“In a country where the reality is that parents will have to bury one of their children before the age of 5, members of a coalition provincial reconstruction team at Zabul, Afghanistan, are working to reverse this staggering trend.”
So begins an article from the official Web site of the United States Air Force, whose Zabul provincial reconstruction team (PRT) operates in the poorest region of Afghanistan. Most homes in the region are made of mud and are without electricity. The source of running water often comes from a polluted water well or from a river where people bathe.
After two U.S. Air Force medical professionals, Captain (Dr.) James Arnold and Captain Tim Harrelson, physician assistant, had spent some time in Afghanistan, they concluded that providing clinical medical care for Afghan villagers was just a band-aid solution for the health issues plaguing the country, including diarrhea and dysentery. So, the two began to look for a sustainable, cost-efficient way to provide clean drinking water to the population.
Investigating solutions on the internet, Arnold found information about on-site sodium hypochlorite disinfection. He discovered a sodium hypochlorite generating system that could create a chlorinated solution onsite to be bottled and taken home by families to mix into their drinking water to kill bacteria. The system would cost just $5.00 a month per 300 families, or about 5,000 people.
While Arnold had identified an appropriate solution, he still had a challenge ahead of him. “We realized that half of our job was going to be to sell the solution,” he said. “Even if you discover something that has already been done, you have to figure out how to get it accepted here. You have to be able to work with the people on a human level.”
When Arnold met with a group of village elders, he told them, “This process will destroy the germs in the water, making it safe to drink so your children won't get sick. I ask you, respectfully, to encourage your families and others to continue to use purified water. If you do this, you won't get sick from the water, you’ll combat diarrhea and your children will get the nutrition they need to grow strong and healthy."
According to Arnold, “Once we convinced them to taste it, they realized it was a good thing. They all stood up and agreed that their village and their families would use it.”
In July, the Zabul PRT provided the country’s Shajoy District with a SANILEC® 6 hypochlorite generation system donated by Severn Trent De Nora, a business unit of Severn Trent Services. Members of the PRT chose Shajoy, about a 45-minute drive from Zabul, as the test site for the equipment because of the quality of its hospital, which is responsible for managing the sanitation process. Shajoy thus became the first district in Zabul Province given the opportunity to make clean drinking water for families.
The SANILEC 6 system uses an electrolytic generation process in which electricity converts salt water into a chlorine equivalent solution (sodium hypochlorite) that is added to water drawn from village wells. About one tablespoon of the chlorine solution added to a four-gallon jug of well water is enough to kill all bacteria and parasites in the water. The hospital puts salt water in a 135-liter tub using well water and three kilograms of salt bought from the local market. The generator powers a probe, which is placed into the salt water. After about eight hours, the required chlorine equivalent solution is generated.
The PRT donated to each family one four-gallon jug for holding well water and a one-liter bottle to fill with the chlorine solution. One capful of chlorine solution from the bottle sanitizes the water in the jug, and families refill the bottle at the hospital each month.
If the project is successful, the PRT plans to procure additional generators to provide clean water for up to 750 more families in the province.
For more information, e-mail info@severntrentservices.com.
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