: Boqueron K'asa Gravity-fed Water Project

Applicant	Water for People	Plan ID:	53
Status:	approved_accepted	Review Cycle end date:	2007-01-17

Discussion Forum

Sanitation

By El Porvenir Posted on Sat 13 Jan 2007, over 19 years ago

Hi Ned
What about the conventional wisdom that it is better to build the latrines first and do the water project only after every family has a sanitary facility?

I have to say I am kind of dubious about the community saving money with which to build the latrines. Has WFP Bolivia never gotten a request from this community for sanitation? And if they never build the latrines, what will happen in community health? We don't think water alone is enough.....
is there no sanitation component to this project because it is hard to get funding for latrines?
yeah it is.....but BPR has seen the light....

Carole Harper

Sanitation

By Water for People Posted on Tue 16 Jan 2007, over 19 years ago

Hi Carole,

Sanitation is Bolivia is a huge challenge....it is one of the few Latin American countries not on track to meet its sanitation MDGs. A range of social, cultural, and economic reasons place sanitation much lower on community's demands than water systems. WFP-Bolivia often uses water projects as a gateway to talking about hygiene benefits of latrines and as a latrine demand-generating strategy. The cross-subsidization is a pilot-we don't know if it will work, but we're trying to get creative as current approaches to sanitation in Bolivia are not producing results. This community is beginning to express interest in sanitation options, which is great!

Thanks for the feedback,
Kate

piping

By Blue Planet Network Posted on Sat 13 Jan 2007, over 19 years ago

i see that the project has 17 km of pipes; thats a lot.

are they covered or underground? about what diameter?

what material are you using? how long does it last?

piping

By Water for People Posted on Tue 16 Jan 2007, over 19 years ago

Hi Rajesh,

You're right-17 km is a lot of pipes! A lot of the areas where we work in Bolivia are very dispersed communities, so when projects are done in these areas, a lot of piping is involved to get the water from a spring (s) to the storage tank(s) to the main distribution network to household connections. Most of the piping is laid underground-there are Bolivian construction specifications for how deep depending on the type of ground above (e.g. if it is a road with traffic, the pipes are buried deeper than through a field). There are a few above-ground pipes where ravines must be crossed. Most of the pipes are PVC, which suppsedly has a lifespan of approximately 50 years, but it really depends on quality of construction and management. I have seen poorly buried PVC pipes in Honduras that have broken after two years. I have also seen projects in Bolivia that are 10 years old and the pipes are functioning perfectly fine. Diameters of pipe differ throughout the system-from wider pipes at the intake to narrower pipes at the household connections.

Thanks,
Kate

piping

By Blue Planet Network Posted on Tue 16 Jan 2007, over 19 years ago

Thanks for the info.

Most folks are moving away from PVC because it does not live up to its reputation and its extremely hazardous to make and dispose of. Our Vietnamese partner avoids PVC because it just does not last for 2 years in their projects.

We are trying to steer towards HDPE pipes which are more benign and 100% recyclable. Just a tip for the future, need the price to come down.

Application Summary

Applicant	:	Water for People
Status	:	approved_accepted
Country	:	BOLIVIA Map

Funding

Amount Funded	:	$12,625
Funded By:-
Blue Planet Network	:	$12,625
Funds Used	:	$12,625
Funds Available	:	$0

Projects Summary of Application

Number of Projects	:	1
Overall Start Date	:	TODO!
Overall Completion Date	:	TODO!
Date of Last Update	: