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Submitted by ctv_en_4 on Mon, 06/05/2006 - 08:00
Up to now, UNICEF has provided Vietnam with more than US$47.3 million and built nearly 250,000 water supply facilities in rural areas, which benefited more than 12 million rural people.



Safe water shortage - a hard nut to crack

The shortage of safe water is a global threat. Currently, 1.1 billion people in the world have no access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion others lack basic sanitation facilities. This is the consequence of damming up rivers and exhausting underground water, which have “ignited” many environmental problems including the weakening of river flows, rising estuary salinity, and declining coastal alluvial soil. These changes might put many sea species at the risk of extinction and narrow farmland areas. It is predicted that by 2020, aqua and food industries will suffer heavy losses and people will further be attacked by malnutrition and diseases.

Environmental pollution, unequal distribution and improper treatment of water resources lead to the related deaths of 8 million people every year, of which 4,500 children die of water-born diseases everyday. 

New water treatment technologies

Many governments have funded research programmes on new drinking water supply and wastewater treatment technology. Australian researchers have developed a product to reduce polluting agents in water. Its filters are made of clay and organic materials such as rice husks, tea or coffee powder. When water runs through the filter, polluted agents will be retained on the membrane. Another product of an Australian company Memcor called individual filter can change polluted water into safe water. These filters have been donated to tsunami victims in south Asia. With a new treatment technology, this product filters out harmful bacteria before using chemicals to disinfect the filtered water.

According to a researcher from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Susan Murcott, water filtering technologies have benefited millions of people in India, China, Bangladesh, Ghana, Mexico and Peru. These technologies use inexpensive local materials and are easily applied. Grand Rapids City from Michigan in the US has operated a plant using ultraviolet-rays instead of chemicals to treat water for domestic use.

Many other companies in the world have also invested in the research and development of cheaper water treatment systems, which need less energy and are easy to operate. These technologies will further benefit at least 1.1 billion people who currently have no access to safe water supply. 

Use and maintenance of safe water resources in rural Vietnam

The Safe Water Supply Project is a part of the Vietnam-UNICEF co-operation Programme implemented since 1982 to help Vietnam meet the needs of rural safe water supplies, environment and sanitation. Over the last 20 years, the UNICEF-funded project on rural safe water supply has applied advanced technology compatible with each period and water requirements.

In the 1982-1990 period, UNICEF applied the Bangladesh model of hand-drilled technology to make bore wells. The drilling technology was simple and cheap. With the help of power pumps, the drill could infiltrate 30 m deep in northern land areas and 80-90m deep in southern land areas. This technology created a major change in water supplies in rural Vietnam, where in the past people often used water from hand-dug wells, natural wells, streams, rivers and ponds, or rainwater.

Since 1990, the UNICEF rural safe water supply and sanitation project has applied new technology to build sanitation facilities in rural Vietnam, including new drilling technology. It has provided rural people with rain-water containers, gravity water supplies with closed pipelines, power or hand pumps for dug-wells, slow sand-filtering tanks and so on.

By 2005, much progress had been made in water supply technologies to meet the needs of sustainable development and environmental protection. The UNICEF-funded project has supplied safe water for rural people in the country at a cheap price. Its facilities are easy to use and maintain. The project has also trained thousands of rural safe water supply technicians. To date, UNICEF has provided Vietnam with more than US$47.3 million and built 247,962 water supply facilities in rural areas, which benefited more than 12 million rural people.

Currently, with UNICEF financial assistance, Vietnam is implementing the rural safe water supply, environment and sanitation programmes for the 2006-2010 period. Under this programme, UNICEF will invest in building sanitation facilities in the poorest and most disadvantaged areas, paying particular attention to children and women. The programme gives priority to water quality, environmental sanitation, changing individual hygienic behaviour and environmental sanitation in disadvantaged communities.

In this period, UNICEF will provide Vietnam with nearly US$11 million. Its objectives are to enable 75 per cent of households in project areas access safe water, make safe water supply facilities and hygienic latrines available in all kindergartens, pre-school classes and health centres, and establish management boards for all water supply and sanitation facilities.
However, it requires further concern and active participation from local authorities and people.

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