Drinking Water Supply, Eco-Sanitation, Organic Agriculture
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Co-operation for Sustainable Rural Development: Drinking Water Supply, Eco-sanitation, Organic Agriculture Funded by MATRA Program of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kyiv 2006 The report of MAMA-86 National Environmental NGO on implementation of project “Co-operation for Sustainable Rural Development: Drinking Water Supply, Eco-sanitation, Organic Agriculture” in 2003—2006 with finance support of MATRA Program of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The report was worked out by: Anna Tsvetkova, MAMA-86 National Environmental NGO, Kyiv Marta Korchemlyuk, “MAMA-86-Yaremche” Valentyna Shchokina, “MAMA-86-Nizhyn” Yulia Berezhna, “MAMA-86-Poltava” Technical support: Natalya Gudkova, “MAMA-86”, Kyiv Translation into English: Andriy Arhipets Computer layout: Yuri Onisimov Please, send your comments to: MAMA-86 National Environmental NGO, Water and Sanitation Program, 22 Mykhailivska St., Kyiv-1, 01001, Ukraine, fax: +380 (44) 279-55-14 e-mail: [email protected] web: www.mama-86.org.ua Content The authors’ note ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 5 Water supply and sanitation in rural areas of Ukraine .................................................................. 5 Project “Co-operation for Sustainable Rural Development: Drinking Water Supply, Eco-sanitation, Organic Agriculture” .................................................................................................... 8 Improvement of access to safe drinking water: results of MATRA project implementation .................................................................................... 11 Access to drinking water: Vorokhta township case study ..................................................................13 Results of the project implementation in Poltavska Oblast ..............................................................20 Improvement of well water quality in Bobryk and Vertijivka Villages of Nizhyn rayon ...........27 Addressing rural sanitation problems: results of the eco-sanitation implementation .............................................................................. 34 Eco-sanitation: implementation in Vorokhta township ......................................................................36 Eco-sanitation for Gozhuly village school ................................................................................................39 Eco-sanitation in Nizhyn rayon ....................................................................................................................44 Organic agriculture for healthier environment and improvement of drinking water quality in rural settlements .............................................................................. 48 Organic agriculture: awareness raising activities in Nizhyn rayon ..................................................49 Organic agriculture: co-operation with Gozhuly village farmers ....................................................56 Organic agriculture: OA development prospects in Vorokhta .........................................................61 Annex 1. The list of information and awareness raising materials, published in the framework of MATRA project in 2003—2006 ..................................................... 63 Annex 2. Tools and materials for construction of an eco-toilet (based on experience of “MAMA-86-Yaremche”) .............................................................................. 65 Annex 3. Photos and Figures ................................................................................................................. 69 The authors‘ note The authors’ note The report is a compilation of information materials on experience of information dissemination and awareness raising activities, as well as on implementation of demonstration projects (technical solu- tions) to improve access of rural residents of Ukraine to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, that were completed in three years of the project implementation. The project was implemented by MAMA-86 National Environmental NGO (referred hereinafter as MAMA-86) in 2003—2006, with finance support of MATRA Program of the Dutch Foreign Ministry. We express our sincere gratitude to MATRA Program for the support provided to improve access of Ukrainian citizens to safe drinking water and to facilitate development of citizens’ initiatives and democracy in our country. MAMA-86 would also like to express its sincere gratitude to our long-term partner — Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF) international network for their co-operations in develop- ment of the project proposals and implementation of project “Co-operation for Sustainable Rural Development: Drinking Water Supply, Eco-sanitation, Organic Agriculture”. Regional organisations of MAMA-86 developed pilot projects at the base of research and broad lo- cal intersectoral discussions, experience of campaign “Drinking Water in Ukraine” of MAMA-86 and consultations with Ukrainian specialists and international experts who co-operate with WECF. Kyiv office of MAMA-86 ensured general coordination of the project implementation in Ukraine. This publication primarily seeks to represent experience of co-operation between NGOs, local com- munities and all stakeholders in addressing local socio-environmental problems (including inter alia water supply and sanitation problems) by active information dissemination and awareness raising and by implementation of demonstration projects. The project implementation activities focused on three inter-related spheres: • drinking water supply; • eco-sanitation; • organic agriculture. The report contains designs and charts of technical solutions, information on associated costs and results of implementation of pilot projects. The eco-toilet design, shown in the report, was developed by Stefan Deegener — a WECF expert, from the Institute of Wastewater management of Hamburg Technology University (TUHH), Germany. We hope that experience and information of the report will become a valuable resource for all interest- ed parties dealing with rural development problems. The publication will be of interest for a broad au- dience, particularly representatives of NGOs, local authorities and industries/businesses, interested in or responsible for improvement of citizens’ access to safe water and adequate sanitation in Ukraine. Water supply and sanitation in rural areas of Ukraine Introduction Water supply and sanitation in rural areas of Ukraine Numerous governmental programs for reforms in the housing and utilities sector of Ukraine suggest that “in many regions, drinking water supply is a priority problem that must be addressed to protect health and improve living conditions and living standards of residents”1. Reforms in the sector were initiated more than 10 years ago. In the course of reforms, substantial changes were achieved, including decentralisation of management functions in the sector, delega- tion of infrastructure management functions and responsibilities to local authorities, development of underlying laws and regulations in the sphere of drinking water supply, organisational and structural reforms in the sphere, improvement of economic mechanisms and introduction of tariff reforms for full cost recovery of utilities and implementation of activities for improvement of water supply and sanitation infrastructures and facilities. However, all these reforms and actions are predominantly focused on centralised water supply and sanitation and users of these centralised systems. At the same time, problems of decentralised systems of water supply and sanitation that are mainly used by residents of small towns and rural settlements do not attract adequate attention of governmental authorities and reforms in the sector. Official statistics suggests that quality of rural water supply in Ukraine still remains rather low in com- parison with European and CIS countries. Notwithstanding that more than 55 thousand km of water mains and more than 70 thousand artesian wells were constructed in rural areas (mainly for water supply of large agricultural facilities, that met 98% of their water demand in mid-1990s), the overall rate of provision of centralised water supply services in rural areas was almost twice lower compara- tively to average figures of the former USSR. Now, the number of rural buildings in Ukraine equipped by internal water supply and sanitation networks is 3 times lower than in Russia and 4 times lower than in Belarus. According to official reports2, in 2004, only 4.1 million rural residents in Ukraine, from the overall figure of 15.7 million (or 26%) used centralised water supply services. Buildings of only 7.4% of rural residents are equipped by internal water supply networks. A similar situation is observed in connec- tion with other amenities as well: sanitation (4.4%), water heating (8.4%), hot water supply (0.3%), street standpipes (18.6%). In 2003, the water consumption norm reached only 60 litres capita in rural areas, while in urban areas the relevant figure was as high as 320 litres. 5.7 million urban residents and 11.7 million rural residents use drinking water from local sources, including shallow wells, captages, springs etc. (it is worth to note that in the majority of cases these sources are of inadequate technical conditions).