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Child Proof Public Water Tanks at Za’atari Camp, Jordan
Dulcie Xue
School of International Training
Dr. Raed Al Tabini

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A brief overview of Za’atari Camp - as a Syrian refugee camp in Mafraq, Jordan,
conditions are harsh. The inhabitant have been forced to flee Syria in search of safety, and the
emotional difficulties are only compounded by the limited water supply and limited quality of
life inside the camp. Only 3,500 liters of water are delivered everyday to service over 80,000
individuals (ACTED official, personal communication, 2015 July 14). When we went to visit
Za’atari, we had a heart-wrenching opportunity to listen to a family’s heart breaking story, and
we were asked to share with the rest of the world what life was like within the camps. Walking
around, we saw children wasting water from public tanks by dumping water from their personal
tanks onto the ground. And by not shutting the faucet completely, water leaked from the tank. All
I could think about was the opportunity cost: that water could have eased the amount of over
extraction from the Zaraq water basin or been used for drinking and sanitation. I also witnessed
children sucking on the public water hoses, which may have seemed harmless to a child, but that
could be an impetus to spread disease and illness within the camp. There were also no adults to
be found who could stop this. My proposal is to install child resistant faucet locks on public
water tanks, remove hoses from public water tanks, and educate children and adults about
water conservation. Since the proposal requires minimal funding and could potentially reduce
the spread of illnesses, I believe the overall added benefit is greater than any inconvenience that
could be caused. Without formal data on the amount of water wasted, I propose a trial run for 6
months in the districts that relies the most heavily on public water tanks: Districts 7 (D7) and 8
(D8). In fact “District 8 had the smallest proportion of households with private water tanks at
5.9%” (UNICEF, 2015). If the amount of money saved from reduced water costs and health care
costs is greater than the expense of purchasing locks for all water tanks, then I would propose
expanding the project to the rest of Za’atari Camp and even the other refugee camps in Jordan.
Child resistant medicine and chemical bottles are required by law in the United States as
a result of Poison Prevention Packaging Act in 1970. Specifically, packaging “must be designed
or constructed to be significantly difficult for children under five years of age to open within a
reasonable time, and not difficult for normal adults to use properly” (United States Consumer
Product Safety Commission, n.d.). In other words, the idea is to make access to potentially
hazardous materials, such as medication or chemical cleaners, markedly difficult for children.

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Bottles must go through sampled testing to meet specific standards. As a result, children
mortality from poisoning has declined from 5.7/1000 in 1973 to 3.4/1,000 in 1978 in an abstract
written by Walton. He estimated that “child-resistant closure have prevented nearly 200,000
accidental ingestions since 1973” to 1982 (Walton, 1982).
Despite the welcome news, a new study has conducted and analyzed the numbers of calls
to poison centers in relation to children. A total of 547,042 calls were made in 2013 about
children under the age of 19 and 75% of those calls were only for children ages 1- 4 (Ferguson,
Osterthaler, Kaminski, & Green, 2015). Interestingly, 19.2% of Za’atari is the same age bracket
(UNICEF, 2015), which means that almost one in every five people is within the target group for
the faucet project. While the PPPA has been shown to be definitively effective in reducing rates
of accidents, there is still more that needs to be done. But what? According to Carr, president and
CEO of Safe Kids, the current legislation and regulations are, in fact, enough. It now needs to
become the parent’s responsibility to take the preventative measures necessary to keep children
safe. In general, keeping medication in high cabinets and off of nightstands and countertops
(Rossen & Davis, 2015). Children are naturally curious about the world around them. As they
grow, they start exercise autonomy by learning to walk, putting things in their mouths, and
playing in general. When The Today Show invited a few children to test out empty children-
resistant bottles of cleaning supplies and medication, it took a 4 year old girl just seconds to open
a bottle of ibuprofen (Rossen & Davis, 2015). Clearly, children can still gain access to the
contents inside the bottle, but parents must take responsibility to ensure that they don’t. Given
this evidence, it is important to realize that children will be occasionally capable of getting past
the security measures, which is reason for an educational aspect in this project. People need to
understand why they are being installed and parents must learn how to manage their children’s
play when it comes to water. Ideally, they should be the ones who are getting water, not children.
In addition, if parents or guards see children playing with water, they should know to take it upon
themselves to stop it.

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Only three districts and public WASH facilities have proper sewage disposal. Meaning,
the resulting nine districts incur huge health implications. The increase in popularity of at-home
WASH facilities means that more black water
and grey water
will gather outside homes. I1 2
noticed that when water was poured on the ground, it would spread into holes dug for any kind
of waste water. So instead of a muddy ground, which was relatively harmless, it became riddled
with bacteria and attracted flies. Flies easily transmit germs from any surface they touch, from
wastewater to food. In addition, the mixture will speed up the contamination of the Zaraq basin
which lies underneath. Already under stress from extreme over extraction every year, the black
and grey water has been slowly infiltrating the farther down in the the ground. If the basin
becomes polluted, Za’atari’s water supply will become even more limited and stressed. Keeping
in mind, this was what children and adults had to walk through everyday, which could easily
cause illness. For example, “when people become infected with diseases such as cholera, typhoid
and hepatitis A, their excreta will contain large amounts of the germs which cause the
disease” (World Health Organization, n.d.). In compliance with WASH standards, Hygiene
Promotors specifically target and communication with the homes and areas where open
deification are an issue (ACTED, Jen, Oxfam, REACH, UNHCR… 2015). The most common
acute diseases at Za’atari are upper respiratory tract infections, and I distinctly remember often
hearing children cough. There were 2,904 cases in from January to April of 2014 and a 32%
morality rate, which is markedly higher than any other disease (UNHCR, 2104). While I am
unaware of any connection between the causes of respiratory tract infections and the uncollected
wastewater, hopefully a generally cleanlier campsite will improve overall health in individuals of
all ages. Ultimately, more water will be reserved within the public tanks once less of it becomes
wasted and it can be used by families to clean their homes or wash their clothes more often.
These are small changes made at a household level, but hopefully there will be a greater effect
felt especially once people start to understand that wasting water is unacceptable.
Waste water1
Dish water2

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There are a number of other reasons why D7 and D8 are ideal to run an experimental test
trial for this project. They rely the most heavily on public water sources, they have a high
population of young children, and they have varying rates of private toilets and showers. 64% of
people in D7 and 79.1% of people in D8 rely on public water points for drinking water. The
lowest rate is in D2 with 33.5%. This likely attributed to the fact that it has been established
earlier than the other sectors. In D8, there are 4623 children, making it the second most
populated district of people under the age of 18. Along with the technical definition of child-
resistant, there are 1,561 children under five years of age who would be affected by the project.
In D7, there are 3,868 children, making it the fifth most populated district by people under the
age of 18. A total of 1,273 children under the age of five which would be affected by this project.
In D8, only 62.4% of households have both showers and toilets, and in D7, it is 88.4% of
households (compared to the highest rate, 94.2% of households in D1) (UNICEF, 2015c). In
theory, since D7 has more household toilets and showers, there is more black and grey water in
the streets. I hypothesize that D7 will see a greater decrease in the rate of diseases such as skin
infection, diarrhea, and influenza-like illness, than D8. Furthermore, D8 reports the highest rate
of public WASH centre usage at 29.4%. D7 reports 7.3%, an average rate compared to the rest of
the districts. It would be interesting to notice any differences in the rates of disease between these
two districts given their different preferences.
Education is difficult at Za’atari for the 26,091 school aged children registered there.
Amongst teenagers ages 19-24, 83.2% did not complete either high school or college and 10.1%
completed high school in Syria or Jordan. Rates of formal education are highest amongst
children ages 9-11 (87% girls, 81% boys), and lowest amongst children ages 16-17 (26% girls
and 22% boys). It seems as they get older, they are more discouraged from receiving any kind of
education since 92.5% do not receive any form of employment training or unpaid volunteering
(UNICEF, 2015b). According to UNICEF (2015a), it is evidenced that formal education is
already extremely overstretched, leaving a gap for the children who want education but cannot
receive one. As a result, there is a growing need for alternative education, where they can learn

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things like technical skills and life skill activities. Only 6% of children reported informal 3
education, but there is room for improvement. Initially, part of my project would include raising
awareness in the Qatari school in D8 and the soon-to-be-completed school in D7. Unfortunately,
the effectiveness of raising awareness within schools may be low with given the attendance and
drop out rates. In D7, 40% of children ages 6-17 are not receiving any type of education. In D8,
it is 39%. Alternative forms of education would be ideal in these two locations because “young
people gave highly positive accounts of informal education, which they described as supportive
and engaging” (UNICEF, 2015c). This is great sign to introduce new informal education as a
way to occupy time and deepen community bonding. In a safe, supportive environment,
personnel can help children understand the basics of how much water is left in Jordan and the
environmental impact of unsustainable solution. It is a heavy subject, but awareness is crucial.
Parents and adults are no exception - I would like to introduce more informal education (to be
separated by gender) about ways to save water in the house and ways to manage your children’s
water use. Parents will be highly encouraged to retrieve their own water. As a financial incentive,
it may be beneficial to offer a small sum of cash to get at least one member of the household to
attend these informal classes. Besides that, having community leaders encourage attendance
would ease any reluctance.
In other to take the necessary steps, first, it must be communicated, via signs and word of
mouth, that this is a new project underway in D7 and D8. Ensure that people are expecting the
changes the next time they go to a public water tank and survey the satisfaction or
dissatisfaction. In the span of a week or so, all tanks should have their hoses removed and child-
resistant faucet installed. Second, introduce informal classes twice a month for each gender and
age range (<18 or >18) by handing out flyers, offering small financial incentives, or using
community leaders. Ultimately, what do I hope to achieve? Since the camp receives the same
amount of water everyday, absolutely maximizing the overall benefit and is key. I hope to see a
reduction in waste in the streets, in turn making Za’atari cleaner and healthier.
Educational activities that are not certifiable by the Ministry of Education3

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Work Cited
ACTED, Jen, Oxfam, REACH, UNHCH, & UNICEF (2014 Sept 15). Minimum Standards for
Za’atari WASH Sector. WASH Sector. Retrieved from https://data.unhcr.org/
syrianrefugees/download.php?id=7447
Ferguson R.W., Osterthaler K., Kaminski S., Green A. Medicine Safety for Children: An In-
Depth Look at Poison Center Calls. Washington, D.C.: Safe Kids Worldwide, March
2015.
Rossen J., Davis J. (2015 April 10). Are child safety caps enough to keep kids out? Today Health
& Wellness. Retrieved from http://www.today.com/health/child-safety-caps-do-they-
really-protect-your-kids-t14111
UNHCR (2014 April 4). Public Health Profile. UNHCR, 1-2. Za’atari, Jordan. Retrieved from
http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/download.php?id=5345
UNHCR (2015 June 17). Syria Regional Refugee Response. Zaatari Refugee Camp. Retrieved
from http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/settlement.php?
id=176&country=107&region=77
UNICEF (2015a Feburary). Syria Crisis Monthly humanitarian situation report. UNICEF, 1-18.
Retrieved from http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/download.php?id=8546

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UNICEF (2015b June). Comprehensive Child Focused Assessment Education/Youth. UNICEF,
1-2. Mafraq Governorate, Jordan. Retrieved from http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/
download.php?id=9152
UNICEF (2015c July 16). Comprehensive Child Focused Assessment Za’atari Refugee Camp.
UNHCR, 1-65. Mafraq Governorate, Jordan. Retrieved from http://data.unhcr.org/
syrianrefugees/ download.php?id=9146
United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (n.d.). Poison Prevention Packaging Act.
Retrieved from http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Regulations-Laws--Standards/Statutes/Poison-
Prevention-Packaging-Act/
Walton, W. W. (1982). An evaluation of the Poison Prevention Packaging Act [Abstract]. Official
Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, 69:3 363-370.
Water Health Organization (n.d.). Fact sheets on environmental sanitation. World Health
Organization. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/hygiene/
emergencies/envsanfactsheets/en/index2.html