Safe Water Access for rural communities in Ecuador. March 1, 2012
Level of Family Vulnerability For this analysis a check-list was applied to families in order to better understand the level of vulnerability in relation to the access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation. The results presented are a summary of what appears in Toachi Valley (coastal area), whose conditions reflect those of the rest of the Amazon and Andes regions. Five parameters were considered to study the vulnerability in relation to access and quality of the water. Each parameter is calculated based on a scale that goes from 1 being the most negative to 5 being the most positive. For example, for the category “Amount of Water for Family Use� the criteria were 1- without their own water, 2- very small amount, 3- insufficient, 4sufficient and 5- more than enough. Based on this scale, the health promoter chose a number based on the reality of each family. The rest of the information is shown as concentrated data that was taken from 30 families and from direct observation of the health promoter or the person responsible for completing the checklist. With the graph, the communities of Toachi Valley can be observed. It shows the highest vulnerability in three areas. The lowest is the system of eliminating the grey waters. 90% of the families indicated that they dispose of the grey water in front of the house, in plants or in the street. The storage of drinking water is also low. 80% of the families said that they stored their water outside of the house with little protection, putting it at high risk for contamination. The community does not have a septic system and grey waters are always accumulating in the streets (see photo). The main source of water comes from wells constructed inside the houses. The quality of this water is very poor and not fit for human consumption. Another category analyzed the cleanliness of the water storage containers. The majority of the families cleans these containers very sporadically, which creates a high risk of water contamination.
Geovanny Santamaria. gsantamaria@map.org El Universo E-756 y Shyris – Quito-Ecuador