Canadian Chlorine Coordinating Committee
Supports Water Sanitation Project in Guatemala

The Canadian Chlorine Coordinating Committee (C4) has donated $20,000 to fund in part an American Red Cross water sanitation project in a village in the Central American country of Guatemala. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2002.

In Guatemala, just about half the rural population does not have access to piped water or adequate sanitation facilities. Less than half of rural Guatemalans have access to running water, and less than one in ten have access to modern sanitary facilities.

The C4 contribution will help provide access to clean water for 31 families in the village of Cha Ki Rocja Sanaña.  Currently, residents rely on contaminated well water and river water sources located some distance from their houses.

The project will:

• Ensure that enough water is available for hand washing, food and environmental hygiene.
  
  
• Promote hygienic use of latrine, proper handling of food and water, and hygienic disposal of garbage.
  
  
• Train the community to manage the water supply to ensure its sustainability.
  
  
• Ensure Guatemalan Red Cross has the ability to replicate and ensure the quality of similar interventions in the future.

Water supply interventions by the Red Cross are only undertaken after thorough and repeated discussion at municipal and community levels. Communities must have or agree to build appropriate sanitation facilities before the water supply intervention is initiated, and they must participate in education and design and begin to implement a cost recovery plan. 

Water affects health in the developing world mainly through helping or hindering the transmission of communicable diseases such as diarrhea, scabies, and malaria. The main health benefits of both water supply and sanitation interventions lie in the reduction of fecal-oral diseases. Diarrhea is by far the most important of these diseases. Diarrhea is estimated to kill over three million people every year, the overwhelming majority of whom are children.

Diarrhea accounts for 25% of deaths in children under five years of age in Guatemala. Intestinal infections, related to inadequate sanitation and hygiene, are the leading cause of deaths in both sexes. Diarrhea is a serious health problem in Guatemala and can be significantly reduced.

The project has also received additional funding provided by other members of the World Chlorine Council and Global Vinyl Council as a part of the Water Relief Network (WRN). WRN was launched in 1996 as a partnership between manufacturers and users of chlorine and chlorine-related products through their association, the Chlorine Chemistry Council (CCC), and the American Red Cross. The WRN was borne out of a need to equip disaster-prone, impoverished communities with the knowledge and resources to protect against waterborne disease.

The WRN demonstrates that partnerships, preparedness and prompt response can help make small, but important progress in building, rebuilding and protecting fragile water infrastructures in all parts so the world.

The Canadian Chlorine Coordinating Committee represents Canadian manufacturers and users of chlorine and chlorine-related products. Chlorine is widely used as a disease-fighting disinfection agent, as a basic component in pharmaceuticals and myriad other products that are essential to modern life.

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