Water conservation at local level that could be emulated

I recently met a large number of village community leaders and innovators who have achieved remarkable results in collaboration with WASMO in Gujarat in dealing with the problems of drinking water and sanitation.

If public officials can achieve so much in this programme through transparency, honesty and self-introspection, then surely lessons need to be learnt so that other programmes can also benefit from similar methods. It is a pity that NREGA funds can not be transferred to WASMO for implementation. If it was possible, we could have avoided so much corruption and misuse and ensure higher productivity through genuine community participation.

Way back in 1984, while summarizing the experience of an action research project of which I was a part during 1978-81, a lesson was learned that if goals or processes of an organisation do not undergo shift during implementation, then there is no evidence of participation. In this programme, not only did the coordinators encourage but they also accepted initiatives and innovations by local people and communities in managing water conservation, distribution and utilization. Let me recount some grassroots innovations which made us aware of the range of creative response that communities have displayed in dealing with variable topographies, water level, pressure, distribution requirements, etc.

Where else will you see an old widow Doodhi ben in Bhavnagar district contributing her life long savings for creation of common water supply facility, or another lady Ambaben donating the amount she had saved for her last rites for similar purpose? When some farmers realized that the guidelines provided for making chambers for controlling water supply underground invariably lead to water collection leading to dirtiness, mosquito breeding etc., they decided to make the chambers above the ground. The programme managers never had a problem with that.

Similarly, in another village, the source of water and the pump was eight kilometers away from the village; going there every time would have been tiresome. They decided to why not use the cell phone switch on and off system along with status report of whether power was available or not, and if so in how many phases. Plus, the whole village could send a SMS to that number of the water supply and get the status of when would the water be supplied. All automatic.

We had a similar innovation in NIF's database; but this one was meant for surely meeting local needs and was developed by local people through their own ingenuity. In another place, to ensure that every household gets water at equal pressure, the local community developed a T-based water supply points ensuring that every household in every locality received water at the same pressure. Even in this, to calibrate the pressures, they would keep a regulatory point which was sealed after testing it for fifteen days.

Everyone knew how to change the pressure or add a water point or cheat the system. The additional cost of this system was over a lakh rupees but equity never comes cheap.

I wish various developmental programmes will study the way people have decided to pay more amount (as much as 600 rupees per household per year or as much as 14 rupees per capita per month in some villages) for water. Let us find out how much we pay in cities. Let us find out how many housing societies deliver same pressure of water to every body. I do not get the same pressure in my house in IIMA campus being located at the end of the line. As one who is used to bath in cold water daily, I suffer the consequence when a specially-installed motor does not work often. 

Gujarat will have this problem solved soon and for good. But on sanitation front, there is still a long way to go. While thousands of toilets have been built, there is still a need for persuading people to understand that microbial load in water in many places is very high because of contamination of catchments.  We need to create a consciousness that every drop of water counts. Not a single tap should leak, not one drop should drip. Every village community has to clean the catchments from where water drains into water body before rains. I am very optimistic that new milestones will be created and even greater success will be achieved in future.

The author is a professor at IIM-Ahmedabad