Improper Water Project: Madagascar
Working with Health in Harmony in the summer of 2023, we tested the drinking water sources in a series of rural, under-resourced villages in Southeastern Madagascar. Our results indicated alarmingly high levels of bacterial contamination.
We are working with Zarasoa, Tatirano, and Health in Harmony to develop rainwater catchment basins to provide clean, safe drinking water for the people in these villages.
How these basins work
Collection: Rainwater is collected from rooftops using gutters and drains.
Filtration: The collected water passes through a filtration system to remove debris and contaminants.
Storage: The filtered water is stored in large, covered tanks to prevent contamination and evaporation.
Access: The stored water is accessed via taps or pumps, providing clean and safe drinking water to the community.
Madagascar's lack of water and sanitation infrastructure contributes to a high disease burden, with diarrhea and malaria being particularly prevalent. Diarrhea, one of the most common enteric diseases, is responsible for over 1.5 million global deaths annually, surpassing the combined toll of AIDS, malaria, and measles, especially among children. Our work is concentrated in the Atsimo-Atsinanana district, which bears the highest malaria incidence in Madagascar.
This region encompasses more than 30 under-resourced, remote villages with a collective population of around 12,000. Here, both humans and animals rely on the same limited natural surface waters for drinking, bathing, and cooking. These unregulated water sources lack proper sanitation infrastructure and are contaminated by human and animal waste.
Rainwater catchment basins offer a solution by providing clean water, devoid of human and animal contamination, which reduces the prevalence of diarrheal diseases. Additionally, these basins can reduce malaria rates by diverting standing water, a breeding ground for malaria-carrying mosquitoes, into safe drinking water.
