SWAJAL (U. P Rural Water and Environmental Sanitation)

U.P Rural Water and Environmental Sanitation (SWAJAL) Project (World Bank Project with U.P. & Uttarakhand Government) (1997- 2003)

 

In tarai region of Uttar Pradesh, groundwater level is shallow at about 15-20 feet. In rural areas hand pumps are lowered upto a depth of 20-50 feet to get potable water. As the water from this shallow hand pump is invariably polluted, its use causes several diseases such as diarrhea, cholera and worms of various types in the rural population. IMPART was instrumental in creating awareness about this problem in the villages and preparation of a drinking water supply plan of the village was initiated by the joint efforts of villagers and IMPART. It was felt by the village community that for maintaining long-term continuity of the plan, the participation of the community was important. The contribution of the members of the village community could be in the form of cash or kind (labour) or both. It was decided to collect the contribution from the village community to the extent of 10 per cent the cost of the project. Village level committees for drinking water plan and sanitation were constituted to collect contribution from the members in advance and to monitor the progress of work. To ensure the standards of the work, the engineers of the IMPART and specialists from the Community Development Department helped the village level committees in selection of alternate source of drinking water, establishment of the drinking water supply system and its maintenance. After considering the merits and demerits of available options in an open meeting, the committee decided in favour of hand pumps in 20 villages and overhead tank in two villages. The committee with help of IMPART collected 10 per cent contribution from the community and deposited the total sum in a joint account to be operated by one representative of the committee and one from IMPART. Detailed Project Report was prepared by the engineers of the IMPART and necessary materials were purchased by the committee in consultation with IMPART officials after market survey of prevailing prices. In this way drinking water plan of 9 villages was prepared and 76 hand pumps in 8 villages were installed. One member of the village committee was trained in maintenance of the water supply system so as to ensure continuous functioning of the system. The hand pumps were lowered in the presence of IMPART engineer and water quality was tested. If the water quality was not satisfactory, the hand pump was taken out and reinstalled at a new site. In this way drinking water supply system was implemented in 17 villages as per list given in   Table 1.

Table 1

Details of the drinking water supply project in 21 villages

 

S.No.	Name of village	Number of hand pumps or OHT$	Total cost                 (Rs in ‘000)	10% community contribution (Rs in ‘000)
1	Ratanpuri	3	102.76	10.27
2	Bhamrola	7	167.44	16.74
3	Malsi	9	268.76	26.87
4	Chhinki	13	390.00	39.00
5	Khamaria	10	198.74	19.87
6	Ajeetpur	9	217.87	21.79
7	Doparia	7	223.84	22.38
8	Raipur	5	147.99	14.80
9	Rajpura	6	178.34	17.83
10	Kuraiya	1 OHT	587.94	58.79
11	Rameswarpur	1 OHT	691.62	69.16
12	Satsuiya	7	156.46	15.64
13	Kishanpur	5	112.05	11.20
14	Bara	19	320.21	32.02
15	Bari	16	384.00	38.40
16	Sajani	8	180.03	18.00
17	Birunagla	8	177.75	17.77
Total		134

 

 Environmental sanitation

With help of IMPART the village level committees prepared a plan of environmental sanitation, which included brick laying of streets, construction of drains for drainage, latrines, compost pits and garbage pits. The implementation at village level was as follows:

Construction of drains

In community meetings the problem of drainage of household wastewater was discussed and it was decided to get drains constructed in important areas. The streets were surveyed by IMPART engineers and the drains were designed on the basis of population. The size of drains determined the cost, of which 10% was provided by the village community and remaining 90% was provided by IMPART. The committees surveyed the market for comparing the rates of the materials and selected the supplier of materials on the most reasonable rates. The quotations received from contractors for drain construction work was also considered by the committee and one contractor was selected.

Table 2

Construction of drains in the villages

 

S.No.	Name of village	Quantity   (m)	Total cost           (Rs in ‘000)	10% contribution   (Rs in ‘000)
1	Ratanpuri	260	26.80	2.68
2	Bhamrola	678	63.84	6.38
3	Malsi	62	13.05	1.30
4	Chhinki	275	27.94	2.79
5	Khamaria
6	Ajeetpur
7	Dopaharia	738	76.84	7.68
8	Raipur	127	12.94	1.29
9	Rajpura	137	13.57	1.36
10	Kuraiya	727	63.57	6.35
11	Rameswarpur	437	43.52	4.35
12	Satsuiya	750	23.04	2.30
13	Kishanpur
14	Bara	3181	362.56	36.27
15	Bari	2427	256.27	25.63
16	Sajani
17	Birunagla	53	5.98	0.59

 

Construction of latrines

The importance of latrines in maintenance of environmental sanitation in rural areas was discussed in group meetings and the spread of diseases through human excreta was highlighted. High cost of construction was the main constraint in adoption of this safe practice of having a latrine for each family in the village. The engineers at IMPART informed the groups that simple design of as low cost as Rs 4800/- with little water consumption was available and the model latrines were constructed in each village. The model latrine has two round pits (diameter 1m, depth 1m) at 1 m distance which are interconnected. In the latrine room deep rural pan type seat was used and a PVC pipe connected the seat with the chamber, which is connected with both the pits. By seeing the model latrine many families decided to get it constructed for their family. IMPART provided subsidy to poor families as follows:

1. BPL SC/ST family Rs 2375-
2. BPL general family Rs 2250-
3. APL family Rs 1500-

The family in the general category (APL group) has to deposit an advance of Rs 300 and BPL/SC/ST category Rs 100. With this scheme latrines were constructed in 21 villages as per list given in Table 3.

Table 3

Construction of latrines in rural areas

S.No.	Name of village	Plan prepared			Latrine constructed
		BPL General	BPL   SC	APL	BPL General	BPL     SC	APL
1	Ratanpuri	13	2	–	9	–	1
2	Bhamrola	15	10	13	47	11	7
3	Malsi	29	29	4	17	14	1
4	Chhinki	167	27	3	29	67	8
5	Khamaria	76	4	9	16	9	3
6	Ajeetpur	76	4	9	68	1	6
7	Dopaharia	72	20	6	38	14	3
8	Raipur	39	15	4	23	7	2
9	Rajpura	39	15	4	23	7	1
10	Kuraiya	208	32	–	178	18	4
11	Rameswarpur	46	44	36	38	32	17
12	Satsuiya	11	7	–	21	2	1
13	Kishanpur	4	6	1	4	5	1
14	Bara	237	10	12	146	8	6
15	Bari	29	12	16	84	63	17
16	Sajani	5	5	10	5	5	10
17	Birunagla	6	2	8	9	4	7

 

Compost pits

In rural areas, cow dung is disposed off in open heaps on the roadsides or along pathways creating unhygienic conditions for spread of various diseases. In group meeting with villagers the importance of constructing compost pits and the subsidy available for this work (APL family Rs 800, BPL family Rs 1200) was explained. They were motivated by IMPART to construct compost pits for safe disposal of cow dung and preparation of manure. In 17 villages viz. Bara, Bari, Kuraiya, Rameswarpur, Kishanpur, Satsuiya,Sajani, Birunagla, Malsi, Dopaharia, Chhinki, Kachchi Khamria, Raipur, Ajitpur, Ratanpuri and Rajpura     compost pits were constructed.

Garbage pits

In villages garbage pits were constructed. The size of each pit was 1m x 1m x 1m. The villagers were informed during health training that the domestic wastes should be put in a pit and allowed to decompose for preparation of good manure. The decomposed manure can be used for vegetable or field crop production.

Community empowerment activities

Several programmes of community empowerment such as functional literacy, health education, capacity building and formation of self-help groups (SHG) were undertaken in the selected villages. The details of these programmes follow.

Functional Literacy

Training of men and women in practical aspects of education was organized in the selected villages. Teachers were deputed at village level for imparting informal education on important topics such as dowry system, child marriage, education of girl child, family planning, health and sanitation, smoking, saving account in banks, postal services, life insurance, record keeping of domestic expenditure. Total number of 1242 women and 248 men were trained in this programme. The medium of training was video films, poster drama, books etc.

.Health Education

At village level group discussions were organized by IMPART workers on personal hygiene, balanced diet, household and environmental sanitation, mother and child health, vaccination, importance of lavatories, water borne diseases, etc. Awareness about these topics was created among men, women and school children through several methods such as group discussion, health camps, health questionnaire, essay competition, cultural programme, healthy home survey, video films etc. The video films on the effects of malnutrition, Happy Life-mother and child, vaccination, story of water (pani ki kahani), anaemia (main sab jan gai), Chandu kaise bach sakta tha- hame bataya mamu ne, Meena, care of pregnant women etc. were screened. In every village dais (local nurses) and health promoters were selected and trained. Dais were specially trained for handling child delivery and each dai was given a dai kit. Health promoters were trained in First-Aid and use of common medicines and a First-Aid Kit was given to each of them.

At village level health camps were organized in which immunization of pregnant women and children was done. Iron and calcium pills were distributed among children. Anaemic women were given iron pills. Sick men and women were examined and treated with medicines. Rallies of school children were organized and essay competitions were held in schools. Two best essays were awarded prizes. Healthy home survey was conducted by women SHG member and IMPART workers.

Village level organization

At village level, committees were constituted for creating community awareness, development of meaningful understanding, implementation of projects and exchange of information. Each committee had 7-12 members in which 30% seats were reserved for women and 25% for scheduled castes. The members were selected by the community after several rounds of group meetings. The committee members were trained by the IMPART workers for development of capacity to understand the project plan, exchange of information and preparation of plans according the needs of the community and standards of the items. In order to ensure continuity of the project, community participation to the extent of 10% of the cost was decided and the village level committee was assigned the responsibility of collecting the community contribution and maintenance of the water supply system or any other facility developed in the village.

Capacity development training

Through various trainings organized for village level committees constituted for drinking water and sanitation, women, children, school teachers, dais and village health promoters a live contact was established with the project. There was significant improvement in the level of awareness in target groups by the trainings which helped capacity development. The trainings were organized with due consideration of the participation of the target groups and activities. The details of four types of training organized for capacity development are as follows:

1. Training of village level committees on drinking water and sanitation

Considering the participation of the committees in the project, necessary information about the project, responsibility and role, standards and terms and conditions of the project, feasibility, community empowerment project, technical projects and tripartite agreements was made available in the training. In 30 villages committee members were imparted training as per details given Table 5.

Table 4

S. No.	Name of village	Planning phase						Implementation phase
		A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I
1	Ratanpuri	12	12	12	12	9	8	12	3	12
2	Bhamrola	9	9	9	8	8	8	9	3	9
3	Malsi	12	12	12	12	11	12	12	1	12
4	Chhinki	11	11	11	12	9	9	12	1	12
5	Khamaria	10	10	10	9	10	9	12	3	12
6	Ajeetpur	9	9	8	11	8	7	12	3	12
7	Dopaharia	9	10	10	10	7	7	12	1	12
8	Raipur	10	10	10	9	10	10	12	3	12
9	Rajpura	10	10	–	–	9	9	12	3	12
10	Kuraiya	9	9	11	11	10	9	12	3	12
11	Rameswarpur	8	8	9	8	8	8	12	3	12
12	Satsuiya	10	10	10	9	9	8	12	3	12
13	Kishanpur	–	–	–	–	–	–	8	3	8
14	Bara	–	–	–	–	–	–	12	3	10
15	Bari	–	–	–	–	–	–	9	3	10
16	Sajani	–	–	–	–	–	–	8	3	8
17	Birunagla	–	–	–	–	–	–	11	3	10

1. Responsibility & role,             B. Literacy training,                     C. Tripartite agreement,
2. Community empowerment     E. Contribution & Management,   F. Technical Projects
3. Planning phase training,           H. Treasures training,                   I. Refresher training

i) Training of Health Promoter and Community Technician

In every village one community technician was recruited to look after the construction work and to take charge of the materials in the village level store. The technician was given one 5-day and two 10-day training in which the skills related with maintenance of hand pumps, and technical aspects of construction work were focused. From Rudrapur and Gadarpur Blocks 21 community technicians were given training. Also 17 youths from the selected villages were selected as Health Promotor and given training in primary medicine, health and sanitation, essential medicines for common diseases etc. First-Aid Kit was given to each Health Promotor.

iii) Training of Self-Help Groups

For making the women of Self-Help-Groups (SHG) self-supporting, they were given training in record keeping, banking, availability of raw materials, market demand and supply, and internal loan distribution system. In 17 villages 850 women were trained.

iv) Training of rural women, school children, teachers and dais

To increase the awareness about sanitation workshops, sanitation campaign, video film show, poster, drama and success stories were organized. Women from selected villages were trained in mother and child health. Immunization of children and pregnant women was done. Information about balanced diet based on locally available cheap food materials was given to rural women. At group level women, children, dais and health promoters were given training on important topics related to health such as personal hygiene, household sanitation, environmental sanitation, balanced and nutritious diet, safe potable water, importance of latrines, vaccination, diarrhea control, water borne disease, mother and child health etc. The number of participants from 30 selected villages is given in Table 5.

Self-Help Groups

For women empowerment and to assure their participation in the project, women groups were constituted in selected villages. Group meetings were organized by IMPART workers and benefits of working in a group was discussed. This provided impetus to formation of Self-Help Groups (SHG) and farmers and women groups were constituted in all the selected villages. In Udham Singh Nagar district 35 women SHG and in Badaun district 17 women SHG and 45 SHG/ FIG (Farmers Interest Groups) were constituted. Each SHG and FIG was given training in record keeping, maintenance of personal passbook, bank passbook, ledger, personal and group accounts, proceedings register, etc. These groups are maintaining saving accounts and making internal loan distribution among the members. Details of saving and internal loan are given in Table 7.

The activities of each SHG and FIG are being monitored by IMPART. To provide encouragement to such groups arrangement for revolving fund is being made. In Udham Singh Nagar district Rs   has been distributed to   women SHGs.

Table 5

Number of participants in the training/workshop representing the selected villages

S. No.	Name of village	Health & environment awareness training	Health & environment awareness workshop	Mother & child health
1	Ratanpuri	40	3227	184
2	Bhamrola	38	523	125
3	Malsi	35	4812	200
4	Chhinki	38	1894	225
5	Khamaria	40	2811	325
6	Ajeetpur	40	1342	225
7	Dopaharia	38	749	150
8	Raipur	40	1547	120
9	Rajpura	39	1559	230
10	Kuraiya	38	1450	145
11	Rameswarpur	40	1096	128
12	Satsuiya	40	1961	125
13	Kishanpur	60	1349	35
14	Bara	90	1425	22
15	Bari	120	2500	25
16	Sajani	70	776	40
17	Birunagla	75	1230	30

Table 6

Details of internal loan and savings

Type of SHG	No. of SHG	Total no. of members	Total saving in Rs.	No. of internal loan given	Amount of internal loan given in Rs.
Women SHGs	19	319	97551	60	86400
Men SHGs	45	438	16200	8	5500
FIG (farmer’s interest groups)	17	206	8175	5	1750
Total	81	963	121926	73	93650

 

Field visits

Field visits of selected members of SHGs of 9 villages were organized to Rameshwarpur, Tada Mahmud and Amia. Meetings were arranged during each visit for exchange of experiences among the participants. The members of SHG in Ramehwarpur,Tada Mahmud, Bara and Mari narrated their experience with savings. Mata Sundari SHG in Rameshwarpur is making good savings from agarbatti making, sewing and fruit preservation. With assistance from IMPART, the drinking water committee of Rameshwarpur has got one OHT (85 kilolitres) constructed. The field visit was highly successful in motivating the visiting members to undertake group activities for income generation, community development and construction work

Community Participation

Participatory approach was followed for implementation of the project programmes for benefit of the community. The community participation in terms of views, funds and labour was obtained for preparation of the work plan, monitoring the construction work and maintenance of the structures constructed in the village. IMPART provided training, technical advice, quality testing and guidance.

The following programmes were implemented in participatory mode:

• Baseline survey
• Awareness campaign
• Healthy home survey
• Clean up campaign

Baseline survey

In Udham Singh Nagar and Badaun districts, IMPART conducted baseline surveys by PRA technique as per need of the project. In 9villages of Rudrapur Development Block in U.S.Nagar district door to door survey was carried out whereas in four Development Blocks viz. Jagat, Bisauli, Asafpur and Wazirganj of Badaun district sample survey technique was followed to collect basic information on population, economic status, resource availability, agricultural practices etc. In this survey community participation was assured for community mapping. The results of baseline survey are briefly given below:

 

Udham Singh Nagar district:

Base line survey of 9 villages was carried out using effective community participatory techniques such as pocket chart and community mapping. The population of different age groups in these villages is given in Table 8. Information about number of families in different income groups (BPL, APL, SC), education levels, availability of basic amenities such as safe drinking water and latrines, etc was also collected.

Table 7

Population of different age groups in selected villages in Rudrapur Block

S. No.	Name of village	No. of wards	0-10 years	10-15 years	15-50 years	Above 50 years	Total population	Total no. of families
1	Ajeetpur	10	460	186	812	30	1544	231
2	Dopahriya	11	388	156	5811	127	1252	226
3	Chhinki	12	891	451	1262	233	2828	440
4	Khamaria	9	247	83	466	40	776	123
5	Malsi	9	438	149	648	114	1349	227
6	Bhamrola	9	347	148	591	118	1204	166
7	Raipur	12	420	146	660	109	1335	230
8	Rajpura	12	396	114	515	98	1123	176
9	Ratanpuri	7	95	36	163	23	317	62