1.4.1 Water Access

1.4.1 Water Access

By Alexandra Weller and Yuzki Wang

In the hierarchy of needs, sufficient, safe, acceptable and physically accessible and affordable water is a vital component for sustaining life, health and dignity and is specifically protected under General Comment No.15 under the rights to water, where Article I.1 states that “the human right to water is indispensable for leading life in human dignity. It is a prerequisite for the realisation of other human rights” (Ersel, 2015 & Sphere Handbook, 2018 & United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), 2014).

According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) (2014), water is required to be; - Sufficient, as in the water supply for each person must be sufficient and continuous for personal and domestic use. - Safe, as in the water required for each personal or domestic use must be safe, therefore free from micro-organisms, chemical substances and radiological hazards that constitute a threat to a person’s health. - Acceptable, as in the water should be of an acceptable colour, odour and taste for each personal or domestic use. - Physical acceptable, as in everyone has the right to a water and sanitation service that is physically accessible within, or in the immediate vicinity of the household, educational institution, workplace or health institution. - Affordable, as in the water and water facilities and services, must be affordable for all.

It is evident Baghere does not have a sufficient or physical acceptable access to safe and acceptable water, as the population has zero access to filtered water, and 86% of households are without a source of portable water (Kaira Looro, 2021). This highlights the current means of water collection is through the Casamance river and a local well, in which the population must travel by foot to obtain water, with water levels likely to diminish during the dry season. However, this recognises that water available to Baghere is of a contaminated and poor quality nature, significantly recognising that the international law which governs the right to sufficient, safe, acceptable and physically accessible and affordable water is not being achieved. To address this situation, a set of key actions have been developed to identify, understand and develop an appropriate system for clean water access for the Women’s Centre based on current practices, capabilities and water sources.

Figure 6 Water Access Key Actions

Note. Adapted from the Sphere Handbook by A.Weller (2021).

The system of an underground cistern has been acknowledged as a suitable system as it adopts the traditional and sustainable method of rainwater harvesting which provides a simple and primary technique of collecting and utilising water from natural rainfall; allowing it to be a necessary water resource (Ragman et al., 2014). Rainwater harvesting has been recognised as necessary in the access to water, as Baghere lacks a conventional, centralised government supply system, and where the quality of surface and ground water is inadequate (UNEP, 1997). The system itself consists of the collection area, the conveyance system and the storage facility (UNEP, 1997). It is the Women’s

House inverted roof which will form the collection area of rainwater, where the water will be guided by the slope of the roof to the underground cistern, located in the centre of the courtyard, which will be the place of storage.

Figure 7 Water Access via the underground cistern.

Drawn by Y.Wang, (2021).

As Baghere is an environment which experiences seasonal rainfall, the volume of the cistern is required to be of larger dimension, as the demand for water must be satisfied during the dry season (Lee et al., 2000). Thus, the sizing of the cistern is based upon reliability; the percentage of time that the rainwater harvesting system will be able to meet the desired demand and the total average annual rainfall (Basinger et al., 2010 & Pelak & Porporato, 2016). The courtyard has a roof surface area of 36m2, while the cistern has a storage capacity of 57.5m3. Recognising the dry season in Baghere occurs between May and November and rain season occurs between June and October, the average precipitation occurring is:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

mm 1 1 0 1 11 145 405 560 340 160 8 1

Created by Y.Wang, (2021).

Table 6 Calculation of Courtyard Cistern Capacity

Rain harvest during dry season (surface area of roof x rainfall)

Rain harvest during dry season (surface area of roof x rainfall)

Total Rainwater harvest throughout a year

Potable water consumption throughout a year (assume average drinking water consumption per person is 3L at Baghere.

People are allow to collect 3L drinking water and centre can provide drinking water to maximum 50 people each day ) (3Lx50x365)

Toilet sanitation consumption throughout a year (assume 3L of water is used for toilet sanitation per day)(3Lx365)

Total water consumption at the centre

Courtyard Cistern capacity Created by Y.Wang, (2021). 828L

57960L

58788L 54750L

1095L

55845L 57.5m3 /57500L

As a result, the courtyard cistern can store 57,500 litres of water, which is sufficient during the wet season, when assuming the maximum storage of cistern is 80% of total rainwater harvested during the wet season. Water collected in the courtyard cistern throughout the year is adequate for allowing 50 residents to collect 3 litres of potable water every day, as well as daily toilet sanitation practices at the centre.

This proposed method provides a multipurpose way of supplying usable water to consumers, recharging the goundwater and reducing runoff and water logging during the season of heavy rainfall, whilst providing a means of water storage and a source of clean water for the users of the Women’s House, and the broader community (Ragman, 2014). Accessibility to the water is achieved through the central location in the courtyard of the Women’s Centre, which has been positioned in the community of Baghere due to the proximity and distribution of fundamental connections to the centre to of Baghere. Additionally, the proposed system of rainwater harvesting, fulfils General Comment No.15; the human right to water while the water pertains to being sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible.