Romania: Lessons from Water Safety Plans for small-scale water supply systems as developed by schools

A two years project entitled “Safe Sanitation, Health and Dignity” (SSHD) was initiated by WECF (international NGO) and its partners in villages in four counties (provinces) of Romania; Giurgiu, Ialomita, Mehedinti and Teleorman county. The project was financed with the support of foundation Essemble, France and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs aimed in raising awareness on water source protection, safe sanitation, organic waste management, hygiene and health.

To address this, WECF introduced an educational package (WSP toolkit) for schools as a means to promote community based Water Safe Plans (WSP) for local small scale water supply systems like dug wells, public taps etc. The project’s implementation embodied WSP activities for the small scale water supply system that included 8 schools. The WSP manual for teachers and other stakeholders were distributed in order to provide background information of WSP, the properties of drinking water, and sources of pollution and related health risks.

The toolkit included questionnaires, which were intended to obtain information from the population, local health authorities and authorities responsible for water sources. In addition to the questionnaires, WECF conducted water tests, and trained teachers. Pupils and staff of eight rural Romanian schools investigated the risks and the quality of their local drinking water, identified the sources of pollution and formulated plans of actions in order to improve the water quality and to minimize the health risks caused by contaminated drinking water.

Most schools identified together with the pupils the tasks and activities, which wells should be monitored on seasonal fluctuation of the nitrate concentrations and which wells should be tested only once. The children were asked to take the samples and the water tests were carried out in the classes. Often the teachers felt that it was more appropriate for them to interview the local health and other authorities, whilst pupils interviewed local people. In summary, all the involved schools and stakeholders appreciated the practical activities and the flexibility of the programme. Approximately 500 water samples were tested for nitrate. Results and experiences other simple tests like pH, observing the turbidity or colour of the samples, were also carried out.

The project found that there is low awareness existing amongst the rural population on the causes of water pollution. The pupils of participatory schools were very motivated and enthusiastic about the activities, because they experienced it practically, and also because it was relevant to their local environment. The result of WSP activities depended substantially on the background motivation and availability of teachers, and the local NGO. WSP approach with the involvement of schools contributed in raising awareness, capacity building and mobilizing of the community. The main findings of the WSPs developed in the target villages are that most water sources exceeded the EU nitrate limit of 50 mg/l (locally the nitrate concentration in water exceeded up to 9 times the EU limit). Even drinking waters in deeper aquifers are endangered by nitrate pollution at local level due to unsealed pit latrines, keeping livestock without a safe management of excreta, lack of safe waste disposals and uncovered wells. Finally, the communities do not have a budget for maintenance of public taps- the users of public taps pay approximately 0.40 Euro (2 RON) per cubic meter water, despite it being unsafe The approach to develop WSP involving schools promises to be a good tool for Mobilization of youth and community for taking action at local and regional level, capacity building of civil society, cooperation of civil society with local authorities and raising awareness.