Water and Health in Limpopo: Implementing a safe, sustainable water supply system

Water and Health in Limpopo (WHIL) is a collaborative project by University of Venda (Univen) in Limpopo Province, South Africa, and University of Virginia (UVa), in Charlottesville, Virginia. The villages of Tshibvumo and Tshapasha in Limpopo province, South Africa, are the beneficiaries of the project, which will serve as a model for other villages throughout the region. The two villages initially were drinking untreated water from the Pfaleni and Mutale rivers. Cattle herding and agricultural activities upstream contaminated the water, and the risk of waterborne diseases like cholera and diarrhea was high. WHIL initiated a community-based plan to construct slow sand filters to treat the drinking water from the rivers. This system could be built entirely from locally available resources and can achieve up to a 3-log reduction in pathogen levels. The goal of the WHIL project is to achieve sustained improvements in community health through access to safe water and sanitation, and improved health and hygiene practices in Tshapasha, Tshibvumo and surrounding villages. This paper describes the implementation of the community-based water supply system in Tshapasha. The system consists of a slow sand filter (SSF), jojo water storage tanks with chlorination, and water distribution to standpipes throughout the village. This system was vetted and designed in earlier stages of the WHIL project.