India WASH forum e-newsletter - Update 13 July 2010

02 Aug, 2010 . 10 mins read

WaSH newsletter brings together critical news and information with analysis in the water and sanitation sector.

Water Sanitation Hygiene

We see this newsletter as a platform for independent credible voice in the water and sanitation sector. Our emphasis is on bringing together critical news and information with analysis. In this issue we share news and analysis on topical issues and developments.

The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation(DDWS) has simultaneously invited inputs to Discussion Papers on Drinking Water and Sanitation, circulated on Solution Exchange. Inputs given by India WASH Forum, on this, is enclosed in this Update. We have pointed out the missing elements of sanitation improvement strategy that include, criticality of providing water as an inseparable component to household sanitation, the tendency to see behavior change as a lifestyle issue and not linked to the hardware components, peoples livelihoods and living conditions. Suggestions for what needs to be done to strengthen the implementation mechanism of the flagship sanitation programme(TSC) and partnerships.

We include Independent opinion from a case study on sanitation experience of Eco-San. “The demand for toilets is found to be a function of land availability, income level, and awareness. Those who do not have land cannot build this facility, no matter how much they may desire it, because of lack of space or land. The second important factor is income. For people who struggle to feed themselves, it is very difficult to save money and incur an expenditure of at least Rs. 2,000 to build a toilet. In these cases, they depend on an external agency to fulfill their need. For the rest of the villagers, awareness is the most important demand-driving factor. They will not build a toilet if they do not perceive any benefit from doing so. An important lesson learnt is that a combination of economic and social factors affect sanitation behaviour change, and hence working on any one of these factors alone will not work in achieving our goals”.

The situation of drinking water crisis in urban India needs to be recognized too. And higher standards of delivery(for household drinking water and domestic and sanitation needs) – is an urgent priority. Many small towns and cities in India, are now suffering from major crisis of drinking water and households are paying exorbitant monthly charges for private tanker based water supply in regularized colonies. The situation in the slums is much worse. This is well highlighted in the Bollywood film in the pipeline.”Paani is a love story set in a futuristic Mumbai where water appears almost to have run out and corporations war over its control. The city is divided into conflicting halves in which the upper echelons hoard the water and drip-feed the slums of the lower city.” It is good to see that the sci-fi film is rooted in the conflict over control of resources, in a more unequal society, that lends an element of realism.

We are yet to see any Policy paper or programme commitment from the Govt of India, or any state government, to address the urban drinking water supply. The Urban Sanitation Policy of 2008 is silent on the drinking water stress in urban areas.

Recent results of the urban water and sanitation status ranking of Indian by the Ministry of Urban Development showed that two out of five Indian cities are listed in the category of crisis stage and not a single Indian city is in the highest/green stage. However the real crisis is in affordable and quality drinking water access to the urban poor. This has not been addressed in the report and is a cause of worry. The report serves the purpose of infrastructure investments and not what can be done to improve the access to quality drinking water and sanitation within the existing infrastructure investments.

Given the semi arid and hot climate of large parts of western, central, southern and north Indian states, our cities had traditionally provided drinking water as a charitable service. Several piaos or water points were run all across cities so that people who travel by public transport and work as daily wage labourers, have access to drinking water on hot summer days. In the past decade, most of these piaos and public water points have been shut down in most cities, leading to sever water stress for the poor. This needs to be addressed on priority.

Instead of addressing this demand for affordable access to basic drinking water and sanitation services for all, the Delhi government has come out with a model to earn revenue from a few model toilets that are to be developed as commercial property. “The MCD had invited proposals in early May for construction of these 216 "world-class" toilets in commercial areas and markets of the city. Mr. Arya also announced that the highest bidder who would construct the 216 toilets at various market areas would share the revenue with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD) at the rate of Rs.12 crore per year with an increase of 10 per cent every year for 30 years of the lease period. “We hope to generate a revenue of Rs.400 crore during the entire lease period,” he added.

The Global Sanitation Fund is now set to roll out in India. The first meeting of the Programme Coordination Mechanism(a body consisting of representatives from the government and national and international organizations working in sanitation) was held in Delhi on the 8th June. The selection of the Executing Agency and the Programme Monitor has been put into motion through the open bidding process by the UNOPs.

This $5 million, five year programme grant, will be targeted for two states(Assam and Jharkhand) and will focus on key components of supporting demand generation, institutional strengthening and advocacy – within the programming context of the government flagship programme of TSC. The core elements of the country programme will be a focus on behavior change based software support for the programme implementation component, institutional strengthening of the CCDUs/WSSOs and capacity building and national level learning and advocacy.

The Supreme court ruling in the Bhopal Union Carbide industrial disaster of 1984 has shocked the nation. Leave alone the deaths and maiming of thousands, the pitiable condition of medical support provided to the survivors and meager compensation claims that were settled(at $470 million in 1991) by the court, what has shocked everyone is the reduction of corporate liability in the Supreme court judgment to Section 304b(that is used in traffic accidents). The civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill that is in the Parliament now, caps the operators liability at only Rs.500 crores per incident(with additional damages of approx. Rs. 2300 crores to be borne by the government). This is even less than the Bhopal gas disaster compensation and bodes ill for the citizens.

The Bhopal disaster has left the ground water around the site contaminated. Several other industrial zones in India, severe ground water pollution is being witnessed, the worst perhaps in the instances of reverse pumping of industrial pollutants that has been reported in the industrial belts in Gujarat and elsewhere(where industrial effluents are pumped into the ground water to escape detection and cost of treatment). In the coming years, as the drinking water crises deepens in India, we need more stringent laws and punishments for pollution and industrial waste. Unfortunately the Bhopal Gas tragedy has shown that justice was not only delayed(25 years) but effectively denied at the terms at which this case has been settled.

Almost all development agencies today espouse a commitment to Rights in the work they do. Human Rights are indivisible and you cannot focus on only one Right and keep silent when other Rights are negated by the state. The negation of Rights is at the centre of all the failures in the Bhopal Gas industrial disaster. We also being in this newsletter, the verdict of the peoples tribunal, on the hearings held on the violation of right to life of tribal people in Chattisgarh where a Gandhian NGO Vanvasi Chetna Sangathan was evicted a year ago.

Opportunity cost of not providing sanitation. A research being undertaken by WSP in India whose tentative results were shared in a workshop in Delhi on the 30th June, has put the cost of not providing sanitation at 6.5% of the GDP(approx. $54 billion/year). That cost of improved sanitation is estimated at $100 billion for rural sanitation and $150 billion for urban sanitation. The research claims that 375,000 lives can be saved with improved sanitation every year.

Measuring sanitation progress. A presentation by the WSP South Asia Head in a workshop on 30th June in Delhi, highlighted the poor track record of sanitation in India. Despite a high GDP growth, several other indicators of malnutrition in India are below sub Sahara Africa. He said it may be better not to adopt the Open Defecation Free(ODF) villages as a norm, but to have indicators and guidance that helps us in tracking progress towards improved sanitation. Instead of an obsession with ODF village coverage, focus needs to go towards monitoring a combination of latrine use, hand washing and safe drinking water – the 3 core elements of WASH programme, he said.

The South Asia Conference on Sanitation(SACOSAN) is being organized in Sri Lanka in 2011. This is the fourth conference. A joined up CSO initiative has been taken up based on the successful collaboration in the third SACOSAN conference held in Delhi in 2008. A Terms of Reference for SCOSAN 4 has been developed by WSSCC, FANSA and WaterAid, the matrix of proposed actions is enclosed. The two joined up initiatives that have been agreed on include a pre SACOSAN meeting of civil society and a perceptions study to assess gaps in sanitation and progress made since the last SACOSAN.

Damming rivers and impact on monsoons. In a recent Paper in Economic and Political Weekly by Mihir Shah(member Planning Commission), says that “Damming the rivers for linking will cut down the sediment supply and cause coastal and delta erosion, destroying the fragile coastal ecosystems. Most significantly, the plan could threaten the very integrity of the monsoon system. The presence of a low salinity layer of water with low density is a reason for maintenance of high sea-surface temperatures (greater than 28°C) in the Bay of Bengal, creating low pressure areas and intensification of monsoon activity. This layer of low saline water controls rainfall over much of the subcontinent. A disruption in this layer consequent upon massive interlinking of rivers, which would curtail the flow of fresh river water into the sea, could have serious long-term consequences for climate and rainfall in the subcontinent, endangering the livelihoods of a vast population”. The Paper was dealing with the topic of “Uncertainty”, arguing that uncertainty is not bad. However the example given by the author shows that we do have very certain critical information. The problem therefore is not in lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of ability to take action.

”The programme of India WASH Forum for 2010 includes a commitment to supporting Right to Water and Sanitation. We had organized a (national workshop in Aug 2009). It was followed by the FORUM Workshop in Pune in Feb 2010 organised by SOPPECOM. Two studies have been committed by IWF for this year. A study on sector financing for sanitation is currently on in fours states(AP, UP, MP and Gujarat). It is looking at the sanitation financing scenario at district level and how this it can be improved. The second study will look into critical aspects of menstrual hygiene and is being anchored by WaterAid India. The third initiative of IWF is an Urban Sanitation workshop. It will focus on the status of sanitation in public places in some cities.

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