Installation of Simple Water Treatment Unit at Cyclone-Aila Affected Koyra Region and Assessment of DALYs Lost due to Diarrhoea

Abstract

The South-western coastal region of Bangladesh is composed of Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat and parts of Jessore districts. On 25 May 2009, the „Cyclone Aila‟ occured into the south-western coastal region where Khulna and Satkhira districts were severely affected. Aila devastated all the drinking water sources and caused destruction of sanitation facilities. In this context, till recent time, many people are compelled to drink such polluted water without any sort of purification and consequently suffer from water borne diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, allergy, and skin disease. Diarrhoeal disease is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries, especially among children under the age of five. However, water borne diseases can be reduced by improving water quality and preventing casual use of other unimproved sources of water. For instance, simple filtration and disinfection of water at the household level dramatically improves the microbial quality of water, and reduces the risk of diarrheal disease at low cost. Scarcity of safe drinking water is a great phenomenon in Koyra and Kaligonj coastal region. The Disable Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) is a time-based measure that combines years of life lost due to premature mortality and years of life lost due to time lived in health states less than ideal health. DALY is an indicator of Burden of Disease (BoD) in a population. This study aims at investigating the existing drinking water quality, sanitation and hygiene practices in “Cyclone Aila” affected areas and installation of simple household water treatment unit and awareness development for improved sanitation and hygiene practices and finally assessment of improvement in DALYs lost with the adopted intervention. In the study areas, microbiological water qualities in various sources were found to be varied in the range of 8-360 N/100mL as Faecal Coliform. Field survey on toilet facilities in the study area identified that there were 61.64% simple pit latrines, 29.06% pour flush latrines and remaining 9.31% inhabitants had no toilet facilities in Koyra and Kaligonj coastal region. At the commencement of this study, it was found that 8.26% population had been using soap, 13.74% using ash and remains percent using others materials such as soil and only water for hand washing after defecation. However, an awareness development campaign on hygiene practice was undertaken in this research work and with this initiative the use of soap and ash for hand washing after defecation was found to be increased slightly to 12.26% and 16.84%, respectively and about 44% use of soil as hand washing after defecation. In the study area, total disable adjusted life years (DALY) was found to be 0.042 for three months before the installation of water treatment unit. A simple water treatment unit or household filter was developed and installed at five locations of the study area. The efficiency of bacteria removal through these filter units were found to be around 98%. In this case, total disable adjusted life years (DALY) was found to be decreased significantly to 0.01 for three months‟ time period after the satisfactory efficiency of water treatment units as well as consciousness development about improved sanitation and hygiene practices. Overall, improvement in DALYs lost was found to be 74.1% with facilitating safe drinking water, improved sanitation and hygiene practices.