Naandi Foundation : Safe Drinking Water
Naandi WHI Community-owned Safe Water Project, India
When it comes to quality of drinking water, India ranks 120th in the list of 122 countries1. This along with the fact that Safe Drinking Water – one of the basic provisions any society must make for its people - is still eluding a majority of Indians, predominantly those that are marginalized - has prompted Naandi to focus on making more accessible and equitable Safe Drinking Water to communities that need it.
THE NEED FOR SAFE DRINKING WATER
India has 4% of the world’s water availability and 15% of world’s population to sustain. Of the limited water resources available for human consumption, 70% is not potable. What this translates in terms of diseases is that almost 80% of the country’s disease burden (namely - cholera, diarrhea, typhoid, hepatitis A, malaria and filaria) is related to the consumption of contaminated water. And it is primarily the poor that are severely affected. They are also, the most constrained in terms of ability to afford recurrent treatment or afford losses of working days due to illnesses.
So when we look at the need to treat water, the major contaminants affecting water can be broadly divided into two categories. The first includes pathogens (bacteria and viruses), and the second dissolved solids – mineral content such as Fluorides, Arsenic, Lead among others.
Bacterial contamination presents the highest and the most immediate health risk, accounting for 65% of total water contamination especially in Andhra Pradesh. As a result, expenses on treatment for preventable water-borne diseases constitute a large percentage of healthcare expenditure for rural communities, especially the poor.
Measures to tackle the situation have relied overwhelmingly on centralized government solutions implemented at the local level.
There has been low emphasis on community involvement and these programs are not driven by need-based education or combined with component on sanitation induced-water borne diseases continue to exist.
Cause for alarm
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About 50% of all villages in India do not have any source of protected drinking water.
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Inadequate access to safe drinking water causes waterborne diseases that affect 37.7 million Indians annually, over 75% of whom are children under the age of five2 .
o 73 million working days are lost each year in India to water-borne diseases at a cost of $600m in terms of seeking medical treatment and lost production3
Situation in Andhra Pradesh
o Nearly 5 million episodes of diarrhea annually result in at least 50,000 deaths of children below the age of 5 i.e. 150 Child Deaths Per Day which are totally preventable
o About 17 million people experience bacteriological contamination of water with 500,000 people living in areas with severe fecal contamination of > 2,000 MPN (most probable number) per ml where as according to WHO norms fecal contamination should be < 100 MPN/ml. The areas most affected with such contamination are the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh namely Krishna, East Godavari, West Godavari, Prakasam and Guntur4.
For Naandi this concern translated into a social opportunity to make a difference, as a meaningful partnership emerged with the WaterHealth International (WHI). It is a US company set up with the intention of offering scalable, sustainable Safe Water solutions in developing countries.
Naandi’s partnership with WHI involves the transfer of technology from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in USA to Indian habitations with Naandi serving as the bridge that enables the sustenance of the technology transfer keeping in mind the principles of equity and affordability within the Community.
WHI’s experience and the nature of the technology – UV waterworks - it had to offer provided the following essential characteristics that made it possible to make water pathogen free in conditions and situations representative of the vagaries in the Indian context. These are:
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High efficacy in pathogen removal.99.99 %
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High throughput to service high demand both in rural and urban habitations.
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Low operating costs to keep treated water affordable for the majority
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Low energy usage to render it appropriate for villages with erratic or no electricity supply
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Low maintenance for application in remote areas where qualified engineers are hard to come by
o Robust and versatile to withstand the vagaries of nature and changing levels of demand
Naandi’s first safe drinking water pilot: The Bomminampadu Model
Naandi Foundation first piloted this model successfully in Bomminampadu village, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, India. The village panchayat, the people of Bomminampadu, WHI and Naandi have together been partners in getting the “Community Safe Water Systems (CSWS)” template right and this journey has seen many issues and obstacles arise that have helped Naandi modify and fine-tune the model.
As a tribute to the people of Bomminampadu and their continued support and faith in the project Naandi refers to this community owned Safe Water Program model as the Bomminampadu Model.
EXPERIENCES FROM THE BOMMINAMPADU MODEL
Features of the CSWS
Affordable, reliable low-maintenance Technology-
The Bomminampadu model relies on WHI’s technology platform based on ‘U.V. Waterworks’, a patented water disinfection system. Depending on the quality of water in each village, this technology is customized to meet local needs. The UV Waterworks was originally developed by an eminent Indian Scientist Dr Ashok Gadgil at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He continues to be associated with the WHI – Naandi partnership in making the Bomminampadu model a success.
This technology has been the Winner of several international awards including the Tech Museum of Innovation’s 2004 Tech Laureate Award (Health Category), San Jose, CA, USA as this is a low-maintenance technology, which can be operated with very little power in remote villages by trained youth where qualified technicians are not always available.
Role of Naandi
Provision of potable drinking water at affordable rates cannot, on its own result in a reduction in exposure to environmental risks that lead to waterborne diseases. Naandi works through intensive campaigns on health and personal hygiene to educate rural communities on the need to store water carefully adopt hygienic sanitation practices and avoid contaminating water resources.
Naandi plays the catalytic role to bridge the digital divide cost brought on by the lack of Safe Drinking Water in most parts of India. By being partner to WHI, Naandi facilitates the transfer of cutting edge competitive, affordable, technology (from USA to Indian villages) that can address various challenges in making water potable. Naandi also educates rural communities, influences conventional rural mindsets towards safer water and creates demand from villages / panchayats to implement the Safe Drinking Water Project in their villages.
The creation of this collective aspiration for affordable Drinking Water for each and every household is a daunting process of Social Transformation that Naandi performs as a change agent in rural India. Naandi also acts as a window to bring global citizens, corporates, philanthropists etc. to join hands with Panchayats, adopt villages, and becomes partners in making every habitation in India equipped with Safe Drinking Water.
DIRECT IDENTIFIABLE BENEFITS ACCRUING THROUGH THE COMMUNITY OWNED SAFE WATER SYSTEM
Community Ownership and Sustainability
The Bomminampadu model costs approx Rs 22 lakh (USD 50,000) for a village of 8000 – 15000 population. The pay and use model is so created to enable complete ownership of the program by the community. CSWSs are set up in villages through an inclusive approach wherein the community contributes towards the site and 20% of the total funds required for a plant to be set up. Wherever the community fails to mobilize the 20%, Naandi Foundation mobilizes towards such of the shortfall from philanthropists and global citizens.
The balance 80% is met in the form of domestic, commercial loans from financial institutions.This loan is repaid by the water users over a period of time through payment of a nominal water purification cess – Rs 1 for 12 litres (as on 30/06/06)
The reliance of this model on the recovery of capital expenditure, operations and maintenance costs through the levy of water purification cess of less than 50 paise (1 cent) per day per person is making safe drinking water affordable to the majority in the community, including the below poverty line (BPL) households (earning less than Rs 90 or $2 per day). Behavioral changes brought in through the community’s acceptance of user charges increase community ownership and ensures sustainability of the model.
Is this the answer to providing safe drinking water to all in the country?
Most likely. The Developmental Marketing Model that has been created for the Community-based Partnership in the water program integrates the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP)’ principles and includes dissemination of appropriate information to the rural communities and prospective beneficiaries on the need to adopt safe water and hygienic sanitation practices. The Project has the potential to become the Single Largest Non Government Water Initiative owned and managed by the Communities, hence fully and truly meeting the BOP Construct.
Naandi Foundation plans to set up at least 100 units in Andhra Pradesh in 2006, 42 of which are in various stages of completion and should be fully functional by October 2, 2006. Naandi and WHI have begun dialogue with various other Community-Public-Private Organisations in other parts in the country with the explicit aim of expanding into 3 more states by March 2007 and to at least 8 states by 2008. |
