It is very important to supply safe drinking water for rural area not only a prevention of entric diseases but also a promotion of health life. It is estimated that 6,981,000 rural inhabitants were covered by the simple piped water supply system at the end of 1987 in Korea.
The program for improvement of water supply system in rural villages was initiated by the government since 1967. But most of these systems have been operated carelessly by the hands of villagers who have no proper knowledge and experience. Since most of water sources were located nearby farmland, there might be a possibility that the sources could be contaminated by pesticides and fertilizers. For this reason, it is recommended to take underground water as a water source rather than surface water such as a pond or stream water in rural areas. However, the system is supplied from the surface water, its water quality can be improved by using of simple sand filter and simple chlorinator inexpensively.
On the basis of an on-site study, conducted during 1986-87, in San-Buk Village, Keum-Sa-Myon, YejuGun, Kyong-Gi-Do, the new simple piped water supply system was designed by the Institute for Environmental Research, Yonsei University, and constructed by the villagers themselves in September 1987.
This simple system which is protected by metal fences consists of three main parts, pump house, vertical sand filter and water tank. The pumped water from underground flows into the upper part of the sand filter, through the sand, and out the water tank which is connected to the bottom of vertical filter. And the simple plastic-bottle chlorinator was installed in the water tank for chlorination.
The water quality was remarkably improved after completion of construction. The total bacterial count was not detected from the tap water in households distributed by this simple piped water supply system.
The construction cost of this system which was connected 34 households in San-Buk Village, was 4,851,000 won(approximately 6,020 U.S. dollars : 1 $ = 805.8 won) in 1987, 77% of expenses was supported by the Community Development Foundation in Korea. This case study for simple piped water supply projects will be applicable to other program for improvement of water supply system in rural areas of Korea, and other developing countries.
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