2022 Volume 71 Issue 3 Pages 234-240
How to supply safe water in a stable and sustainable manner, in areas without access to public water supply systems is a very important and urgent issue in many countries, including Japan. Due to time and cost constraints, as well as socio-economic feasibility, it is unrealistic to supply safe water to everyone throughout the world, using only centralized large-scale public systems. Therefore, small and decentralized water supply systems play important roles in society. This article focuses on such small water supply systems, especially those operated and maintained by communities. Case studies in Canada and Sri Lanka are introduced, based on site visits and interviews with stakeholders.
In remote areas in Canada the population density is very low, and a considerable number of community-based water supply systems are in operation. Such community-based systems are vulnerable to water quality issues, and some have been under notices such as a ‘boil water advisory ’ for more than one year. The Government of Canada is addressing small water supply systems as a part of their support services for the Canadian First Nations. Such stories are introduced, together with site visits experiences in the province of British Columbia. Meanwhile, in the North central provinces in Sri Lanka, a disease called Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology (CKDu) is prevalent, and the drinking water of the local residents, sourcing groundwater, is suspected as a potential cause of the disease. Accordingly, the Government of Sri Lanka has been promoting the installation of community-based, small water supply systems with reverse osmosis (RO) membrane filtration units. This article introduces how such systems have been constructed, operated and maintained, along with a consideration of the challenges, based on field surveys at 32 facilities. Finally, based on the above-mentioned two case studies, concluding remarks are presented regarding the current situation and future challenges for small water supply systems.
