1.2Setting up a Drinking Water Security Pilot

Report No: ACS13318
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Republic of India
Support to Drinking Water Security Pilots in India
{P131954}
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{12 May 2015}
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GWASS
SOUTH ASIA
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Contents

1Introduction

1.1Rural Water Challenges in India

1.2Setting Up a Drinking Water Security Pilot

1.3Technical Assistance to the Pilot

2Support to the Drinking Water Security Pilot

2.1Institutional Sustainability

2.2Source Sustainability

2.3System Sustainability

2.4Sanitation

3Achievements of TA supporting the Pilot and Social Benefits

3.1Usefulness of the Technical Assistance

3.2Usefulness of the Pilot

3.3Preliminary Outcomes of the Economic Study

4Effectiveness of Knowledge Transfer

5Policy Lessons for Scaling up the Government’s Pilot

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This assessment was undertaken by the Water and Sanitation Program of the World Bank. Acknowledgement is due to officials of Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.Thanks are also due to Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India and tothe peer reviewers: Senior Social Development Specialist Suryanarayan Satish, Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist Claire Kfouri and Lead Irrigation Specialist Jacob Burke.

While all efforts have been made to ensure that the data presented are correct, any inadvertent errors remain the responsibility of the team.

Task Team Leader: Manish Kumar

ABBREVIATIONS

APFAMGS / Andhra Pradesh Farmer Management Groundwater Systems
CEO / Chief Executive Officer
CGWB / Central Ground Water Board
CLTS / Community Led Total Sanitation
GP / Gram Panchayat
GVS / Gram Vikas Samstha
HGM / Hydro Geomorphological Maps
ICT / Information Communication Technology
LPCD
MDWS / Liters Per Capita per Day
Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation
NGO / Non-Governmental Organization
NRDWP / National Rural Drinking Water Program
NRSC / National Remote Sensing Center
ODF / Open Defecation Free
PHED / Public Health Engineering Department
PPMS / Pilot Project Monitoring System
PRI / Panchayat Raj Institution
SLWM / Solid and Liquid Waste Management
SO / Support Organization
TA / Technical Assistance
ToT / Training of Trainers
VWSC / Village Water and Sanitation Committee
VWSP / Village Water Security Plan
WASMO / Water and Sanitation Management Organization
WBE / Water Budget Estimation
WSP / Water and Sanitation Program

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Drinking Water Security Pilot was launched by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS), Government of India in 2011 to address the emerging challenges of rapidly depleting groundwater, increased geo-genic and anthropogenic contamination and rapid system degradation from poor operation and maintenance practices, threating the sustainability of access. The objective of the Pilot was to ‘achieve drinking water security in a holistic manner’, by combining the top down inter-ministerial coordination of water resource management with bottom-up coordination led byGram Panchayats (GPs). A total of 15 over-exploited Blocks[1]across 10 states with a total population of 2.25 million showing alarming levels of groundwater depletion were selected for the Pilot. The financing for the activities came from existing allocations under the “Sustainability” and “Support” components of the Government’s own Rural Drinking Water Program (NRDWP) and various other schemes of different line departments.

The objective of theTechnical Assistance (TA) by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) comprised of i) providing technical activities on project design and implementation, ii) developing master trainers for community management of water resources, and iii) technical support for monitoring to measure performance. The scope of the TA within the Pilot encompassed four pillars essential to achieving drinking water security: (i) institutional sustainability to enhance local government institutional capacity to manage the process, (ii) source sustainability to ensure sustainability of the drinking water source, (iii) system sustainability to ensure water quality and regular operation and maintenance of supply system, and (iv) improving access to sanitation and reducing open defecation, resulting in improved water quality. To hand-hold the GPs and the Village Water and Sanitation Committees (VWSCs) for implementing the Pilot, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were hired as Support Organizations (SOs). The Pilot was proposed to be implemented in four phases: Preparatory Phase; Capacity Building, Surveys and Analysis; Implementation of the Drinking Water Security Plans and Monitoring Improvements. By February 2015, in eight blocks out of fifteen the Pilot has progressed into the third phase.

As one of the key objectives of the TA was knowledge transfer,a separate in-depth case study revealed that overall, knowledge transfer under the TA was moderately satisfactory: community members understood and appreciated the relevance of the Pilot and the villagers had taken positive action. However, improvements for the future knowledge transfer processes and institutional set up have also been suggested in report.

In the policy implications for scaling up the Government’s Pilot, it is acknowledged that drinking water security is a complex issue, requiring strengthened cross-sectorial coordination. Importantly, the institutional role and responsibilities of state governments in respect to the Pilot needs to be defined and strengthened. Lack of adequate engagement of the state government with Pilot resulted in poor contract management and delayed payments to SOs. Going forward, the Ministry should have a clear policy on engagement of SOs as well as ensuring their technical competency. The Ministry also needs a strong nodal unit, sufficiently staffed with experts on various domains of water security.

1Introduction

1.1Rural Water Challenges in India

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS), Government of India, succeeded in providing access to drinking water to more than 90 percent of rural inhabitants by 2005. However, new challenges have emerged, threating the sustainability of access. High rates of slip-backs of habitations were reported by state governments because of rapidly depleting groundwater, increased geo-genic and anthropogenic contamination, andwidespread system degradations on account of poor operation and maintenance practices.

The competition for water use in rural Indiahas drastically increased over the last few decades. Domestic rural water supply can no longer be addressed in isolation from water use in agriculture and industry. The drinking water source in rural India is primarily dependent on groundwater, with limited supply coming from treated surface sources. While domestic water for drinking is accorded the first priority use under the National Water Policy, the consumption of water resources for this purpose is a small fraction of the total water usage: approximately 80 percent of the total water resources withdrawn in India are utilized for agriculture.

Since the green revolution of 1960s, groundwater extraction for irrigation has increased exponentially. The availability of motorized pumps, accompanied by energy subsidyfor irrigation, has resulted in extraction of more water from aquifer than needed for the crops. In areas where aquifers are depleting faster than annual recharge, the habitations are witnessing seasonal scarcity of groundwater for drinking purpose, resulting in state governments supplying drinking water to inhabitants in tankers. As per the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), 802 Blocks out of 5,861 in the country are over-exploited (14 percent).

The Government of India has made provisions in the National Rural Drinking Water Program (NRDWP) Guidelines, 2009,for water demand estimates and budgeting at the village level. The revised NRDWP guidelines of MDWS provide a holistic and participatory planning approach, promoting:

departmental convergence i.e.,activities and co-operation from relevant departments and agencies at the village level;
use of multiple water sources, i.e., conjunctive use of surface water, groundwater and rainwater harvesting;
convergence of all water conservation schemes including revival of traditional systems; and
re-charge of water sources in the villages.

The NRDWP supports transfer of management of water supply assets to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Village Water and Sanitation Committees (VWSCs) at the Gram Panchayat (GP) level. It is within this institutional context and provisions that the Drinking Water Security Pilot was launched by MDWS in 2011.

1.2Setting Up a Drinking Water Security Pilot

The need for a pilot emerged from an international workshop organized on “Achieving Drinking Water Security in Water stressed and Quality-affected Areas”, held on 25-26 May 2010 for addressing different dimensions of drinking water security. The Pilot aimed to capitalize on the 73rdAmendment of the Constitution of India, 1994, transferring to Panchayats a host of powers for economic and social development, including the power to manage water and sanitation locally.The experts in the workshop encouraged MDWS to consider trialing, in addition to top down inter-ministerial coordination of water resource management, the bottom-up coordinationpotential, with Panchayats leading and coordinating economic activities consuming water. There were small and localized experiences of such bottom-up model managed by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), mostly for conserving water for agriculture purposebut it was unclear if these were scalable or could be applied to drinking water security. The consensus view from the workshop was that apilot by the government would provide insightson the efficacy and scalability of a government managed,bottom-up program on drinking water security.

ThePilot was formally launched in Pune on 9-10 September 2011 through a national workshop. Building on the institutional framework laid out in the NRDWP, the objective of the Pilot was determined as ‘achieving drinking water security in a holistic manner’.

MDWS, in consultations with State Governments and CGWB, selected aquifers/sub-watersheds/hydrological units in 15 over-exploited Blocks showing alarming levels of groundwater depletion. The participating Blocks across the 10 states and their profile is given inTable 1 below.

Table 1: List of participating Blocks

Block, District, State / # of GPs in Block / # of Villages in Block / Population (in ‘000) / SC/ST (%) / OE/SC/C/S*
1 / Morshi, Amravati, Maharashtra / 67 / 111 / 154 / 30% / OE
2 / Warud, Amravati, Maharashtra / 66 / 117 / 167 / 33% / OE
3 / Gorantalu, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh / 25 / 30 / 94 / 20% / SC
4 / Moothey, Nalagonda, Andhra Pradesh / 18 / 20 / 44 / 43% / SC
5 / Pileru, Chitoor, Andhra Pradesh / 15 / 17 / 87 / 15% / SC
6 / Kheralu, Mehsana, Gujarat / 45 / 50 / 107 / 10% / n.a
7 / Kaithal, Kaithal, Haryana / 63 / 63 / 235 / 24% / O.E
8 / Mulbagal, Kolar, Karnataka / 30 / 298 / 205 / 36% / O.E
9 / Piploda, Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh / 52 / 88 / 140 / 33% / n.a
10 / Rampur Baghelan, Satna, Madhya Pradesh / 98 / 206 / 270 / 28% / n.a
11 / Dhuri, Sangrur, Punjab / 41 / 41 / 83 / 32% / O.E
12 / Raipur, Bhilwara, Rajasthan / 22 / 89 / 100 / 22% / O.E
13 / Morappur, Dharampuri, Tamil Nadu / 43 / 43 / 134 / 23% / O.E
14 / Mauranipur, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh / 55 / 84 / 162 / 36% / S
15 / Barauli Aheer, Agra, Uttar Pradesh / 55 / 68 / 252 / 23% / n.a
Total / 695 / 1325 / 2234 / 27% / O.E

*O.E = Over Exploited; S.C = Semi Critical; C = Critical; S = Safe (as defined by the Central Ground Water Board)

The Blocks were to finance activities related to drinking water securityfrom existing allocations under the “Sustainability” and “Support” components of NRDWP as well as from various schemes of different line departments over which Panchayats have financial control, such as Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Program, Integrated Watershed Development Program, Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (now, Swachh Bharat Mission), etc. The costs of preparation of Village Water Security Plans (VWSPs) were being met from the support funds allocation of the NRDWP. The costs of implementation(i.e., the hardware activities) of VWSPs were met from the sustainability component of NRDWP and thefund sourced from above listed government schemes.

1.3Technical Assistance to the Pilot

MDWS requested the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) to provide technical support to the Pilot and build institutional capacity. The development objective of the TA was to share knowledge and facilitate processes for rationalizing local water resource use, following a community-driven approach for achieving drinking water security in 15 blocks across 10 states of India. The TA comprised of

i)providing technical activities on project design and implementation;

ii)developing master trainers for community management of water resources; and

iii)technical support for monitoring to measure performance.

Table 2 below shows the achievement against intermediate outcomes and indicators based on the original results framework of the TA.

Table 2:Achievements against Results Framework

Intermediate outcomes / Indicators / Achievements
Enabling Institutions: VWSC capacity enhanced to undertake key tasks of ground water level monitoring, water usage budgeting and implementation of water storage and aquifer recharging. /

Clear definition of the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders
Water budget documents are drafted and operationalized in GPs

Appointment and Training of Support Organization for MDWS
Carried out Water Budgeting Exercise in one GP/Pilot Block
Developed Framework/Template for Preparation of Drinking Water Security plan
Toolkit for Water Budget Estimation
Toolkit for Preparation of Drinking Water Security Plan
Monitoring of Drinking Water Security Plan documents by WSP consultants at the Ministry
Training on HGM Maps
Toolkit on Participatory Groundwater Management
Indovation workshops I & II

Enabling Citizen’s Voice: VWSC capacity to influence decisions affecting the community is enhanced. /

Local population is consulted in planning
Local population has information and knowledge
Local population participates in implementation

Exposure Visit to Andhra Pradesh Farmer Managed Groundwater Systems (APFAMGS) and Dakshin Kannada and Malkapur
Toolkit for Training of VWSCs
Training on Community Led Total Sanitation for Swatchatadoots

Enabling Monitoring and Evaluation: Central, State and village level capacity to monitor water resources available to the community is enhanced. /

Periodic analysis of pilots are undertaken at the State/Central level
Periodic analysis includes how the pilots are inclusive of reaching the poor and vulnerable

Held National Level Review workshops and undertook periodic visits to the pilots
Developed monitoring indicators for tracking progress
In Depth Case study on knowledge transferred and uptake
Compendium of Good Practices in Rural Water Supply Schemes

The state governments appointed, on contractual a basis, technically qualified local NGOs as Support Organizations (SOs) to hand-hold the GPs and VWSCs for implementing the Pilot. WSP sharedtechnical knowledge with MDWS officials, State and District level officials and SO staff through training sessions, workshops and technicaldocuments.

The scope of the TA activities encompassed four pillars essential to achieving drinking water security: (i) institutional sustainability to enhance local government institutional capacity to manage the process, (ii) source sustainability to ensure sustainability of the drinking water source, (iii) system sustainability to ensure water quality and regular operation and maintenance of supply system, and (iv) sanitation to improve sanitation and reduce open defecation, resulting in improved water quality. Implementation of these is described in the subsequentsection.

2Supportto the Drinking Water Security Pilot

The pilot was proposed to be implemented by MDWS in four phases: preparatoryphase, capacity building, surveys and analysis phase, implementation of the drinking water security plans phase and monitoring improvements phase. In some states, the progress of Pilot has reached as far as the third phase, while lagging in other. The progress of the Blocks in respect to the four phases discussed below is illustrated in Table 3 below.

Table 3: Progress of Blocks

Block, District, State / Phase 1 / Phase 2 / Phase 3 / Phase 4
1 / Morshi, Amravati, Maharashtra / Yes / Yes / Limited / No
2 / Warud, Amravati, Maharashtra / Yes / Yes / Limited / No
3 / Gorantalu, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh / Yes / Yes / Limited / No
4 / Moothey, Nalagonda, Andhra Pradesh / Yes / Yes / Limited / No
5 / Pileru, Chitoor, Andhra Pradesh / Yes / Yes / Limited / No
6 / Kheralu, Mehsana, Gujarat / Yes / Yes / Yes / Limited
7 / Kaithal, Kaithal, Haryana / Yes / Yes / Yes / No
8 / Mulbagal, Kolar, Karnataka / Yes / Yes / Yes / Limited
9 / Piploda, Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh / Yes / Yes / Yes / No
10 / Rampur Baghelan, Satna, Madhya Pradesh / Yes / Yes / Yes / No
11 / Dhuri, Sangrur, Punjab / Limited / Limited / No / No
12 / Raipur, Bhilwara, Rajasthan / Yes / Yes / Yes / No
13 / Morappur, Dharampuri, Tamil Nadu / Yes / Yes / Yes / No
14 / Mauranipur, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh / Yes / Yes / Yes / No
15 / Barauli Aheer, Agra, Uttar Pradesh / Yes / Yes / Limited / No

Phase 1 – Preparatory Phase: In this phase, the pilot districts and blocks were selected by MDWS in consultation with state governments and the Central Ground Water Board. Reputed NGOs were selected as SO to handhold the Village Water and Sanitation Committees (VWSC) and GPs for developing drinking water security plans. Baseline data was collected from relevant government agencies (includingprimary data collection, as needed) to characterize the aquifers, surface water resources, rainfall patterns and demographic profile of each block. Demonstration visits to the APFAMGS project[2] and other good practice sites were organized. The role of WSP during this phase was to provide technical advice to MDWS, develop terms of reference for hiring of NGOs as Support Organization, provide technical advice for collection of baseline data, and organize demonstration visits to the APFAMGS sites.

Phase 2 – Capacity Building, Surveys and Analysis: In this phase, training materials were developed for water budget estimation, groundwater management and participatory approach to water security planning.