Report: Integrated Drinking Water project Kutewadi,Block Parner Dist. Ahmednagar, MS

Providing safe drinking water to the drought prone village of Kutewadi. We have implemented a water system to aid them in their water crisis.

Prior to the initiation of the project , the existing drinking water scheme was not functioning due to heavy loss of leakages and breakage of the underground pipes.
There are no deviations in the planned activities. The following activities have been carried out (i) Repairing of 80 mm diameter galvanized raising main pipeline with construction four chambers. (ii) repairing of the existing overhead water storage tank of 40,000 ltrs capacity – mainly providing cement plaster with water proofing including replacement of inlet and outlet over flow pipes. (iii) Repairing of ground level water distribution water tank. (iv) Repairing of the existing unit of toilets and urinals of the school.

After completion of the project, all the households get approx. 100 liters water per day which is sufficient for drinking, domestic use and for the livestock mainly the crossbreed cows. Water is available at the doorstep given through the individual tap connections as well as through common stand posts installed. Every day the water is released for an hour in the morning.
A new school building consisting of two classrooms, one teacher’s room and a separate kitchen for the preparation of daily meal to the students is constructed under government funds costing of Rs. 6.50 lakhs (USD 13,830). A separate toilet unit consisting of one toilet and two urinals for boys and girls each is constructed under the government funds. A separate water storage tank for the school has been constructed under the government funds costing USD 851.
The proposal for the wall compound for the school campus is proposed and submitted for the sanction to the Zilla Parishad (District authority) and the school awaits sanction.

Since the project village is under the Dhavalpuri Gram Panchayat-GP (local governance council) and the project is initially constructed through the GP. Under the government funds, the GP collects Rs. 360/- per household per annum towards the water tax. The repairs and maintenance of the drinking water is being done by the GP. The GP is the legal owner of the project. However, the local water Committee has taken the responsibility of collecting the above water tax amount including the extra Rs. 100/- per year from each family. The additional amount generated of Rs. 8,000/- would be reserved as maintenance fund with the Water Committee

The cost of the materials i.e. sand and cement has increased considerably. Therefore, the additional cost of Rs. 10,447 (USD 223.75) has been spent from the people’s contribution.

-Since the drinking water project is implemented by the villagers, the additional contribution towards the maintenance fund is possible besides the Gram Panchayat water tax though the project is owned by GP.

-Since the entire execution is being done by the local water committee with the support of the villagers, the committee is empowered and has gained the experience of the execution of the community project.

-Due to the special provision of the drinking water and renovation of the toilet units of the school, the attitude of the teachers has been changed and thus enhanced cooperation is sought.

The drinking water project will be implemented through the WOTR’s partner NGO i.e. GARD [Grassroots action for Reconstruction and development] . Gard is associated with WOTR since last10 years and has implemented 5 Integrated watershed projects successfully with the financial support of WOTR and NABARD [National bank for argil. and rural development] The social mobilization and technical support will be provided by the field staff of GARD under the supervision of WOTR. The monitoring will be done by WOTR