HANDS provides safe water at a low cost to the underprivileged population of Pakistan through its WASH program. The service also focuses on sanitation and hygiene. Some of the projects undertaken include provision of clean drinking water, improved sanitation schemes, open defecation-free villages, and solid waste management.
In 2020-21, HANDS carried out 23 WASH projects in 32 districts and 4.121 villages and urban settlements.
30
Projects
5012
Villages/Urban Settlement
43
Districts
4.6M
Covered Population
11
Tehsil
3.74M
Beneficiaries
278
Union Councils
Service Models
Provision of Drinking Water
The provision of safe dunking water is a critical issue in rural areas. Rural women fetch water from wells located at a long distance from their homes. expending considerable effort. HANDS has tried to alleviate the challenge by building reservoirs. la ono I supply lines. and installing storage tanks and shallow hand Pumps required by the communities.
The water provided to homes in these communities is filtered through a PAUL filter designed by the Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering IDSEE) at the University of Kassel, Germany. This small membrane ultrafiltration unit operates with gravity and removes 99.9% of bacteria and viruses. It can filter 1200 liters of water per day without any chemicals and is easy to operate. HANDS has installed 65 PAUL water filters in Pakistan with the cooperation of different funding partners. We also managed 12 R.0 Water Filteration Plants last year in 9 districts across Pakistan.
Open Defecation Free
Sanitation is a continuous process. and the concepts of cleanliness and hygiene need to be internakzed to make a permanent impact. HANDS addresses the immediate challenges of sanitation and also takes care of sustainable practices. For instance. while the issue of open defecation was solved by the creation of washrooms. these were often not connected to sewerage lines. This meant that the waste and cfirty water collected in open spaces causing harm to health.
HANDS found the solution in nature with the creation of wetlands. This is a new approach to greening and beautifying communities while recycling wastewater and reducing water consumption. Wetlands are a sustainable approach that bypasses the use of wastewater treatment plants that need machinery, high energy usage. and generate CO2 emissions.
Solid Waste Management
SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT Solid waste management prances in Pakistan are inefficient as landfill space is depleting. The Government of Pakistan is facing a high cost of disposing waste while the public and environment suffer from the damaging effects of untreated waste. Hyderabad city’s burgeoning demand for solid waste disposal led to the establishment of the Integrated Resource Recovery Centre fIRRC). HANDS used this as an opportunity to pilot the IRRC model in Sadiq Livena. Hyderabad.
The land for the construction of the building IRRC plant was provided by HANDS while the construction and IRRC establishment were borne by UN-Habitat. The whole process was facilitated by HANDS. The IRCC has the capacity to process 3 tons of waste per day: Inorganic and organic waste is separated. Organic waste is treated through aerobic decomposition and processed for compost formation whereas inorganic waste is further divided into recyclables and rejected material. The recyclables are sold out in the market and the rejected items are transported to the main collection point from where it is safelydisposed of by the Municipal Services Department of Hyderabad.
Success Story
The village Haji Pirani Phull, UC Daraza Sharif, Taluka Gambat….
I am Husna from Islampur and I am a proud member of the HANDS WASH Committee…