Meet Ms Do Thu Hien, a laboratory technical staff of the Tuyen Quang Provincial Center for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation of the Tuyen Quang Province of Viet Nam.
For three days a week, Ms Hien travels to many local water stations and households in Tuyen Quang province to test the water quality to ensure the water is safe for human consumption.
“It is part of my job to go through long distances to take water samples at mountainous far-flung areas”, says Ms Hien. “Water samples cannot be kept for a long time so I have to bring them back to the laboratory within the day. The travel can be tedious and tiring.”
In March 2021, Ms Hien and her two colleagues were given a training on how to use a mobile equipment to test and monitor water quality on-site. Having this portable equipment will help ensure accurate and fast test results. Doing the test in the field is convenient and innovative – something they have not done before.
The training was designed to enable participants to learn how to develop and implement a water quality monitoring plan. The training also included sessions to improve the water quality analysis skills of the participants both in the laboratories and on-field using mobile equipment.
The test kits were provided by WHO to the Provincial Center for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (PCERWASS) and Provincial Centers of Disease Control (CDC). The trainings were conducted by the National Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health.
To enable more field testing, WHO has provided 16 sets of test kits to CDCs and PCERWASS of eight project provinces throughout Viet Nam. These provinces are: Vinh Phuc, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang, Lai Chau, Tra Vinh, Can Tho, Soc Trang and Ninh Thuan and they all have water supply stations that apply the Water Safety Plan, introduced by WHO Viet Nam since 2006.
Water testing and water quality monitoring in rural areas plays an important role to ensure water safety and security. At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, water safety has become more and more important to ensure people have access to water that is safe for human consumption.
WHO will continue to provide support in ensuring access to safe water by strengthening water quality testing and monitoring in Viet Nam. This will include building the capacity of local staff, such as Ms Hien, who is the front-line staff in managing rural water supply systems in many provinces.