From the most recent survey in 2013, Torit’s water treatment plant has a production capacity of 250,000 litres per day and is currently providing water to almost 50,000 people. It has three permanent water collection points, four mobile points and is connected to three institutions, including the local hospital.
The population size of the local community has, however, outgrown the quantity of safe water the plant can produce and there is an urgent need to expand the system.
In the photos above, we see the unprotected intake pipes from the river in Torit where the water is pumped up to the water treatment plant. During the rainy season the river level can rise so high that the pump and pipes are washed away. Also, rubbish collects in the river and this causes blockages in the pipe system.
The pump house, the inline dosing equipment for aluminum sulfate and the pump generator are all in a poor state of repair.
From the intake, water is pumped to this flocculation/coagulation chamber. Here, water is mixed with aluminum sulfate. This process separates solid particles from the water.
Water from the flocculation chamber then passes into the sedimentation chamber for further treatment. This process allows the solid particles to sink to the bottom of the chamber, leaving the clear water on top.
From the sedimentation chamber the clear water is channeled into a sand filtration chamber. To make water safe from most bacteria, water is filtered through the chamber or sand bed to remove more bacteria. The walls often overflow, particularly during the rainy season and so they need to be raised.
Claudius Taban, Treatment Plant Operator, explains how clean water is then stored in a tank after the sand filtration. Currently this tank holds 40,000 litres of water, but they desperately need a tank that can hold up to 100,000 litres. The leakage that is occurring from the tank is now beyond repair.
The vertical pump which takes clean water from the storage tank to the community.
Elevated water tanks in the community. Here potable water is stored and distributed to the community by either gravity through water kiosks (water pumps), or via mobile water tanks.
The growing community desperately needs better access to safe water.
Hanim Lefu, 40, and her daughter visit the water collection point every day from her home around one kilometre away and collects at least ten jerry cans at a time. Hanim says sometimes during the rainy season there is not enough water available from the kiosks and mobile tanks and so many people return to collecting dirty water from the river. She says the growing community desperately needs better access to safe water.
Women and children visit the water collection point collecting multiple jerry cans to bring water to their families. UNICEF is working with the German Development Bank (KFW) to rehabilitate and extend the Water Supply Scheme. This will ultimately provide safe water to many more households in Torit.
