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Solar Water Purification

Sustainable Energy for Development (SED) ProgrammeGIZ Bangladesh

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Drinking water in disaster affected areasThe coastal area of Bangladesh is the biggest victim to climate change : SIDR, AILA

Coastal people suffer from scarcity of drinking water

People have to carry water from far away, even 2-3 km

Some families spend good amount of money for water

The Core Problem

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Solar Water Pumps (SWP) Project description: Water is pumped by using solar energy

to overhead tank, sent by gravitational force through underground pipeline (2-6km) near to household clusters (8-10 dispenser points). For surface water sources, a simple pond sand filter is used for micro bacterial contamination removal.

Technology: Ground water: test and identify drinkability of water

source before pumping Surface water: purify in a four-stage filtering systems Salt water: Solar powered desalinization plant

(expensive!)

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Solar Water Pumps (SWP) Scale of the Intervention: 122 installed Projects; 17 under

technical assistance with CDMP Beneficiary: 50,000+ households Outputs: Providing 1.9 million litres of safe drinking water

per day, ensuring hygiene and health among salinity affected coastal belt

Outcomes: Community livelihood improvement Income generation scopes Improvement of health Women empowerment Productive time enhancement Environmental sustainability: Water source conservation

and preservation

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Management and Ownership The plants are owned by the Union Parishad (UP) Beneficiaries form management committees; UP and UNO from the local Govt. are

involved as committee members Management committees are involved in site selection, pipe line route, sites of

dispensers. Beneficiaries contribute in initial investment Management committees appoint caretaker for operation & maintenance Plant lifetime is 20 years; comes with 5 years free service. Beneficiaries pay 30-50 Taka per month, which is used for

salary of caretakers maintenance of the plants

Other business models are being tested: Leasing to local NGOs Leasing to private entrepreneurs

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Gender impact of SWPIssues Pre-project

scenarioBenefits from the intervention Outcome

Productive time

Women with children had to walk 4-5hours to collect safe drinking water from distant sources

1. Dispenser points near to households are reducing water collection time

2. Saved times are now being used in productive activities such as:

Income generation Education

Livelihood enhancement

Pregnancy and maternal health safety issues

Pregnant women and mother of infants had to travel miles in their final days of pregnancy

1. Less pregnancy complications2. Increased family time3. Breast feeding and proper nursing

time

Improved maternal and child health.

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Gender impact of SWPIssues Pre-project scenario Benefits of intervention Outcome

Income generation

Women had little /No income

1. Remuneration of the female dispenser manager

2. Income scope from water refilling into the jars

Livelihood enhancement

Empowerment of the female dispenser point managers

Women are politically marginalized in rural coastal belt

1. Social recognition and empowerment of rural women2. Engagement of women in decision making process

Women empowerment

Health and safety

Water Bourne diseases, skin diseases, salinity induced health issues, specially in children

1. Water lifted from 700-1000 feet deep boreholes are usually bacterial contamination free

2. PSF based systems treat bacteria and other solid impurities

3. RO systems eliminate salinity, bacteria and other impurities

Better health, specially in children

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Challenges:

Ownership issues Operation, maintenance and

management issues Economic viability for

scalability Local Government’s readiness

Learnings:

Technology is ready, management issue is the core challenge

Local Government engagement is a must for future scaling up

Private party/NGO involvement may be beneficial for business model development

The management system is crucial for sustainability, community mobilization issues are vital

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Thank you for your kind attention

Contact Jan-Hendrik.Soehlemann@giz.de and mudabbir.anam@giz.de for more information