Performance assessment of community-based interventions for water and sanitation improvement in urban slums

Abstract

Urban slums are underprivileged heavily populated areas that endure improper access to safe water for drinking and domestic usage, which often entails health concerns, namely diarrhea. Water, sanitation and hygiene improvement interventions have been reported to contribute to averting around 94 percent of water-related diarrhea cases. Tebbaneh in North Lebanon is one of the poorest urban slums in the Middle East region. Its dwellers suffer from degraded water supply and sanitation services that contribute to a high incidence rate of diarrhea (33 percent in 2009). An IDRC funded project studied the situation in Tebbaneh and assessed the local environmental services, and consequently helped develop five alternatives for water improvement at the household-building level: (1) installing rooftop plastic tanks, (2) renewing the water piping system inside the building, (3) renewing the wastewater plumbing system, (4) alternatives 1 and 2, and (5) alternatives 1, 2, and 3. A Social Cost Benefit Analysis was conducted to assess the economic feasibility of the five alternatives. It revealed that installing rooftop tanks, or a new water piping system or both are the most beneficial interventions and can achieve a positive return on investment within a range of 2 to 25 years depending on the Costs and Benefits scenario Performance assessment of implemented interventions showed an improvement in water quality, whereby 53percent and 92percent of the sampling episodes showed lower Total and Fecal Coliform concentrations respectively. Also, the interventions achieved a statistically significant decrease in diarrhea episodes (p-value = 0.030) and the improvement it induced was positively perceived by 57percent of respondents. Finally, an attempt was made to manage the complexity of intertwined pollution sources through a comprehensive sustainable development framework that outlined actions at the national, slum, and household levels to improve water and sanitation services in the Tebbaneh slum. A matrix of responsibilities along with constraints and finan