USING GIS TO DISTRIBUTEUNITED METHODIST CHURCH

WATER FILTRATION UNITSIN HAITI

“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah

12:3)

Justin HelmsMGIS Capstone ProjectPenn State University

Presentation Overview

Haiti’s physical location2010 EarthquakeEnduring strugglesUnited Methodist Church effortsAnalysis 1 Analysis 2Analysis 3Data sources

Physical Location

Physical Location

Terrain and Hydrology

2010 Earthquake

Enduring Struggles

Haiti is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere Haiti deals with water scarcity on a daily basis 45 percent of the population has no access to an improved

water source 70 percent has no direct access to potable water Public systems are rarely available year round Water-borne illnesses cause of over half of all Haiti

deaths each year The 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 2010 destroyed fresh-water

resources

Categories of Haiti Aid

United Methodist Church

United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) provides Christian outreach, humanitarian relief and disaster response to 80+ countries

UMCOR supports distribution of water filtration units throughout Haiti

UMCOR Haiti Team

The team wants to focus on specific communitiesGrow relationships with those communitiesThe team lacks a means to maximize distribution of

filters

How the Filtration Units Work

Analysis 1

Determine most effective means to distribute filters

Identify areas where: Water-born illnesses are highest GDP is least Stream(s) are nearby Population is dense Away from previously distributed filters

Analysis 2

Determine most effective locations to drill wells

Identify areas where: Water-born illnesses are highest GDP is least Stream(s) are not nearby Population is dense Water table is not too low (to enable water to be

reached)

Analysis 3

Purchase 20 GPS tracking devices (e.g., TRAX)

Equip some bottles with devicesDistribute using a standard ratio

Data

Elevation DTED Level 0 – Geo Community

Hydrology Haiti Hydrology: Polygons, 1:250,000, 9/4/12 Haiti Inland waters river network: Lines, 1:25000, 6/22/12

Cholera Cholera Treatment Facilities: Direct contact TEBOW Electronic Medical Record System: Records database Pan American Health Organization

Administrative Boundaries Admin Boundaries – Level 1 (Departments) Polygons, 5/9/12 Admin Boundaries – Level 2 (Communities) Polygons, 5/9/12 Admin Boundaries – Level 3 (Community Sections) Polygons, 5/9/12

Population Population Density: Polygons, Level 3, 5/11/12

Basemap Natural Earth Data: Rasters

Other Data Sources and References

http://www.gislounge.com/haiti-maps-and-gis-data-resources/ http://data.geocomm.com/catalog/HA/datalist.html http://haitidata.org/ https://www.census.gov/population/international/data/mapping/

demobase.html http://thewaterproject.org/water-in-crisis-haiti a study conducted by The Center for Human Rights and Global

Justice http://www.haitiwater.org/water_in_haiti/problem.php http://www.umc.org/ http://www.umc.org/how-we-serve/responding-to-disaster http://earthzine.org/2011/11/22/use-of-remote-sensing-for-

groundwater-mapping-in-haiti/ https://fas.org/irp/imint/haiti.pdf

Example of Available Data