water
7. Check residence time in each treatment stage
8. Check water quality

• Turbidity should not exceed 2 NTU
• pH between 6.8 and 7.2 to allow effective
  chlorination.
• Microbial contamination 0 thermotolerant
  coliforms per 100 ml.
• Residual aluminium lt0.5mg per litre.
• Heavy metals and organic pollutants Refer to
  WHO guidelines for Water Quality, (WHO,
  2006).

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WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Water supply immediate measures

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8
WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Exercise identify excreta disposal options
  suitable for immediate response

• Pit latrines
• Chemical Portaloo toilets
• Pour-flush toilets
• Storage tank latrines
• Packet latrines
• Bucket latrines
• Floating latrines
• Rapid kit (type) latrines
• Raised urine-diversion (UD) toilets
• Repair existing excreta disposal facilities
• Temporary latrine structures installed directly
  over the sewer inspection covers
• Overhung latrines

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9
WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Excreta disposal - immediate measures

• Pit latrines
• Chemical Portaloo toilets
• Pour-flush toilets
• Storage tank latrines
• Packet latrines
• Bucket latrines
• Floating latrines
• Rapid kit (type) latrines
• Raised urine-diversion (UD) toilets
• Repair existing excreta disposal facilities
• Temporary latrine structures installed directly
  over the sewer inspection covers
• Overhung latrines

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10
WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Excreta disposal lesson learned

A floating latrine in an urban flooded city of
Borneo A coping mechanism with poor public
health implications
Source ACF
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WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Vector control immediate measures

• Response options
• Chemical vector control
• Environmental sanitation measures
• Personnel protection measures

Vector Disease/Condition
Mosquitoes Dengue, Malaria, Yellow Fever, Fever, Filariasis, etc.
Rats Leptospirosis, Hanta virus, Bubonic plague, Typhus, etc.
Flies Cockroaches Diarrhoeal diseases
Ticks, Fleas, Lice Typhus
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Case Study Gonaïves, Haiti, 2008
WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF
Source UNICEF
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WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF
Gonaïves floods First response

• Deployment of heavy bulldozers (D9-D10) and
  trucks to remove mud and gain access to the city
• Water trucking to provide emergency supply
• US Coast Guard airlifts water, hygiene kits, food
  and shelter

Source The Boston Globe
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WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF
Gonaïves floods Examples of appropriate WASH
response

• Installation of 2Km flexible pipeline equipped
  with 15 tap stands
• Distribution of POU filtering kits
• Utilisation of urban population density to
  support more efficent water distribution schemes

A standpipe installation supplying about 1000
inhabitants
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WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF
Gonaïves floods Examples of appropriate WASH
response cont.

• Collaboration with Government and other
  stakeholders to broadcast hygiene messages via
  radio
• Distribution of packet latrines for those
  remaining in their homes
• WASH Cluster used as a forum for solving WASH
  technical problems

Source Waves of Change Haiti Community Radio
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WASH Cluster Emergency Training
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• Good practice be innovative

Source ALNAP, 2009 Registering a beneficiary
with a handheld device
Source Dhaka Ahsania Mission A Chulli Water
Purifier, local technology in Bangladesh
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WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Good practice creative partnerships

• Between agencies including NGOs and government
  agencies (national and international)
• With the private sector (national and
  international)
• Between donors and implementers
• With local communities and CBOs
• With researchers and academics

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WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Good practice use of local materials

Prioritise use of local materials, similar to
those used previously, to repair and rehabilitate
infrastructure. With replacements, use similar
locally-available parts e.g. electrical devices,
pumps, valves, and pipelines, wherever possible.
Source Oxfam
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WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Good practice community mobilisation

• Consider community mobilisation for post-flood
  clean up
• Blocked urban drainage systems
• Accumulation of mud and flood related debris in
  the streets
• Flooded homes containing silt and flood-related
  debris
• Disposal of destroyed household possessions

Source ACF
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WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Good practice disaster risk reduction

In areas at risk of recurrent flood emergencies,
it is important to incorporate DRR activities
into the response
Source ACF
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WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Good practice water source protection

Water source protection e.g. raising hand-pumps
may be more cost-effective than providing
additional supplies
Source ACF
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WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF

• Cross-cutting issues good practice

Specific targeting and tailoring the response to
different groups affected by the floods
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WASH Cluster Emergency Training
UF
Key Learning Points

• Importance of coordination and partnership
  building with local authorities, water boards and
  suppliers
• Interventions should focus on getting municipal
  supplies operating as quickly as possible
• There are a range of immediate short term WASH
  solutions appropriate in an urban flood setting
• The response should be tailored for different
  groups affected differently by the flood
• Main problems often software rather than
  hardware
• Emergency preparedness is an essential
  consideration in urban contexts.

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