Clean and affordable drinking water
Programme description
Title: Water and Sanitation Programme
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Benin
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Energy and Mining, Ministry of Health
Overall term: 2017 to 2020
Context
In 2017, about half the people in Benin (45% of those in towns and cities and 58% of those in rural areas) still had no access to safe drinking water. In some cases, the municipal water supply is inadequate. The revenue generated by water charges does not cover costs. There is frequently a lack of automatic chlorination plants for hygienic water treatment. Water quality often deteriorates further during transport between the public standpipes and households or during storage in households.
Information is not always available on the amount and quality of water available in the basins of the key rivers, Pendjari and Mékrou. There is a lack of plans for the management of the existing water reserves in the region.
In addition, climate change is exacerbating water shortages in these already arid areas. This threatens agriculture, and thus, the food supply.
Objective
The population has better access to clean and affordable drinking water. Hygiene during transport and storage of water has been improved.
Approach
To improve the quality of the water provided by the municipalities the project supports selected municipalities with the installation of 320 automatic chlorination pumps. In addition, GIZ and its partners train the personnel in the operation of these units.
The project improved a simple test that allows a visual assessment of the water quality. This enables households to determine the quality of their own water see at a glance how water quality can be maintained between standpipes and homes – for example, by cleaning the water transport containers.
The project improved a simple test for visually determining water quality. This enables households to see at a glance how water quality can be maintained between standpipes and homes – for example, by cleaning the water transport containers.
To improve the management of the municipal water supply, a simple program was developed that collects data on the operation of the systems and shows operating costs and revenue. The program is currently being tested in 15 municipalities.
To better record existing water in the two catchment areas, the responsible authority’s equipment will be supplemented and its personnel trained. The improved data will allow more precise statements on the amount of available water and the drawing up of feasible water resource management plans.
To convey the connection between climate change, water and food to the population, the use of local rice varieties that require less water is being tested.
The consulting firm GITEC-IGIP supports the implementation of the project.
Results
As of October 2018, 184 chlorination systems have been installed for the water supply of 680,000 people.
With the help of the test, an initial hygiene campaign improved the quality of drinking water in 238 out of 1,400 households.
In 2017 the use of local rice varieties increased the rice yield in the participating farmers’ fields by about 17%, from 1.60 to 1.87 tonnes per hectare.