October, 2015

WATER MANAGEMENT FOR HEALTH

AND LIVELIHOODS: LESSONS FROM BIHAR

October, 2015

WATER MANAGEMENT FOR HEALTH

AND LIVELIHOODS: LESSONS FROM BIHAR

Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India)

9th & 10th Floor, Corporate House, Opposite Dinesh Hall,Off. Ashram Road, Ahmedabad-380 009, India.Tel.: +91-79-66312451, 66312461, 27540421, 27541678Fax: +91-79-66312471Email: mail@akrspi.orgWebsite: www.akdn.org/India

For further information please contact

Abbreviation

Foreword

CONTENTS

Biography

1.

Archana Dwivedi and Shishupal

7

2. With the coming of Sanitation Unitsgenerations changed...

Shremee Kumari

18

3. Improving drinking water quality through innovative mini water testing labs

Dr. Ajaykumar

22

5. Piloting Group Irrigation: The Case of Chakhaji village of Samastipur District, Bihar

Sunil Kumar Pandey

34

4. Enabling access to Water & Sanitation for the Marginalized Musahar community

Neeraj Kumar

28

Acknowledgement

Bringing potable water to the doorstep: The case of Community Owned Mini Drinking Water System

Acknowledgement

* * * * *

A write shop organised jointly by AKRSP(I) and The Livelihood School

during 2013-14 at Bihar helped the case writers from AKRSP(I) come

up with the cases published in this booklet on interventions done by

AKRSP(I). We are thankful to the CEO Mr. Apoorva Oza and the then

general manager Ms. Manju Jha of AKRSP (I) Bihar who conceived this

write shop to document the learning from implementation. We also

thank Mr. Avinash Kumar and his colleagues for facilitating the write

shop as well as the follow up. The coordination and facilitation of the

entire exercise by Neeraj Pathak from the Bihar team too is gratefully

acknowledged. Last but not the least we are very grateful for the

participation and cooperation by the rural communities of the Bihar

programme area and our valued partner – the European Commission for

generously supporting this work.

Abbreviations

AKF Aga Khan Foundation Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India)Below Poverty Line Community based saving groupsCost of IrrigationCommunity Owned Mini Drinking Water System European CommissionFeetHuman Development IndexHorse PowerIndira Awas YojanaIndividual Household LatrineIndian RupeesKilogramKisan Vikas SamitiLivelihood Promoting OrganizationsNirmal Bharat AbhiyanMulti Input Area DevelopmentMahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee ActNon Government Organization Peoples' ContributionPanchayati Raj InstitutionsReverse OsmosisRupees (Indian)Scheduled Caste Sir Dorabji Tata Trust Self Help GroupSpearhead TeamSir Ratan Tata Trust State Rural Livelihood MissionTola Vikas SamitiUnited Nations International Children's Emergency FundWater, Sanitation and HygieneWater and SanitationWater User Group

AKRSP(I)BPLCBSGCOICOMDWSSECFt.HDIHPIAYIHLINRKg.KVSLPOsNBAMIADMGNREGA

NGOPCPRIRORs.SCSDTTSHGSHTSRTTSRLMTVSUNICEF

WASHWATSANWUG

5

1Apoorva Oza

North Bihar has high rainfall and is flood-prone. One would imagine

that water is the least of the problems for rural communities. Access to

drinking water is definitely not a problem; villages have hundreds of

hand pumps; many privately owned. Yet we have a drinking water

problem? The problem is of water quality; as most of these pumps

extract water from a shallow aquifer; and because of frequent floods and

no sanitation; this water is not potable, hence we need to have a drinking

water system which provides water of potable quality.

So measuring water quality is critical in Bihar; mere supply is not

enough, and to provide potable quality; sanitation is also essential.

One would argue that irrigation would not be a problem because water

quality is not an issue for irrigation. However, recently even irrigation

has become a problem because of two reasons; one, the energy costs of

pumping out water and two the fact that with recent droughts; even

access has become a problem. Group irrigation provides one answer.

This booklet shares the case studies of communities who have, despite

odds, addressed the problems of water quality, sanitation access and

costly irrigation with support from AKRSP(I).

I hope that these stories inspire you, and show that even the poorest

communities in this country can work together to resolve their problems.

1. Apoorva Oza works as CEO of AKRSP(I).

* * * * *

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Foreword

Bringing potable water to the doorstep:The case of Community Owned Mini Drinking Water System

Archana Dwivedi and Shishupal

On November 6, 2013, in the wee hours of the morning, there is a queue at stand post 5, in Bichla Ram Tola (a 'tola' – hamlet - of Chakle Waini Gram Panchayat in Pusa block of Samastipur district of Bihar). Standing at the end of the queue, Nirmala is thinking to herself how just a few months back most residents of her tola used to drink water from their hand pumps. Though almost everybody in the tola knew that the water they were consuming had high proportion of iron they did not know how to treat the water to get rid of the iron. Children were frequently falling ill (loose motion and sometimes even diarrhea), people in general suffered from gastric problems and a feeling of heaviness and discomfort in their stomach, and frequent expenditure for medical treatment was a drain on the household savings.

People had largely been ignorant about the fact that that water from almost 99% of their hand pumps was contaminated (55% with nitrate contamination and 43% with bacteriological contamination), and was thus unfit for human consumption. They learnt this after the Community Organizer from Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) explained to them the correlation between safe water and sanitation practices and good health, the different parameters which measure safe drinking water, and motivated them to get their water tested.

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Nirmala is happy that today her tola has a mini drinking water supply

system (MDWSS) with a capacity to store 10,000 litres of water in two

overhead tanks, with 6 stand posts providing safe water to 138 (100%)

user households. Set up and managed by her community with support

of Rs.2,80,183/- from European Union funded project 'Water for Good

Health and Sustainable Livelihoods', contribution from her people, and

technical support from AKRSP(I), the MDWSS is the tola's pride. This

is the first stand post model which has been set up by AKRSP(I) in its

project area.

All households of Bichla Ram Tola today drink water from the mini

drinking system. People feel a strong sense of ownership of the mini

drinking system because they experienced direct benefits within 2-3

days of beginning to consume water from their 'tunki' (tunki in Hindi

means tank). The water tasted better and their stomachs felt lighter. The

water from more than 300 feet plus below ground level is as 'clean and

sweet as bisleri (a brand of packaged drinking water known for its

purity)' is how residents describe the water from the 'mini'. The

ownership by the community is further ratified by the fact that since

establishment, all repairs have been handled by the core user group,

Shri Ram Payjal Samiti ('Payjal' in Hindi means drinking water and

'Samiti' means group).

Each user household pays a flat water usage charge every month to

cover for operation and maintenance. To ensure transparency in

handling the common fund, the collection towards water usage charges

is deposited in a bank account with Punjab National Bank owned and

managed by Shri Ram Payjal Samiti. Each stand post and tank is

managed by a user group. There are eight user groups in all, with each

group having about 15 users. Each user group is led by a president.

There is a core group constituted by one member from each user group

comprised of chairperson, treasurer, and secretary. On a voluntary

basis and through common consent, from the user groups Baiju Ram

has been nominated Chairperson, Santosh Ram, Secretary and Lalita

Devi, Treasurer of Shri Ram Payjal Samiti. All user group members

work voluntarily to ensure maintenance and upkeep of the system.

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Reminiscing about how this came about, her mind dwells on the

challenges which she had to overcome to convince tola residents and

members of six self help groups to contribute (cash and kind) towards

establishing the mini drinking. How people had been skeptical at first.

They had raised many questions. 'How would the mini drinking

function? Who would manage and maintain it?' And, how through

continuous dialogue in small group meetings led by 'tola' youth Sonu,

Ajay, Jawaharlal, Baiju Ram and Fultun, and staff from AKRSP(I),

'tola' residents had shed their reservations. This had been followed by a

visit to the first mini drinking set up by AKRSP(I) at Dhobi Tola

(Mohammadpur Koari gram panchayat, Pusa block, Samastipur

district). People had finally been convinced that a mini drinking in the

tola would address many of their health problems. They had come

together and contributed Rs.27,600/- besides labour to set up the

drinking water supply system.

While health expenditure has gone down, there is still some unfinished

agenda. Only four households in the 'tola' have toilets. Consumption

of 'taadi' (locally made liquor) is a high ticket item on the household

expenditure list. There are about ninety eight children in the age group

of 3-6 years, and there is an urgent need for setting up an early

childhood development centre. Women, largely non literate, work

generally as agricultural labourers and have expressed a desire to learn

new skills which would help them to earn better incomes. Six

community based saving groups (CBSGs) – Ravidas Bachat Mandal,

Ram Bachat Mandal, Shiv Bachat Mandal, Sita Bachat Mandal,

Santoshi Bachat Mandal, and Saraswati Bachat Mandal with a total

membership of 117, are gearing up to address these challenges.

Beginning with a 'tola' based model, the drinking water supply system

at Khaira village was ambitious in attempting to cover three wards in

two 'tolas' through a single source.

At least one male member from each of a total of 173 households in

Khaira village (Kuboliram gram panchayat, Pusa block, Samastipur

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district, Bihar), works as a migrant labour in the packing and transport

sector in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Womenfolk work as

agricultural labourers in nearby fields. Located 2.5 kilometers South

West of AKRSP(I)'s spearhead team (SHT) office at Pusa, the village

is a part the EU supported project. Fifty one individual household

latrines (IHL) have been constructed. Four community based saving

groups, Durga Bachat Mandal, Amarsingh Bachat Mandal, Utsah

Bachat Mandal and Deepjyoti Bachat Mandal, with total ninety eight

women members save 7840 INR every month with a total kitty of

157000 INR to provide loans to members.

Matukia Devi, member of Utsah Bachat Mandal, and also President of

Tola Vikas Samiti (TVS) has been associated with the project since

year 2012. On this chilly foggy winter morning of 26 December, 2014,

as she watches the inauguration of the mini drinking in her village by

Honorable Minister, Water Resources, Government of Bihar, and

dignitaries including Deputy Controller and Auditor General,

Government of India, and happy smiles on the faces of her village folk

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warms her heart. She remembers how the water test results shared by

AKRSP (I) team had woken her up: 58% sources bacteriologically

contaminated, 23% with iron levels as well as turbidity above

permissible levels! No wonder that gastric problems and expenditure

on medical treatment to treat frequent diarrhea had been plaguing the

village. It was a relief that no arsenic contamination had been found.

Despite these results, during initial discussions people had still not

been convinced. Facilitated by AKRSP(I) staff, she had mobilized her

community to visit the mini drinking at the nearby Bichla Ram Tola.

The exchange with the community there had been the turning point.

133 households from Sahni Tola Ward 13, Sahni Tola Ward 14, Paswan

tola Ward no. 12, had come forward to contribute 71,094 INR, besides

labour for setting up the drinking water system. With a project support

of 346,786 INR, the mini drinking had been commissioned on 27

November, 2014. The groundwater availability from the aquifer at 340

feet down below, had convinced AKRSP(I) staff that the system would

be able to meet the extended demand and cover three 'tolas'. Through 15 stand posts, safe drinking water from 2 overhead tanks,

each with a storage capacity of 5000 litres today reaches 133

households. Each stand post and water tank is managed by a user group

with 8-10 members and led by a president, and all the user groups are

coordinated by a core user group, 'Maa Manpoorna Payjal Upyog

Samity' with 14 members and Arvind Kumar, President, Asha Devi,

Treasurer, and Dhaneshwar Sahni, Secretary as the office bearers. The

president from each user group collects the usage charges (flat 10 INR

per household per month) and deposits this with the core user group

which is in the process of opening a bank account with Punjab

National Bank, Pusa. Water usage norms have been laid out, which the

user groups monitor on a daily basis.

The hard toil of the community has paid off! And nobody is happier

than Matukiya Devi. The difference in the water quality is obvious.

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The water is clear and tastes sweet. Within two to three days, people

began coming to her and saying that the heavy feeling in their stomach

to which they had been accustomed for so long, has thankfully gone.

And she is confident that the availability of safe drinking water will

reduce the incidence of water borne ailments in her village.

Top three items, next on the village development plan are to improve

quality of life of the villagers including, achieving 100% sanitation

coverage, alternate livelihoods for women, and a learning support

centre for children. For Matukiya Devi there is no looking back. As the

head of the TVS in her tola, she is committed to leaving no stone

unturned to make these plans a reality.

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WATSAN initiatives started from 2009 in the districts of Muzaffarpur

and Samastipur, addressing environmental health, safe drinking water,

environmental cleanliness and hygiene issues, and toilet construction.

AKRSP(I) WATSAN program approach is to help communities

understand their water quality and its implications through scientific

testing. Further, to support communities to plan their water and

sanitation needs, develop model approaches that meet these needs and to

engage with the state to scale up these models. To generate awareness

among the community for safe drinking water, water testing activity was

taken up with 2 water testing laboratories that were set up in February

2012 at Sakra and Pusa locations (The two spear head team locations of

AKRSP(I) in Bihar). Until now 2,310 families from Pusa (Muzaffarpur)

and Sakara (Samastipur) locations approached the laboratories, paid

fees and got the report of water tests which illustrated that approx 90%

water sources were contaminated with bacteria. Although the Public

In Bihar, the major source of drinking water in the area is hand-pumps

which are installed at shallow depth so although platform construction

around hand-pumps addresses the issues of water contamination but

water is contaminated at source at shallow depth due to open defecation

and water logging. Some cases of arsenic contamination have been

detected in the area. Although the Public Health Engineering

Department (PHED) advises hand-pumps to be drilled to a depth of 45-

60 metres to ensure drinking water to be relatively safe from bacteria,

private hand-pumps for domestic use are mainly drilled to a depth of

only 18 metres to save on cost. Drinking water quality in the area is poor

due to non-existent piped water schemes, poor public management

systems and affordable hand-pumps. The outcome is complete

dependence on shallow groundwater. A majority of sources are

contaminated with coliform and faecal coliform bacteria. These findings

are in line with UNICEF's state- wide assessment and are corroborated

by the findings of AKRSP's health surveys which indicate high

prevalence of water-borne diseases.

Larger Context:

Intervention:

14

Health Engineering Department (PHED) advises hand-pumps to be

drilled to a depth of 45-60 metres to ensure drinking water to be

relatively safe from bacteria also, one of the recommendations based on

the results of water testing was new hand-pump installation of 200 ft.

costing Rs. 1,00,000 (India Mark-II) for deep borewell. While the team

was discussing to take up the next option, one of the team members from

Pusa SHT read about solar powered Mini Drinking Water Supply

System scheme of Jharkhand government in a newspaper

advertisement. The option was discussed within the team and with the

support from engineer in the team, a prototype design and estimate was

prepared. The design and estimate was also shared with WATSAN

Manager. It was proposed by the team that instead of tap system at

household, a common tank would be installed at a common place and it

would have 5-6 taps from which people would carry drinking water. The

total cost was estimated around Rs.2,50,000 (including cost of one tank

of 5000 litre capacity, one submersible pump of 2 HP, pipes-1000 ft.). It

was also suggested that the height of the platform beneath the tank

should be around 1.5 feet (just sufficient to put a bucket under the tap).

This was to avoid misuse of drinking water for the purposes of bathing,

cleaning of utensils etc. It was estimated that one unit of COMDWSS

would cater to the needs of around100 households.

The model:

COMDWSS has to be implemented through Tola Vikas Samiti (TVS). The concept would be shared with TVS for encouraging community participation. Communities are expected to contribute through wage labor and cash so that there ownership can be ensured. It is proposed that each household from a tola should contribute Rs.500 and remaining amount to be contributed by AKRSP(I). A user committee needs to be formed constituting the recipients of water supply through COMDWSS. The user committee would have one president, secretary and a treasurer. One member of the committee would voluntarily take responsibility of operating the water supply system. Each month a maintenance charge of Rs.10 would be collected from each user which would be used for

15

paying electricity bill and paying for any incidentals viz. repair of the system etc. While AKRSP(I) would meet the cost of equipment, accessories and mason; the committee has to take electricity connection. 10 to 12 stand-posts would be installed for single tank unit while 18-20 stand-posts would be installed for double tank unit. It is categorically communicated to the users that the water is to be strictly used for drinking and cooking purpose only.

Once the idea was conceptually accepted, it was decided by the team to pilot the model at two places. In May 2013, the models were piloted at i) Dhobitola (Mohammadpur Kowari Panchayat, block Pusa district, Samastipur.) and ii) Asanand Titra (Pilkhi –Gajpati Panchayat, block Muraul district Muzaffarpur).The reason to consider Dhobitola was due to acute water crisis in summer. During summer all the 153 households were dependent on two or three functional hand-pumps. While Asanand Titra was a village where most of the interventions were taken up by AKRSP(I) and considering the pro-activeness of the community this place was also selected for pilot.

The cost of single tank COMDWSS at Dhobi tola was Rs.2,54,419 and people's contribution was Rs.31,000. It was proposed to get Rs.500 from each household but uniform contribution could not come. Chand Payjal Upyog Samiti was constituted with 86 members to manage the functioning of the unit. Bank account of the committee was opened and electricity connection was also taken. The then District Magistrate Navin Chandra Jha inaugurated the unit and praised the effort.

Some results of WATSAN intervention have been encouraging. For the area where water supply and sanitation coverage has been abysmally

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The initiatives taken under WATSAN has generated important learning which would help in reaching out to more number of beneficiaries in the intervention area, to demonstrate to other livelihood promoting organizations viz. State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM), government departments viz. PHED to scale up the models in the larger area.

In case of Bichla Ram Tola the engagement of youth in the entire process of counseling of the communities made a lot of difference. The youth were convinced with the concept of COMDWSS and they subsequently counseled and motivated their families and neighbors to contribute for the process.

Some Learning:

low AKRSP(I) efforts definitely gives a ray of hope. The communities at intervention area are now getting aware of the existing quality of drinking water and the importance of taking preventive and precautionary measures.

Conclusion:

* * * * *

AKRSP (I)'s model of COMDWSS is reasonably cost effective and tries

to optimally utilize available resources locally. Though the European

commission and Water Aid have provided financial support for the

system to showcase this low cost, community owned and replicable

model, it is hoped that in the long run govt. agencies will invest in the

replication of these especially in vulnerable and remote areas. AKRSP

(India) as technical agency will continue to facilitate the designing,

costing and ensuring of community participation and mobilisation for its

sustainability.

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With the coming of Sanitation Unitsgenerations changed...

Shremee Kumari

21 November 2012. Asma Begum is in deep thought today. She is disturbed to learn about a recent incident when some anti-social elements had attempted to abuse a girl from her village when she had gone to the open fields for her morning ablutions. Her thoughts turn to her own daughter Shabnam who would soon be an adolescent and her concerns grew. Today she has resolved that she would talk to her spouse and convince him for constructing a toilet for the family.

On an earlier occasion, when AKRSP(I) team had briefed her about the benefit of constructing a IHL in which she would have to contribute 5000 INR through material and labour and AKRSP(I) would provide the remaining financial support and technical guidance, she had tried to convince her spouse but he had ignored the topic saying that a toilet was a luxury they could ill afford and a waste of money. For lack of funds available with her, she had had to give up the effort.

She recollects another incident recently when harvest activities were at peak in the fields and because of an upset stomach she had to go to bamboo bush for her ablutions during the day. She had noticed a snake move under the leaves. It was God's grace that she had returned. That day too she had tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to revive her IHL agenda with her spouse. When she had insisted, a quarrel had broken out.

She accepts that her husband's concern regarding how they would be able to meet the expenses towards an IHL is not baseless…with eleven mouths to feed and limited income source of 200 INR per day from daily wage labour to meet all the household expenses including children's education, clothing and also ensuring saving in her CBSG. For her family, each day was a hand-to-mouth story with very meager savings. Despite being at the bottom of the ladder, her family was not on the BPL list due to some political issues, and thus she had been unable to avail benefit under the government scheme ‘Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA)'.

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But today as a mother of a young daughter her concern for her daughter's well being has firmed up her resolve to overcome all odds to build a IHL for her family. She talks to her son and son-in-law and convinces them. They pool all their savings to ensure their contribution of 5000 INR and finally, work for constructing her toilet has begun, with AKRSP(I) providing support of 750 bricks, 4 bags of cement, mason's wages, and pan; sheet; tiles and roof totaling 7000 INR.

Asma is also the chairperson of the TVS at Noonfer tola. 106 households mostly mahadalits, reside in Noonfer tola. 70% of the households migrate to Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab to work as wage labourers for their livelihoods. The rest work as labourers in nearby areas and some also run 'thelas' (pushcarts).

Following her example, others in her tola have also begun to construct their toilets. The TVS has resolved that it will ensure that each and every household has an IHL. Shivnand Mahto of her tola refused to construct a toilet until his wife caught a cold and fell so ill that she just could not go into the open for her ablutions. With no option left he too constructed a toilet for his family.

Thus, in a months time, by December 2013, 40 households have constructed their toilets, and all the remaining toilets have also enrolled with the TVS for constructing their toilets. Asma says proudly, 'I suffered the indignity of defecating in the open for 40 years...but my children will not have to suffer anymore.' Thus generations changed…

The learning has been that behavior change communication and

attitudinal changes are necessary to encourage people to accept the

importance of toilet construction. Initially when AKRSP(I) started the

work of toilet construction in 2008, they used to give full cost of toilet

i.e. 7,000 INR and the households were expected to contribute through

Implementation:

19

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labour cost. To ensure targeting the underprivileged, AKRSP (I) initiated

bottom up approach to identify the households which were unable to

construct toilets without external support. Tola Vikas Samiti as a local

tola level institution was formed with the objective to help in

identification of underprivileged households by providing several

trainings and exposure visits of progressive TVS. The capacity of TVS

members to identify beneficiaries and raise awareness was increased.

These TVS helped in construction of toilets by motivating beneficiaries

to contribute in terms of material and labor. Later when the community

started understanding the importance of toilet construction the demand

started increasing. In the minority community, although the households

accepted the importance of toilet construction but they demanded two

separate toilets for men and women of the family due to their cultural

practices. It restricted AKRSP(I) to continue with contributing full cost

of toilet construction. The efforts of counselling households about the

need and importance of toilets is gradually showing results and people

have started approaching AKRSP(I) team and their TVS.

Some Outcomes:

In rural Bihar given that only 5-9% population have access to fixed-point defecation, and government schemes like NBA have had only limited success to ensure action at the community level for toilet construction, the growing awareness of the communities for toilet construction is appreciable. This initiative has been well received by female members of the rural households as it saves them the open defecation. Linkage of AKRSP(I)'s efforts with government schemes viz. NBA and MGNREGA would ensure better results.

Learning:

The convergence of AKRSP(I) toilet construction work with government schemes viz. NBA and MGNREGA has demonstrated that it is possible to make government schemes work if planning is meticulous and there is persistence in the effort to ensure entitlements.

* * * * *

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Improving drinking water quality through innovative mini water testing labs

Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) has been working at tola/hamlet level in Samastipur and Muzzafarpur districts of Bihar state since 2008 to address various issues on water and sanitation and as part of these initiatives, AKRSP(I) conducted drinking water quality testing to find out the various constraints at Pusa, Tajpur and Maraul blocks under Samastipur and Muzaffarpur districts. The results of the tests reveal that nearly 100% of the samples were positive to bacteriological contamination and 15% have high iron presence. Further, there was high prevalence of water borne diseases at the Tolas because of these contaminated drinking water even though the community were not aware about the quality of the water and the link between the water quality and their health problems. Besides, the region is low lying, and the villages gets flooded during monsoons leading to further contamination.

Background:

Dr. Ajaykumar

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The Laboratory model:

It was therefore decided to set up water testing laboratory to sensitize community on drinking water quality and develop sense of ownership about maintenance of drinking water sources so that people do not get affected by water borne diseases. To achieve this objective AKRSP(I) developed a dedicated team for water testing that conducts transit walk within hamlets with active community members and resource persons followed by social mapping emphasizing formation of 'water user committee'. Training on water quality provides the insights on water contamination and its hazards to the institution members. After sensitization of community members, they collect water samples from their sources and bring it to the lab for further quality testing. Water samples are tested in hygienic and sterilized condition by well qualified and trained lab technicians and database maintained in a robust MIS system. Another dedicated field level team provides feedback to the water users about their water samples through testing reports. A unique color code is followed for

23

identifying samples as Green, Yellow and Red which are printed in the testing report. After getting the water quality report people are advised to mark their sources as per the color code mentioned in the report. An advisory guideline as per the contamination and its remedy is printed on the reverse of the report and on hand training on chlorination and other remedies like construction of platform around water sources are advised by the team. After the water testing of all water sources of the hamlet, a Tola monitoring board is placed in a prime location of the hamlet mentioning the status of water sources contaminated and safe with such other information so that community can understand and act upon. The most critical indicator of the sensitization is that the community is bearing contribution in cash to test the sample and wants to know the result of their water sample by paying Rs. 35 which is a good sign of its success and sustainability.

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Sign of changes:

This intervention has helped the vulnerable community to be aware of water quality and its consequences, challenging on health. Moving free services to paid services is critical when there are no tangible benefits seen; available data represents a significant change in mindset towards 'free services'.

In year 2012, community contributed a total of Rs. 11035 by paying Rs. 10 per sample tested. Subsequently, the amount of contribution per sample has been raised to Rs. 35 to meet the actual cost of testing, in the long term after the phase out of the programme. This increased trend of community participation by way of bearing the part cost of water testing reflects the consciousness of getting safe drinking water and the developing of a sense of ownership and participation in the activity.

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If high quality services with end-to-end solutions are delivered consistently, even the poorest of poor are ready to pay.

By bringing communities to lab, community members became aware about the importance and process of water testing, and thus more easily accepted the results of water test shared with them.

Uniformity in people’s contribution resulted in preventing unnecessary conflict, and ensuring equal participation.

Visit of PRI members was a catalyst in increasing the number of water samples received.

Lessons learnt:

* * * * *

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Enabling access to Water & Sanitation for the

Marginalized Musahar community

Neeraj Kumar

Bhairopattitola (hamlet) is located close to Tajpur–Pusa road in Dighra gram panchayat of Pusa block in Samastipur district of Bihar. The tola is a hamlet of “mahadalit” community which is known as “Musahar” in Bihar. Musahars are primarily landless people belonging to scheduled caste (SC) category. They are socio-economically marginalized and for their livelihoods, they are mainly dependent on farm labour round the year, struggling to earn two square meals a day. Though this tola is just 7 km from the block head quarters of Samastipur, for these 55 poorest families of the Musahar community of this tola getting access to natural resources in the village, Govt. welfare schemes and basic amenities is a formidable challenge task. Access to safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, livelihood means and hygienic environment is negligible. Govt. schemes related to health, education and livelihood other than Public Distribution System (PDS) and the housing scheme Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) is far beyond their reach and access.

Context:

For access to drinking water, residents were mainly dependent on shallow hand pumps which are prone to bacteriological contamination and there was no water security as during summer, these pumps used to

Table-1:

Demographic Details

No. of

Family

SC

Family

BPL

Family

Male

55 55 55 239

Female Total

Population

79 86

28

Interventions:

In 2015, AKRSP(I) began work in this tola through its interventions of agriculture, safe drinking water and sanitation. After successful demonstration of its model Community Owned Mini Drinking Water Supply System (COMDWSS) in many tolas, it started dialoguing with the Musahar community and urged them to adopt this model by participating in the process and making contribution to bring sense of equity and ownership in community. After many rounds of meetings, one member from community namely Roushan Sada came forward and helped to raise awareness of the community as well as mobilize them for construction of COMDWSS in the tola. He devoted much time and effort for ensuring safe drinking water to the households. One storage tank with capacity of 5000 liters was installed, connected to 330 feet deep electric bore well from where ground water was extracted with the help of 1 HP submersible pump. From storage tank, water was then distributed through stand posts to neighbourhoods where 4-5 families get water for carrying out their daily chores. To ensure sustainability of the system, operation and maintenance part lies with the community by forming a Water User Committee whose responsibilities includes operation & maintenance issues, user fee collection and transferring money to bank account which is in the name of the committee.

dry up. Women were engaged in fetching water from neighboring hamlets which was a tedious and time consuming task. Children especially females were assigned the task of fetching water for their day-to-day usage resulting in girls being out of school. While implementing the programmes for the welfare of the rural communities in Bihar, the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) came across the plight of these marginalized residents of the Bhairopattitola. Prior to AKRSP(I)'s intervention, the households in this tola were completely relying on contaminated water from hand pumps in the nearby hamlets for their daily need; indeed availability of water itself was challenging, let alone quality of safe and potable water. The villagers had by the time given up hope on their elected representatives as the concerned government department had turned down their request of installing a hand pump in their tola for access to safe drinking water.

29

Project Details: Physical & Financial

Tank & Storage

Capacity

No. of

Stand Post

Dapth of Bore

(in Feet)

Date of

Establishment

1-5000 Ltrs 11 350 February, 2015

RaoshanSada added, “I'm positive that this is a scalable model and can be replicated elsewhere in areas where there is acute shortage of safe drinking water. Even in areas where water sources are sufficient, this is a very good model which can be used to cater safe drinking water need in a tola having 100 -150 households.”

Community Champion RoushanSada at COMDWSS

30

Grant Support

Through

AKRSP(I)-

INR

Community

Support (PC)-

INR

Total Cost-

INR

207763.00 17241.00 225004.00

One part of the project deals with providing an easy to operate and maintain a cost-effective system for safe drinking water to the households. The second, more crucial part involves in providing sanitation facility keeping in mind the hygiene aspect of the community. The community used to practice open defecation. This was again a bane especially for women who used to practice it by compromising their dignity and inviting health hazards. To address this issue, AKRSP (I)

A woman collecting water at Stand Post

31

Women beneficiary of a toilet

started sensitization and orientation of the community and members of PRI in the area. They were initially skeptical of the idea of constructing toilets in their households as from ages they used to defecate in open. The cost associated with toilet construction was also a concern for the community as they could not afford to invest. AKRSP(I) also worked with local vendors for supply of sanitation materials and PHED for ensuring reimbursement of subsidy to the community. All these efforts led to the community ultimately adopting sanitation practices by constructing individual household latrines (IHHL) and usage of these toilets by all family members including children.

32

Some Outcomes:

The 55 poorest households of the Musahar mahadalit community in Bhairopatti village have gradually started feeling the changes due by usage of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities at household level. Due to lack of awareness, poor hygiene & sanitation conditions and unsafe drinking water, people of this hamlet were suffering from common water borne diseases like typhoid, diarrhoea, gastro-intestinal problems. The community is experiencing significant reduction in drudgery as water is potable now, available at their door step as and when required for human as well as consumption of livestock. Further, due to consumption of safe drinking water there has also been sharp reduction in water borne common diseases and subsequent reduction of expenditure on health related problems. For instance, cases of common gastro-intestinal and other problems have gone down which used to surface often.

* * * * *

33

Bihar is naturally gifted with ample surface and ground water resources. All blocks in the State come under 'safe category'. About 49% of the state's total cropped area is irrigated as against the national average of 40%.Farmers construct shallow tube well, cavity well, bamboo well, dug well and irrigation pond (in some cases)through private investment for exploitation of ground water for irrigation. Samastipur and Muzaffarpur districts in north Bihar are well known for vegetable cultivation. However, due to high cost of irrigation, the cost of net production goes up significantly. Further, access to assured irrigation becomes a major problem for the farmers during summer season. To address the existing issue of irrigation in the region, Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) has piloted Group Irrigation (GI) model in Chakhaji and Bankurba villages of Pusa block in Samastipur district since December 2013.The group irrigation system now enables farmers to access improved, reliable and equitable sources of irrigation water across three seasons (viz. Kharif, Rabi and Summer) which has resulted in increased crop productivity, enhanced income and improved food security at household level.

Background:

Group Irrigation Model:

The group irrigation system functions through a deep bore well having depth of approx. 300-350 ft (depending on water table), and a 5 horsepower (HP) submersible pump which has been installed at 100 ft to discharge the water. A circular iron tank has been installed with indicator of overflow and has connected with main output pipe. The rounded tank has 4-5 outlet pipes which connects the main pipeline located at different locations of the farm field. Different distribution pipelines are connected with main pipeline to provide sufficient water to the farm field. The advantage of the model is to provide irrigation water to at least 2 main

Piloting Group Irrigation: The Case of Chakhaji village of

Samastipur District, Bihar

Sunil Kumar Pandey

34

pipe lines which are connected with sub-distribution pipelines. Hence, this will provide water to at least 4 farm plots at a time located at different patches of land. The diagrammatic sketch of the model is given below.

Wat

er D

isch

arg

e P

oin

t 1

Wat

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nt 2

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nt 4

Wat

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isch

arge

Poi

nt 6

Wat

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arge

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nt 7

Wat

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isch

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nt 5

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er D

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t 8

Wat

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nt 9

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0

Und

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ound

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n P

ipe

Lin

e.2.

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ia. (

2’ d

eep

from

gro

und

lave

l)

Junc

tion

Box

wit

h4

outl

ets

10

HP

Die

sel

Set

Mot

or

wit

h3

Pha

se 7

.5K

VA

Gen

erat

or

Oper

ati

ngR

oom

(8”

x 8

”)

6”

Dia

. 270

feet

Dee

pB

ori

ng w

ith

5HP

Sub

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sible

pum

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)

Fig

ure

1:

Pu

mp

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35

Group Irrigation Project at a Glance:

Year of Establishment

Place of Installation

Avg. cost of installation

Avg. community contribution

Total no. of farmers beneficiaries

Total Irrigation capacity

Actual area irrigated

Actual no. of farmers benefited

Source of irrigation(before)

Cost of irrigation (before)

Irrigation per hour (before)

Cost of irrigation (after)

Irrigation per hour (after)

Cost benefit

Other benefits

December, 2013

Chakhaji Purvi Tola (Samastipur) & Bankurva

Tola (Pusa)

Rs. 375199/-

Rs. 110634/-

143

Full catchments capacity of the system is 25

Acres of land; but currently it's covering

about22.5 acrepatch of land.

25acre

123

2 Small Pumps with capacity of 5 HP.

Rs. 120/kattha

1 kattha/hr

Rs. 40/kattha

3 kattha/hr

For a crop cycle i.e. Maize, it requires 7 times

irrigation. If we calculate the total input cost

towards irrigation earlier it was total Rs. 840

per kattha while the cost after the intervention it

becomes only Rs. 280 per kattha.

Before installation of GI most of the area was

uncultivated in Zaid season (without crop).

Farmers cultivated maize on only few patch of

land and they gets 60kg yields form one kattha

while after installation of GI almost all of the

farmer grow same crop but they gets double

yield in same patch of land 125kg/kattha. After

GI installation, the inputs cost for irrigation has

decreased 3 times.On the other hand, the output

(increased yield) has doubled.

36

Role of Community:

It is believed that community ownership is an essential component for

sustainability of any project. For ensuring sustainability of the

intervention, Kisan Vikas Samiti (KVS) is promoted consisting of 123

farmers in the command area of 25 acres. All decisions pertaining to

group irrigation are taken in the meeting of the Irrigation Committee

which is an executive body of the KVS having 13 elected

representatives. During the establishment phase, the KVS played major

roles such as mapping of hamlet, collection of people's contribution,

forming of irrigation committee and managing the construction work

properly, etc. Active participation of community members in each and

every stage of implementation of the system and collection of

community contribution play a major role in building their stake in the

system. The performance of the system has been increased as the

community is looking after equitable water distribution on time, repair

and maintenance of the system, etc. After the construction work, AKRSP

(India) now has very less involvement in the system.

Crops being irrigated

37

Red

euct

ion

in

Cos

t of

Irr

inag

atio

n &

In

crea

se i

n P

rod

uct

ivit

y

Kh

arif

Cro

p (

CO

I-C

ost

of I

rrig

atio

n)

Vil

lage

No.

of

Far

mer

sA

vg I

rrig

ated

A

rea

(Acr

e)

Avg

CO

I_K

ha_

2013

_Bef

ore

Avg

Yie

ld_K

ha_

2013

_Bef

ore

Avg

CO

I_K

ha_

2014

_Bef

ore

Avg

Yie

ld_K

ha_

2014

_Bef

ore

Net

Sav

e in

CO

I_K

ha_

2014

_(in

Rs)

Net

In

crea

se i

nY

ield

_Kh

a_20

14_(

in K

g)

Ban

kurb

aC

hakn

aji

257.

7827

7.50

535.

0064

1.56

146.

6715

6.56

600.

0068

9.38

111.

1112

0.94

65.0

047

.81

Tot

al27

0.40

60

3.20

15

3.00

65

7.20

11

6.02

56

.41

Rab

i (C

OI-

Cost

of

Irri

gati

on)

Vil

lage

No.

of

Far

mer

sA

vg I

rrig

ated

A

rea

(Acr

e)

Avg

CO

I_R

abi_

2013

_Bef

ore

Avg

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abi_

2013

_Bef

ore

Avg

CO

I_R

abi_

2014

_Bef

ore

Avg

Yie

ld_R

abi_

2014

_Bef

ore

Net

Sav

e in

CO

I_R

abi_

2014

_(in

Rs)

Net

In

crea

se i

nY

ield

_Rab

i_20

14_(

in K

g)

Ban

kurb

aC

hakn

aji

357.

7849

0.00

822.

2213

81.2

519

5.56

236.

2587

6.67

1340

.94

162.

2225

3.75

65.0

047

.81

Tot

al44

2.40

1180

.00

221.

6011

73.8

020

7.99

56.4

1

Su

mm

er C

rop

(C

OI-

Cost

of

Irri

gati

on)

CO

I-C

ost

of

Irri

gati

on

in

all

sea

son

s

Vil

lage

No.

of

Far

mer

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vg I

rrig

ated

A

rea

(Acr

e)

Avg

CO

I_S

um

_201

3_B

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ld_S

um

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3_B

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e

Avg

CO

I_S

um

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4_B

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e

Avg

Yie

ld_S

um

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4_B

efor

e

Net

Sav

e in

CO

I_S

um

_201

4_(

in R

s)

Net

In

crea

se i

nY

ield

_Su

m_2

014

_(in

Kg)

Ban

kurb

aC

hakn

aji

1055

.00

1257

.50

631.

1142

3.75

928.

8966

7.50

704.

4455

6.25

426.

2259

0.00

73.3

313

2.50

Tot

al

9 6

25 9 6

25 9 6

25

0.13

0.17

0.15

0.13

0.17

0.15

0.13

0.17

0.15

11

84.6

049

8.40

653.

6060

9.60

508.

1110

9.92

Vil

lage

No.

of

Far

mer

sA

vg I

rrig

ated

A

rea

(Acr

e)

Avg

CO

I_A

ll C

rop

e_2

013_

Bef

ore

Avg

Yie

ld_A

ll C

rop

_201

3_B

efor

e

Avg

CO

I_A

ll C

rop

_201

4_B

efor

e

Avg

Yie

ld_A

ll C

rop

_201

4_B

efor

e

Net

Sav

e in

CO

I_A

ll C

rop

_201

4_(i

n R

s)

Net

In

crea

se i

nY

ield

_All

Cro

p_2

014_

(in

Kg)

Ban

kurb

aC

hakn

aji

1670

.56

2025

.00

1988

.33

2446

.56

971.

1110

60.3

121

81.1

125

86.5

669

9.44

964.

6819

2.78

140.

00

Tot

al

9 6

25

0.13

0.17

0.15

18

97.4

022

81.6

010

28.2

024

40.6

083

2.06

166.

39

38

Initial Outcomes:

The initial results of the effort have been found to be very encouraging. A

total of 123 farmers are now able to irrigate their crops (mostly

vegetables) across Kharif, Rabi and Summer seasons in an area of 25

acres. Major vegetable crops grown are cauliflower, bitter gourd, point

gourd, coriander, turmeric, potato, tomato, pea, cucumber. A few

farmers have also grown maize crop in 2014.The group irrigation in

Chakhaji & Bankurba village has resulted in the followings.

It has enabled the farmers to irrigate their vegetable crops in Kharif season through protective irrigation alongside providing assured irrigation during rabi and summer seasons.

It has led to increase in crop production and thereby increase in income level of farmers.

Enhancement in food and nutritional security level of the population through more intakes of a variety of vegetables.

It has also led to reduction in rate of migration in both the villages.

* * * * *

39

Biographies of Authors

1. Ms. Archana Dwivedi has worked as DO-Social Process at Sakra SHT of AKRSP(I)

40

2. Mr. Shishupal Kumar is working as Development Specialist (Technical) at Sakra SHT of AKRSP(I)

3. Mr. Ajay Kumar is working as Development Specialist (WATSAN and Gov. Liasion) at Muzaffarpur Regional Office.

4. Mr. Neeraj Kumar is working with AKRSP(I) at Pusa SHT as Project Coordinator - Water Aid Project

5. Mr. Sunil Kumar Pandey is working as Regional Manager with AKRSP(I) Bihar.

This publication has been funded by the European Union

AGA KHAN RURAL SUPPORT PROGRAMME (INDIA)

His Highness the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili community, founded the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) in 1983. It is a part of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), whose agencies work on all aspects of development - social, economic and cultural.

The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) is a non-denominational, non-government development organisation. AKRSP (India) works as a catalyst for the betterment of rural communities by providing direct support to local communities to promote activities and develop models for sustainable natural resource use and development of human resources.

This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the EuropeanCommunity. The views expressed herein are those of AKRSP(I) and can therefore

in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Commission.