Prof. Rasha El Gohary
National Water Research Center, NWRC, MWRI, Cairo, Egypt
El Gezera High Institute for Engineering and Technology, Ministry of Higher Education, Cairo, Egypt
In Egypt, the percentages of the population served with water supply and sewerage connections are generally higher in urban areas than in rural ones. About 20 of the total population in Egypt lacks access to safe drinking water supplies. In these communities, the main source of fresh water is made available from shallow hand pump wells that may be polluted due to poor protection means. Shallow ground water can be recognized as the main source for drinking water supply in most of the rural areas in Egypt. If these wells were improper constructed or poorly maintained, they could allow bacteria, pesticide, fertilizer or oil product to contaminate sallow ground wate r. These contaminates can put family and livestock health at risk.
The objective of this study is to Investigate and I dentify problems related to bad sanitary conditions around hand pump used for domest ic water supply in rural areas. A pilot demonstration area at Arab El Aiaida village at Qaliub district is selected to be the most suitable pilot area for implementation of study activities, constructing the recommended hand pump system on the selected sites Laboratory analysis was performed for the collect ed samples to determine water quality pollutants indicators. Results were compared with both standards of the WHO and the Egyptian Ministry of Health law 108/1995, Design and implementing of related public awareness campaigns, Preparation of hand pumps construction guidelines.
The study shows that rural communities within the study area were socially and environmentally improved regarding their perception and management of drinking water supply through shallow groundwater hand pumps. Public awareness on the relation between water and human health, Development of standard guidelines for providing the different rural communities within the Delta Region with an environmental and socially accepted drinking water supply source through shallow ground water hand pu mps.
The main sources of pollution of the groundwater were the seepage from the sewerage system (septic tanks) at Arab El A iida area and the excessive
use of fertilizer and pesticides at the surrounding agriculture area. Evaluation of water quality deterioration and related health problems have been carried
out at the selected area by: [Historical data Analysis Ground water qualit y monitoring System Ground water quality modeling].
It is recommended to improve the public awareness within the rural communities regarding the environmental aspects and safety protection measures for the hand pumps installed on the to p of shallow groundw ater wells.