RWSN Secretariat

My experience with the RWSN Mentoring Programme

This is a guest blog by RWSN mentee Beatrice Kyomuhendo (Uganda) and RWSN mentor Eng. Cornelius Mpesi (Malawi) who took part in the 2023 RWSN Mentoring Programme.

Mentee’s Thoughts

My name is Beatrice Kyomuhendo, I am a WASH Technical Assistant at The Water Trust in Uganda. The Water Trust is an organization that aims at empowering the poorest rural communities in Uganda by providing clean water and healthy homes for children and their families to thrive.

I found out about RWSN through my supervisor Mr. Enock Obwon Gmuipe who shared information about the RWSN Mentoring Programme. After filling out the application, not knowing what exactly the outcome was going to be, I received an email from Eng. Cornelius Mpesi requesting to be my mentor.

Eng. Cornelius Mpesi is a mechanical and water engineer registered with the Malawi Engineering Institution (MEI) and working with Water Mission. I went through his profile, and I was very surprised at how someone willingly offers to share their knowledge at zero cost. I accepted the request, and we scheduled our first meeting. During the first meeting, we set our targets, objectives, expectations, mode of communication, convenient time for meetings and also signed the mentoring agreement. We were the first mentor and mentee to sign the mentoring agreement.

The most interesting bit of this mentoring programme is that, at the time, we were starting on our first piped water project as an organization and Eng. Cornelius was of great help to me throughout the whole project. The first assignment he gave me was to pick coordinates from our proposed source and where we planned to construct the public stand posts. This is what we used during our classes on Google Earth and EPANET. He took me through pump sizing and solar sizing basing on our project. This made work so interesting as I was always eager to go to the field and practice what we discussed in our previous classes and would also be eager to get back to my mentor with feedback on what transpired in the field.

Eng. Cornelius has encouraged me to register with the Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers (UIPE) and helped me appreciate and utilize LinkedIn to its full capacity.

I see many benefits in my experience with the RWSN Mentoring Programme:

Gained skills in solar sizing, pump sizing
Learned to use Google Earth and EPANET
Appreciated the use of LinkedIn
Was encouraged join the UIPE.

Mentor’s Thoughts

I saw the call for mentors and mentees on RWSN LindedIn page since I am a frequent user. I quickly signed up, and as I was searching for profiles of people with similar interests in my field, Beatrice’s profile sparked my interest. I looked through it and thought to myself that there is an opportunity for me to share the little I know with someone who is eager to learn. We linked up and had our first meeting to discuss the areas in which I could help. We communicated frequently through various platforms like WhatsApp, Google Meet and Emails. From the interactions we had, I saw someone who is willing to learn and is very inquisitive. Sometimes she would nudge me with a bunch of questions which I am glad I was able to answer and assist with. This experience helped me to be a better tutor. Knowing something is one thing, but knowing how to explain it to someone so they understand it, is a totally different thing altogether. I am glad I was able to help Beatrice shape her career, and I have no doubt she will take off and keep soaring higher.

To join RWSN and be informed about the next round of the mentoring programme, please sign up here.

Pouring hope or pouring doubt – Navigating the aftermath of disasters in coastal Bangladesh

by Afsana Afrin Esha, REACH Research Associate and PhD student at Durham University, re-blogged from REACH

Every year, the southwestern coastal zone of Bangladesh faces weather-related disasters, worsening a perpetual drinking water crisis. Cyclone Sidr in 2007 and Cyclone Aila in 2009 caused widespread destruction. While people were still recovering, Cyclone Amphan caused heavy damage to infrastructure and contamination. Saltwater intrusion due to cyclones and storm surges is having devastating consequences on groundwater and freshwater resources. Different water treatment options and alternative strategies are being applied by the local government institutions, NGOs and aid agencies, whilst informal or small water service providers too, are on the rise, addressing critical gaps in public investments in the rural water sector. However, in the face of rising climatic changes along with other socio-political factors, water shortages persist. In this short piece, I portray the effects of disaster on drinking water sources to understand the nuances of climate resilience.

Making the Sum of All (WASH) Knowledge Freely Accessible: An interview with Elisabeth Von Muench

Paresh Chhajed-Picha interviews Elisabeth von Muench, former moderator of the SuSanA discussion forum and a dedicated Wikipedia editor. With over nine years of editing experience and nearly 50,000 edits to her name, she ranks among the top 2,000 editors globally for the English Wikipedia. Through volunteer work and paid assignments, she has improved and written numerous Wikipedia articles on WASH, climate change, and SDGs. In this interview, Elisabeth explains her motivation, the need for wider participation in editing Wikipedia articles, and the challenges in doing so.

Re-blogged from SuSanA

My Mentee Journey in the RWSN Mentoring Programme

This is a guest blog by RWSN mentee RAKOTOARIMANANA ZY Harifidy and RWSN mentor Sean Furey who took part in the 2023 RWSN Mentoring Programme.

Who am I?

My name is RAKOTOARIMANANA ZY Harifidy, from Madagascar. Currently, I am a Ph.D. candidate at the Interdisciplinary Center for River Basin Environment (ICRE), University of Yamanashi in Japan. My research focuses on water resources assessment of the Major River Basins in Madagascar (MRBM) in the context of global change. Before coming to Japan, I worked for an NGO involved in the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector in Madagascar.

What is the Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN) Mentoring Programme?

I first learned about this program on my LinkedIn while I was searching for a mentorship or fellowship opportunity in the WASH sector. It turned out to be the RWSN Mentoring Programme, which enables professionals in the WASH sector to collaborate, advance their careers, and learn from one another. This program specifically supports mentees who are starting their careers or going through career transitions. It is important to note that this program is free and open to the public for a duration of 6 months. Thanks to the Pushfar platform, I could easily schedule appointment slots, monitor the progress of my mentoring relationship, and engage in online conversations with my mentor. For more information, please visit this website.

How was my experience as a mentee?

My journey as a mentee began when I found Sean Furey, the Director of RWSN Secretariat through the PushFar platform and he accepted my request on 15 May 2023. I am grateful and honored to have him as my mentor. I was in my second year of my doctoral program, uncertain about my next steps, and in need of direction. Therefore, Sean became the guiding hand I was looking for.

My objectives for joining this program were to receive feedback about my research project and to learn from my mentor’s experience and expertise in the WASH sector. I also want to improve my communication skills, particularly in presenting research findings and networking. I would like to get some advice on my future career development. These are my goals from this mentoring process.

During my mentorship, we had five one-on-one meetings scheduled once a month for 1 hour. Sean shared his experience and knowledge about the WASH sector with me. I have learned from his insights and perspectives.

9 June 2023: During our first conversation, I talked about my goals and my expectations for the mentorship program. Upon Sean’s introduction, I was greatly inspired by his professional journey in the WASH sector, which I found to be particularly motivating for young people like me. Since I was uncertain about my post-graduation plans, Sean elucidated various career options for Ph.D. students. He asked about my dream job, which I regarded as a pivotal factor in selecting my career path. He also provided insights and comments related to my research.
23 June 2023: I rehearsed my presentation for the SWAT conference in Denmark alongside Sean. As this marked my first experience at an international conference, I felt somewhat anxious and had concerns about my proficiency in English. Sean provided constructive feedback on how to effectively communicate my research findings to a non-academic audience, offering valuable tips and guidance to enhance my presentation slides for better audience comprehension. Thanks to his advice, my conference presentation was successful. Importantly, I honed both my presentation and networking abilities in the process.
11 August 2023: Sean reviewed my CV and provided valuable guidance for proactive job hunting. He recommended that I prepare two distinct versions of my CV. One focused on my academic achievements, including qualifications, grants, fellowships, awards, research experience, and publications; and the other was tailored for a professional context, emphasizing work experience, responsibilities, deliverables, evidence of teamwork, and engagement within and outside the organization. Sean also emphasized the importance of including a brief motivational paragraph in my CV. Furthermore, he connected me with some amazing African women in the WASH sector so I could look at their career paths.
15 September 2023: We focused on the review and completion of my CV. Sean provided guidance on writing a cover letter and preparing for job interviews. Moreover, he shared his own experiences, including insights from his initial interview and how he secured the job. He recommended that I practice with my friends and lab mates. An additional advantage of having Sean as my mentor is the opportunity to improve my English language skills by conversing with a native speaker.
14 November 2023: In our last meeting, we talked about the results of the mentorship program and exchanged feedback. During this mentorship, I joined the RWSN Young Professionals which is an interesting platform for networking and receiving information about events, seminars, and job opportunities in the WASH sector. I was happy that I joined this program and I decided to keep in contact with my mentor through LinkedIn.

Overall, this mentorship program is a valuable journey for me. I strongly recommend this program to every Ph.D. student and young professional in the WASH sector, who wants to shape their career and personal development. I believe that my participation in this program would have a positive impact on my future career. I forged a strong international contact network. I sincerely thank my mentor, Sean Furey, for his advice, tutelage, and precious time during the program. I am also grateful to the RWSN Secretariat for their support since the beginning of the mentoring program.

My Mentor`s comment

Zy Harifidy Rakotoarimanana is a promising Ph.D. student who is quietly confident and determined to achieve her goals of working for an international organization in a water resource role. Our mentoring calls helpfully focused on specific topics that she chose. Over the course of the mentoring meetings, we explored her career ideas, aspirations, and some possible pathways. Working together on her presentation and CV helped her think about how to communicate clearly to different audiences about herself and her expertise and work. Being in her second year of Ph.D. she still has time to explore and reflect on what she wants from a career, and I encourage her to be brave and persistent! I will be following her career with interest.

To join RWSN and be informed about the next round of the mentoring programme, please sign up here.

RWSN at the REACH Conference – Within reach: a water secure world

The RWSN secretariat team (Sean, Meleesa and Aline) participated in the REACH conference (20 to 22 September), and the REACH internal meetings that preceded.

RWSN has been a knowledge broker for the REACH programme since its inception. This has included support to translate research into practice, including the delivery of several publications, such as a global diagnostic survey to evaluate the status and prospects of rural water service providers for results-based funding and a study on the evolution of rural water policy in francophone West Africa.

At the conference and internal meeting, RWSN was involved in:

a session of the internal meetings on “REACH Exit Strategy: Planning activities and delivering impact”; in the session, participants took stock of the impact pathways and engagement activities of the Programme. Challenges and best practices were discussed, as well as the implementation of REACH’s Exit strategy.
We co-led the the organisation of a session on innovative service delivery models to address rural water service delivery models to address rural water risks along with Dr Johanna Koehler, with case studies from Kenya, Bangladesh and West Africa.

Hydrogéologie du Sud de Madagascar: nouvel outil cartographique

BushProof Sàrl, mettant à profit une expérience de travail de plus de 15 ans dans le Sud de Madagascar, appuyé par deux hydrogéologues de la Direction du Développement et de la Coopération (DDC), s’est proposé de travailler de manière appropriée sur la connaissance des aquifères des régions du Sud de Madagascar. Ensembles, ils ont financé et créer un outil cartographique afin d’améliorer la connaissance du fonctionnement des eaux souterraines dans le Sud de Madagascar. Cet outil a été réalisé en 2023.

Le Sud de l’île de Madagascar connait, depuis plusieurs années, des périodes prolongées de sécheresse. Les populations locales grandissantes y ont aujourd’hui un accès très restreint à l’eau, ce qui engendre des conditions de vie dégradées. Pourtant, d’importantes d’eau transitent dans cette zone via des aquifères dont le fonctionnement reste mal connu.

Hydrogeology of southern Madagascar: new mapping tool

BushProof Sàrl, drawing on more than 15 years’ experience of working in southern Madagascar, supported by two hydrogeologists from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), set out to work in an appropriate way on knowledge of aquifers in the regions of southern Madagascar. Together, they financed and created a mapping tool to improve knowledge of the functioning of groundwater in southern Madagascar, which was completed in 2023.

The south of the island of Madagascar has been experiencing prolonged periods of drought for several years. The growing local populations there now have very limited access to water, leading to deteriorating living conditions. However, large quantities of water flow through this area via aquifers whose functioning remains poorly understood.

Que peut apprendre le secteur de l’eau rurale de l’expérience de l’Afrique de l’Ouest francophone ?

De nombreux pays cherchent à développer les services d’eau en milieu rural et à améliorer les niveaux de service pour les habitants des petites villes et des zones rurales en investissant dans des réseaux d’eau décentralisés et de petite taille. L’Afrique de l’Ouest francophone a une longue histoire de délégation des services d’eau potable (généralement des petits réseaux) dans les petites villes et les zones rurales à des opérateurs professionnels, qui peuvent être des associations publiques ou des opérateurs privés.

Le Secrétariat du RWSN, en partenariat avec le programme REACH, a passé l’année passée à enquêter sur l’expérience de la délégation des services d’eau et les moteurs des récentes réformes de la politique de l’eau potable en milieu rural dans plusieurs pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest francophone. Nous avons réalisé une étude documentaire détaillée et parlé à 25 experts du secteur de l’eau en milieu rural dans la région pour comprendre pourquoi et comment les réformes des politiques d’eau potable en milieu rural se sont produites, et quelles leçons peuvent être tirées des diverses expériences de délégation des services d’eau potables en milieu rural à des opérateurs professionnels.

What can the rural water sector learn from francophone West Africa?

Many countries are looking to expand rural water services and improve service levels for people living in small towns and rural areas by investing in small, decentralised piped water services. Francophone West Africa has a long history of delegating water services (usually piped) in small towns and rural areas to professional operators, both public and private.

The RWSN Secretariat in partnership with the REACH programme spent the last year investigating the experience of the delegation of rural water services and the drivers behind recent rural water policy reforms in several countries of francophone West Africa. We did a detailed desk review, and spoke to 25 experts in rural water sector in the region to understand why and how rural water policy reform happened, and what lessons can be drawn from their experiences in delegating rural water services to professional operators.

The role of galvanized pipes in the corrosion and failure of hand pumps

Stop the Rot during ZAWAFE 2023 Zambia – 4/4

This blog is part of a four-part series covering the presentations given at the 11th Zambia Water Forum and Exhibition. The event, themed “Accelerating Water Security and Sanitation Investments in Zambia: Towards Agenda 2023 through the Zambia Water Investment Programme”, lasted three days.

Our blog series takes a focused look at the presentations and discussions that revolved around “Addressing Rapid Hand Pump Corrosion in Zambia – Stop the Rot!”, which was co-convened by UNICEF and WaterAid, together with Ask for Water GmbH and the RWSN, hosted by Skat Foundation.

Cover photo: Red, iron-rich water being pumped. Photo: WaterAid Uganda

Second session:

The role of galvanized pipes in the corrosion and failure of hand pumps

Empowered Communities Helping Others (ECHO) has been implementing a safe water project since 2020. This is a Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project, whose main intervention is borehole rehabilitation which is implemented in rural parts of Zambia’s Western and Central Provinces, in collaboration with the Local Authority. In practice, the need to rehabilitate a borehole arises when a functioning borehole presents usage problems such as non-production of water, worn out parts such as pipes, rods, handles, chains, cylinders, water chambers, pedestal, head assembly, bearings, etc.

Since 2020, ECHO has rehabilitated a total of about 850 boreholes in Central and Western Zambia, benefiting a total of about 255,000 people.

It was found that rehabilitating a borehole can be more economical than constructing a new one. It is simpler and faster and can be an appropriate solution in an emergency because it doesn’t require things like mobilizing a drilling rig. However, if the rehabilitated borehole is to be used for a long time, it is important to estimate its life expectancy.

The rehabilitation option chosen depends on the conditions of the existing borehole, the causes of the damage, the technical and logistic options, and the existing alternatives such as the construction of a new water point.

According to the severity of the borehole problems, the work requirements may vary from a simple repair at the surface to re-equipment.

For the project, all GI pipes are replaced with new PVC ones. This is done in order to prevent and reduce iron contamination (as a result of corrosion) which from the past four years we have observed is a contributing factor to borehole failure and abandonment

The main observed sources of iron are:

▪ From natural sources in the aquifer

▪ From pump components such as steel casings and galvanized pipes.

▪ In other instances, a combination of both has been observed to be possible. ▪ Within 3 to 6 months of installing hand pumps with galvanized material, pipes and rods have been found to be heavily corroded.

▪ When corrosion is the main source of iron, iron concentrations reduce drastically when water is pumped out and fresh recharge is allowed. If iron concentrations remain high throughout during continued pumping, the case has been that it is likely the iron is coming from the aquifer.

Experiences on hand pump corrosion

Hand pumps with GI pipes, sometimes only a year or two old have corroded, and people have returned to unprotected water sources. Water with pH below 6 has been observed to have corroded pipes. High iron concentrations in handpumps have been a usual occurrence this has been observed through regular water quality testing and evaluating the change in iron concentration over the period of our operations. Stainless steel pipes and rods had corrosion rates lower than galvanized iron (GI) pipes and rods.

Experiences on hand pump corrosion

The brown or reddish color is observed in the morning when the pumps had not been used during the night

However, groundwater has been observed to hold significant concentrations of iron but appears clear and colorless. When this water is pumped out after being exposed to the atmosphere, the color changes to red/brown.

Figure 3: Sampled on Friday 2nd June 2023 in Central Province.

General complaints recorded from communities:

Within weeks and months of installation, communities would begin to complain about water quality. These complaints range from metallic taste, odor, and the appearance of water. Also, the communities would report discoloration of water and cloths and highly turbid water.

All these result in people abandoning the water point and going back to unprotected alternative water sources.

Positive observations

The use of uPVC pipes and stainless-steel adapters has so far shown positive results in reducing iron contamination. After switching from galvanized pipes to UPVC, the communities have observed reduced to no brown or reddish color in the water. uPVC pipes last long, so you won’t have to worry about replacing them anytime soon. Since uPVC is non-porous, uPVC pipes help by preventing any contamination from occurring. uPVC is resistant to corrosion as it is not susceptible to chemical and electrochemical reactions, so there are better option in controlling iron contamination. The use of uPVC pipes and stainless-steel adapters has so far shown positive results in reducing iron contamination

Figure 4: Riser pipe removal and water quality testing for an installation that was less than six months old by ECHO.

What we are advocating for:

▪ Stakeholders should address the handpumps with corrosion problems as a priority in order to guarantee the water quality we supply to the people.

▪ Testing boreholes that present iron contamination to determine whether the source of iron is from the aquifer or from corrosion. This will provide the best options for the right material to equip the water point with

▪ Competent borehole drilling and rehabilitation supervision should be ensured so that all standards and specifications are adhered to.

▪ Regular water quality analysis is undertaken, and critical parameters are tested to address problems such as corrosion and other related problems that shorten the life span of a hand pump

You are invited to access the presentations HERE, along with the session’s concept and report. If you would like to dive deeper into the enriching exploration of water challenges and solutions through the Stop the Rot initiative, visit this page.

About the author:

Annie Kalusa – Kapambwe presenting at at ZAWAFE 2023

Annie Kalusa is an accomplished development practitioner and administrator. Currently working for a local Zambian NGO Empowered Communities Helping Others (ECHO) in Zambia, focusing on improving the wellbeing of Vulnerable Rural Communities. Her areas of focus are climate resilient Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). She is currently developing her thesis on Rural Agriculture Practices and Mechanisms for Water Resource Management.

Photo credits: Annie Kalusa