Lutaso Market

This project is part of Bridge Water Project's program in Western Kenya. What follows is direct from them:

BACKGROUND

The proposed Lutaso market is a very busy market where buying and selling of goods are done. The market has 15 permanent shops and several Kiosks with different commodities. The market has an open space where different business activities occur i.e. livestock poultry and cereals are sold. The main market day is Wednesday and Saturday during the week.

Lutaso market water project is a well drilled by Kenya Finland Water Supply Programme with its Identification number C- 5480, drilled in the year 1988, the well records a total depth of 54M static water level of 24M, cased by 4 inch UPVC casings, well pad constructed and an afridev pump was installed and served up to the year 2000 when it was stolen by unknown persons. The market water committee learned of BWP water development activities in Kakamega County and made the application requesting BWP to consider rehabilitating their market well cleaning and installing a new Affridev pump to enable them keep using their water supply.

CURRENT WATER SOURCE

Currently, there is no water source around the market. However, during marketing day, some people from Lutaso community also take advantage of the situation whereby they fetch water from unknown sources and retail it at a fee of Kshs. 30 per 20 litreJerrican to people at open air market and to the food kiosks’ owners. This kind of business exposes a lot of dangers to people’s health since none can guarantee the quality of such water.

POPULATION

During the official marketing days, an estimated population of 2500 to 3000 people comes at the market for their daily business activities. Whereas, an estimated population of 150 – 200 people are residence of the market-such as shopkeepers and food kiosk operators who live there full time.  

HYGIENE & SANITATION

The Lutaso market has no public toilets for both male and female, no refuse chamber, no hand washing stations as well.

ASSESSING THE NEED

There is need to rehabilitate Lutaso market well to enable the residents, business people and the entire community to access clean and quality water for their daily domestic use to improve the hygiene and sanitation status.

PROJECT BENEFICIARIES

The Lutaso residents, business people and the entire community will greatly benefit from this market water source.

WATER COMMITTEE

The Lutaso market water committee is available will be trained by BWP staff prior to the implementation of the proposed project to enable them understand the operation, maintenance and sanitation and hygiene to ensure sustainability the water point. The Lutaso market is a public property owned and managed by the Navakholo Sub-county government whereby the proposed water rehab project has a market management committee who will be responsible for the proposed water supply.

PROJECT STATUS

Water is essential to life and health; however, many people do not have access to safe drinking water. Waterborne diseases have been estimated to be the main cause of diseases such as typhoid, cholera dysentery and diarrhea. As per the base-line survey carried out by BWP, it showed that Lutaso Market members do not practice good hygiene and sanitation.

As a way of helping the market members to overcome the outbreaks of the waterborne diseases, BWP staff conducted a full training in Sanitation and Hygiene to the residents and the business members of this market. The activities included;

1. Mapping water and sanitation in their community.
2. Good and bad hygiene behaviors.
3. How Diseases spread
4. Identifying Health problems in the community.

All the activities were meant for the market member’s to identify and analyze the Health problems. During the activities the market members realized that the outbreak of waterborne diseases was not due to the weather seasons that occurred but was due to the poor Hygiene and sanitation practices done by them at the market place and their respective homes. Therefore the activity of how disease is transmitted surprised the market members because there daily bad behavior practice is the main cause of diseases at the market place in which made them spend a lot in treatment.

Some of the recommended ideal practices to the market place represented by the members present for the training were:

Always consume safe water – This meant that the people on the market should treat all water used for drinking and cooking by chlorination, filtration and boiling to reduce pathogens found in water. They should also cover water storage containers and thoroughly clean the container that is used to collect water.

Always safely dispose waste. – As a way of doing this the market members have no specific public disposal site and toilet. Most of them practice open defecation. BWP insisted they should keep the market clean by collecting the garbage together and dispose on one proper place and also the members should lias with the government to put a public toilet for feacal disposal.

Wash hands with soap or Ash; The market members were encouraged to always wash hands before and after serving the customers. Use correct, hand washing techniques; rub at least three times especially fingers. They should use cleaning agent that is soap, use dripping or running water if possible. Also should wash hands at critical moments i.e. after visiting the toilet, before and after serving customers, before and after eating or cooking.

Prepare and store food safely; especially for those doing hotel business should peel or wash fresh food before cooking, cook and re heat cooked food at high temperatures before serving to customers. Wash food preparation surfaces with soap and water and always cover your food to keep off flies.

For further identification of solutions to the outbreak of waterborne diseases, the market members did several activities;

1. Blocking the spread of diseases.
2. Choosing water improvements
3. Choosing improved hygiene behaviors

 CONSTRUCTION

Training was successfully done and thereafter the rehabilitation of well began. During the rehabilitation of the well, the workmen from BWP did the cement Work. The constructed pad was left to cure. After two days flushing and test pumping was done and thereafter a new Afridev pump was installed and the water chlorinated.

The community members were happy as they received their rehabilitated water project with hopes that there shall be a reduction of waterborne diseases and their business will move on well without difficulty of clean and safe water.

PUMP INSTALLATION

Pump installation followed immediately. The target for this day was to ensure that after the pump has been installed, the well would be handed over. Unfortunately it was not market day and so we could not hand over the well.

HANDING OVER

Handing over of the borehole was the final activity in implementing rehabilitation of the borehole. The handing over exercise created an important forum for BWP to transfer ownership and sustainability of the borehole back to the school. BWP equipped market water committee members with ownership and sustainability skills, key among the included participation by all target beneficiaries and general maintenance of the well. The market members were encouraged to practice good hygiene behaviors they had learnt to reap full benefits of the rehabilitated well. 

Project Updates

July, 2020: COVID-19 Prevention Training Update at Lutaso Market

Our teams are working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Join us in our fight against the virus while maintaining access to clean, reliable water.

We are carrying out awareness and prevention trainings on the virus in every community we serve. Very often, our teams are the first (and only) to bring news and information of the virus to rural communities like Lutaso, Kenya.

We trained community members on the symptoms, transmission routes, and prevention of COVID-19. Due to public gathering concerns, we worked with trusted community leaders to gather a select group of community members who would then relay the information learned to the rest of their family and friends.

We covered essential hygiene lessons:

- Demonstrations on how to build a simple handwashing station

- Proper handwashing technique

- The importance of using soap and clean water for handwashing

- Cleaning and disinfecting commonly touched surfaces including at the water point.

We covered COVID-19-specific guidance in line with national and international standards:

- Information on the symptoms and transmission routes of COVID-19

- What social distancing is and how to practice it

- How to cough into an elbow

- Alternative ways to greet people without handshakes, fist bumps, etc.

- How to make and properly wear a facemask.

During training, we installed a new handwashing station with soap near the community’s water point, along with a sign with reminders of what we covered.

Due to the rampant spread of misinformation about COVID-19, we also dedicated time to a question and answer session to help debunk rumors about the disease and provide extra information where needed.

We continue to stay in touch with this community as the pandemic progresses. We want to ensure their water point remains functional and their community stays informed about the virus.

Water access, sanitation, and hygiene are at the crux of disease prevention. You can directly support our work on the frontlines of COVID-19 prevention in all of the communities we serve while maintaining their access to safe, clean, and reliable water.