A consolidated reply of experiences and examples shared by various members of the Solution Exchange Water Community
From Bharat Lal, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, New Delhi
Posted 31 August 2010
We are nearing the end of the process of preparing the Strategic Plan for Rural Drinking Water up to the year 2022. We thank community members for their inputs. In this final discussion, we request you to send your inputs on the plan’s implementation as per the questions below. We welcome your responses even if you have written earlier, and request others who have not written so far, to do so.
Please refer to the discussion paper (ftp://203.124.149.174/public/wes/cr/res-04061001.pdf (PDF, 1.6 Mb)) that provides the relevant details and the template (ftp://203.124.149.174/public/wes/cr/res-04061002.pdf (PDF, 44 Kb)) which gives our approach. We seek your inputs on three broad areas -
Management and finance-related issues
- How will different schemes be managed in terms of maintenance and service delivery by gram panchayats?
- How much should be recovered from users for each type of intervention? How can we ensure that Finance Commission funds are transferred to GPs mandatorily, and leverage the 10 per cent incentive funds under NRDWP for handing over schemes to PRIs? How can we set up a revolving fund?
- Under IMIS, what should be the lowest level of data entry: GP, Block, Sub-division or District and what sort of IT system can link all the states?
Institutional issues
- How can we strengthen the District Water and Sanitation Missions and Water Supply and Sanitation Organisations? How can social audits be introduced for better transparency, who will do them and how can they be certified?
- What is the experience or policy in your state regarding regulation of water?
- How can we build a committed group of officers that are technically competent?
Service delivery
- How can we ensure testing of all water quality sources regularly and what regulatory mechanism, if any, can we use to ensure adequate supply of water for domestic purposes and protecting water quality?
- How can we use mobile phones to monitor, redress grievances, obtain community feedback, etc.
- How to use award schemes, say like the Sajal Gram Puraskar, to achieve these objectives?
In the two earlier discussions we had covered aspirations, status and strategies. If you want to add more to your earlier response, or respond afresh, please refer to this link (ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/wes/cr/res-31081001.doc, DOC; 30 Kb) for more information and address the questions listed there.
Responses were received, with thanks, from
1. S D Limaye, Ground Water Institute, Pune
2. Nafisa Barot, Utthan's People's Learning Center for Water and Sanitation, Ahmedabad
3. Shashikant Kumar, Green Eminent Research Centre, Vadodara
4. Jyotsna Bapat, Water Expert, Mumbai
5. Saurabh Singh, Innervoice Foundation, Uttar Pradesh
6. R K Swarnkar, MPCON, Indore (Response 1) (Response 2*) (Response 3*)
7. Puneet Srivastava, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) India, Shimla
8. Taral Rana, Aga Khan Rural Support Programme ( India ), Ahmedabad
9. Rashid Ali Khan, Haryana
10. Neelkanth Mishra, FANSA GTF South Asia, Hyderabad
11. Aanandi Mehra, Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, Shimla*
12. Anima Sharma, Independent Consultant, New Delhi*
13. Manohar Reddy, Society for Poverty Alleviation and Community Empowerment (SPACE), Ongole*
*Offline Contribution
Further contributions are welcome!
This is the final discussion on preparation of the strategic plan for rural drinking water by the Department of Drinking Water Supply, Ministry of Rural Development, GoI.
Members of the Water Community , UN Solution Exchange, provided comments on three broad areas - Management and finance-related issues, institutional issues and service delivery. These are summarized below, followed by the full responses.
Management and finance-related issues:
- Management of schemes and service delivery
Village water and sanitation committees (VWSCs) should be responsible for planning, management and maintenance of infrastructure. For example, in Srigangapally village, Warangal district, VWSC prepares the plan and manages its implementation. Gram Vikas, an NGO working in Orissa provides drinking water and sanitation services to all families of villages. All family members are part of village level council that plans, implements and manages services, and this is a registered society. Each family contributes Rs. 1000 towards a maintenance fund. In another village in the Kudur Mandal of Warangal district, Andhra Pradesh, the sarpanch has mobilized MGNREGA funds to dig open wells and has used panchayat funds to provide tap water connections. In all 3 cases, a local NGO has mobilized and organised people, making it a community-owned process. Therefore, DDWS must develop capacity building plan for VWSC members and panchayat representative before transferring O and M responsibilities to local community/panchayat.
While GPs are the vehicle of choice, there are inter-GP issues in water allocation and groundwater scarcity that need to be resolved
- Cost recovery from users for each type of intervention? How can we ensure that Finance Commission funds are transferred to GPs mandatorily, and leverage the 10 per cent incentive funds under NRDWP for handing over schemes to PRIs? How can we set up a revolving fund?
With Gram Vikas, the community provides 60 per cent of the cost of sanitation facilities and 30 per cent of water supply. As mentioned above each family contributes an average of Rs. 1,000 towards a “village corpus”, that is kept in a fixed deposit and interest is used to extend the same facilities after Gram Vikas withdraws. A maintenance fund is also collected from the community on a monthly level to meet the cost of pump operator, electricity bills and other incidental expenses incurred in providing piped water.
Finance Commission funds can be directly transferred to the registered village society. The Centre should suggest how these funds can be spent. A revolving can be set up with equal contributions from the government and people. The revolving fund should not be set up in the initial stages
The fixation of tariffs should be done at the local level. In Himachal Pradesh, one project suggests 2 per cent of the average annual household income
- Under IMIS, what should be the lowest level of data entry: GP, Block, Sub-division or District and what sort of IT system can link all the states?
DDWS can make investments to create a GIS-based MIS system at the village level for planning, implementation and monitoring. The lowest level of data entry is ideally the village, but if this is not possible, the GP is good enough.
The MIS can regularly update work done and be a conduit for complaints. A national network of servers can be used for sharing information, that NIC can provide
Institutional issues
- How can we strengthen the District Water and Sanitation Missions and Water Supply and Sanitation Organizations? How can social audits be introduced for better transparency, who will do them and how can they be certified?
Each district must have a district water and sanitation mission that includes the entire public health engineering department, and a water supply sanitation organization. It may be necessary to have divisional water and sanitation missions below the district level. These can be strengthened from below by buttressing VWSCs. The Member Secretary of the district mission should have the rank of a superintendent engineer. WSSO should be a think tank and have a multi-disciplinary team.
Right to Information has also helped in strengthening delivery. Social audits have to include all aspects of service delivery by the vigilance and monitoring committee of the GP
The committee members need better training in technical and managerial issues
- What is the experience or policy in your state regarding regulation of water?
Each state has its own water policy but these must converge under a single water and sanitation programme at the state and district levels.
HP has a groundwater regulation act and the state government regulates tariffs. Gujarat has a state level water quality monitoring agency
Policy making, implementation and regulation must be separated
- How can we build a committed group of officers that are technically competent?
Identify change makers within the government and give them the chance to work for 4-5 years in one area in one role. Hold an annual workshop for district and state level officials to develop their capacity for planning and use of new technology
They can be selected through a competitive process
Service delivery
- How can we ensure testing of all water quality sources regularly and what regulatory mechanism, if any, can we use to ensure adequate supply of water for domestic purposes and protecting water quality?
DDWS can evaluate various pilots of NGOs across India and consider which to adopt for scaling up for water quality testing. There should be daily water quality checks at the district level and weekly at the GP level
The sustainability and water conservation measures need more attention given unpredictable rainfall. Management plans have to cover a basin or sub-basin and not just an administrative boundary.
In Orissa, the Department of Rural Development receives complaints by mobile phone.
- How to use award schemes, say like the Sajal Gram Puraskar, to achieve these objectives?
The scheme can be an opportunity for the community to develop and implement its water security plans. It must emphasise community leadership at all points of the project life-cycle.
The scheme can be converted into a proactive subsidy for poor families to promote rooftop rainwater harvesting
- Use of mobile phones, etc., for monitor, redress grievances and obtain feedback
Can use used to transmit important public information
Call centres can be set up for handling grievances
Andhra Pradesh
Panchayat facilitates water and sanitation services in Srigangapally village, Warangal District (from Neelkanth Mishra, FANSA GTF South Asia, Hyderabad)
In Srigangapally village the panchayat manages all village level services. The sarpanch of this panchayat has facilitated different village level committees such as village water and sanitation committees, etc. Led by the sarpanch, these committees prepare the entire plan and manage their implementation as well. This approach has helped to develop all facilities at the village level including road-side electric poles, water purification RO plants, piped water supply, etc.
From Neelkanth Mishra, FANSA GTF South Asia, Hyderabad
Orissa
Village level councils successfully operate and maintain water service delivery, Berahampur District
Gram Vikas has ensured deliver of drinking water and sanitation services to all families in the area. As part of their programme, all family members become part of the village level council that plans, implements and manages water delivery services. All family members contribute Rs. 1000 towards a maintenance fund. The village level council is also registered as a society. This approach has ensured ownership of the water service delivery by the communities. Read more.
Communities share the cost of sanitation and water facilities, Berahampur District
Gram Vikas has facilitated the construction of sanitation facilities in the villages. In this model, each family constructs twin-pit pour flush toilets with piped water connections. Water is collected in an elevated reservoir and supplied through pipelines. The community shares the cost of the projects, covering 60 per cent of sanitation facilities and 30 per cent of the water supply. The process itself has become self-sustainable as there is a cost-sharing component.
Water Conservation: Viable Option to Improve Water Availability (from Rashid Ali Khan, Haryana)
Paper; by Rashid Ali Khan; Gurgaon, Haryana; September 2010;
Available at ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/wes/cr/res-31081002.doc (DOC; Size: 40KB)
Discusses how water conservation practices are site specific and involves a combination of various sources and solutions including protection through adequate collection, etc
From Sunetra Lala, Research Associate
Public Private Partnerships And The Poor In Water and Sanitation
Report; by Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) and Department for International Development (DFID); United Kingdom ; 2003
Available at http://www.dfid-kar-water.net/projects/files/R7388.html
Describes sustainable and practical processes for water supply and sanitation services to the poor through public-private partnerships
India - Water Resources Management Sector Review : Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Report
Report; by World Bank; January 1998;
Available at
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&entityID=000009265_3980901105844 (PDF; Size: 8.33MB)
Addresses the need to devolve decision-making powers relating to water and sanitation projects to panchayats, who will have the incentive and opportunity to initiate action
People's Initiative in Water - Olavanna Village in Kerala, India Shows the Way
Paper; by Joy Elamon in Reclaiming Public Waters; Transnational Institute; The Netherlands; 2005;
Available at http://www.tni.org/books/waterindia.pdf (PDF; Size: 97.7KB)
Presents a case study on how drinking water projects were successfully initiated in the state of Kerala with the involvement of local panchayats
Recommended Organizations and Programmes
Aga Khan Rural Support Programme , Gujarat(from Taral Rana)
2nd Floor ,Choice Premises Swastik Cross Roads, Navarangpura Ahmedabad 380009, Gujarat; Tel: 91-79-6427729; Fax: 91-79-6420864; hr@akrspi.org; http://www.akdn.org/india.asp
Has worked with local communities to provide community-led rural drinking water supply schemes in Gujarat
From Neelkanth Mishra, FANSA GTF South Asia, Hyderabad
Department for International Development (DFID), New Delhi
British High Commission, B-28 Tara Crescent, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi 100016; Tel: 91-11-26529123; Fax: 91-11-26529296; enquiry@dfid.gov.uk; http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Where-we-work/Asia-South/India/?tab=0
Supports the Governance Transparency Fund project in Andhra Pradesh which addresses the issues of governance for improving delivery of water and sanitation services
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, New Delhi
Ministry of Rural Development, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi 110001; Tel: 91-11-23063581, 23034922; Fax: 91-11-23385466; singhrp@sansad.nic.in; http://nrega.nic.in/guidelines.htm
Provides for 100 days of work per year to each person in a family below the poverty line; works taken up under the scheme include construction of rainwater harvesting structures
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, New Delhi
Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, Nirman Bhawan, Maulana Azad Road, New Delhi 110011; Tel: 91-11-23061287; Fax: 91-11-3793672; www.jnnurm.nic.in
Programme for urban development, includes reforms in service delivery, including water and sanitation; and proposes cost recovery for urban services by Urban Local Bodies
Mohuda Village, Berhampur 760002, Ganjam, Orissa; Tel: 91-680-2261866; Fax: 91-680-2261862; info@gramvikas.org;http://www.gramvikas.org/
Works to bring improvement in the quality of life of marginalized rural communities and has initiated several water and sanitation programmes in villages
Utthan, Gujarat
36, Chitrakut Twins, Nehru Park, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad 380015, Gujarat; Tel: 91-079-26751023; utthan.ahmedabad@gmail.com; http://www.utthangujarat.org/livelihood.htm
Works on issues related to gender empowerment and livelihood security; also promotes rainwater harvesting to meet community level drinking water requirements
From Sunetra Lala, Research Associate
BAIF-Institute for Rural Development-Karnataka (BIRD-K), Karnataka
P. B. No. 3 Kamdhenu, Sharda Nagar, Tiptur 572202, Karnataka; Tel: 91-8134-250658; Fax: 91-8134-251337; birdktpr@gmail.com; www.birdk.org.in
BIRD-K has developed and installed water harvesting systems for individual households in flouride-affected areas of Karnataka, thereby meeting water demands of the area
Water and Sanitation Management Organization, Gujarat
3rd Floor, Jalsewa Bhavan, Sector 10-A, Gandhinagar 382010, Gujarat; Tel: 91-79-23247170; Fax: 91-79-23247485; wasmo@wasmo.org; http://www.wasmo.org/cms.aspx?content_id=15
Focuses on community-managed drinking water supply, with the involvement of panchayats, coordinates the activities of the Village Water and Sanitation Committees
Aapni Yojana Sanitation Project, Rajasthan
Rural Development and Watershed, KFW Office, New Delhi. 21 Jor Bagh. New Delhi 110003; Tel: 91-11-23641202; Fax: 91-11-2462-1203; iihmrcpu@sancharnet.in;
Addresses the issue of scarcity of water, sanitation and hygiene through community participation, designed to cover 2.6 million people living in 1000 villages and 11 towns
Action for Food Production (AFP), New Delhi
25/1-A Pankha Road, D-Block, Janakpuri, New Delhi 110058; Tel: 91-11-28525452; Fax: 91-11-28520343 afprodel@afpro.org; http://www.afpro.org/services.htm; Contact S. C. Jain; Programme Coordinator; Tel: 91-11-28525412; scjain@afpro.org
Has been supporting community based groundwater management practices, including promoting integrated watershed development programmes
Gramin Vikas Vigyan Samiti (GRAVIS), Rajasthan
3/458, 3/437, MM Colony, Jodhpur 342008, Rajasthan; Tel: 91-291-2785317; Fax: 91-291-2785116; gravis@datainfosys.net; http://gravis.org.in/content/view/19/39/
Works toward the rehabilitation of drought-affected and marginalized rural communities, enabling village ownership and control over groundwater and other natural resources
Recommended Portals and Information Bases
Sanjog Helpline: e-Grievance Redressal System, Orissa (from Puneet Srivastava, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) India, Shimla)
http://sanjoghelpline.in/home.asp?tp=html; Contact Tel: 18003456770
Online grievance redressal system set up by the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Orissa
World Prout Assembly, Kolkata (From Sunetra Lala, Research Associate)
http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2007/12/the_laboratory.html
Portal contains information how on community ownership and sustainable groundwater management practices were initiated in Hiware Bazar, Maharashtra
Preparation of Strategic Plan for Drinking Water by DDWS: Assessing the Current Situation, Bharat Lal, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, New Delhi (Advice). Water Community, Solution Exchange India,
Issued 25/08/2010. Available at ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/wes/cr/cr-se-wes-01071001.pdf (PDF,Size: 348KB)
Seeks inputs regarding the current status of coverage of safe and adequate drinking water, key stakeholders in the field of rural drinking water and how the Department can engage with them
Preparation of Strategic Plan for Drinking Water by DDWS, Bharat Lal, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, New Delhi (Advice) . Water Community, Solution Exchange India,
Issued 17/06/2010. Available at ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/wes/cr/cr-se-wes-04061002.pdf (PDF,Size: 429 KB)
Seeks inputs on the required goals and aspirations for the DWS for the preparation of the strategic plan for rural drinking water
S D Limaye, Ground Water Institute, Pune
In order to have a sustainable village drinking water supply scheme, let the villagers actively participate in implementing the soil and water conservation over the village watershed (contour bunding of farms, nala bunds, farm ponds, CCTs, forestation, maintenance of percolation tanks, etc).
Let them treat the project as their own and not a government project. Let 'Shramdaan' be a 20% component and 80% be the paid labour charges to the villagers only, not to any outside labour. The government department concerned or NGO can provide technical guidance. Under the project, teach village boys and girls how to repair a Mark II handpump. With 5 years of concerted work on watershed development, the village would have no problem of drinking water. In short, let this be a project of the villagers, for the villagers and carried out by the villagers, with funds (80%) and technical guidance from Government.
Nafisa Barot, Utthan's People's Learning Center for Water and Sanitation, Ahmedabad
I would like to raise the point on how will we get the government's commitment and accountability towards appropriate, holistic 'Institutional Reform' – which was promised and committed by all governments for achieving genuine gender sensitive, community centric wastan systems and services. We need to really ask this question - to ourselves and government as to what do we mean by this and how do we go about it? We all will agree that piece meal approach in the name of institutional reform will not work for sustainability and scalability.
Shashikant Kumar, Green Eminent Research Centre, Vadodara
I would like to add following remarks.
Management and finance-related issues
1. How will different schemes be managed in terms of maintenance and service delivery by gram panchayats?
- Usage of Information Technology – for regular updation of works done, inspection by block level agencies for technical failure reported and data base maintained
- Complaints redressal system in panchayats and reported monthly to the public on complained received, solved and pending
- Accountability and rewards to be best managed services by Panchayats
- Using Geographical Information System at Block and District level for monitoring the Panchayats progress by management
- Choose between public and private participation in the Maintenance and Service delivery model selectively
2. How much should be recovered from users for each type of intervention? How can we ensure that Finance Commission funds are transferred to GPs mandatorily, and leverage the 10 per cent incentive funds under NRDWP for handing over schemes to PRIs? How can we set up a revolving fund?
- Phase wise recovery model can be planned from the interventions
- Submit plans for the block and panchayats as per the prescribed formats and procedures
- Concept of revolving fund is not advised at the initial stages. Once public accepts the model and participates in sharing the costs of projects, the way to set up revolving funds can be thought out by the agencies
- Not all PRIs would have similar capacities. Thus, this activity requires efforts on the part of the agencies to build capacities of each PRI; rank, rate and allocate the program accordingly
3. Under IMIS, what should be the lowest level of data entry: GP, Block, Sub-division or District and what sort of IT system can link all the states?
- A state-wide network or Internet can be used to link data
- Different sets of models – GP to Block/Subdivision, Subdivision to District and District to State – linkages of data can be provided
- A network of servers (at the national, state and district levels) need to be utilized when NIC has established such facilities. Users can be connected to different levels of servers
- Servers – User Management would allow to access data from any level based on the developed protocol
Institutional issues
1. How can we strengthen the District Water and Sanitation Missions and Water Supply and Sanitation Organisations? How can social audits be introduced for better transparency, who will do them and how can they be certified?
- Professional Training of Human Resources on the Technical and Managerial skills
- Establish State and District level training facilities
- Modernise, Equip and Monitor the activities using the technology
- Social audits can be conducted by group of citizens and professionals listed by the agencies after due selection process
- Transparency and accountability of the auditors towards PRI and agencies
- Certification agencies for the government on quality and audit can be utilised, such as Quality Council at National and State level
- Social Audit and Certification needs to be separated on the issues and aspects to be covered under each. (Impact, coverage V/s accounts, quality of works, O&M etc)
2. What is the experience or policy in your state regarding regulation of water?
- In Gujarat we have quality monitoring the state level agencies along with the representatives of PRI
- Social Audit is not yet in practice
- Training and O&M part is taken care by both public organisations as well as trained manpower in PRIs (appointed by them)
3. How can we build a committed group of officers that are technically competent?
- Selection through competitive exams, interviews and training of personals involving the experts
- Take the help of human resource experts on methods to inculcate team work, passion and commitment to the organisations
Service delivery
1. How can we ensure testing of all water quality sources regularly and what regulatory mechanism, if any, can we use to ensure adequate supply of water for domestic purposes and protecting water quality?
- Mandatory provision of quality checks as per the standards prescribed by pollution control boards
- Regularity of checks differs based on the sources
- Water quality checks at daily (district level) and weekly (PRI level)
- Seasonal variation (summers and monsoon) in the quality checks
- Basic quality kit can be given to panchayats for water testing
- Private agencies to monitor the quality based on the samples verified by PRI representatives at site. (Here, a model needs to be evolved)
- Publication of annual water quality reports at the Block and District levels
2. How can we use mobile phones to monitor, redress grievances, obtain community feedback, etc.
- Mobiles can used to convey the messages of public importance to the public
- If call centres can be made functional then complaint redressal mechanism can also be centralised (take example for emergency services in states)
- Community feedback can be taken by conducting Lok Sunvais (public meetings) on the issues concerning them on water supply or other issues by the block level or district level officials.
3. How to use award schemes, say like the Sajal Gram Puraskar, to achieve these objectives?
4. Awards are good encouragement for the achievers of the schemes
5. Awards should be such that they encourage good practices
6. Cash awards needs to be avoided to discourage malpractices
7. Instead annual allocation of funds can be increased to the achievers
8. Awards after the social audit and quality assurance certification should be provided by independent agencies only
Jyotsna Bapat, Water Expert, Mumbai
I agree with Mr. S D Limaye but there are no quick fix solutions. I am aware of a Tamil Nadu case study where the NGO took up to three years to gain the confidence of the villagers so that they agreed to take ownership of the project. The engineers also had to be empowered to allow the community to take ownership. They supported community leaders with credibility to take on but the success rate was only 33 per cent.
Saurabh Singh, Innervoice Foundation, Uttar Pradesh
In every village there are people who understand their local issues very well. Besides they have willingness and ability to be part of 'delivery mechanism'. However, the current approach to water supply does not seem to have much space for them. We have often noticed that the communities have been always kept at a safe distance. There are various reasons. We can begin at the gram panchayat level with these persons/community members. Next is their capacity building. In my opinion they should be involved in the planning, execution and operation and maintenance. This is a long but achievable process.
Today, people in both urban and rural areas are realizing this and are very keen to get involved with their local issues. It is very crucial how we select and train these people and CSOs with expertise in this area can be put to use here. These people can handle finances, and will even add their own share once they are made to work out their solutions which so far has been thrust on them from above. We have noticed that people are ready to put 15-30 per cent as their own contribution in any work that directly affects them.
Once this group prepared they can have a data bank of their entire gram panchayat ready and that can be linked to a server in the block as well as the district level. This process will eliminate several middlemen and bring in transparency. If we succeed in linking with the mobile network through regular SMS updates, it will help improve inter-sector coordination, service delivery and people’s participation. Mobile phones are part of people’s lives now as they have great functional utility.
R K Swarnkar, MPCON, Indore (response 1)
Water is a precious resource. We have to make all citizens aware about its importance and the need to conserve it. People who waste water or pollute drinking water sources need to be penalized heavily. We need a time-bound programme for solving water related problems.
Puneet Srivastava, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) India, Shimla
I am currently working with the Indo German Bilateral Cooperation project namely Capacity Building of PRIs in Himachal Pradesh (HP) on the issues of decentralized water governance. The issues raised in this query are very important and need to be dealt with clarity and firmness, if the National Rural Drinking Water Programme has to be translated in action by respective state departments in the near future. Based on my experience of promoting sector reforms and decentralization in the Rural Water Supply sector for the past one decade, my response to the issues is as under:
Management and finance-related issues
How will different schemes be managed in terms of maintenance and service delivery by gram panchayats?
The issue is related to the economy of scale in operations. So far we have only identified the devolution of functions to the lowest level of PRIs i.e Gram Panchayats (GP). Most of the states cover more than 50 per cent of the rural population through multi GP schemes as of now. The models for decentralization (single GP vs. multi GP) has shown varied experiences in different locations of the country and my understanding is that in most of the states the true scale for promotion of decentralization and service delivery related functions lies somewhere between Gram Panchayat and Block/Chtettra/Mandal Panchayat. This is absolutely critical in terms of ensuring sustainability of decentralized approaches in water governance. In HP, we are also promoting the single GP decentralized model in 27 select GPs in the current project with the Irrigation and Public Health Department and the Panchayati Raj Department. Inter GP issues in water allocation in the times of changing seasonality (climate change?) and growing water scarcity are absolutely critical to engage with while deciding on this issue.
How much should be recovered from users for each type of intervention? How can we ensure that the Finance Commission funds are transferred to GPs mandatorily, and leverage the 10 per cent incentive funds under NRDWP for handing over schemes to PRIs? How can we set up a revolving fund?
Although recovery from users should be based on an agenda, its fixation should be left at the local level (GP/Block) with clear guidelines on maximum and minimum amount defined at the state level. For e.g. in Himachal Pradesh, the minimum user charges to be fixed by each GP is the current state government fixed charges for RWS whereas the maximum as discussed in the current project is emerging out to be 2 per cent of the average annual cash income per household. This works out to be Rs. 16.05 per household per month as minimum and Rs. 82 approximately per household per month as maximum.
There should be clear guidelines from the Center to the states regarding priority in spending on Finance Commission Funds on operation and maintenance of RWS schemes. Currently in HP, under the 12th FC grants, the directive was to spend it on O&M of RWS and sanitation facilities. This needed to be clearly defined in the spending of the 13th Finance Commission grants also, in coordination with the Panchayati Raj Department at the Center.
The idea of 10 per cent incentive to states in weightage in resource allocation is an excellent example of the seriousness of the Central Government in promoting decentralized management of RWS in country. However, if the intention of the Central Government is to pass on the money for operation and maintenance to Gram Panchayats directly rather than state department (PHEDs) from the 12th Five Year Plan (i.e 2012 onwards) as mentioned elsewhere in NRDWP Guidelines, there should be an emphasis for complete transfer of O&M responsibility to the village components of RWS schemes to all GPs in the state. Each state should then prepare a roadmap and state action plan for achieving that by 2012 which should be reviewed and agreed with RGNDWM (and Ministry of Panchayati Raj) for future financing (sort of MOU) in RWS sector.
The idea of revolving fund, to my experience, will not have much impact for meaningful resource allocation and its utilization by respective central and state government.
Under IMIS, what should be the lowest level of data entry: GP, Block, Sub-division or District and what sort of IT system can link all the states?
Under the IMIS, the lowest level of data entry should be Ward of the GP. This should replace the current habitation unit of planning and monitoring.
Institutional issues
How can we strengthen the District Water and Sanitation Missions and Water Supply and Sanitation Organizations? How can social audits be introduced for better transparency, who will do them and how can they be certified?
These are actually two separate questions. To the first one, my suggestions would be as below
Create Divisional Water and Sanitation Mission below the District Water and Sanitation Mission to ensure the inclusion of entire water supply department (PHEDs) in the reform and decentralization agenda in RWSS. In most of the states, the district is too big a unit to effectively plan, implement and monitor the decentralization in RWS sector.
The Member Secretary of the District Water and Sanitation Mission should not be less than the rank of Superintendent Engineer (currently, it is one of the Executive Engineer).
The relationship between DWSMs and SWSM has to be more clearly defined keeping in mind the leadership role to be played by SWSM in promotion of decentralized water governance. In the current guidelines, it is rather a bit loose and from here comes the role of WSSO in working as a think tank for the SWSM. WSSO’s role is currently being played by the CCDU which consists of mostly engineers rather than a multidisciplinary team with various specialists helping the SWSM in policy formulation and monitoring regarding various aspects of water service delivery.
The social audit in delivery of RWS should be the customer feedback on major aspects of service delivery such as reliability, quality, and quantity and response time in case of complaints. This should be done by the Vigilance and Monitoring Committee of the Gram Panchyayat once a year and the findings should be presented in the Gram Sabha and shared with the Divisional Water and Sanitation Mission. There is no need for any external certification of the process of social accountability. In the Current PRI project, a model of Social Accountability for RWS has been prepared and is being implemented in 27 Gram Panchayats.
What is the experience or policy in your state regarding regulation of water?
We have the Ground Water Regulation Act and Rules in HP and the tariffs are regulated by the state government. The regulation overall is observed to be weak in most of the states primarily because the roles of policy making, implementation and regulation are being guided by the same department (PHEDs). A functional separation between these three is a must for strengthening the service delivery in these three critical areas. Policy making can be guided by SWSMs and implementation can be guided by the PHEDs, but the regulating body should be separate and should be created with an act of state government (e.g. UP).
How can we build a committed group of officers that are technically competent?
Most of the officers serving are already technically competent. My experience suggests that they need to be more oriented towards managerial aspects and the process of Change Management as the policy moves in RWS sector (e.g. Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, etc). Can the CCDUs /WSSOs take a lead here?
Service delivery
How can we ensure testing of all water quality sources regularly and what regulatory mechanism, if any, can we use to ensure adequate supply of water for domestic purposes and protecting water quality?
There are no easy answers here, I guess. GP water security Plan (Pani Yojna) is our answer to this question in the project that I am working on. This includes the water security plan, water safety plan and O&M management Plan by the GPs/ Pani Samiti.
How can we use mobile phones to monitor, redress grievances, obtain community feedback, etc?
The example is that of the work done in Orissa by RWSS under the Department of Rural Development. Please see the link http://sanjoghelpline.in/home.asp?tp=html for more details.
How to use award schemes; say like the Sajal Gram Puraskar, to achieve these objectives?
Sajal Gram Puruskar should be converted into proactive subsidies to poor families for promotion of Roof Top Rain Water Harvesting on a co-financing basis such as 70:30 between the state and family.
Taral Rana, Aga Khan Rural Support Programme ( India ), Ahmedabad
I am currently working with the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme ( India ). Sustainable water supply schemes need the active participation of PRI members, block members and district level members. In some areas of Gujarat , communities have been running water supply schemes for the last 25 years without any interruption. Along the same line, we need to think about what is the best solution for sustainable water supply schemes without any political or other interruptions.
Rashid Ali Khan, Haryana
Sustainability and Water Conservation mentioned in the draft strategic plan of DDWS has not been given adequate attention, though they are important for improving the supply. In view of the unpredictable rainfall, the problem of storage becomes critical. To meet increasing water demand in the rural sector, conservation practices need to be adopted on a larger scale. All water projects needed to have a component of conservation for the purpose of establishing sustainability. Conservation practices are site specific and may involve a combination of various sources and solutions including protection through adequate collection and storage of rain and flood water, preventing quality deterioration and large scale evaporation, demand management through allocation, substitution of once used water or water recycle and techniques to augment the supply.
In addition, feasibility of a solution needed to be studied for individual catchment’s basin or sub-basin, as these may not be confined to a particular administrative area. To implement water conservation, adequate supervision and guidance, financial allocation and close coordination of the concerned agencies are important. It is imperative that full understanding and cooperation of the beneficiaries, in this case village communities and individuals, are necessary. (for summary of the approach, please see note below on “Water Conservation: Viable Option to Improve Water Availability’, ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/wes/cr/res-31081002.doc, Word, 42 Kb).
Neelkanth Mishra, FANSA GTF South Asia, Hyderabad
In my opinion, this is an opportunity for all of us to get engaged with long term policy making effort of department of drinking water and sanitation to create an equity based, inclusive and sustainable model for water and sanitation related need of community.
I would like to submit my experience from the DFID-supported Governance Transparency Fund (GTF) programme being executed in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Orissa. Wwe realised that addressing "Governance" issue and "any effort to make governance work" is the best way to improve deliery of water and sanitation services. Infact, most of the inputs sought are linked with governance and transparency issues in the water and sanitation sector.
Management and finance-related issues:
- How will different schemes be managed in terms of maintenance and service delivery by gram panchayats?
Presently, gram panchayats are given a target to achieve TSC, but they are not involved in planning and other operations. That gives rise to contractor-ship and misleading information in reports of achievements against targets. Instead of the panchayat representative, planning, management and maintenance should be performed by the VWSC (village water and sanitation committee).
I will quote from experience of Srigangapally village, Warangal district. This is a NGP and model village in Andhra Pradesh where the panchayat managed all village level services. The sarpanch of this panchayat has facilitated different village level committees like VWSC, VEC, etc. The committee prepares the entire plan and manages implementation by itself and the sarpanch provides the leadership. This approach has helped him to develop all facilities at the village level including road-side electric poles, water purification RO plants, and piped water supply, etc.
Similarly, Gram Vikas, an NGO working in Berahampur district of Orissa, is an example on water and sanitation. It has an approach to deliver drinking water and sanitation services to all families of villages. In their approach, they do not exclude APL family to get better water and sanitation services. In this approach, all family member became part of village level council that plans, implement and manages services. The village level council is registered as society, that means it becomes a legal entity. All family members contribute Rs 1000 towards a maintenance fund in for O & M activities. In this case, village level institutionalization has been explored.
The third example is from the Kudur Mandal of Warangal district, Andhra Pradeh. Here, the sarpanch has mobilized NREGA funds to dig open wells and has used panchayat funds to provide tap water connection. Here, convergence for different plans has been explored to provide services and maintain O & M through panchayat.
What is common is all three cases?
It is the “role of local NGO to develop leadership, management and capacity building of community members”. Most of the investment on software part has done by the local NGO to develop management and systems at the community level for making it completely a community-owned process. Therefore, DDWS must develop capacity building plan for VWSC members and panchayat representative before transferring O and M responsibilities to local community/panchayat.
How much should be recovered from users for each type of intervention? How can we ensure that Finance Commission funds are transferred to GPs mandatorily, and leverage the 10 per cent incentive funds under NRDWP for handing over schemes to PRIs? How can we set up a revolving fund?
Here again, I would refer to case study from Gram Vikas. In this model, each family constructs twin pit pour flush toilets with a piped water connection. Water facilities are available through storing water in an elevated water reservoir and supplying through pipelines to individual families Cost sharing and institutional arrangements are the unique points of this approach. The community shares the cost of the projects covering 60% of sanitation facilities and 30% of water supply.
There is 100% inclusion of each and every household in the village; this is most important criteria for the program implementation. Earlier, convincing villagers to join took at least two years but with visible results, many villages have expressed interest in working with Gram Vikas. The community shares the cost of the project covering 60% of sanitation facilities in terms of labour and collection of locally available materials like stones, sand and bricks.
Gram Vikas provides support in terms of external material costs like cement, steel, door, toilet pan, pipes and fittings. Additionally, each family contributes an average of Rs. 1,000 towards a “village corpus”. This fund is kept in a fixed deposit in a bank and interest is used to extend the same facilities after Gram Vikas withdraws. Thus, the process itself is a self-sustainable as there is cost-sharing which promotes community ownership of the village. A maintenance fund is also collected from the community on a monthly level to meet the cost of pump operator, electricity bills and other incidental expenses incurred in providing piped water.
Finance Commission funds can be directly transferred to the village society which is a registered body in the village that will ensure its proper utilization. A revolving fund can be contributed from the government as matching contribution to what people pay. For example, if a village council of 100 households contribute Rs 1,000 per household as a revolving fund, it will total Rs 100,000. The government can contribute the same amount to the account as part of the revolving fund. How this revolving fund is used can be worked out separately in a community level meeting. I would suggest that like the SHG movement, local banks can be made stakeholders in this process.
Under IMIS, what should be the lowest level of data entry: GP, Block, Sub-division or District and what sort of IT system can link all the states?
Village level data entry would be best option if possible, otherwise the GP level is fine. In the Gram Vikas model, each village has their own MIS system. If DDWS can make investments to create a GIS-based MIS system, it would serve purpose of planning, implementation and monitoring. GIS based mapping can also produce MDG 7 score card for each village.
All government buildings, schools, railway stations, PHCs, the DM’s office and other public buildings must have safe drinking water and sanitation facilities. This must be ensured through a locally-formed model to be for inclusive. Rainwater harvesting should be mandatory on all government premises, schools, hospitals, water tanks, wells, etc.
Institutional issues: How can we strengthen the District Water and Sanitation Missions and Water Supply and Sanitation Organisations? How can social audits be introduced for better transparency, who will do them and how can they be certified?
The District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM) and WSSO are a must for district and block level committees of VWSC members. If DDWS can provide to strengthen members at the VWSC level, than it will create a ripple effect to strengthen DWSM and WSSO. All the tools and available opportunity to improve local governance should be imparted to local VWSC members and the committee. Our experience in the Warangal district confirms how the use of the Right To Information tools has helped VWSC members demand for better services. Earlier, villagers visited the mandal office to inquire about their demand or complain, but now the RTI tool has made this task effortless. Empowered communities from programme villages are transforming earlier practices and now they are making demands for other government service and entitlements. Recently, people from Banjara villages demanded the construction of compost pits in their village area under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), which is sanctioned by officials.
The processes of knowledge sharing to empower communities initially aims at making ‘Governance work’. A few weeks back, women from nearby villages approached the health department for organizing health camps. Villagers collected samples from drinking water sources for testing at the district laboratory. Women are playing a greater leadership role due to their active participation in VWSC meetings. Community level training on water and sanitation services and RTI applications generate aware about rights and entitlements. Active VWSC committee members have activated village governance system and now, the sarpanch and ward members attend VWSC meetings.
What is the experience or policy in your state regarding regulation of water?
Different states have their own water policies. Now, as part of JNNURM, all states are developing state- and city-level sanitation plans. We must provide convergence for drinking water and sanitation plans. Presently, this is lacking in all state level interventions. DDWS must make efforts to integrate and unified drinking water and sanitation policy and plan for state as well as district level.
How can we build a committed group of officers that are technically competent?
Identification of change-makers from the government is the first step towards achieving this goal and they must be provided with the opportunity to serve at least for 4-5 years term in one area with one role/responsibility. That will help them to show results and improve their performance in delivery of sector reform. Also, DDWS can organise exposure visits or learning-sharing visits to different NGOs’ programme (like Gram vikas (Odissa), Uthhan (Gujrat), MARI(Andhra pardesh), Tara Haat (in Bundelkhand region) etc). These visits will provide an opportunity to learn new ways of involving community in implementation of water and sanitation programmes. Annually, at least one workshop with district and state level officials to develop their capacity in planning and new technology will help them to develop professional understanding of this sector.
Service delivery: How can we ensure testing of all water quality sources regularly and what regulatory mechanism, if any, can we use to ensure adequate supply of water for domestic purposes and protecting water quality?
Gram Vikas has developed the “barefoot hydrologist” in tribal areas of Odissa to monitor water quality, Some of organizations in Bundelkhand (like Vanangna and Chitrakut) have trained women hand-pump mechanics. Taragram tools have also developed water quality monitoring teams at the village level in the Tikamgarh district. Now DDWS can look at the potential of different pilots done by NGOs that can be scaled up.
How to use award schemes, say like the Sajal Gram Puraskar, to achieve these objectives?
My point is: Sajal Gram Puraskar would be god opportunity for community to develop their own water security plan and work towards achieving them. But, we should not keep a departmental target to achieve this otherwise the results will not be encouraging for community members who opt to ensure their water security using traditional knowledge and practices.
Sajal Puraskar must incorporate community-led water-security plan preparation, drinking water quality monitoring, water related O&M contribution by villagers, local rule and regulations to protect water quantity and quality, water governance system and separate water use system for agriculture purpose, for drinking water, for other livelihood options. etc. Sustainability of their approach and use of innovative system to ensure drinking water to all villagers must be one criterion for this award.
Aanandi Mehra, Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, Shimla*
I am working for the Indo German Bilateral Cooperation project “Capacity Building of PRIs in Himachal Pradesh (HP) on the issues of social accountability. For better transparency, we are pilot testing a social accountability concept (Samajik Javab Dehi) in the 27 Gram Panchayats in two blocks in Himachal Pradesh.
*Offline Contribution
Anima Sharma, Independent Consultant, New Delhi*
I think by now all the major issues have been covered by various members. I would like to your draw attention on the very basic issue which could be solved by including Panchayats and increasing community participation. However, we can not ignore the socio-cultural and economic issues such as castes and water usage pattern for specific regions.
*Offline Contribution
R K Swarnkar, MPCON, Indore (response 2)*
This is really a good news that we are now serious about conservation of drinking water. My submission is that:
- We have work continuously on the subject
- The effort should be made by all
- It is the responsibility of every citizen of the country
- Mass awareness campaign and training programmes should be started from Primary, Middle and High School Level
- Practical aspects of Drinking water conservation as well as sanitation programme should be started
- Different Central as well as state government departments should be contacted in a time bound programme
- The result of Government action should be examined and monitored seriously
- Success stories should be published in regional and local languages/dialects.
*Offline Contribution
Manohar Reddy, Society for Poverty Alleviation and Community Empowerment (SPACE), Ongole *
The thing with basic issues like water and sanitation is that the government had a limited mandate. As far as I am concerned, there are enough policies that have been framed; the fact that the government has a role to play is much is appreciated
We need to be careful or sensitive of what is the role of government and it limitations, its role in policies making can not be ruled out. But in India we don’t have uniform pattern of rain so it is difficult to just blindly apply or approach. I feel we need to clarify what are the sources of clean water at local level, and then try involving the concerned officials responsible.
We all know Cherrapunji one of the wettest place on the earth, yet for years they don’t have proper facilities to access drinking water, only this year the local administration could meet the challenge, my point is - it not how much water, it is a rather question of how we use the water available to us.
My organization is working on watershed programmes in Prakasm district of A.P. it is a huge project lasting for almost next five years. The first exercise is to map the entire dry land and to set the traps for holding and seeping water, depending on the territory.
In my own experience thus far, government intervention should be there but, I feel it is, just a sub set of a solution.
*Offline Contribution
R K Swarnkar, MPCON, Indore (response 3)*
Water is precious for human activity. Now nothing is left to discuss regarding solving drinking water problem for urban as well rural India . The population growth in our country is increasing at a very high rate and as per the calculations we will be the most populous country in the world by year 2040.
If we really serious about solving water problem in this country we need awareness at all levels - school going children, farmers, villagers, businessman, policeman, service class people, mangers, executives of private company, semi Government, state Government and Central Government Employee, Industrialist, Municipal Bodies post holder, Gram Sevak, Panch, Sarpanch to Jila Panchyat Adyaksh, bureaucrats, politician and also the honourable senior citizens of our country. To my mind potable water protection, conservation and judicial uses should be fixed on every irresponsible person with high penalty clause.
Our country is facing several types of man made problems which should be solved within stipulated time bound programmes. All programmes should be properly chalked out with proper budgeting, etc.
*Offline Contribution
Many thanks to all who contributed to this query!
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