4 ways to make WASH projects climate resilient

BARCELONA — The aggressive effects of climate change continue to rock many, if not all, parts of the world, and development programs are having to adapt accordingly. Water, sanitation, and hygiene projects are no different, especially given the increasing regularity of floods, droughts, and storms that may affect access to clean water. “Shifting thinking to a 20-year life span versus the short two-to-three-year project cycle can change the framework in which you make decisions.” --— Christoph Gorder, chief global water officer, charity: water Climate change is becoming more and more mainstreamed into the design of WASH projects, according to Christoph Gorder, chief global water officer at charity: water. “Certainly we’re anticipating and thinking about what things are going to look like for the next 25 years,” he said, adding that the relatively superficial interventions that were used 10 years ago are now being discarded in favor of more substantial measures. Devex spoke to professionals within the WASH sector to ask what those measures look like for their projects and how others can ensure their WASH programs are climate-resilient. 1. Harness solar energy An increasing number of organizations are looking at renewable energy as a means of powering projects and making them more resilient. For example, UNICEF's Water for Guinea project recently introduced solar-powered water pumps, eliminating the need for diesel-powered or electrical grid-connected pumps, meaning they can operate even if a disaster has impacted energy supply. They also reduce emissions compared with diesel-powered pumps and break down far less often, according to UNICEF. “This approach advances two basic human rights: the right to safe water and the right to a safe environment, even in the remotest rural areas where hydroelectric power is seldom available,” said Pierre Ngom, UNICEF representative to Guinea. The nonprofit Water Mission also uses solar energy to pump water. Its president and chief operating officer, George Greene IV, said solar-powered pumps help to serve more people, are more accessible in remote areas, and require little maintenance. For example, after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, Water Mission was able to make the municipal water systems in rural communities solar-powered so that they could become available again immediately and not have to wait for grid power to return. 2. Think long-term: Replace hand-dug wells with boreholes For water access, many communities dig their own wells, but there is a more sustainable option that can better withstand the impacts of climate change, according to Gorder. “Hand-dug wells, which would have been standard practice in lots of parts of Africa 15-20 years ago, are getting fewer and fewer as people move to drilled boreholes, which are deeper and more sustainable,” he said. Boreholes are drilled by machines and tend to be narrower and deeper than hand-dug wells. Drilling deeper and accessing the water at a lower level creates a more reliable water supply that is less likely to dry up during a drought. However, such an intervention costs twice as much to implement, Gorder said, adding that this poses a difficult problem for those working in lower-income communities. “Do you hand-dig wells for two communities or one borehole? There’s not a full answer to that question, but climate change is making it clear which choice we should make,” he said. “Shifting thinking to a 20-year life span versus the short two-to-three-year project cycle can change the framework in which you make decisions.” 3. Implement early warning systems Resilience has to happen at the individual, household, and community levels, said Corey O’Hara, Nepal country director for iDE, an organization helping rural households increase their income. Building early warning systems into a project so that people can receive word about any potential weather events ahead of time can be part of that, O’Hara said. “You’re interjecting the possibility of protecting resources that are economically important for a community,” he said. An advanced warning can give communities a chance to prevent flooding of fields or damage to a water supply. Examples include communication systems that alert communities to potential hazards and monitoring systems that analyze drought patterns or water supplies. The NGO ACTED is helping create an in-depth evaluation of the cyclical impact of droughts in Sri Lanka, with the goal of showing “how drought patterns have transformed over the last 10 years,” said Darragh Fingleton, Sri Lanka country representative for ACTED, in an email. “This data will enable actors across Sri Lanka to develop WASH projects that address the root causes of water and hygiene-related issues during the dry season,” he wrote. “If you don’t have a good monitoring system … the most vulnerable people in the world, who are made more vulnerable by climate change, are left undetected,” Gorder said. 4. Think holistically: Support agricultural workers Agriculture requires a lot of water, and if there are climate shocks, production can be impacted. To mitigate this, ACTED works with farmers to minimize water waste through workshops on demonstration plots. “Examples of innovative solutions include creating lifted plant beds so that water is contained in a concentrated area, using charred paddy husk to retain moisture for a longer period of time, and introducing drought-resistant seeds,” Fingleton said. In Nepal, where 66% of the population is involved in agriculture, iDE also works with local communities to think through their water needs and design multiple-use water systems. Within these, they have created a protected water tank that is dedicated to domestic use only. The overflow is then directed to farmers’ fields for irrigation. O’Hara said that safeguarding people’s agricultural income and ensuring they have water for irrigation can help improve a community’s resilience to climate change. “It means they’ve got a year-round, steady source of some kind of income. … They end up being able to respond more quickly whenever there’s a shock to their community,” he said. A protected water source can also preserve human health if water supplies become contaminated, O’Hara added.