Gujarat

CEPT University has received a major grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to research urban water and sanitation issues. The aim of this programme is to develop better information on water and sanitation performance at the local level. This in turn will be used by the state and local governments for extending services to the poor, strive for financial viability, and improve reliability and quality of services.

The research will focus on the use of performance indicators and benchmarks to facilitate consistent reporting, monitoring, planning, budgeting, and investing in water and sanitation services in all urban areas of Gujarat and Maharashtra states. Lessons from the project will be disseminated to other states and at the national level.

CEPT University with its partners will work with state and local governments to develop a reliable and sustainable Performance Assessment System (PAS) for urban water and sanitation services. The PAS envisaged in this project includes: Performance Measurement, Performance Monitoring, and Performance Improvement.

Indicorps invites young Indian professionals interested in committing their time and skills to India to apply for its new sabbatical program: The Young Professionals Initiative (YPI). YPI is a pilot program designed to encourage young working professionals to contribute their skills and knowledge to the land of their heritage in a meaningful way. The core fellowship program aims to inspire a new generation of global Indian leaders through structured grassroot public service opportunities. Indicorps projects embody a firm and demonstrated commitment to promoting peace, inclusiveness, secularism, and the empowerment of Indians.

I was in Bhavnagar - Saurashtra, Gujarat and came across rooftop rainwater harvesting works implemented by (one more than 10 years ago) by Utthan with financial assistance from WASMO, along the same lines as what SACHETANA is attempting . These have strongly withstood the test of time and ALL of the rooftop rainwater tanks I saw (more than 120) were functioning and people were using this water exclusively for drinking and cooking. Here is a proof of concept idea which has withstood the test of time and which is ripe to be taken to areas of high fluoride and arsenic as one possible solution. Even in Gujarat this has unfortunately not happened in the fluoride affected areas at a scale which would benefit people.

A member of the PLC Watsan group Dhani behn, has built an Ecosan toilet for herself - one of the first in Gujarat-about a year back. This is one of the best toilets on Ecosan I have seen and the simple and elegant story of the same is hugely impressive. It is located in Bhavnagar Saurashtra - Gujarat. She was part of an exposure visit of PLC WatSan to a MYRADA project in Karnataka implementing ecosan. She has one simple reason for use of the toilet- it's less use of water. Even with a twin pit pour flush about 5 litres of water gets used for a single flush and in a day 20 to 25 litres of water can get flushed by one person. Even this is too much in arid and semi arid Gujarat. The transfer of knowledge has resulted in an elegant solution to an otherwise vexing issue that can be made applicable on a larger scale across the state. There exists tremendous interest in Eco-san from other parts of Gujarat too including the coast with its high and saline water table and the tribal hamlets with its hard rock terrain and the rest with a lot of water shortage.

ABSTRACT

Since its foundation in 1968, the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) has facilitated the sharing, promotion and use of knowledge so that governments, professionals and organisations can better suppor

 A list of new books that are currently available and related information is presented.

RANI KI-VAV PATAN