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This is certainly an issue in refugee camps and for this reason Oxfam developed emergency tap stands which you push up to allow the flow of water and are weighted so that they are self closing. Self closing taps are very common in public toilets, for example in Johannesburg airport, though some models may be expensive or not very convenient if you are trying to fill a 20l jerrycan.
Like Remi, I would have thought that in an urban area like Soweto, children big enough to collect water would also know about taps. One reason I have heard in rural areas is a belief that flowing water is cleaner than standing water. With intermittent supplies it is certainly common to leave taps open so that people will know when the water is there. Another issue I have come across in refugee camps in Azerbaijan is people removing the self closing taps or wiring them open to get a constant supply for irrigation.
It is always good practice to install adequate drainage at the same time as a new water supply but it sounds like a simple soak-away would be overwhelmed in the situation you describe and it would have to be a piped drain and a terrible waste of resources so some sort of water point committee and education would be the best way to go.
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This is certainly an issue in refugee camps and for this reason Oxfam developed emergency tap
stands which you push up to allow the flow of water and are weighted so that they are
self closing. Self closing
self-closing. Self-closing
taps are very common in public toilets, for example in Johannesburg
airport,
Airport,
though some models may be expensive or not very convenient if you are trying to fill a
20l
20 litre
jerrycan.
Like Remi, I would have thought that in an urban area like
Soweto,
Soweto
children big enough to collect water would also know about taps.
One reason I have heard in rural areas is a belief that flowing water is cleaner than standing
water.
With intermittent supplies it is certainly common to leave taps open so that people will know when
the water is there.
Another issue I have come across in refugee camps in Azerbaijan is people removing the
self closing
self-closing
taps or wiring them open to get a constant supply for irrigation.
It is always good practice to install adequate drainage at the same time as a new water
supply
supply,
but it sounds like a simple soak-away would be overwhelmed in the situation you describe and it
would have to be a piped drain and a terrible waste of
resources so
resources. So
some sort of water point committee and education would be the best way to go.