Start Date: 2011-09-01

Completion Date: 2012-01-31

Technology Used:

Gram Vikas has developed a simple yet sustainable concept of gravity flow water supply that has successfully managed to provide continuous water supply in hundreds of remote hilly villages.

In gravity flow, wherever possible water is tapped from a suitable perennial spring. However, if no suitable spring exists, Gram Vikas have developed a highly innovative solution of establishing a sanitary dug well. A slit is cut down one side of the well and a pipe attached at the bottom. The slit is then blocked back up, and the entire well is lined with stones. Water then percolates into the well, where it is stored, and can then be transported to the village overhead water tank. The spring or well are at a higher altitude than the village, therefore the water is transported through pipes using the principles of gravity from where it is again distributed through pipes to all families around the clock. To ensure the pipes are protected, they are dug deep into the ground.

This system has many advantages, for example, it eliminates the need for expensive to run pumps, and requires very little maintenance, making it an economically viable option for remote, and marginalized communities.

In addition, it has environmental benefits, relying purely on the force of gravity to bring the water to the village, and eliminating the need for pumps, with high carbon emissions.

Phases:

The project will be finished in one phase.

Community Organization:

Gram Vikas has designed a sustainable model for community organization and development named MANTRA (Movement and Action Network for the Transformation of Rural Areas), based on five core values of 1) 100% inclusion 2) Gender equity 3) social equity 4) sustainability and 5) cost sharing. Water and sanitation activities have been taken up as entry point activity for initiating all round development of villages.

100% inclusion of all families is a pre-condition for initiating the WATSAN work in a village. This is crucial from a total sanitation point of view, as even if one family continues to practice open defecation, water sources will continue to be polluted. 100% inclusion is also a step towards addressing exclusionary practices prevailing in society –mainly towards Dalits, indigenous communities and women.

Other core values include cost sharing, and gender and social equity. Gram Vikas does not believe in the common attitude of “poor people only need poor solutions.” Gram Vikas motivates and enables communities to overcome deep rooted divisions along lines of caste and gender to come together and achieve high quality solutions, resulting in every household having a toilet, and bathing room, with three taps supplying piped, potable water. Gram Vikas believes that the poor can and will pay for truly beneficial development solutions, however the larger community also has a role in meeting the social cost for families, especially in areas where the government makes no or measly investment in water and sanitation infrastructure.

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.

The community drives the implementation of the programme. The community makes the bricks and collects all the local materials available and rural youth trained in masonry build the overhead water tank and lay the network of pipes. 1-2 rural youth are trained as pump operators and are taught how to make any necessary repairs to the system.
The management of the project is undertaken by the Village Executive Committee (VEC) comprising of 6 men and 6 women, all of whom are elected in a democratic way. In addition to constructing the water and sanitation infrastructure, Gram Vikas spend time building the capacities of this committee to enable them to gradually take over the entire responsibility for managing the water and sanitation infrastructure after Gram Vikas’ withdrawal from the village.

Government Interaction:

Gram Vikas is an approved project implementing agency for the government’s Swajaldhara water scheme and is also the implementing agency for Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihood Programme. Gram Vikas also facilitates the BPL households to avail the subsidy of Rs, 2200 under Total Sanitation campaign.

Ancillary activities:

Before construction of the toilets and bathing rooms, young men and women, working as unskilled laborers, are trained in masonry. On completion of the training, they construct the toilets, bathing rooms, and the overhead water tanks. These newly trained masons are assured of work for a period of time if they so desire, many go on to successfully secure lucrative contracts in nearby urban centers, and within a year, their income earning capacity increases by at least three times.

Water shed activities are undertaken on the catchment of the water source especially for gravity fed systems to ensure replenishment of ground water in the aquifers and thereby sustain water supply even in the dry season.

Families are encouraged to do backyard farming with the waste water from the bathing rooms that add to the diet intake at the household level.

Women members are encouraged to form savings and credit groups and initiate small savings after which they are supported to take up Income generating activities.

Other Issues:

Although the government is supposed to provide and secure drinking water to rural communities, most often it ends up by installation of a hand pump in the village. With high use, the pumps often break down and the community depends upon the government functionaries to repair the system. In many instances such delays linger for long and people resort to unsafe surface water for drinking purpose.

Government usually prioritizes bigger villages for implementation of water supply projects and the small, hilly tribal habitations are left to fen for themselves. There is hardly any intervention in these small habitations that can help the people to get safe water.

In this context Gram Vikas prioritizes its efforts in such remote areas and works with the community to have systems to manage their drinking water needs.