Existing Solutions

technical

Legal

Policy

The project is based on intensive interaction with the target group (village population) and the Community Development Association (CDA) as their representative, which involves them at all stages of the project (from planning and design through construction to the management and operation of the system). CDA manages the complete wastewater system (including management of wastewater charges), but contracts for operation and maintenance to a private entrepreneur. The goal of this approach is to establish simple and community-based sewage disposal systems in rural communities in order to improve hygienic conditions related to domestic sewage disposal in rural areas and reduce water pollution caused by untreated wastewater.

The success of this approach is secured by intensive awareness raising and community mobilisation as well as adopting comprehensive village selection criteria and simple technology and management procedures that the CDAs can cope with. To foster sustainability, the partner organization, Kafr El Sheikh Water and Sewerage Company (KWSC), is involved and trained in the approach in order to be able to replicate project activities on their own in additional villages.

The system is designed (Fig. 1) for a period of 20 years, taking into consideration population growth (from its current size of 2,750 to a maximum of 4,500). A simple and cost-effective wastewater treatment system allows for the self-management of the village community. A Small Bore Sewer (SBS) system and a treatment plant have been installed. In contrast to the conventional sewer system, here an inceptor tank was installed between the connected houses and the sewerage line, which leads to the treatment and disposal network.

Figure 1: Design of the SBS system

Several households are connected to one inceptor tank. For this system no changes were necessary in the squatting toilets and pipe network of houses. The inceptor tanks have to be cleaned out every six month. The liquids are transported through sewers to a collective pumping station that is connected to the treatment plant. The pumping station consists of two alternatively operating submersible three high pressure pumps with a standby generator. The treated wastewater is discharged into a nearby drainage canal from which it is partly reused for irrigation purposes. The low quantities of sludge do not allow large scale use, but the O&M contractor uses it on his private land for agricultural purposes.

Village of El-Moufty El-Kobra, Sidi Salem District, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate (Northern Nile Delta), Egypt

Village of El-Moufty El-Kobra is located in the northern part of the Nile Delta, close to the Mediterranean Sea. The village of El-Moufty El-Kobra in the Kafr El-Sheikh governorate has around 2570 inhabitants, of which approxi-mately 90% are farmers with a relatively low income.

• BMZ (German Federal Ministry of Economic Collaboration and Development) via GIZ
• German International Cooperation (GIZ),
• Kafr El-Sheikh Water and Sewerage Company (KWSC)
• A Community Development Association (CDA)
• Maintenance and Operation (M&O) contractor

The responsibilities are clearly defined:

BMZ is a donor and GIZ its executing agency in this project.

The KWSC is responsible for water and wastewater service provision in the governorate, and is the executing institution of the project. Its role in El-Moufty El-Kobra is monitoring and provision of advice for the wastewater system, and they are responsible for regular inspections, as well as for the tendering procedure.

CDA was established in 2003. It represents the community and assures a legal framework for the collection of fees for the wastewater services. CDA board meets weekly or at least monthly to discuss project affairs. The operation management is in the hand of the CDA, which is responsible for the selection and employment of an O&M contractor (its on-the-job training and an O&M manual) and can purchase necessary material.

The management system is shown in Fig. 2.

Figure 2: Management system

The solution is already being implemented and has demonstrated long-term sustainability and added-value

In the rural areas of Nile Delta, the sewerage coverage is very low (34%) and the hygienic conditions are of a very low standard. Wastewater often runs on the streets and open trenches, sometimes starting within the houses, are used for drainage which leads to groundwater contamination and pollution of drainage canals with waste. This also results in increased health problems in the area.

For the around 200 villages with up to 5000 citizen in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, a connection to a central sanitation network system is not foreseeable in the next coming years due the lack of funds.

The investment costs (Table 1) are around 300 000 EUR. 10% of the capital costs were financed by the community, the remaining investment costs for planning, design and construction were supplied by the GIZ.

Due to the low number of households connected, costs were around 110 EUR/cap for construction of sewer system as well as the stabilisation ponds. In addition, each household had to pay around 100 EURs (700 LE) for the provision of land, for the pumping station and the treatment plant, as well as the connection to the inceptor tank or sewer network. How much each household really paid in total is not known anymore.

The running costs are 100% covered by the CDA, which also collects O&M and revenues monthly fees from each household. The O&M costs include staff, transport, maintenance, repairs and solid waste collection, and are around 0.6EUR/month (4.5LE). Households have to pay a flat rate of around 1 EUR/month (7 LE), which includes costs for upcoming expenditures in the future. For people with little or no financial means the tariff differs and is defined by the CDA in a case by case approach (no information is available on details). It is estimated that for full cost recovery of the system households would have to pay around 3 EUR/month (20 LE).

The fee is collected every six month. The person in charge of money collection receives 7% of the sum as salary. Fig. 3 shows the collected, disbursed and surplus money from 2006 to 2009. The Ministry of Social Insurance and Social Affairs supervises the financial flows of the CDA and supports with advice. The KWSC is paying the electricity bill.

Table 1: Investment and operational costs

Before the implementation of the project, the trenches had to be emptied twice a month, for a cost of around 5.30 EUR/month/household. Since nowadays each household pays 1EUR for system maintenance, the operation of the new system is therefore cheaper for HH.

Figure 3: Money collection, expenses and surplus (in Egyptian Pound) of the (7 LE ~ 1 EUR)

On the national level the Holding Company for Water and Wastewater (HCWW) coordinates and supervises water and wastewater companies at governmental level, like the KWSC. It has to monitor and supervise the O&M, as well as give technical support if requested.

At the beginning of the project the quality of the final effluent from the treatment plant met the Egyptian Standards. However, nowadays some households load animal faeces into the system. As a result of this misuse, the effluent quality does not comply with the Egyptian Standards anymore (no measured values available).

The main long-term impact of the project is improved community hygiene through a decentralized (community based) approach system. No wastewater management was applied in the village before the project. In comparison to the traditionally used wastewater trenches, the new system reduces health risks and it is cheaper. No wastewater is found in the streets of the village anymore.

Households now can have washing machines at home be-cause of the connection to a sewerage system. Thus, women have more time as they do not have to go anymore to the canals for washing. However, the water consumption has increased from around 35l/c/d to 68l/c/d. On the other hand, the social interaction has been reduced, as no meeting and exchange take place at the canal anymore.

Awareness about health and environmental issues was lacking before the start of the project. Through the awareness campaigns, knowledge about water related diseases, hygienic and environmental aspects has been improved. In general, with the CDA the people now have an institution where they can communicate their demands.

The village serves as a model in the governorate for up-scaling of this concept of simple decentralized wastewater treatment plants. Since the start of the operation in 2005 it provided around-the-clock service. In two other villages (Om Sen and Koleaa) decentralized wastewater systems have been completed, and four villages are currently under construction (Table 2). For another five villages designs have been completed. Funds will be provided by the World Bank IISIP programme and the Egyptian government

Recently, the costs for similar sewer systems in the governorate have increased enormously. The reasons are unknown, but the fact that the World Bank is interested in financing is assumed to influence the prices.

• The awareness campaigns are essential and have shown promising results with greater understanding and capacity building in the village with regard to sanitation and environmental issues.
• Due to the simple O&M of the system, the CDA was able to easily contract a private service provider for this task.
• Monthly payment by the community is crucial to gain ownership and to sustain the system in the future. Through the supervision of the financial transactions of the CDA by the Ministry of Social Insurance and Social Affairs, transparency and accountability should be assured.

• The monthly fee for the services is within the willingness to pay. Some farmers stated that they even would pay a higher price, if a good and trouble free sewerage system is provided. For future project planning higher fees are to be considered in order to gain a cost recovery of the construction investment costs what is not the case here.
• The responsibility and willingness of the CDA to use the revenues of the collected fees effectively has to be improved. The revenues should be invested by the CDA effectively for further improvements in the village or e.g. for carrying out analysis testing effluent quality. This responsibility is not fully developed yet.
• The misuse of the system is a challenge. By loading animal faeces in the system, several social and legal problems arise:
  • the water quality of the effluent decreased-it is not anymore in accordance with the Egyptian Standards, and the Ministry of Health seeks to punish the polluters
  • the head of the CDA, as the representative of the community for this project, should be made responsible
  • the former head of CDA resigned from his position due to his disagreement with proposed punishment
  • no clear legislation on how to take legal actions against misusers of the system
  • demand for technical solution for the decreased water quality arose in the village.
• KWSC interest and commitment to the project is a challenge as the ownership is missing because KWSC does not receive any financial benefits. Experience and (management) capacities are lacking for a responsible and sustainable infrastructure management. Trust is also lacking between the CDA and the KWSC.

• A disadvantage of the simple chosen system in arid areas is the requirement of relatively large land for construction, which means arable land. As more and more agricultural land is lost due to urbanisation, this fact should not be neglected.

In summary, the main lessons learnt and conditions for similar projects are the

• Importance of demand driven approach and agreement on terms of cooperation,
• Creation of ownership, responsibility and accountability,
• Involvement of all relevant stakeholders,
• Sharing of financial responsibility from the beginning of the project.

The successful management and operation of the pilot systems has attracted much interest by the Egyptian government as well as national and international funding agencies. Lessons learnt are being considered in the ongoing implementation in other villages, with funds for construction provided by the Egyptian government and the World Bank ISSIP programme.

The management of the wastewater systems is the responsibility of the CDAs, which have ensured proper operation and maintenance. The CDA collection of monthly fees against official stamped receipts ensures recovery of funds for all running operational expenses and allows savings for future repairs and replacements. The technical aspects of the system are under the supervision of KWSC, whereas the financial aspects are audited and supervised by the Ministry of Social Solidarity.

Kafr El-Sheikh Water and Sewerage Company (KWSC) (Executing Authority),

Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt

E: info@kwsc.com.eg

Dr. Hans Werner Theisen (Programme Manager), German Development Cooperation (former GIZ)

T: +20 22459 840518.108266

F: +20 22459 8411

E: hans-werner.theisen@giz.de

I: www.GIZ.de

Rodeco Consulting GmbH (Planning institution)

T: +49 (61 72) 68 17 – 0

F: +49 (61 72) 2 57 48

E: info@rodeco.de

I: www.rodeco.de

N. Stuber, M. Riad, H. Husselmann, F. Fahrlaender (2011). Decentralised Wastewater Management in El-Moufty El-Kobra. Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA 2011): www.susana.org

Water Supply and Wastewater Management Program (WWMP): Decentralized Wastewater Management Project in Kafr El Sheikh Governorate – A Community Based Approach. http://wwmpegypt.com/43.html