WASH - Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

 WASH

Access to sustainable and affordable water resources that is universal for all those that need it for usage in terms of both drinking water and to improve the overall quality of life through improved sanitation.

The aims of WASH are:

  • High quality of drinking water

  • Water supply for hygiene purposes

  • Safe disposal of wastewater

These aims are in line with both the Millenium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals as one of the key aspects for providing adequate access to water and preventing the spread of diseases that use untreated wastewater as the matrix for transmission.

WASH has many forms depending on the context of implementing it, these can be in large scale centralised systems as seen in many economically developed nations, smaller scale decentralised systems, developing countries and as emergency relief. The key areas of implimentation are those in developing nations and emergency relief as they provide an improved security for the living conditions and health in at risk regions.

Preventing the spread of Disease

WASH aims to prevent the spread of disease that use water as a means of spread be they:

  • Waterborne pathogens transported by water direct to consumprion

  • Water based a pathogen where part of the life cycle is within water

  • Water washed a lack of hygiene as a result of limited water access

  • Water vector a pathogen carried by a water related vector such as insects

  • Poor sanitation which increases the contact between waste materials and those who live in the region

To reduce the risks of these, there must be an increase in the provision of resources such as protected water sources and water treatment that is both affordable and sustainable for the communities that need it. Access to an uncontamiated water sources that is seperate from wastewater and bathing water reduces the transmission of the these diseases improbing the quality of life for these regions.

 Methods of improving drinking water

Improving drinking water sources is an extremly important measure for establishing WASH in the most at risk regions, this is possible through many methods including:

  • The creation of public water pumping stations and public taps in remote regions providing access to uncontaminated groundwater.

  • Piped water from a public water point into dwelling or yards giving direct access to clean water.

  • Protected springs provide a source of uncontaminated surface water that are often protected from unwanted runoff, animals and dropping providing clean water.

  • Rainwater collection is a method of directly capturing precipitation from surfaces using catchment tanks and roofs allowing for the water to be stored for later use.

Other methods have been added to further improve the potablility of water such as solar disinfection, localised UV disinfection, filtration technology (As seen with the LifeStraw a portable filtration device that allows for the consumption of water directly from untreated surface water) as well as the use of chemicals to remove harmful pathogens from the drinking water.

Improving Sanitation and Hygiene

Improved sanitation and improved hygiene go hand in hand to reduce the protential prevenlance of many diseasies as well as improving the overall living conditions that many are living in across the world. In order to improve sanitation and hygiene across the at risk regions the current practices that are in place must first be addressed this ranges from open defecation and unsepetated sanitation facilities, where there is a high degree of contact possible between humans and untreated waste, to shared sanitation facilities such as public toilets.

Once the current practices are addressed it is possible to implement methods that create a division between humans and the waste. This is possible through applying systems and technologies to the region that include:

  • Flush toilets/latrines that remove the waste to piped sewer systems, septic tanks and pit latrines creating the seperation between humans and the wastewater.

  • Ventilated improved pit latrines that reduce the concentration of harmful products that build up in latrine systems reducing the spread of disease.

  • Composting toilets that use recover resources within human waste that are then used to create compost for growing crops.

Improved hygiene often comes as a result of education to modify the current patterns that are seen such as lack of personal hygiene from bathing practices to matters such as washing hands after touching contaminants. As such grassroot efforts are oftern more successfull at raising awareness around improving the current actions that take place creating an understanding of preventing the spread of contamination as well as reducing the contact with harmful products that can negativly impact human health.