Safe Water Development

MEDRIX began by providing education to medical professionals in Vietnam.  However, during the course of this work a reoccurring theme emerged – lack of safe water severely impacts the quality of health throughout Vietnam and access to safe water would help solve many of the health problems.

• Disease-causing organisms, and
• Chemicals harming human health.

After realizing this, MEDRIX staff began work on drinking water projects in the late 1990s. The first projects involved funding new wells for schools and health clinics. After a few years, MEDRIX leadership made the decision to shift focus toward improving water quality by treating existing sources of water making them safe to drink. This focus was in line with the MEDRIX goals of improving the health of people living in the rural areas.

Ultraviolet Water Treatment

To improve water quality and provide drinkable water in schools and health clinics, MEDRIX developed an Ultraviolet Water Treatment System. In 2005 the first treatment systems were installed and tested in rural schools. Some important lessons were learned from those early systems and improvements were made. To date, 63 systems are in operation in schools, health clinics and hospitals in Phu Loc and Nam Dong districts in central Vietnam.

Training and Education

Training and education have been an important part of the MEDRIX water program and both are necessary to ensure sustainability. More than 100 Vietnamese workers have now been trained to operate the water treatment systems. Ten maintenance technicians have been trained to handle routine repairs and train new system operators. In the fall of 2011 the responsibility for operation and maintenance will be transferred to Vietnamese personnel under supervision of the provincial health department.

Monitoring and Evaluation

One significant challenge in this project has been monitoring the operating status of all the systems. Monitoring is important to ensure that repairs are made when needed and to provide project managers a clear view of the operating status of all 60+ systems. MEDRIX proposed a solution- collect the operating status information once a month and display the status data on a digital map. This status map is quickly and easily shared via computer and internet with all partners in the project. Vietnamese partners made valuable suggestions toward efficiency of monitoring; student groups from the University of Washington helped with the technical GIS maps. This monitoring system works effectively and is highly valued by all partners.

Sharing Information

MEDRIX is committed to sharing what we have learned about using ultraviolet energy for water treatment and also about project monitoring and evaluation. 

UV Water Treatment System Handbook                                                                                                                                                          
MEDRIX has published a handbook entitled, “Using Ultraviolet to Disinfect Household Drinking Water.”  If you want more information about treating water with ultraviolet energy or if you want to know how to construct and operate a small ultraviolet water treatment system, please contact our office for a FREE digital copy of the handbook.  The handbook is currently available in English, Vietnamese, Spanish and Khmer.

Monitoring and Evaluation Handbook

MEDRIX is also committed to sharing what we have learned about Monitoring and Evaluating that can apply to a wide variety of development projects. We have published a handbook entitled, “Monitoring and Evaluation Projects Using GIS”.  If you want a copy of this handbook please contact our office for a FREE digital copy.  The handbook is currently available only in English.