Entretien avec Jean-Pierre Leclerc

Jean-Pierre Leclerc, engineer and doctor in process engineering (specialised in water and the environment) is vice-director of the chemical engineering laboratory at the CNRS. This water specialist is also a volunteer, who has undertaken many evaluation assignments for SOLIDARITES in Afghanistan and Rwanda. Following the tidal wave which hit South-East Asia on December 26 (during which period he had planned to go on holiday to Phuket in Thailand!), Jean-Pierre immediately made himself available to join our emergency team leaving for Sri Lanka. On his return, he discussed his impressions and observations with Alain Boinet, SOLIDARITES' Director:

- AB : Jean-Pierre, can you describe the humanitarian situation that you discovered upon your arrival, and explain the problem of access to drinking water, and the actions we have taken to counter this?
JP L : There are two things which particularly struck me. Firstly, the violence with which the whole coastal band had been destroyed (I saw the floor of some houses which had been smashed by the Tsunami wave), which is far more horrific than all the images that we have seen can portray. Secondly, the psychological trauma caused by the tidal wave on the local population, who have lost everything. Concerning drinking water, all the wells in the area are currently unusable (around 18,000 wells have been polluted by sea water in the Ampara region), whereas these wells were often the only source of drinking water for the local population. This means that there are an impressive number of displaced persons, grouped in makeshift camps, or having returned to their ruined villages, who no longer have any access to drinking water. In response to this there are two solutions: either supplying drinking water to the population using water tankers, or, when the villages are close enough to a town, connecting them to an urban water supply. SOLIDARITES plans to carry out around 500 such connections, in collaboration with the local authorities. Since the damaged areas are only located in the terminal part of the water networks near the sea, this does not present any major technical difficulties, and we will be setting up connections with meters, so that the sustainability of these connections in the future can be monitored from an economic point of view.

- A B : Can you explain to us the problem which has occurred with the water table of the wells?
JP L : The first tests that we have carried out indicate that the wells were polluted by salt water when the tidal wave submerged and covered the wells. Unfortunately, this situation is likely to remain for quite a long time: between 6 months and 2 years, and for the moment it is absolutely impossible to clean these wells. This is why it was so important to quickly set up and maintain alternative water supply solutions (water tankers or connections to urban water networks). For their part, the local population do not touch the water in the wells, help each other a lot to share drinking water, and use as little water as they can. Therefore, the sanitary situation is relatively satisfactory, even in these areas.

- A B : In concrete terms, does the fact that all the wells in the Ampara region are unusable mean that we need to maintain and develop these alternative water supply means in the long term?
- JP L: Unfortunately, yes. All the NGOs need to be mobilised to set up and develop , alternative water supply solutions for the next 6 months to 2 years. For example, it is now becoming very difficult to find free water tankers in Sri Lanka, because they are so sought after!

- A B : Once the local population is no longer grouped together in refugee camps, but has started to return to their widely dispersed villages and homes and commence rebuilding (which is already the case in some areas), how will we continue to provide drinking water to them?
J P L : Today, it is quite true that people sleep at the camps at night, but spend the day rebuilding their homes very quickly. When the villages are close enough to urban ares, a connection to an urban water supply network is the best solution. However, for small, isolated villages, like fishing villages for example, we will need to find ways to ensure regular water supply using water tankers, taking into account that many roads have been damaged and that access will be slow, difficult and costly. The consequences on life in these villages will be felt for years to come.

- A B : Concerning sanitation needs, what is the situation and what action are we taking?
J P L : All the sceptic tanks were flooded and destroyed in the area affected by the tidal wave, and a large part of our action is focused on emptying these tanks and building new ones in camps and villages.

- A B : And in terms of agriculture?
J P L : Thankfully, there is almost no damage nor major needs, since farming areas are situated sufficiently far from the coast not to have been affected. At a later stage, we could envisage action in the agricultural field, but this would be for long term development, rather than emergency or post-emergency action.

- A B : In the long term, what are the future stages in our action?
J P L : In addition to maintaining water supplies as we have already mentioned, it is also necessary to quickly identify any "forgotten areas", for example extremely isolated fishing villages, who have not yet received any assistance and may be in a state of extreme emergency, and where food may be lacking. Then, assistance in rebuilding houses which people want to undertake quickly must be considered, for example through a cleaning / debris removal programme, and the supply of materials.

- A B : To widen our discussion, at a time when access to water resources is becoming a global emergency, what is your opinion on the expertise and the technical capacity of NGOs to respond to this global problem on a local, practical scale?
J P L : In my view, and according to my experience, the problem is very simple: to respond to all the situations that we encounter, where people do not have access to water, or are drinking strictly undrinkable water according to our standards, there are no particular technical difficulties. The only issue is funding, money. With sufficient funding, the NGOs have the expertise and the capability to transfer the equipment and know-how where it is needed so as to provide drinking water to populations in need.

- A B : Yes, but on another level, the solution also depends on the ability of individual countries to set up water infrastructure and management systems?
J P L : Yes, that is true, but we also return to a problem of financial means. If I take the exemple of the water supply system installed by SOLIDARITES in Kabul, Afghanistan, which is on a par with a specialist industrial operator, we took on this sort of large-scale programme because the local authorities did not have the means to do so.