Thrissur District

Organization: Western Ghats Hornbill Foundation (WGHF)

Venue: Sahithya Academic Hall, Thrissur

Description:
The Western Ghats Hornbill Foundation (WGHF) is organizing a two day workshop on right of the forest, river and tribe during 25^th and 26^th October 2011 at Sahithya Academic Hall, Thrissur. This is being organized as part of the inaugural session of our one year long campaign.

Mazhapolima is a community based well recharge programme, initiated by the Thrissur District Administration in collaboration with the Panchayat Raj Institutions in the District, and implemented by networking NGOs/CBOs, households, departments and agencies, research institutions, private sector and all other key stakeholders, who are either a water user or a water provider/planner.

Diversity of approaches and implementation arrangements according to location specific needs centered on sustainable outcome and service levels are the underlying tenets of the programme. The programme envisages recharging of about 4.5 lakh open wells in the district to ensure sustainable access to water.

Mazhapolima was a participatory well recharge programme initiated by the Thrissur district, under which domestic water sources were recharged with rainwater harvested (usually) from roof tops.

Please see the letter addressed to Jairam Ramesh by Rajendra SInghji on Athirappilly Issue when he visited the river and the dam site on the 8th December. To read the letter Click Here.

When stakeholders come together, they can address critical water related issues.

Jalanidhi is the website of the Kerala Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency which implements "Jalanidhi", a World Bank-assisted "Kerala Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project" for sustained delivery of adequate quantity of water and sanitation services in rural areas in four districts of Kerala.

Forwarded to the Portal by: Nitya Jacob, UN

Dr Kurien Baby, District Collector of Trissur, Kerala, and Solution Exchange Water Community are organizing a regional meeting to discuss the effects of the Mazhapolima program. The dates are 16-17 June 2009, and it will be held in Trissur.

Background

Kerala has among the highest well densities in India, and 71% of the population depends on them for drinking water. The aggregate household investment in the state on wells is pegged at Rs 1800 crore and they have a combined yield potential of 6.6 million cu m per day. That works out to a water availability of 197 litres of water per capita per day (lpcd), well above the government's prescribed norm of 140 lpcd. These wells are threatened. Despite an annual rainfall of 3,000 mm, 70% go dry in summer. The surface runoff is heavy, and therefore groundwater levels in several blocks have fallen sharply, and coupled with saline intrusion at an accelerated pace, have led to water quality problems.

The Mazhapolima program is quite unique; it aims to (eventually) recharge about 4.5 lakh dug wells in the district, and do this through community awareness and action. It's driven by the District Collector, Mr. Kurian Baby, who strongly advocates sustainable, local development & innovation.

A Gram Panchayat (GP) in Kerala is fairly large, and has a population of approximately 20000 people, as compared to about 10000 in Karnataka, and about 700 in Uttar Pradesh. GP's have ward divisions, about 20 of them per GP. Each GP has a staff of at least 6-8 people. The GP that we visited - Adat, had about 12 employees , 4 lower division clerks, 3 upper division clerks, 1 Joint Secretary, 1 Secretary, 2 peons and 1 sweeper. Except for the peons and the sweeper, the employees are all usually SSLC-pass, but here in Adat they were mostly graduates. For salaries alone, the GP spends about Rs 1.5 lakhs per month. Adat GP executed 124 projects last year. The GP's annual budget was Rs 1.40 crores, not including NREGA funds. Out of this, Rs 40 lakhs was raised by the GP through property taxes etc. Most other parts of the country, GP budgets are only about 5 to 10 lakhs. The Adat GP office was a large 2 storeyed building. Mr Vijayan, the Joint Secretary proudly showed us their awards, which filled up an entire wall.

For the total of 6-lakh households in Thrissur district, there are a total number of 4.5 lakh open/dug wells. As per the 2001 census, 71% of the total population of the district depends on open wells for drinking. Estimates indicate that the aggregate household investment in open wells comes to about Rs. 1,800 crores and the wells have a combined capacity to yield 6.6 million m3 per day. Though the average annual rainfall of the district is about 3,000 mm, about 70% of these wells are non-perennial. Additionally, because of heavy surface run-off, groundwater levels in several blocks have fallen sharply, and coupled with saline intrusion at an accelerated pace, have led to water quality problems. In order to address the issues of quantity, quality and sustainability, the Thrissur district administration in collaboration with the PRIs have launched a process driven, participatory well re-charge programme called Mazhapolima, with an overall goal to improve the health and welfare of communities through improved access to drinking water.

Dear Friends, We welcome you to support the cause of a dying river in the Western ghats As you are aware, an indefinite Satyagraha led by Chalakudy River Protection Forum has been going on at Athirappilly near the project site since 25^th February 2008. A series of programs have been organized in connection with the first anniversary of the Satyagraha to remind the conscience of the society what is in store if we tamper too much with our rivers, the people's longstanding time tested resistance to an environmentally, socially and economically unjust and unviable hydro electric project planned in one of the most beautiful rivers in the Western Ghats, the only basis of survival of millions of people and what has to be the real solution to the energy crisis in Kerala.