Water treatment practices in rural Myanmar and residents’ perceptions of technologies from donor countries

• Published in: Desalination and water treatment 2020-12, Vol.208, p.337-344
• Main Authors: Ko, Shane Htet, Sakai, Hiroshi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: China; Donor; Japan; Myanmar, Treatment technologies; Perception; SDGs
• ISSN: 1944-3986; 1944-3986
• DOI: 10.5004/dwt.2020.26483

Access to safe water is a significant issue in developing countries. Myanmar, a developing country in Southeast Asia, receives aid from many Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries. Installation of point-of-use water treatment devices is an example of a water aid project to update the water infrastructure of the recipient country. However, research has tended to ignore the circumstances of the recipient. Usually, they already conduct water treatment and provide water for daily use; therefore, comparison of newly installed technology with currently used technology is important to achieve sustained use of the new technology. In this study, 99 households in a village near Yangon City were asked to complete a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire included basic household information, currently used local technology, and residents’ perception of newly installed technologies from donor countries. The outcome of the study showed that local people were interested in higher water quality from both current and newly installed technologies, and they had different expectations of different donor countries. They were concerned about costs with all countries, but had different expectations for quality and ease of use from different countries. Analysis of specific technologies suggested that local people recognized the similarity of donor countries A (Japan) and B (China), but they expected higher quality from donor A and lower cost from donor B. Further analysis regarding current technology implied that they preferred to receive, and were more willing to use, technology from donor country A than from donor country B due to perceived quality.