Download - United Nations in Cambodia

MDG-7: Ensure Environmental SustainabilityMDG target 7.C: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainableaccess to safe drinking water and basic sanitationConstraint:Insufficient Financing & Mobilization for Community-Owned Water Supply SystemsInsufficient funding to create a community water system; lack of community awareness andmobilization to adequately maintain a community water systemIndia’s Decentralized, Community-Owned and Managed Drinking Water Supply Systems andSanitation Facilities enabled rural communities in the State of Gujarat to have adequate, safe andsustainable drinking water supplies through community empowerment and their active participationin the management of their own resources. The programme aims to cover all 18,062 villages in Gujaratby 2012.Components:• Form a village-level water committee in each village in Gujarat and undertake participatoryplanning activities• Raise awareness in the community on the importance of safe, adequate and regular water supplythrough street plays, exposure visits, information sharing at village meetings, and other methods• Develop in-village water supply systems consisting of household connections as well ascommunity stand posts through piped water supply, taking into consideration sustainable watersupply source and allied infrastructure• Establish a community-based water quality monitoring system in each village• Ensure there is a mechanism for regular maintenance of the water system by the communityResults:• Since the programme began, village-level water committees have been formed in each of the18,062 villages in Gujarat. More than 4,600 villages have already constructed an in-village watersupply system, with 90 percent of those opting for house-to-house water connections. Another3,500 villages are in different stages of completion. To date, the Government has invested $177million for implementation of these water supply schemes through the Water and SanitationManagement Organization (WASMO), while the community’s share has been US$17 million.In addition, communities have deposited 10% of the capital cost to ensure proper operation andmaintenance of the system.• WASMO has also helped to set up a community-based water quality monitoring system in all ofthe 18,062 villages of Gujarat. Villagers and Gram-Mitras (village guides) have been trained tomonitor water quality with a simple field-test kit provided by WASMO. The monitoring systemhas ensured regular supply of safe drinking water to villages. According to WASMO, bacterialcontamination in water has decreased from 33 percent in 2008 to 8 percent in February 2009.Regular chlorination of the water supply occurs at the community and household levels. Peoplehave also been educated about the need to keep their water sources clean and to adopt safehandling practices.Key Elements of Success:• There have been exercises to assess specific water system needs of the village. The needs varyfrom recharging local water supply sources to leveraging the state-wide water grid of irrigationcanals and pipelines. In addition, WASMO adopted a variety of technologies, such as drawingwater from local and remote sources, rooftop rain water harvesting systems, community-basedreverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, and resin-based ion exchange technologies, to address problemsof high total dissolved salts and ultraviolet filtration for removing bacterial contamination.• Informational activities, including exposure visits, street plays, and involvement of schoolchildren and women, and information-sharing at Gram Sabhas (village meetings), have raisedawareness about safe, adequate and regular water supply and the importance of communitymanagedwater supply systems.• About 10 percent of the capital cost is borne by the community, while 90 percent of funding comesMDG Good Practices 73