Grantee Research Project Results

Final Report: A Decision-Making Support Tool for Water and Sanitation Projects in Low-Resource Settings

EPA Grant Number: SU835351
Title: A Decision-Making Support Tool for Water and Sanitation Projects in Low-Resource Settings
Investigators: Bartram, Jamie , Mann, Ben , Foster, Benjamin , Phipps, Chelsea , Deuink, Jordan , Downs, Kristen , Cronk, Ryan , Schwemlein, Stefanie
Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Phase: I
Project Period: August 15, 2012 through August 14, 2013
Project Amount: $15,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2012) RFA Text |  Recipients Lists
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Awards , P3 Challenge Area - Safe and Sustainable Water Resources , P3 Challenge Area - Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Sustainable and Healthy Communities

Objective:

Our project aimed to lay the foundation for the development of an evidence-based water and sanitation decision support tool for practitioners in the developing world and other low-resource settings. This purpose of this tool is to inform and empower water, sanitation, and hygiene project implementers around the world to make appropriate and sustainable technology choices for communities in need. The selection of appropriate technology will increase the likelihood that the project remains functional over time, thereby increasing household and community access to safe water and sanitation and achieving sustainability. The objective of our research was to conduct a literature review of the factors contributing to the sustainability of water and sanitation projects, develop a paper survey based needs assessment and Excel based water and sanitation decision-making support protocol, and pilot this protocol in the field with our partners, Rotary International.

Purpose:

The purpose of this work is to design practical tools and protocols that will allow water and sanitation project implementers, including Rotary International, to be more effective and better allocate resources. The project is meant to be an evidence-based practitioner tool and also a diagnostic tool for evaluating where weaknesses in communities exist before implementing WaSH projects.

Objectives:

1. Compile best practices on the selection of appropriate technology and investigate the determinants of WaSH project sustainability through a systematic literature review.
2. Continue to refine and develop a needs assessment protocol and decision-making support tool (DST) that will help project implementers make informed and empowered selections of appropriate and sustainable WaSH technologies for communities.
3. Evaluate the DST’s effectiveness through pilot testing in developing countries in conjunction with field partners.

Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):

Outputs

• Paper-based needs assessment tools designed and developed for water and sanitation project implementers based on multiple field pilots with Rotary International volunteers
• An Excel, evidence based, practitioner-oriented decision support tool
• Training video on how to use the tool in the field
• Preliminary findings of a systematic review on the determinants of sustainability in rural water supply systems
• Publication of systematic review in draft
• First known comprehensive grey literature data base of WASH resources

Outcomes

• Identified deficiencies in evidence for sustainability of water systems within the WASH sector; a future publication will make significant impacts on the sector at large
  • Few studies conducted outside of the African continent
  • Few studies contain quantitative evidence
  • Many widely cited factors for sustainability have no evidence that they are important to sustaining systems
• Strategic partnership formed with Rotary International and the UNC Water Institute (research group of the P3 team)
• An additional $62,397 was leveraged in outside funding.
• The tool was used to evaluate approximately $10,000,000 in potential Rotary projects.
• Tool used by Rotary International to assess 50 communities in seven countries. The tool will be scaled up to be used in 60 countries in the coming years.

Conclusions:

• The overall project was successful; the knowledge gained by this research will contribute to the sustainability of water and sanitation systems around the world
• Our research, once finalized, has the potential to impact large organizations such as Rotary international who have thousands of volunteers and invest $60-70 million annually in WASH
• The research is timely and can impact the post-2015 development agenda, to replace the Millennium Development Goals

Journal Articles:

No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 3 publications for this project

Supplemental Keywords:

design for the environment, needs assessment, decision-making tools, life cycle analysis, sustainability, water, sanitation and hygiene.