HORN OF AFRICA: Water, Sanitation & Environment

Welcome to Water Sanitation Magazine @ Blogger---------------BULLETIN------------------Did you know that in many parts of the world, water is a deadly drink?

HORN OF AFRICA:
WATER, SANITATION & ENVIRONMENT

WEBMASTER

Name: Noah Amin:
Profession: Water Quality Scientist
Contact: noahark2000@gmail.com
Editor: H.Amin

STARTLING HORN OF AFRICA IMAGES:

Is the Horn of Africa land of plenty or one of scarcity?

IT IS ONE OF PLENTY!

But life is a daily struggle; hunger & infinite preventable diseases cause premature deaths. And as resources dwindle due to mismanagement, poverty prevails and people go to the unknown dying in the high seas or else go to refugees camps in their own lands!

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Did you know that dirty water can be a deadly drink? The reason is because Pathogens (disease causing microorganisms) inherently present in dirty waters cause diseases that may threaten your health.Just boil your water and you may well be safe!

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Thursday, January 24, 2008

Failure To Dispose Off Municipal Wastes Safely Can Cause A Huge Public Health Disaster!

By Noah Arre

Introduction:
As urbanization continues management of wastes (both solid and liquid) is becoming a major public health and environmental problem in countries like Somaliland. The concern is serious particularly in major cities.

For instance, a typical solid waste management system in a country like Somaliland displays an array of problems. Such problems include: low collection or irregular collection services, indiscriminate open dumping and burning without air and water pollution control.

Unfortunately, poor waste management enhances or propagates and in fact promotes the breeding of flies and pests, rats and mice; cockroaches and parasites; fleas and lice, bedbugs and other scavengers and other disease transferring agents….hence the need for a waste management and safe disposal.

Waste: What is it?
Waste is a widely used term. It means different things to different people. Meanings of waste range from wilderness to uselessness. To many it means decay, ruin, pollution, dirt, garbage, refuse, trash and, junk etc. But in short, waste is what is worthless or unused for human purposes. The management of it is its collection and disposal. However, the manner by which it is collected and disposed of is a topic of great debate. One only has to look at the volume of waste on our cities curbsides for pick-up to realize the enormity of what has to be dealt with: All waste material has to end up somewhere. One way or another, it ends up in the environment, that being a combination of the air, land and water.

As is often the case, what an urban area does not want or cannot contain within its boundaries, the solution is often to move the problem to the countryside. This can cause a huge public health problem. In fact is a disaster to public health that is waiting to happen any time!

Communities in history were filthy and outbreaks of disease were common. Waste sat and accumulated in the streets and streams, ditches and pools that were also used for washing and drinking. These water sources were in general unclean. Urban air was filled with smoke and foul odors. In those poor conditions, diseases such as typhoid were spread by contaminated water. The day to day production of wastes would even be dumped directly into the street to be scavenged by animals, birds and other insects or would accumulate until being washed away by a heavy rain.

However, worldwide, municipalities later improved the health situation by gradually taking over the provision of clean water, the clearing of streets, the removal of trash and sewage and by regulating discharges. And the filthy cities which sat in a clean countryside, have been replaced by the relatively clean cities of today but sadly encircled at a distance by their wastes. Unfortunately, this is specially so today in poor Somaliland.

Today, problems caused by waste dump sites range from the contamination of nearby water sources to gas explosions and uncontrollable fires. Despite these problems, waste dump sites are the method of choice for poor Somaliland, particularly for large cities.

In fact, according to the UN Center for Human Settlements, only between 25 and 55 per cent of all waste generated in big cities is collected by municipal authorities. This percentage is far lower in Somaliland big cities. And the UNDP estimates that worldwide, more than five million people die each year from diseases related to inadequate waste disposal This estimate is certainly proportionately even much higher in Somaliland as the indiscriminate dumping of wastes into environment contaminates national food and water source supplies.

Municipal Solid Waste Management

Municipal solid waste comprises refuse from, households, non-hazardous, solid waste from industrial, commercial and institutional, establishments, market waste, yard waste and street sweepings. And its management is a cyclical, goal-oriented process. It includes all phases of waste collection, recycling, treatment and disposal.

Effective Municipal Solid Waste Management calls for an appropriate distribution of responsibilities, authority and revenues. In cities, inter-municipal cooperation is essential. De-centralization of authority requires a corresponding distribution of powers and capacities. Waste generation is also conditioned by people’s attitudes. People’s attitudes towards waste may be positively affected. Local waste management also depends on reliable collection options and consensus among Neighbors.

The scope of Municipal Solid Waste Management encompasses planning and management systems, waste generation processes, and organizations, procedures and facilities for waste handling. Development strategies comprise specific objectives and measures in these areas.

Factors That Hamper Waste Management
The social status of solid waste management workers is generally low in all countries but much so in developing countries. This owes much to a negative perception of people regarding the work which involves the handling of waste or unwanted material. Such people's perception leads to the disrespect for the work and in turn produces low working ethics of laborers and poor quality of their work.

Because of insufficient resources available in the government sector, collaborative projects often have attempted to mobilize community resources and develop community self-help activities. Results are a mixture of success and failures. Failed projects with inactive communities usually did not provide people in the community with incentives to participate in activities. The lack of public awareness and school education about the importance of proper solid waste management for health and well-being of people severely restricts the use of community-based approaches in developing countries.

At dump sites, transfer stations, and street refuse bins, waste picking or scavenging activities are common scenes in developing countries. People involved have not received school education and vocational training to obtain knowledge and skills required for other jobs. The existence of waste pickers/scavengers creates often an obstacle to the operation of solid waste collection and disposal services. However, if organized properly, their activities can be effectively incorporated into a waste recycling system.

People are certainly one of the primary resources of any nation and failure to insure their wellbeing is certainly a mistake. But our elected official’s apathy or indifference to realities and communities’ indulgence into khat chewing sessions often destroy our health. And while our wasting of their most valuable resource, time and health losses are a sorrowful saga that we all see happening in our communities and hampering the development of Left To Itself Poor Somaliland.

Goals Of Municipal Solid Waste Management

1. The first goal of Municipal Solid Waste Management is to protect the health of the urban population, particularly that of those who live near sites or those of low-income groups who suffer most from poor waste management.
2. Secondly, Municipal Solid Waste Management aims to promote environmental conditions by controlling pollution (including water, air, soil and cross media pollution) and ensuring the sustainability of environment in the urban region.
3. Thirdly, Municipal Solid Waste Management supports urban economic development by providing demanded waste management services and ensuring the efficient use and conservation of valuable materials and resources.
4. Fourthly, Municipal Solid Waste Management generates employment and incomes in the sector itself.

Open Waste Dump Problems:

1. It often attracts rats and flies, birds, animals etc. which can carry that to people.
2. Wind shifts brings an odorous smell to offend residents living in the city
3. Burning the garbage causes black smoke, filled with toxic.
4. By-products from burning rubber, plastic etc fill the air only to be breathed by people
5. Rain water may trickle through the garbage and carry materials into surface and groundwater supplies

BUT
· Did you know that liquid/solid wastes exist in two physical forms (biodegradable and non-biodegradable?)
· Did you know that a biodegradable waste is one which decomposes over time through exposure to air, water, and sunlight etc.?
· Did you know that non-biodegradable chemical is one which does not permit natural decomposition?
· Did you know that DDT is banned from use worldwide because it does not decompose?
· Did you know that DDT, heavily used as an insecticide on the khat you chew daily to destroy pests that often feed on the plant during growth, does not decompose at all?
· And did you know that washing your khat does not remove DDT because it does not dissolve in water and hence you are falsely made to believe your khat is clean after washing in a BIG basin of water?
· And did you know that DDT is a cancer causing agent?
· Did you know that once in your tummy, DDT and many other insecticides used for the same purpose may destroy your immune system and hence your living cells are a sitting duck for sicknesses and diseases?
· Did you know that most organic wastes require oxygen to decompose (split into components) but in the process may eventually become a plant nutrient …a fertilizer? · Did you know that it literally means that areas that have a lot of organic wastes demand high oxygen consumption? and one must recall that normal air is approximately only 21% oxygen!
· Did you know that to decompose, wastes in your cities compete with you for the oxygen you breathe and hence the levels of oxygen in cities, is lower in city environments?
· Did you know that certain trees and plants absorb noise and hence living in the jungle is far healthier than living in crowded areas?
· Did you know that certain plants absorb even toxins (poison) from the environment?
· Did you know that certain microorganisms (living things) do not require oxygen to survive and hence dead bodies decompose even in deep underground?
· Did you know that during decomposition, microorganisms feed on organics hence splitting them into components!

Summary/Concluding Remarks

In Somaliland, wastes both liquid and solid pose serious threat because they ferment creating conditions favorable to the survival and growth of killer microbes.

The unscientific disposal of wastes is risky and residents suffer in areas where there is no proper waste disposal method. This is because waste disposal sites are hazardous to public health as improper waste management attracts all types of insects, birds, animals, etc. which act as vectors or agents for the spread of diseases.

Assuming just a kilogram of city waste harbors billions of pathogenic (disease causing microorganisms) or one gram of a healthy human waste contains 10 million of pathogens, how long it will take your body to fight off diseases cause by those invading enemy armies?

For those of you who still stick to the old taboos and hence think that discussing topics like the safe disposal of wastes are off the limits, it is worth to say like it or not it is a glaring reality that is out there!

In short, if Somaliland has to catch up with the rest of the global community in health and sanitation, its authorities must initiate and implement water and sanitation management programs.And finally, it is probably a high time to let the public directly elect mayors so that they have authorities who are really accountable for city problems.

Ref:

India together,

Integrated waste management systems

whose waste is it any way...

Noah [ 12:47 AM ]