“WASH – Public Health Engineering” Volunteer – Greywater

“WASH – Public Health Engineering” Volunteer – Greywater

Background:

Oxfam is aiming to improve water reuse in Zaatari Camp by the design and implementation of grey water systems.Oxfam is seeking for a motivated person to fulfil the position of PHE volunteer.

Unsustainable water provision for 80,000 inhabitants of Zaatari Camp.

Every day 4300 cubic meters (4.3 million litres) of potable water is provided to the Syrian refugees in Zaatari camp, situated in Mafraq Municipality in north Jordan. The camp is currently hosting around 80,000 Syrian refugees and has evolved from “a handful of tents in the desert to a high functioning urban settlement”, where water provision for each resident is rationed at 35 litres per day supplied by UNICEF following a pumping schedule, through an intermittent water supply network. This network is supplied with water through three internal boreholes producing about 2800m3 daily.

As these boreholes are already at their maximum production capacity, additional water is sourced from external boreholes by water trucking. These external boreholes are located outside of the camp and up to a distance of 40 km. The price of external water by trucking an increased price of $5.00 per cubic meter over internal water. An additional 1500 cubic meters is supplemented to the network from external sources per day. This results in an additional daily expenditure of $7,500 and an annual financial requirement of more than $1.125 million, jeopardizing the financial sustainability of the service in the long term. This is in the backdrop of Jordan being one of the most water scarce country in the world and with climate change, the situation is becoming dire.

How can we reduce the financial costs of potable water provisioning and the impact on the environment while consider the effects of climate change on the future, recognizing that most of the activities the water is used for does not require such costly scare commodity as potable water?

Oxfam in Jordan aims to address this question by recycling and reusing the Greywater generated in the household and making it available and suitable to be used for multiple purposes other than drinking or personal hygiene. In addition, seasonal precipitation can be a suitable additional source of water for domestic use.

A household in Zaatari with a family size of 5 receives an average 175 litres of water daily. An individual greywater system could potentially recycle more than 110 litres from the supplied daily quantity or 40 cubic meters annually.

Water Scarcity in Jordan:

Jordan is the second most water scarce country in the world. Jordan’s annual renewable water resources are less than 100m3 per person, significantly below the threshold of 500m3 per person which defines severe water scarcity. Domestic water use in Jordan is among the lowest in the world, and barely meets basic household needs for sanitation, cooking, and cleaning. In urban areas, water is usually available once a week, and less than once every two weeks in rural areas, with reduced frequency during the summer. 42% of the drinking water supplied to the northern governorates (that includes Mafraq) comes from sources within 20 to 76 km distance and with elevation of about 1200 m with 4 pumping stages.

These challenges have been exacerbated by increased water demands due to the influx of Syrian refugees, and the rise in industrial and agricultural activities. In the north of Jordan, this has led to a 40% increase in water demand in recent years. Increased water demands due to the influx of refugees is potential for increasing conflict between refugee and host populations. This calls for new initiatives to address the issue.

Groundwater aquifers, which supply major part of the domestic freshwater, are being exploited at about twice their recharge rate. Moreover, the high level of non-revenue water (water leakage, illegal connections, meter losses), the high level of subsidies provided by the government, population growth and lackadaisical public attitude towards water conservation have increased water wastage putting communities more at risk of water shortages.

Climate change:

Is expected to have a significant impact on Jordan, most likely leading to increased temperatures, variation in precipitation patterns, extreme weather events, droughts, and flash floods. This will compromise the resilience of water and sanitation services making it near impossible to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6. Climate change will also most likely impact the most vulnerable communities across Jordan, putting them into further water stress.

Objectives of the Assignment:

Oxfam has initiated and completed the design phase of the pilot project for the implementation of individual (one household) and communal (more than two households) greywater systems and establishment of green spaces. Based on collected technical and non-technical data; water meter readings, water quality tests, baseline assessments with potential project participants, etc., two designs for greywater systems have been developed for individual and communal greywater systems. The first design is an improvement of the one that was previously developed for greywater systems that were being installed in Zaatari Camp by Oxfam and the second is a completely different design that aims at connecting unconventional sources of greywater such as the kitchen sink and capturing and treating as much greywater as possible. Technical assessments had been conducted, project participants had been determined, assign system designs to project participants, and identify needed construction materials.

The PHE Volunteer will support the PHE team in all activities related to the implementation of greywater systems in Zaatari Camp. He/she will supervise the implementation in the field with a team of local community members following the incentive-based volunteer (IBV) approach and provide technical guidance and input related to the prefabrication and construction of those systems.
Furthermore, he/she will contribute to capture the work and methodology used and assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the new systems.

Scope of Tasks:

• Supervision of implementation of greywater systems in the field.
• Provision of technical guidance to PHE IBVs during prefabrication and installation of systems.
• Supporting team in any other related operation and maintenance tasks.

Requirements:

• Interest in Oxfam and aligned with our values.
• Ability to work in harsh conditions inside Zaatari Refugee camp.
• Some experience in Humanitarian work is desirable.
• Fresh graduated from a university in Engineering (Civil Engineering, environmental engineering)
• Some understanding of English.

Reporting:

The PHE Volunteer will report directly to the Senior Public Health Engineering Officer.

Duration:

1 month, with possible extension.

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