Report: Gravity Flow Water Supply System for S.Antarasingh Village,Gajapati district, Orissa.

Implementation of Community-led, gravity flow piped water supply system in the village S.Antarasingh , a tribal Village in the Gajapati district of Orissa.

Gram Vikas implemented the community led Gravity Flow Piped Water Supply and Sanitation system in the village Kerandi, supported by Blue Planet Run (BPR) Foundation. The work was implemented with less cost, as projected earlier in the proposal, due to substantial contribution by the people . Therefore we would like to utilise the remaining fund for S.Antarasingh, also a tribal village, in the district of Gajpati, Orissa. The total amount used for Kerandi was Rs.1,55,589 of the allocated Rs.2,99,102. Gram Vikas would therefore like to submit this proposal to use the remaining Rs.1,43,512 for S.Antarasingh, for community led gravity flow piped water supply system .

Gravity flow water supply system does not use any external energy to supply water for families. In gravity flow, water from a spring or a well on a higher altitude than the village flows to the village overhead water tank, using the principles of gravity from where it is again distributed through pipes to all families round the clock. Gram Vikas is innovating and experimenting with the gravity flow design to minimize costs and to maintain a round the clock water supply to rural homes especially in rural areas.Therefore people don't need to pay cost for electricity charges. People also collect O&M cost for future repair of pipelines and infrastructures put in place for water supply. Also interest earned from the Corpus deposit is used to meet the social costs of extending the water and sanitation system to new households in the future, ensuring 100% coverage at all times.

Process of Implementation:
The project is guided by five core values: inclusion, social equity, gender equity, sustainability and cost sharing. It uses water and sanitation as the entry point activity to unite the community . under this core rallying point the community is organised to take action to improve its well-being and environment. Before the programme begins in any village, the village must come to a consensus that all families, without exception, will participate. This brings the community together across barriers of caste, gender and economic status, which for centuries have excluded large sections of communities from the process of development. The village must also raise a corpus fund of Rs.1,000 ($22) per household with the better-off paying more and the poorer less. The corpus fund is an acid test, demonstrating that the community is committed to the process of development. Interest from the Corpus fund is used to meet the social costs of extending the water and sanitation system to new households in the future, ensuring 100% coverage at all times.
Women and children are the greatest beneficiaries of this programme - women benefiting from being spared the drudgery of fetching water for household uses and children, escaping the clutches of water-borne diseases, which result in widespread morbidity and mortality.
Access to sanitation is not only a matter of hygiene, it is a statement in dignity - it restores to the rural folk, especially women, their self-respect and dignity and helps the community to improve their health status.