New Water Policy and Practice Issue 4, Number 1, Fall 2017 | Page 40

New Water Policy & Practice Journal
vary from organisation to organisation. Once again, these are set up “temporarily”,
but can become permanent dependant on their context. WASH (Water, Sanitation
and Hygiene) is designed into the camps as a matter of course (The Sphere Project,
2011), and whilst the latter publication clearly identifies ‘Drainage’ as a component
of the WASH cluster, it is seldom achieved, often being the last to be constructed,
if at all, resulting in costly retrofits of still ineffective drainage once wastewater
(combination of grey and surface waters, not usually containing sewage) and flash
flooding problems are identified. Large drainage ditches, open concrete drains and
pipes may be installed to direct the water “to another environment” which is not
ideal (Tota-Maharaj, 2016). It would be more environmentally sustainable to en-
courage infiltration of the water into the ground, coupled with greywater reuse to
reduce surface water flows. The problems with solid waste encountered here are
similar to those found in informal settlements, as shown in Fig 7 which also shows
it accumulating in one of the wastewater streams.
Figure 7 Chamishko refugee camp,
KRI. Wastewater stream and dis-
carded waste.
An approach used successfully to manage greywater is that of Stabilisation
Agriculture (Adam-Bradford et al., 2016) whereby greywater can be used to water
gardens, rather than being disposed of into the street. Figure 8 shows a garden
supported by greywater which can produce ornamental plants as well as vegeta-
bles. The owner of this garden stated: “This garden reminds me of my childhood,
my land. It also provides me with food, but it connects me to my homeland.”
Figure 8 Greywater irrigated garden,
Domiz refugee camp, KRI.
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