Asian Development Bank - Fighting Poverty in Asia and the Pacific
What's New  |   e-Notification  |   Sitemap  |   Contact Us  |   Help

Water

Home : Topics : Water : Water Operations : Pilot and Demonstration Activities : Clean River Program for the Urban Poor in Nantai Island, Fuzhou

News and Events
ADB's Water Policy
Water Financing Program
Water Operations
Sanitation Agenda
Loans and Technical Assistance
Networks
Partnerships
Pilot and Demonstration Activities
Knowledge Base and Capacity Development
Promotion and Awareness
Funding Facilities
Water Champions
Country Water Actions
Knowledge Center
Contact Us

Pilot and Demonstration Activities
Clean River Program for the Urban Poor in Nantai Island, Fuzhou

Domestic and industrial wastewaters from PRC's Nantai Island were directly discharged into inland rivers, causing pollution and affecting the health of residents. This PDA helped improve the lives of the island's urban poor by setting up a model household-level hygiene education program.

  
PDA SNAPSHOT
Project Site Nantai Island, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China
Cost Estimate $50,000
Status Completed
Approval Date 2004/03/12
Completion Date September 2006
Category Basin Management
Type Public Awareness
Proponent Sri Wening Handayani, East Asia Department
Partners Fuzhou Municipal Government

BACKGROUND

Water supply has to go hand-in-hand with sanitation and hygiene education if real progress is to be made in improving the health and well being of the poor. Evidence shows that provision of adequate safe water supply, sanitation service, and hygiene education is an effective health intervention. It reduces the mortality caused by diarrhea by an average of 65% and the related morbidity by 26%. Lack of facilities and poor hygiene behaviors all contribute to the poor health and indignities that poor people mostly suffers. Notably, improved sanitation and knowledge on hygiene make a vital contribution to better livelihood, especially for the poor and vulnerable groups.

Despite these apparent benefits, hygiene promotion and education appears to be relatively low priority compared with other livelihood needs.

The Fuzhou Environmental Improvement Project aims to improve the living conditions and public health of about 1.4 million people in Fuzhou City. Around 7% of these are urban poor. One of the project components is rehabilitation of Nantai Island inland river system.

Nantai Island divides Min River into southern and northern branches in Fuzhou. It has more than 40 inland rivers and these inland rivers have played major roles as drainage systems for sewerage, rainstorms and all discharge to the Min River.

To maximize the project benefits, particularly to the urban poor, a hygiene educational program was needed. This pilot program covered 29 villages in Nantai Island inland river system.

Top

OBJECTIVES
  • Improve public awareness among the urban households, particularly the poor, on the benefits of improved household-level hygiene and sanitation practices
  • Facilitate the participation of all stakeholders, particularly urban poor and women, in managing and maintaining clean river programs

Top

EXPECTED RESULTS
  Outputs     Indicators  

  • Model hygiene awareness program and community-based household solid waste collection service that are self-sustaining and replicable in other developing member countries (DMCs)
  • Improved awareness of urban households on managing clean water sources, hygiene and sanitation
  • Partnerships between local government and community in maintaining the rivers' quality

Top

REPORT CARD

This PDA was completed in September 2006. Read the Final Report [PDF].

  Achievements     Recommendations  

This PDA

  • Trained community leaders to become hygiene promoters. About 75 community leaders that comprise the Village Committees of 29 villages participated in the trainings.
  • Increased public awareness through campaigns using various media, bazaars, household visitations, audio-visual materials, and surveys. The campaign covered 42 villages along the 13 selected inland rivers and included primary and middle schools.
  • Established and implemented a model for Community Driven Development (CDD) in Cangshan Town.
  • Changed communities' mindsets on randomly throwing garbage in rivers, and inculcated better hygiene practices.

Top

REPORTS AND RELATED DOCUMENTS