Hygiene Promotion for hwts in emergencies

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Hygiene promotion for HWTS December 2012 
1 
 
Introduction 
It is now well accepted that despite source 
water being safe, water can be contaminated 
during transportation and storage and the 
hygienic handling of water during transport, 
storage and use is an important aspect of 
hygiene promotion in all WASH interventions.
In an emergency, it may not always be 
possible to ensure that the source water is 
clean (within the existing budget or time 
constraints) and household treatment of 
water is an important response option. As 
with the introduction of any hardware, this will 
only succeed if the users are considered in 
the selection, operation and maintenance of 
the treatment option and intensive hygiene 
promotion will be required to encourage 
correct and consistent use.
The promotional aspects of the following 
water treatment methods that are most 
commonly used in emergencies will be 
considered: 
1. Boiling 
2. Chlorination (including tablets or 
liquid) 
3. Flocculation/disinfection 
sachets 
(including PuR® and WaterMaker®) 
4. Natural filtration and flocculation 
methods 
(sedimentation, 
cloth 
filtration, moringa seeds, alum) 
5. Ceramic filtration (including pot- and 
candle-style filters) 
6. Membrane filtration
An existing technical brief (TB4) provides 
information on the technical household water 
treatment and safe storage (HWTS) options 
but has limited detail on the promotional 
aspects that are required. This short briefing 
paper is aimed at hygiene promoters and 
engineers who are working with communities 
on HWTS. It may also be useful for 
managers to understand how to ensure the 
effectiveness of HWTS interventions. It 
should be read in conjunction with TB4.