Water systems in rural communities

12/6/2024

Rural Community Water Supply: Water Systems in Villages

You might have seen this before. In some villages, people wake up early to collect water from a well or a standpipe connected to a water tower. Some people might even remember taking morning baths by the shared village tap. These types of water sources are called communal water supply systems.
This isn’t limited to rural areas. Even in some urban areas, many people rely on community or communal water supply systems for drinking water.

Community or communal water supply systems refer to water distribution systems shared by multiple community members year-round. Some of these can be connected to municipal water systems, while others depend on other sources like surface or groundwater.

In rural areas, connecting everyone’s homes to the municipal water supply may not always be cost-effective, leading to people using alternative water supplies. However, some of these water alternatives could be challenging to access or are polluted, which leads to the need for WaSH projects to upgrade them. (1)

This article aims to give you an overview of different community water systems in Southeast Asia and to help you plan your next rural WaSH project.

Types of Water Sources: Improved and Unimproved

There are various types of community water sources, but they vary in many ways such as the quantity and quality of water they provide and how accessible they are. (2)

Water sources are broadly categorised as “improved” or “unimproved” and to help categorise the levels of water source improvement further, WHO/UNICEF’s Joint Monitoring Programme has further sub-divided these into 5 levels. These levels are categorised based on criteria like the quality and quantity of water provided and how accessible it is.

Below is their full list:.

1. Safely managed (safest)
Drinking water from an improved water source accessible on premises, available when needed and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination.

2. Basic
Drinking water from an improved source is available, provided the collection time is not more than 30 minutes for a roundtrip, including queuing.

3. Limited
Drinking water from an improved source for which collection time exceeds 30 minutes for a roundtrip including queuing.

4. Unimproved
Drinking water from an unprotected dug well or unprotected spring.

5. Surface water (least safe)
Drinking water directly from a river, dam, lake, pond, stream, canal or irrigation canal.

In short, unimproved water sources lack protection from contamination, especially from faecal matter. Improved drinking water sources, on the other hand, have some form of contamination protection. (3)

Household Drinking Sources in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asian countries use a mixture of improved and unimproved water sources. Below is a breakdown of water sources used by Indonesia and the Philippines in 2022:

Sources: Kementerian Kesehatan Republik Indonesia - Drinking Water Quality Monitoring
Majority of Families Have Access to Improved Source of Drinking Water (Results from the 2022 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey) | Philippine Statistics Authority

While both countries’ governments have made significant progress in providing their citizens with improved water sources, there are still pockets of the community that continue to rely on unimproved sources.

Overview of Unimproved Water Sources

Traditionally, people in rural areas obtain their water from unprotected sources like springs, unprotected wells, unprotected ponds, and even streams and rivers. They use these water sources for their daily use from drinking, cooking and cleaning. (4)

Unimproved water sources have no water treatment. This means that if the water source itself is polluted, people who have no means to treat water at home properly will still be using contaminated water.

At Chhnok Tru V illage at Cambodia’s Tonle Sap lake, villagers obtain their water supply straight from the lake that their village floats on. Due to a lack of education and waste infrastructure, the lake was contaminated by people dumping their rubbish into the lake.

Before we helped them, the villagers here had to rely on contaminated water for laundry, dishes, bathing and cooking which left them susceptible to diarrhoea.

Kona Point community in Vanuatu used to have to pay to bring water from a river 15km away via truck

Contaminated water increases the drinkers’ risks of contracting water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, dysentry, cholera, gastritis, and typhoid in addition to other water-related issues. Diarrheal diseases are known as one of the top 5 killers of children under the age of 5 around the world. (5)

During emergencies, water quality standards which have less bearing on health (such as hardness of water, or the presence of iron and manganese or chlorides normally included in any drinking water of quality standards) can be relaxed unless this causes technical problems, and so long as the rural population finds the water acceptable. (6)

These are some examples of unimproved/ limited water sources:

1. Uncovered springs

Image from Kompasiana

When water in an aquifer fills up to the point it overflows onto the land surface, a spring is created. Springs range in size from small seeps, which flow only after a lot of rain, to huge pools providing millions of gallons of water every day.(7)

As a spring’s aquifer is very close to the surface level, nearby contamination can easily leach into the water source without adequate protection.

Natural spring water is also exposed to debris and sedimentation and depends on the quality of water the aquifer is recharged with. For example, as groundwater travels through rock and soil, it can pick up naturally occurring arsenic, other heavy metals, or radionuclides. (8)

2. Unprotected dug wells

Unprotected hand-dug wells tend to be shallow at 15 metres or less. These wells may not have raised mouths to prevent surface runoff from flowing into the well. The water flowing into the well can bring germs and other contamination. Some unprotected wells also don’t have concrete linings to keep the wells from collapsing. (9)

Shallow wells access shallow aquifers. Shallow aquifers usually mean that there are fewer layers of bedrock available to filter the water as compared to a deeper aquifer. Therefore, this makes hem more likely to contain more contamination from surrounding pollution sources compared to deeper wells.

3. Surface water

Surface water sources include rivers, ponds, and lakes. These sources may be polluted by pesticides and fertilizers from agricultural runoff or industrial or faecal waste dumped directly into the water. Some communities that lack adequate sanitation facilities or behaviours may practice open defecation which contributes to contaminated water sources.

Wateroam’s solutions work with almost all freshwater water sources, from streams, lakes, and wells to rural water towers and schools. Looking for a partner with more than 10 years of rural development and disaster relief WaSH projects?

Reach out to us below and discuss your upcoming WaSH project with us!

4. Bottled water

Bottled water is classified as unimproved more to do with its limited quantity of water supplied compared to the quality of the water itself. (10)

5. Tanker truck-provided water or cart with small tank or drum

The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation previously treated vendor-provided water as unimproved due to lack of data on accessibility, availability and quality.

These will then be classified as ‘limited’, ‘basic’, or ‘safely managed’, depending on where they fall on the drinking water ladder.

Overview of Improved Water Sources

According to WHO/ UNICEF’s Joint Monitoring Programme’s drinking water ladder, improved water sources can be limited or safely managed.

It should be noted that improved water sources should be safer than unimproved water sources, but depending on the circumstances, they can still be contaminated or run dry.

For example, the Philippines still faces water shortages in cities even with adequate piping and distribution infrastructure. In Indonesia, they recently held the #dihantuitai (haunted by faeces) campaign to educate citizens about faecal contamination of their household water systems and when they need to call expert services.

1. Piped Water Sources (includes standpipes and refillable water stations)

Piped water sources can be considered public water sources if it used by a large number of people. For example, water from a rural medical clinic or piped water from a neighborhood school can be counted as a public water source.

In communities where installing faucets in every home is unfeasible, shared standpipes serve as a community water source.

Image from the New Humanitarian

Refillable water stations are a popular water source in both Indonesia and the Philippines. To use them, people will bring their own large bottles of water and pay for as much water as they need.

Water refill station provided by Unilever in Jakarta. Image from the Jakarta Post.

However, in some countries like the Philippines, this source of water is still susceptible to water shortages if the main source of water (like dams) runs low during dry seasons.

2. Protected dug wells

Dug wells are dug by hand, and tend to be shallower than machine-dug wells like borehole wells. To protect the dug well, hard material like concrete rings helps to fortify the sides of the well to keep it from collapsing.

A well screen surrounded by gravel is used to increase the surface area for water to enter the well from the aquifer while keeping out sediment. You can read more about this type of well in our blog post on wells and well cleaning.

Diagram of dug wells, driven wells and borehole wells from our well cleaning blog post

3. Borehole/ Pumped Wells

These wells are dug using machinery, which allows the well to reach deeper into the ground and access cleaner groundwater.

They have the same methods of protection as protected dug wells with well screens and gravel to protect the water access point and using material like concrete or piping to line the walls of the well.

Due to the depth of these wells, water inlets and pumps need to be installed to draw water from them. Hand pumps are usually found at borehole wells in rural areas.

4. Protected springs

A protected spring involves protecting the spring from external contamination, building a way to transport water to where it is needed and, optionally, storing the water. Protected springs can be developed as a source for a water distribution network or used directly for water collection.

Diagram of a protected spring intake from Water Supply Technologies in Emergencies

5. Rainwater Harvesting
Rainwater has lower salinity compared to groundwater and is not exposed to faecal matter contamination either which is why WHO classifies this as an improved water source.

Unpurified rainwater is suitable for sanitation and agricultural purposes and treated rainwater is suitable for drinking. You can check out our article on rainwater harvesting for more information.

Public hydrants, or water terminals (‘terminal air’ in Bahasa Indonesia) are a drinking water service in Indonesia where water transportation is carried out using a pipe system and distributed to the community through tanks.

Drinking water comes from PDAM (Perusahaan Daerah Air Minum - local drinking water companies) or tapping from other public water sources such as wells and surface water. (12)

These then fill a communal water tank that is shared by multiple users. A 3 - 4 m³ water terminal (terminal air) or public hydrant (hidran umum) serves + 200 people or 40 families (1 family = 5 people). (13)

A water terminal in Indonesia Source: Kementerian PUPR Fokus Sediakan Air Bersih dan Sanitasi di Palu

Diagram of a water terminal in Indonesia. Source: MODUL SOSIALISASI DAN DISEMINASI STANDAR PEDOMAN DAN MANUAL - TERMINAL AIR

Opportunities for Improvement

Even if some community water sources have pipes or protected wells, they may lack sufficient water quantity or accessibility, and in some cases, sanitation.

#DihantuiTai - Proper Sanitation to Protect Water Sources

UNICEF found that nearly 70 per cent of the 20,000 households’ drinking water sources tested in Indonesia were contaminated by faecal waste due to poorly managed septic tanks and sanitation management. (14)

In response, UNICEF in Indonesia launched the #DihantuiTai campaign to inform households about safe sanitation and how faecal contamination in water sources is dangerous to public health.

The #DihantuiTai refers to popular movies and TV shows in Indonesia, featuring a team of ‘poo busters’ rescuing places haunted by poo (dihantui tai in Bahasa Indonesia). UNICEF also launched www.cekidot.org website to provide more information. Cekidot refers to checking out the state of your septic tank.

Indonesia’s ‘Cekidot Squad’ themed after ghostbusters when it comes to fighting fecal matter in people’s water supplies.
Source: UNICEF 2022

Providing Water Treatment at the Point of Use

Schools and medical centres tend to have faucets that can supply their village with clean water. However, these buildings themselves could use unclean water sources or be improved in other ways.

\Some of these communities live in Cambodia, where roughly half of the rural population does not have access to safe drinking water.

One village we visited in 2018 was Chhnok Tru floating village in Cambodia. Before our visit, the villagers would use the lake water that their village floated on. Due to a lack of education and sanitation infrastructure, people would dump their rubbish straight into the lake, polluting the water. This resulted in many families falling ill to waterborne diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and the like.

We worked with the National University of Singapore (NUS) Project OceaNUS and students from Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia (PUC) and Souperstar to provide the villagers with access to clean drinking water.

Through our combined efforts, we brought 6 filters and installed them at different schools and a medical centre to provide clean water to around 600 people. We also worked with these groups to educate students on environmental awareness and the importance of clean water and proper sanitation. You can check out more about this project in Cambodia here.

Wateroam’s filters are built specifically for use in rural areas using ultrafiltration technology.

Our filter’s ultrafiltration pores small enough to filter out viruses and bacteria without requiring as much pressure to push water through the pores like nanofiltration, our filters are lightweight, easy to use and easy to install.

To find out more, contact us via the banner below!

Prior to our project with them, an orphanage-cum-school in Tanjong Pinang, Indonesia drew its water by hand from a few wells surrounding the building. Partnering with Canact Asia, an education and training enterprise, Wateroam’s first ROAMfilter™ Plus was deployed in Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam (STAI) Miftahul Ulum.

Wateroam’s filtration system connected to one of the school’s wells.

This system now provides clean water for more than 150 residents of the orphanage while reducing their need to fetch water manually. You can read more about our impact in Indonesia here.

Improving Unimproved Water Sources

Some rural communities rely on fetching water from polluted sources over long distances to be used directly.

Simple rural development solutions that could cut down the distance traveled to collect water or improve the quality of the water could have significant positive impacts on the community’s wellbeing. (15)

Projects targeting these issues could consist of

an appropriate water source
an appropriate water extraction method from the source
low-cost water treatment systems, wherever required
An appropriate water distribution system

As a case in point, the children of the Sundanese community living in Bantar Gebang previously drank water boiled from their rivers directly. The children mentioned that the resulting diarrhoea caused them to go to the toilet seven to eight times a day.

Wateroam, supported by the NUS Bursary and partnering with BGBJ (translates to “The Seeds of Bantar Gebang”) and Water Plus installed our ROAMfilter™ Plus at a local school and distributed water bottles to the school children.

Through this initiative we provides 50 schoolchildren and surrounding villagers with clean water so they no longer have to worry about waterborne diseases. You can watch our case study below:

Conclusion

Access to clean and safe water remains a critical issue in many rural communities, particularly in Southeast Asia. While progress has been made in providing improved water sources, there is still much work to be done to ensure that all communities have access to reliable and safe water supplies.

Local governments and international bodies have highlighted the value that WaSH projects can bring to these communities. By implementing sustainable and community-focused projects, organisations like yours significantly impact millions of people's lives.

As we look towards the future, organisations, governments, and communities must work together to ensure everyone has access to clean and safe water. By investing in water infrastructure and promoting sustainable water management practices, we can create a better future for all.

Are you looking for a project partner with global expertise in WaSH programmes? Contact us via the banner below to schedule a planning session for your upcoming project!

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