Gandhigram Trust – Arghyam https://arghyam.org Safe, sustainable water for all Wed, 14 Sep 2022 05:25:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.17 Community management practices for ensuring sustainable domestic water (Phase I) https://arghyam.org/community-management-practices-ensuring-sustainable-domestic-water-phase/ https://arghyam.org/community-management-practices-ensuring-sustainable-domestic-water-phase/#respond Fri, 23 Mar 2018 08:03:26 +0000 http://test.the-practice.net/arghyam/?p=381 Project Summary Poorly maintained infrastructure, lack of community participation and the inability to recover the maintenance fee from users were the main problems identified by the Gandhigram Trust in the project villages. The project helped to restore infrastructure and simultaneously ...

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Poorly maintained infrastructure, lack of community participation and the inability to recover the maintenance fee from users were the main problems identified by the Gandhigram Trust in the project villages.

The project helped to restore infrastructure and simultaneously generated awareness about the importance of maintaining water supply installations and protecting the water from contamination. Capacity building for maintenance of water supply installations was undertaken by building the technical and managerial capacities of local people to ensure sustainability of the effort post-project period. An active Village Water Committee for regulating water services at the village level and active, representative water user groups. The knowledge and management skills to budget for rejuvenating, replacement, operation and maintenance of installations were imparted to this committee. A tariff system was introduced that enabled a full recovery of the operation and maintenance cost and at least 25% of the capital investment and replacement cost from the water users.

Outputs

  1. A Village Water Committee formed for regulating water services at the village level.
  2. Active Water User Groups representing users organized area wise.
  3. Tariff system operationalised for achieving full recovery of Operation and Maintenance cost and at least 25% of the capital investment and replacement cost from the water users.
  4. A simple monitoring system for pumping hours, power consumption, water quality, expenditures and revenue collection etc. introduced.
  5. Power pump operators and hand pump mechanics trained to repair and keep stock of minimum required tools and spares for maintenance repairs and emergency repairs.
  6. Existing system of open wells, hand pumps, water pipelines and connections, that were earlier in a state of disuse, were repaired.
  7. Over 10 hand pumps and more than 100 stand posts renovated to provide hygienic water collection points.
  8. Area around the over head tanks were cleaned and fenced to keep it clean. The pump operators were trained to maintain the over head tanks by taking measures such as chlorination of water and regular cleaning of the tanks.
  9. People were trained to keep and handle their drinking water at household level in a hygienic manner to avoid bacterial contamination. They were also taught better hygiene practices such as keeping areas around the water collection points clean.
  10. People were also trained to keep their washing areas away from the water collection points. Soak pits and kitchen gardens were constructed to prevent water stagnation and spread of disease.
  11. Over Rs. 60,000 was leveraged from the Panchayat for maintenance activities.

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]]> https://arghyam.org/community-management-practices-ensuring-sustainable-domestic-water-phase/feed/ 0 Facilitating the panchayats and the community in achieving complete village sanitation (Phase II) https://arghyam.org/facilitating-the-panchayats-and-the-community-in-achieving-complete-village-sanitation-phase-ii/ https://arghyam.org/facilitating-the-panchayats-and-the-community-in-achieving-complete-village-sanitation-phase-ii/#respond Sun, 13 Aug 2017 20:06:13 +0000 http://test.the-practice.net/arghyam/?p=418 Project Summary After its efforts towards ensuring community management practices on a sustainable basis to provide domestic water to the communities in four panchayats (in the first phase of the project), Gandhigram identified five villages where sanitation coverage was poor ...

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After its efforts towards ensuring community management practices on a sustainable basis to provide domestic water to the communities in four panchayats (in the first phase of the project), Gandhigram identified five villages where sanitation coverage was poor and addressed these through:

  • Increasing awareness of people on importance of safe sanitation and hygiene practices.
  • Training and orienting the village panchayat to provide improved services to the community.
  • Providing a menu of sanitation options to people that they could choose from depending on their affordability.
  • Linking them with a revolving fund that provided interest free loans and the government scheme that provided incentive for toilet construction.

Outputs

  1. Awareness building workshops, exposure visits and IEC activities were conducted to create awareness about the importance of sanitation and hygiene.
  2. Training was given to the community and gram panchayat members to facilitate better village level sanitation planning.
  3. Over 170 Self Help Groups (SHGs) were formed to distribute loans for construction of latrines.
  4. More than 580 families were motivated to construct single pit toilets.
  5. Waste management was promoted by constructing more than 60 soak pits.
  6. Rs. 7 lakh leveraged from the Total Sanitation Campaign, Government of India’s flagship scheme for sanitation.
  7. Rs. 3 lakh was provided by Arghyam as an interest free revolving fund to speed up toilet construction, as families received subsidies from the government only after construction of the toilet.

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]]> https://arghyam.org/facilitating-the-panchayats-and-the-community-in-achieving-complete-village-sanitation-phase-ii/feed/ 0 Promoting integrated water and sanitation management by partnering with the Panchayats in Dindigul district (Phase III) https://arghyam.org/promoting-integrated-water-and-sanitation-management-by-partnering-with-the-panchayats-in-dindigul-district-phase-iii/ https://arghyam.org/promoting-integrated-water-and-sanitation-management-by-partnering-with-the-panchayats-in-dindigul-district-phase-iii/#respond Sun, 13 Aug 2017 14:12:24 +0000 http://test.the-practice.net/arghyam/?p=322 Project Summary Phase I involved rejuvenating local water supply systems in villages in Tamil Nadu. Phase II of the project focused on household sanitation. In phase III, Gandhigram will strengthen local institutions to provide water supply and sanitation services, and ...

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Phase I involved rejuvenating local water supply systems in villages in Tamil Nadu. Phase II of the project focused on household sanitation.

In phase III, Gandhigram will strengthen local institutions to provide water supply and sanitation services, and it will help villages achieve complete sanitation. The project will develop model villages demonstrating the sustainable management of water and sanitation facilities at a local level. It will also improve hygienic practices by providing access to water and sanitary facilities, as well as the safe disposal of waste-water and solid waste. This project also seeks to analyse levels of water usage and the costs involved in providing a water supply through surveys and action research.

Outputs

  1. Sample survey, documenting the present status of water supply and sanitation at a household level.
  2. The re-formation of the Village Water and Sanitation Committees (VWSCs), which will be trained on specific water and sanitation issues.
  3. Exposure visits for PRI and VWSC members.
  4. Orientation trainings for the newly elected PRI members.
  5. Renovation of the existing school toilets and water supply infrastructure, including a maintenance system.
  6. Water quality tests.
  7. Toilet construction for the 40% of households that do not have access to toilets.
  8. Grey water management by constructing soak pits and kitchen gardens.
  9. Solid waste management, in which organic and biodegradable waste will be vermi-composted, while plastic and non-biodegradable waste will be disposed safely.
  10. Establishing an  operations and management system for sustainability to allow the VWSC to function effectively and democratically.
  11. School health programs on health and hygiene behavior, including menstrual health management.
  12. Pilot on a dual water supply, in which 100% metered household with  potable and non-potable water supplies will be demonstrated in a local hamlet for better understanding of the system.

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