NOTE: This sample protocol is just a sample protocol, and the PP reserves the right to alter or update this protocol for simplification or improvement.
A. Background Information
87 UNFCCC (2012) CDM – Executive Board Meeting 67, Annex 22, Information Note: Default Vales of Fraction of Non-Renewable Biomass for Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States, Version 01.0, 1-2 [Online] Available from:
http://cdm.unfccc.int/filestorage/H/2/9/H29X6EKQMJU7RY85DIT4ZPFAL3O1GW/eb67_repan22.pdf?t=dXN8b WsyM2JyfDBlQpYbuwAmhJj00TQxvTEh (Accessed 22/02/2013)
88 UNFCCC (2012) CDM – Executive Board Meeting 67, Annex 22, Information Note: Default Vales of Fraction of Non-Renewable Biomass for Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States, Version 01.0, 3-4 [Online] Available from:
http://cdm.unfccc.int/filestorage/H/2/9/H29X6EKQMJU7RY85DIT4ZPFAL3O1GW/eb67_repan22.pdf?t=dXN8b WsyM2JyfDBlQpYbuwAmhJj00TQxvTEh (Accessed 22/02/2013)
As part of the verification process of the ceramic water filter carbon project for Gold Standard, TerraClear must complete a Water Consumption Field Test (WCFT).
Purpose of WCFT
The WCFT is a field-based test to determine the effect of water treatment interventions on safe water consumption in households. The main goal of the WCFT is to assess how the introduction of point-of-use water treatments, in particular the TerraClear Ceramic Water Purifier (CWP), affects consumption of safe water in typical households in Laos.
According to Annex 3 Application of the Methodology to Water Treatment Project Activities, in the Gold Standard methodology “Technology and Practices to Displace Decentralized Thermal Energy Consumption – 11/04/2011” the main purpose of the WCFT is to determine the liters of water consumed per person per day in baseline (assuming suppressed demand) and project scenarios. TerraClear’s WCFT will determine the liters of water consumed by measuring changes in the weight of water (in kilograms) and calculating the volumetric equivalents of these changes (in liters).
B. Research Assistant Protocol
Protocol Overview
Households will be geographically clustered, then randomly selected to participate in the WCFT in accordance with the sampling plan.
Testing will avoid weekends, especially Sundays, and holidays as these may bias (positively or negatively) typical water consumption in the household.
The WCFT will require a total of four (4) contact days with each household. The first day of the WCFT will be for introductions, preparations for testing. On all four days of the WCFT, data will be collected on the WCFT Data Collection Sheet.
Day 1:
On the first day of the WCFT, the Research Assistant (RA) will do the following:
INTRODUCE
1. The RA will begin by requesting to speak to the person(s) responsible for managing water for the house. This person will be referred to as the “respondent(s)” throughout the rest of the document. Please keep in mind that this may be more than one person.
2. The RA will then introduce him/herself and explain the purpose of the WCFT to household members.
Sample Introduction to Household
“Good morning/afternoon, my name is _______________________. I am here on behalf of TerraClear. We are doing a study on household water consumption with households that use the TerraClear water filter and we would like to ask you to participate. We will visit you for the next five (5) days, including today, for 30 minutes to one hour per day. Participation is voluntary. Do you agree to participate in our study?”
3. If the respondent agrees to participate with the study, continue with the following steps. If they do not agree to participate, thank the household and move on to the next household on your list.
4. Once informed consent is received, the RA will explain what will be expected of the household, arrange to perform measurements of the household’s water consumption at roughly the same time of day for the next four (4) days and collect the respondent’s signature. Please remember, that if there is more than one household member that will be participating in the study, the RA will need to collect the signature of each of them.
Sample Explanation to Household
“Thank you for agreeing to participate. The study will take a total of 4 days to complete, including today.
We will now set up some water storage bottles in your cooking area. We will come back to your house for about 30 minutes at about the same time of day for the next three days to measure how much water you have used. We will also ask you some survey questions about your family’s water use.
All the information we collect will be kept private. Your name will not appear anywhere in the final report. Also no information that may identify you will be contained in the final report without your permission.
We will provide you with a gift for your participation and compensate you for the fuel we use. Do you have any questions?
If you still agree to participate, please sign here.” The respondent will sign on the appropriate space on the “Cover Sheet and Consent Form”
5. The RA will ask the respondent(s) whether or not they were planning to clean their TerraClear Filter this week. If so, ask them to either clean it before you begin, or to wait until after the study is complete.
6. The RA will supply each sample household with three (3) 20 Liter bottles labeled “TO-BOIL”,
“CWP-RAW1”, “CWP-RAW2”. Each bottle will be clearly labeled in Lao script and graphics describing the purpose for the water from each bottle. The RA will explain the following:
a. Bottle TO-BOIL contains Raw Water for Boiling. This water is raw (has not been previously boiled) and unfiltered and should be used for any purpose the household may need to boil water (drinking, cooking, cleaning, etc.).
b. Bottles CWP-RAW1and CWP-RAW2contain Raw Water for Filtering. This is water that has not been previously boiled or filtered, and should be used to refill the TerraClear Filter.
c. All water used by the household during the WCFT should come from these bottles ONLY.
7. Empty all of the Unfiltered Raw Water in the TerraClear Filter ceramic pot into the bottle CWP-RAW1. Place the ceramic element upside down or place it on a clean surface.
MEASURE
8. Use the scale provided to measure the total weight of the water in the household’s TerraClear Filter tank.
a. Ensure that the scale is powered on and on a level surface. Check that there is nothing on the scale and that the scale reads “0”. If the scale is not reading “0” press the “Zero”
button located on the scales keypad to reset the “zero” setting.
b. Place the TerraClear Filter tank onto the scale. Measure the weight of the filter.
c. Record this water as TOTAL Weight of the water filter (including water) for Day 1 on the datasheet provided. Return the ceramic element back into the filter container.
FILL
9. Ask the household respondent to identify the most commonly used source for drinking water.
Fill both CWP-RAWbottles with water from the drinking water source. The RA must leave the household with at least 30 kilos of Raw Water for Filtering with the TerraClear Filter for the next 24 hours. The 30 kilos are realized as follows:
a. Place the bottle labeled CWP-RAW1 onto the scale. Add raw water into the bottle until the total weight of the bottle and the raw water in the CWP-RAW1 bottle weighs more than 15.5 kg. Record the total weight of CWP-RAW1 on the datasheet.
b. Fill the TerraClear CWP filter pot with Raw Water from bottle CWP-RAW1.
c. Place the bottle labeled CWP-RAW2 onto the scale. Add raw water into the bottle until the total weight of the bottle and the raw water in the CWP-RAW2 bottle weighs more than 15.5 kg. Record the total weight of CWP-RAW2 on the datasheet.
d. NB: The total Raw Water for Filtering left with household should be greater than 30 kilograms. Record these volumes as NEW Raw Water for Filtering for Day 1 on the datasheet provided.
10. Fill bottle TO-BOIL with more than 15 kilos of Raw Water for Boiling, again using the scale to measure the combined weight of the water and the TO-BOIL bottle. Record this water as NEW Raw Water for Boiling for Day 1 in the datasheet provided.
REMIND
11. The RA should remind household respondent(s) of the following:
a. Bottle TO-BOIL contains Raw Water for boiling if the household still wishes to boil water despite having a TerraClear Filter.
b. If water runs out in the TerraClear Filter, the household should refill it with raw water from bottles CWP-RAW1. When CWP-RAW1 is empty, the household should fill the Filter with raw water from bottle CWP-RAW2.
12. Before departure, the RA will do the following:
a. The RA should have the respondent(s) repeat what the water in each bottle is for and where the water in each comes from.
b. The RA should remind the respondent(s): “Please do not use any water other than what is in the bottles while we are gone. We will fill them up again tomorrow when we return.”
c. The RA should ask the respondent(s) trick questions regarding what can and cannot be done with the bottles and where water can and cannot be taken from.
Day 2:
The RA will return to the household 24 hours later, at roughly the same time as Day 1. The RA will:
ASK
1. Ask about the number of people that drank water in the household since the last visit89 and record the totals for each day on the datasheet provided.
2. To determine the quantity of safe water, if any, that is filtered by the TerraClear Filter and then subsequently boiled, the RA will ask the household the following questions. Answers should be recorded in the datasheet provided:
a. Was any of the Raw Filtered Water boiled after being filtered by the TerraClear Filter?
b. If yes, how is this water used (making tea, cooking, washing, etc.)?
c. Ask what was the volume of Raw Filtered Water that was subsequently boiled and record the volume as Subsequently Boiled Water for Day 2.
3. Request to have access to the 3 bottles (TO-BOIL, CWP-RAW1, CWP-RAW2) and the TerraClear Filter.
MEASURE
89 Since the number of household members can vary from one day to the next, it is important to record this number for each visit.
4. Empty all of the unfiltered raw water in the TerraClear Filter Ceramic into the bottle CWP-RAW1 (this is for easy measurement as the Ceramic is not calibrated).
5. Ensure that the scale is powered on and on a level surface. Check that there is nothing on the scale and that the scale reads “0”. If the scale is not reading “0” press the “Zero” button located on the scales keypad to reset the “zero” setting
6. Using the scale provided measure the weight of water in kilograms remaining in the TO-BOIL, CWP-RAW1, CWP-RAW2 bottles. Record these measurements in the appropriate space for REMAINING Water for Day 2 on the datasheet provided.
FILL
7. Fill both CWP-RAWbottles & TerraClear Filter. The RA must leave the household with more than 30 kilos of Raw Water for Filtering with the TerraClear Filter for the next 24 hours. The 30 kilos are realized as follows:
a. Place the bottle labeled CWP-RAW1 onto the scale. Add raw water into the bottle until the total weight of the bottle and the raw water in the CWP-RAW1 bottle weighs more than 15.5 kg. Record the total weight of CWP-RAW1 on the datasheet.
b. Fill the TerraClear CWP filter pot with Raw Water from bottle CWP-RAW1.
c. Place the bottle labeled CWP-RAW2 onto the scale. Measuring the weight of the bottle, add raw water into the bottle until the total weight of the bottle and the raw water in the CWP-RAW2 bottle weighs more than 15.5 kg. Record the total weight of CWP-RAW2 on the datasheet.
d. NB: The total Raw Water for Filtering left with household should be greater than 30 kilograms. Record these volumes as NEW Raw Water for Filtering for Day 1 on the datasheet provided.
8. Fill bottle TO-BOIL with 15 kilos or more of Raw Water for Boiling. NEW Raw Water for Boiling for Day 2 in the datasheet provided.
REMIND
9. Before departure, the RA will do the following:
a. The RA should have the respondent(s) repeat what the water in each bottle is for and where the water in each comes from.
b. The RA should remind the respondent(s): “Please do not use any water other than what is in the bottles while we are gone. We will fill them up again tomorrow when we return.”
c. The RA should ask the respondent(s) trick questions regarding what can and cannot be done with the bottles and where water can and cannot be taken from.
PICTURE
2. **RA should take a picture of the 3 bottles full of water in the Household with the HH Reference Code clearly visible**
Day 3:
The RA will repeat Steps 1-9 from Day 2, but all measurements will be recorded in the appropriate place for Day 3.
Day 4:
The RA will repeat Steps 1-6 from Day 2 and Day 3, but all measurements will be recorded in the appropriate place for Day 4.
In addition, after emptying all of the Unfiltered Raw Water in the TerraClear Filter Ceramic into the bottle CWP-RAW1 in Step 4, the RA will use the scale provided to measure the total weight of the water remaining in the household’s TerraClear Filter tank. Record this water as TOTAL Weight of the water filter (including water) for Day 4 on the datasheet provided.
When all measurements are complete, the RA should collect all three bottles.
END OF PROTOCOL