Implementation and Expansion of Circuit Rider Supported Passive Chlorination in Piped Distribution Systems in Guatemala

SUMMARY

Cova Agua is an international non-profit organization that supports community-based management of rural water systems in Central America. Cova’s Circuit Rider support model for community-based management of passive chlorination is currently deployed across rural communities in Nicaragua and Honduras. Cova partners with community water boards to install simple passive chlorinators into existing piped networks and then provides ongoing support through routine water quality monitoring, technical assistance, and capacity building focused on operation and maintenance for chlorinators, financial management, watershed protection, and other relevant themes.

Between June and July 2024, Cova completed a scoping study to evaluate the feasibility of the expansion of circuit rider supported passive chlorination programs in Guatemala. This scoping study also evaluated opportunities for collaboration and implementation research with a focus on USAID program collaborations. Through site visits, desk research, and key informant interviews, we have determined that there is significant evidence that circuit rider supported passive chlorination in rural Guatemala is not only feasible but could be effective in improving access to safely managed drinking water. The enabling environment in Guatemala is quite similar to Honduras and Nicaragua, but also offers unique opportunities and challenges. Broadly, the costs associated with the Circuit Rider model would seem to remain the same, disregarding the obvious startup costs of beginning work in a new country. However, the effective demand for chlorine tablets and chlorination at the community level remains uncertain. There is a government mandate for chlorination at the rural community level, with consistent regulations that would suggest one motivation to chlorinate. Conversely, there is also demonstrated aversion to chlorination due to taste, odor, misperceptions, and uniquely Guatemalan factors such as the influence of Maya culture. Therefore, the willingness to chlorinate and willingness to pay for chlorination remain critical uncertainties to be evaluated and represent unique opportunities to evaluate the capacity building and chlorine socialization aspects of the Circuit Rider model. Finally, there is a strong need for water quality solutions as data from MSPAS sanitary inspectors in one of the departments visited showed that 37% of 1,225 water samples collected from January to June 2024 did not meet water safety standards, with some municipalities having safe drinking water proportions as low as 4%. Additionally, there has been an increase in diarrheal disease, especially among children under five.

This evaluation explicitly highlights several critical research questions that can be explored through expansion of Cova’s circuit rider supported passive in-line chlorination into new contexts, but also through continued implementation research in existing Cova markets.

1. What is the effectiveness of Cova’s circuit rider supported in-line chlorination model in a new context?
2. What are the costs of this model in a new context?
3. How can water boards be incentivized to improve chlorination rates in communities served by Cova’s circuit rider model?
4. How do chlorine taste/odor detection and acceptability thresholds differ for users with prior exposure to chlorinated water versus those not consuming chlorinated water?

In particular, the first two questions are well suited for testing in a new to Cova context. Questions three and four, while relevant in both new and existing Cova service delivery areas, are better suited for a planned evaluation in Honduras.

There are also opportunities for alliances within the government, particularly at the municipal level and through the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance (MSPAS), that will enable circuit rider model success. Sanitary inspectors (MSPAS employees) are responsible for providing technical expertise and monitoring support to rural communities, on many topics, but specifically water treatment. However, these teams are understaffed and under-resourced to serve the more than one hundred communities they are often expected to serve. These inspectors and MSPAS identified one strength of the circuit rider model in that Cova circuit riders could support and develop local capacity and provide water quality monitoring support.

Objectives

The goal of this scoping study was to determine if it is feasible to expand Cova’s circuit rider-supported passive chlorination program within rural Guatemala. For additional background and motivation, see Appendix 1. Through this study we aim:

1. To compile and analyze relevant agencies, laws, and regulations supporting community-operated water systems, rural water utilities, and water treatment.
2. To evaluate the enabling factors for and barriers to implementation of circuit rider-supported passive chlorination in rural communities.
3. To estimate the costs associated with implementation of circuit rider-supported passive chlorination.
4. To assess the existing chlorine supply chain (availability, quality, cost).
5. To explore opportunities for collaboration with USAID funded and other rural water programs.
6. To identify opportunities for implementation research on circuit-rider supported passive chlorination.

Methods

Beginning in June 2024, we conducted interviews virtually and in person with key informants working in WASH in Guatemala, with a specific focus on the feasibility and opportunities for implementation research related to circuit rider supported passive chlorination in Guatemala. While in Guatemala, we were able to visit NGOs, health officials, and rural communities to conduct interviews, site visits, and meetings primarily focused on the Department of Quetzaltenango in the Western Highlands. We conducted 17 interviews across seven NGOs & Social Enterprises, two universities, two government offices, and two community water boards, for a total of 33 key informants interviewed.

Findings

Guatemalan ministry officials noted difficulties in collecting and analyzing government-mandated numbers of water quality samples.

Key informants also highlighted the simultaneous overlapping but piecemeal nature of governance and regulation of water safety in rural communities in Guatemala.

Chlorination is already widely agreed upon, as a water treatment method by most NGOs and government entities in Guatemala as a key element of rural drinking water supply services. Compared to Cova’s experience in Honduras and Nicaragua, where fewer than 3% of communities were chlorinating prior to Cova’s circuit rider model intervention, there are indicators that the enabling environment for chlorination in Guatemala is stronger and more open to chlorination. At the same time, there are misperceptions of the health impacts of chlorination, including that chlorine in the water can cause cancer, infertility, additional illnesses, and skin conditions. Significant concerns were noted of the taste and odor of chlorinated water, a negative perception compounded by the influence of Maya Culture across rural Guatemala.

Guatemalan community water boards appear to have a similar or slightly greater capacity to pay for chlorine compared to Honduras and Nicaragua, based on our observation of slightly higher water tariffs, though willingness-to-pay will may be more variable across rural Guatemalan communities than ability-to- pay.

Many chlorine tablet brands and specifications (calcium hypochlorite and sodium hypochlorite) were available for purchase in Guatemala, according to our interviews.

Finally, we highlight several research questions:

• How frequently can community-managed drinking water systems equipped with passive chlorinators, supported by Cova circuit riders, meet free chlorine residual targets at the point of consumption, in new communities in rural Guatemala?
• What kinds of socialization or incentivization is required to ensure chlorination rates? And to whom? I.e., the water board, community members, others?
• What are the costs of expanding the Circuit Rider model into new contexts?
• What is the effective demand for passive chlorination supported by circuit riders?
• What are the taste & odor thresholds for chlorine acceptance in rural Guatemala?
• How long does it take for people to acclimate to the taste/odor of chlorinated water?
• What kinds of community engagement and sensitization activities influence acceptability?

This report was part of the Rural Evidence and Learning for Water (REAL-Water) project, which was supported by a cooperative agreement between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and The Aquaya Institute. The contents of this post are the sole responsibility of The Aquaya Institute and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.