With clean, freshwater supply, children of the Marshall Islands have become less prone to waterborne diseases. Acute gastroenteritis cases among people of Ebeye Island have significantly decreased. Credits go to a new desalination plant that now provides people with clean drinking water and a hygiene awareness and education campaign focused on children.
Ebeye Island’s population of more than 9,600 need better access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation. The second largest urban center in the Marshall Islands, Ebeye has a high incidence of waterborne disease, mainly acute gastroenteritis and particularly among children, with about one reported case per eight residents each year. Limited access to safe water, a dilapidated sanitation system, and poor hygiene increase the likelihood of infection.
In 2015, an ADB project Ebeye Water Supply and Sanitation Project started to take on the task of improving the water supply and sanitation systems in the Pacific island country. Cofinanced with Australia and prepared with support from the Multi-Donor Trust Fund under the Water Financing Partnership Facility, the project promotes inclusive growth by linking all households to upgraded freshwater, salt water, and sewage facilities.
Interventions
The project is expected to reduce incidence of waterborne disease on Ebeye through improved access to safe water and better sanitation. Ebeye’s public water supply system will be improved, along with the distribution network. Construction of a new seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant with a freshwater production capacity of 1.6 million liters per day was completed in 2017. Two new saltwater wells to fully meet saltwater demand, a brine outfall to dispose of effluent from the desalination plant, and bulk supply meters at strategic locations within the water supply network will be installed.
To improve delivery, a new freshwater pumping station and an 100,000-liter elevated freshwater reservoir will be built. About 350 meters of freshwater distribution mains will be upgraded and a leak detection and repair program will be implemented. Unserviced households will be connected to the system. Ebeye’s sewerage system will also be upgraded and expanded to reduce the environmental and health impacts of effluent disposal.
A hygiene awareness and promotion program, focused on women and children, will be implemented. Educational activities will promote good sanitation and hygiene practices that help prevent water- and sanitation-related diseases. Sanitation facilities at schools, where the ratio of students to functioning toilets is more than 150 to 1, have been upgraded and expanded.
Electricity supply for water and sewerage operations will be secured through improvements in the power generation and electrical distribution system on Ebeye. The project will also help develop and implement a program to increase the operational efficiency and sustainability of the Kwajalein Atoll Joint Utility Resource, Inc. (KAJUR).
Results
People on Ebeye are now enjoying the taste and benefits of clean drinking water thanks to the new desalination plant completed in 2017. The desalination plant is already operational through an operation and maintenance contract with a private company working remotely from Australia. Full project completion is expected in February 2021.
Most residents of Ebeye now obtain water from household water tanks connected to the KAJUR freshwater supply network. Since desalination plant operations began in September 2017, the number of cases of acute gastroenteritis reported by the Ebeye Hospital has decreased, with the greatest reductions observed in infants (under 1 year old) at 59%, children between the ages of 1 and 5 years at 54%, and children between the ages of 6 and 15 years at 48%. The improved statistic could be correlated to improved hygiene behaviors following the increased availability of safe water and possibly to the project’s hygiene awareness and education campaign, which focuses on school children and youth groups.