Cost Effective & Sustainable Drinking

Water Service Delivery: Lessons From

Kerala

Dr. V. Kurien Baby IAS

June 2010
Mazhapolima : Participatory Well
Recharge Programme
Background
Water, water, every where, Nor a drop to drink Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Kerala has 3000 mm rainfall p.a and 44 rivers
Water Scarcity a recurring phenomena every summer
Source un-sustainability and quality issues
Highest density of open dug wells in the world
70% of the people still depend of wells for drinking
Investments of Rs. 50000 mn in 45 lakh open wells
High access to pipes, poor access to quality water
High household investment as coping strategies
 Water Resources Demand
and Supply: Kerala 2021 AD

A. Projected Demand MCM

(i) Domestic 3,230
(ii) Industrial 4,270
(iii) Irrigation 28,900
(iv)Environmental Req. 12,200
Total Demand 48,600
B. Projected Supply 42,700
Demand Supply Gap 5,900
 Rural Water Supply: Kerala
Supply Side
(access to pipes)
59% 30% 16.7% 60%
piped piped public
finance 14.5% safe
water

55% not Rs 5,100 crore

70 % 90%
used for wells batcerio.
drinking contam.
83.3%
private
finance Faecal
contamination
Rs 3187 crore
(reqd)

Demand Side Access to safe

(access to water) water
Business as Usual Scenario: At Current
Level of Investment
Water Scenario: Thrissur
District
Seasonality of Wells
Perennial Wells in
Thrissur
Salinity at our Door Steps
 Can we be mute spectators when this
water tragedy is taking shape in front of
us?
 Mazhapolima: Overarching Goal:
Health Outcome
Objectives
Provide sustainable access to safe drinking
water thru open well recharge (not only
pied water conjunctive provision)
Recharge ground water- source
sustainability (local action Vs. climate
change)
Improved service level and quality
(Sanitized wells sustainable water
campaign)
Drought mitigation and reduce public
spending on tanker supply
Strengthening decentralization
Pilot test cost effective alternate models
 Approach and Strategy

Community Driven
Participatory approach
Demand Driven
PRI Centric
Facilitatory role for GoK
Process Oriented, Outcome based
Cost Effective transparency audit
Campaign Mode
Institutional Architecture
 Activity Plan Bottom UP
Activity Description
Special Gramasabha/ Starts with special grama/ward sabha announcing the message Our
Ward sabha water our future and wells for welfare.
will conduct the reconnaissance survey/PRA and prepare a water
resource atlas /scarcity Map with the inventory of open wells and ponds
and prepare the resource map
Preparation of Action The ward sabha will approve the Action plan comprising the following
Plan and Approval components: (i) IEC and Awareness campaign: (ii) Training and
Ward/GP level Capacity Building Plan; (iii) implementation plan: (iv) financing plan and
(v) monitoring (quantity and quality) and documentation plan
Implementation Task A task Force supported by the resource team will be constituted from
Force or Jalasuraksha among the key stakeholders at the GP level with the mandate of
Samithies programme implementation.

Block Block level Committee will consolidate the block level plan, oversee
implementation, coordinate and direct action, poling and leveraging
Jalasuraksha resources and infuse innovative resource mobilization ad integration of
Samithies ongoing programmes

District District Advisory Committee will be chaired by the DP President and

DC Vice Chairman with Block presidents and Presidents of the GP
Jalasuraksha Association and selected experts as members and DPO as convener.
Samithies The Executive Committee will be Chaired by the DC and selected
experts, NGOs and key departments as members
 Menu of Technology Options
Technology choice Specification Indicative Cost-
Range in Rs
Open well (Drinking)
Roof top harvest with PVC Gutters are fixed to collect water from roof 2500-3750
Sand filter* and water is diverted to the filter using a PVC pipe.
The filter consists of sand, metal and charcoal
Roof top harvest with Water is harvested from the roof and is diverted to 1250-2500
ordinary Nylon filter the well through a Nylon or cloth filter using a PVC
pipe.
Open wells/Ponds
(Non drinking)
Rooftop harvesting Water harvested from the roof top is directly fed 500-1000
with out filter into the well
Surface run off catch Using a bund, trench or pit 500-1000
Rain pits Open pit dug with a specification of 0.75 m x 0.75m 250-500
x 0.75m
Backwash with Phyto- Usually meant for ponds in the lowlands, where a 2000-4000
remediation variety of plants and shrubs and trees are planted
around the pond to purify water, appropriating the
purification properties of plants and trees

(*) Additional Rs. 500 may have to be added for polyethylene sheets for thatched roofs
Technology Options
 Capacity Building
Stakeholder Group Capacity Building Components
Grama Panchayath Council Awareness on Ground water table,
extraction, recharge techniques and legal
regimes
Local Volunteers including Skill building on Rain Water Harvesting,
Kudumbasree, Water Literacy, Quality campaign
Jalamithrams, NGOs, CBOs
and local skilled persons Monitoring and Documentation

Media Awareness Programmes and Exposure

programmes on focused good practices
Task Forces, Executive Monitoring, Documentation and
Committee, DPC, Members Awareness Programmes along with
of District and Block
Panchayath Exposure visits to Good practices.
 Key Performance Indicators

Substantial cost savings and targets exceeded by

200% in 14 months (T 3000 Ach. >10000 Wells)
Financial Targets exceeded by 15 times GoK funds
of Rs. 10 mn leverage funds Rs 150 mn (GoI 8 mln, GoK
3 mn, Arghyam, UNDP/UNICEF, Pvt. Sector(banks/Edu insts, business)NGOs,
CBOs , KWA)

Source and Quality sustainability ensured

(community based quality assurance WQS&M)
GoK integrated the programme for PRIs/GoI for
GWR)
Action Research Outcomes
Recharging Open Wells in the
Coastal Riverine Island of
(VP)Thuruth improves water
quality

Satellite image of VP Thuruth at the confluence of Periyar River.

Mazhapolima: Backwash Method
-Before and After
 Key Outcomes
Reduced morbidity better health (Third party audit)
Reversal of investment trajectory (extraction
/production to source sustainability) address climate
change
Replicability and Statewide scaling up- 3 districts GO
issued
GoK announced Water Security plan (jalasuraksha) for
State
Programme Convergence ( NREGA, watershed, soil conservation,
minor irrigation, PRI plans, GWD programmes )
Programme institutionalized with PRIs GoK & DPC
National/regional media joined the campaign National
River Action Framework (hit in India Water Portal)
UNDP /UNICEF (MDG) workshop & exposure visit
State & National award for Adat GP
 Media Tour
1520 hits in Google
THANK YOU