AguaClara Drinking Water Treatment Plant

Location: Agalteca is located in the municipality of Cedros, Francisco Morazán, Honduras. It is approximately 1.5 hours outside of Tegucigalpa.

Beneficiaries: Agalteca The community has a population of 2,160. Community members currently obtain their water from a nearby river. However, the water quality is unsuitable for drinking and does not meet Honduran standards for human consumption because erosion and runoff have contaminated the water supply. Disinfection with chlorine is the only available method to treat water for human consumption, but it is not effective at killing all the micro-organisms encountered.

Current status

APP selected the targeted community of Agalteca because it did not have access to safe drinking water. Currently, water quality does not meet Honduran standards for human consumption. After verifying the need, Agua para el Pueblo (APP) engaged in discussions with the community water board and other local authorities. Presentations were given to explain the AguaClara water treatment technology and an agreement was signed with key stakeholders.

On September 30, 2009, APP held a ground breaking ceremony to mark the start of the plant's construction. Currently, APP’s staff and community members are building the walls of the sedimentation and flocculation tanks as well as the distribution channels.

APP has already held the first training session for plant operators and the community water board. This session is the first in a series of 10 sessions. APP is also meeting with the community water board and helping to organize a town meeting about the water treatment plant.

Agua Para el Pueblo (APP), one of The Resource Foundation’s affiliates in Honduras, is a nonprofit organization that works to improve potable water and basic treatment systems in poor, rural communities. APP’s methodology is highly participatory in both the planning and implementation phases. It includes considerable dialogue, investigation, feasibility studies, work plans and written commitments by all parties. Community members actively participate in the construction of aqueducts, wells, water and sewage systems, and in reforestation projects. APP’s approach promotes long-term development and self-reliance through leadership training that encourages people to take charge of their own destinies. APP has recently partnered with AguaClara to build water treatment plants in rural communities.

AguaClara’s technology uses flocculation and sedimentation technology to treat surface water in a simple, affordable way. Water treatments plants are entirely gravity powered and are built on site using local labor and materials. To date, there are five AguaClara water treatment plants in Honduras which provide safe drinking water to over 15,000 people. AguaClara is a project of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University that is improving drinking water quality through innovative research, knowledge transfer, open source engineering and the design of sustainable water treatment systems.

The project is implemented as follows:
1. Signed Agreement: An agreement between APP, local authorities (municipal government/ water board) and community members was signed to outline roles and responsibilities. The agreement requires that local authorities and the community raise the monthly water tariff to $3.00 per month to ensure that the water systems are sustainable.

2. Sharing of Costs and Responsibilities: APP and AguaClara completed a feasibility study and developed the hydraulic and structural designs. AguaClara also supervises two environmental engineers from Cornell University who provide technical support. The community of Agualteca is contributing unskilled labor and local materials such as sand, gravel, stone, wood, and brick.

3. Pre-construction phase. During this phase, the project emphasizes community participation, with the purpose of assuring: a) The socialization and understanding of the goals, b) Negotiation for the approval of increasing the water tariff to cover operational and maintenance costs, c) Establish commitments of support, d) Determine the current state of the water system, and e) Finalize the design of the treatment plant.

4. Construction: Key activities include: a) Organizing work teams and distributing responsibilities among the users, b) Constructing the treatment plant, c) Training plant operators, and d) Training users with regards to water quality and water borne illness. An APP engineer is supervising the entire construction process. In addition, two engineers from the Cornell University are providing technical support and ensuring that the plant is built according to the AguaClara hydraulic design. During the first month that the plant is operational, APP covers the expenses for the aluminum sulfate, which is necessary for the plant to function. This allows transition time for the water board to promote the raise in the water tariff and for community members to see improvements themselves.

5. Capacity Building: Due to the complexity of the management of a water treatment plant, training is critical. To this end, an APP technician provides six months training to the following groups: 1) Members of the water board and other community leaders, 2) Three plant operators attend formal classes as well as one-site training. Operators learn how to keep records about plant operations and the water quality. A member of the water board is responsible for recording this information in a spreadsheet and for comparing water quality records with reports from the health ministry on water-borne illnesses, specifically diarrhea. In addition, these records serve to assure the community that the water they are drinking is safe. and 3) Community members and users of the water systems learn about water conservation and about the rationale for the increased water tariff.

6. Post-construction phase. During this phase, monitoring is essential. Key activities include: a) Ensure that the plant functions adequately, b) Promote the operation and maintenance of the plant through the trained operators employed by the water authority and under applicable norms and regulations, c) Determining the level of satisfaction of the users, d) Planning for the operational sustainability of the plant, e) Continuing environmental education of the community to further ensure community ownership and sustainability of the system During this process, is necessary to audit and evaluate the water board in the aspects of administration, operation, maintenance as well as to evaluate whether the operators are complying with their responsibilities. It is also critical to assess the educational and health impacts on the community.

1) Construct a water treatment plant in Agualteca.
2) Enable 2,160 people to have access to safe drinking water.
3) Provide technical training to treatment plant operators as well as the community water board.
4) Train community members about the advantages of safe drinking water and how the technology works.
5) Promote community ownership of the plant.
6) Ensure that the plant is well maintained and that the project is sustainable.

Goals

• Water treatment plant constructed; 360 homes connected.
• Trained water treatment plant operators and personnel.
• Educated the community about the importance of the project.
• Enabled 2,160 people to have access to safe drinking water.
• Allow open access to project research, design, and results.

APP is committed to ensuring economic and institutional sustainability. Technical training, capacity building, and community participation are essential to its model. To this end, APP provides comprehensive training to community water boards and plant operators to ensure that they can operate the water treatment plant efficiently, monitor and document performance of the system and the water quality, and provide maintenance as necessary.

Institutional Sustainability: The planning and preparation for the construction phase of the project involved a number of parties including the municipal government, the health center, the educational system, the community council and other for community development organizations. APP provides training for these stakeholders on the following topics: 1) water and local development, 2) Water contamination and its effects on health, 3) The water supply system, 4) AguaClara technology, 4) Management and operation of the treatment plant, 5) Rise in the tariff, 6) Accounting records of the water board, 7) The law regarding water and sanitation and the rules governing the water board and 8) Appropriate use of water-quality monitoring.

Economic Sustainability: The operation of a treatment plant incurs additional expenses that must be paid by the users. The most significant expenses are the salaries of a day operator and a night operator, the purchase of aluminum sulfate and chlorine (chemicals that the plant requires to function). To cover these costs, the water board must raise the water tariff that the users are currently paying to $3.00 per month. In addition to aluminum sulfate and the operator, savings for repair and maintenance costs and money to pay for technical support are included. In the future, AguaClara hopes to form an association of communities with treatment plants that will employ a technician to provide tong-term technical support to each community.

To ensure economic sustainability, the community must commit to raising the tariff once construction is finished. The commitment is made through an agreement between APP, the water board and all of the users at a general community assembly. The written agreement includes a monthly operating budget that the water board uses to operate and maintain the entire water system.