Sanitation

Through a maze of winding, curving roads off a main highway in Tamil Nadu, one must travel to reach the small, agrarian village of Muthampatti.

Priyadarshini, or Priya to friends, wanders inquisitively around a large cement pad where a group of about thirty women and men are gathering to create a map of their village using a colored chalk powder called Rangoli.

This report describes the proceedings of a workshop organised on the 5th of August 2009 at New Delhi, by the Freshwater Action Network South Asia (FANSA), the Forum for Policy Dialogue and Water Conflicts in India (FORUM), India WASH Forum and WaterAid.

The crisis of providing safe and affordable drinking water, as well as meeting the water requirements for livelihoods and infrastructure for rural and urban sanitation in India, is becoming acute by the day. In this context, ensuring the right of citizens to drinking water and sanitation, can be an important policy initiative to help improve the overall situation.

The India WASH Forum (IWF), a coalition of individuals representing an independent credible voice in the water and sanitation sector that is aligned to the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), supported the launch of the Global Sanitation Fund (GSF) in India, to assist the people of the country, who do not have adequate access to clean water and sanitation.

A launch workshop of the Global Sanitation Fund was organised on 4th August 2009 in New Delhi, by the India WASH Forum, to discuss GSF programme priorities and its implementation structure for India. Representatives of national and international organisations, Government of India, as well as sector experts participated in the workshop.

The newsletter explores the ways in which national laws, court pronouncements and judgements and international commitments can be interpreted to imply a right to water and sanitation.

Specific articles cover:

-Individual court cases and Supreme Court pronouncements

The special track on Sanitation today was the best part of the whole series of sessions. Insightful and sometimes funny, like this one. Here is a story about the "WC" as meant by a british woman intending to travel to india, and as understood by her probable indian host.

Ashok Jaitly, Water Resources Department, TERI
Policy issues in water conservation

Habil Attarwala, Furaat Earth Ltd., Gujarat

During conflicts and wars, many die as a consequence of bombings and battles. To the death toll, many more zeroes get added in the days and months to follow! Poor hygiene and sanitation takes several hundred lives in the refugee settlements.

This presentation describes the work of Tata Chemicals in organising water management initiatives, with the community around its plant in Mithapur, Gujarat. The various efforts taken up include integrated watershed development, salinity ingress mitigation, Water and Sanitation Management Organisation (WASMO) projects, rooftop rainwater harvesting and implementing water saving technologies.

The various initiatives taken up include installing sensors/push type tap for hand wash/urinals, close loop hydro testing, installing drip irrigation and sprinklers for garden, installing float valves for old overhead tank, using percolated rain water for process, use of AC condensed water, use of air cooled instead of water cooled compressors, treating waste water and more.