Reverse Linkage

69 DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION B urkina Faso is a Sahelian country with very limited water resources. With more than 80 per cent of the land located on crystalline basement, groundwater is minimal; therefore the National Office for Water and Sanitation (ONEA) depends on surface water to meet the needs of large and medium-sized cities. In the last few years, the raw water quality has led to a marked increase in eutrophication, where the nutrient enrichment of entropic activity in surface water has led to a prolifera- tion of micro-algae. These organisms lower water quality and contribute to an increase in the cost of potable water production. Other significant consequences include an acceleration in the clogging of the walls and bottom of treatment plants, requiring regular brushing and empty- ing, and an increase in sedimentary deposits from the dead micro-organisms at the bottom of lakes. The algae also cause the formation of hydrogen sulphide in water, making it more difficult to treat. It was found necessary to review the entire chain of drinking water production in Burkina Faso to make improvements, for which purpose the ONEA decided to draw on the experi- ence of the National Office of Electricity andWater (ONEE), Morocco. As a supporter of South-South Cooperation, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has now introduced a scaled-up, result-oriented mechanism, known as Reverse Linkage. The mechanism allows IsDB to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and expertise among member countries. Within this context, IsDB approached the Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation (AMCI) to oversee a tender made by the Kingdom of Morocco to finance the proposed water quality improvement project in Burkina Faso, to be run between the two technical partners, ONEA and ONEE. A Memorandum of Understanding was subsequently signed in January 2015 between IsDB, the KingdomofMorocco represented byAMCI, and the government of Burkina Faso. Objectives The main objective of the project is to improve the quality of water provided by the ONEA, incorporating the process of producing drinking water from freshwater through treatment at station level to the end of the chain, i.e. the customer’s tap. Themain concernwas to improve the quality of the freshwater before treatment, and therefore control cost. An audit of the entire chain was thus required in order to identify the possible points of intervention in the existing system and to review the practices and capacity building of the staff in charge of the activity. The audit defined the project as comprising: • Protection of water resources: control of eutrophication at the Ziga and Loumbila dams • Optimisation of water treatment units: Ziga and Paspanga stations, and fresh water from Loumbila • Upgrading of the central water quality control laboratory for possible accreditation • Improved monitoring of water quality at the distribution network level. It was agreed to act on these issues through intervention by Moroccan experts already in Burkina Faso and agent missions from the central laboratory of ONEA, Morocco, in running training sessions and sharing good laboratory practice. Project implementation Protection of water resources With the help of the Moroccan experts, samples of plankton and periphyton were collected in situ and analysed at the laboratory to identify the algal concentration in the dam waters. Measurements of physico-chemical and biologi- cal parameters such as pH, T°, dissolved O 2 , transparency, turbidity, nitrate, nitrite, phosphorus, and chlorophyll were also taken from the three dams, from the points at which the algae proliferates, to identify sources of pollution. A total of 21 points were identified at Ziga, three in Loumbila, and three at the Mouhoun river. At a site in Salbisgo, two points Reverse Linkage project between Burkina Faso and Morocco for water quality improvement Sawadogo Moumouni , Water Services Management Specialist and Project Focal Point; Neya Augustin, Environmental Specialist in Water Resources Protection; Yameogo Wendlassida Olivier, Laboratory Water Analysis Specialist, National Office of Water and Sanitation (ONEA)