Field Note

46759

Water and Sustainable Community Sanitation Program Management of a Multi-village Public Disclosure Authorized

An international partnership to help the poor gain Water Supply Scheme in sustained access to improved water supply and sanitation services , ,

South Asia Region

SMALL PRIVATE INITIATIVES (SPI) IN THE WATER AND SANITATION SECTOR IN INDIA

Public Disclosure Authorized In India, water and sanitation services are predominantly provided by Government and para- statal agencies. There are very few instances of large-scale formal private sector participation; where they exist they are mostly service contracts or man- agement contracts.

However, a number of small-scale informal pri- vate initiatives have emerged to fill the gaps in Public Disclosure Authorized the existing delivery system. Some of these private initiatives are in partnership with the Government, and others have come about on their own in response to Women filling water at the public standpost demand from clients.

This series of Field SUMMARY Notes on Small Private Initiatives in the Water and Sanitation Sector in In the taluka of are 4 villages which have India is designed to docu- reason to feel proud. For as many as 19 years, the joint water manage- ment a few successful urban and rural experi- ment body (mandal) of Lat, Latwadi, Shivnakwadi and Shiradwad has ences focusing on operated and maintained its own multi-village piped water supply the poor. Public Disclosure Authorized scheme, with a total revenue surplus of more than Rs. 370,000. This field note documents the remarkable story of Kolhapur.

SPI Series:2 Department for International DFID Development Background matter extensively with the committees ment and encouraged more villagers to of all 4 beneficiary villages, advocat- opt for household connections. Addi- ing the setting up of a self-help group. tional pipelines were laid in the 4 GPs N DECEMBER 1980, the Depart- Convinced of the advantages, the 4 and the total number of household con- ment of Environmental Engineer- village communities came forward to nections increased to 1,723 in 1999. II ing (Maharashtra Jeevan Prad- take over the scheme directly from the hikaran) of the Government of Maha- Government of Maharashtra. These Household Connections rashtra constructed and commissioned villages formed a joint water man- a multi-village piped water scheme, in agement body (mandal), which At the time of taking a household Kolhapur district, which drew water included the Sarpanches of 3 GPs, an connection, each subscriber pays a from the and sup- elected Member from Latwadi village, deposit (currently Rs. 250) and a plied it to 4 nearby villages in Shirol Chairpersons from the newly-formed connection charge (at present taluka, namely, Lat, Latwadi, Shiv- Village Water Supply Committees in Rs. 50) to the mandal. Thereafter, he nakwadi and Shiradwad. Three out of the 3 GPs (Latwadi was excluded as pays an annual development charge the 4 villages were Gram Panchayats initially it was not a GP), and a Tech- (now Rs. 20) and an annual water (GP) (see box on the Panchayati Raj nical Advisor, who was the Sub-Divi- supply charge of Rs. 200 per indi- Institutional Structure). Latwadi subse- sional Officer of the Ishaljranji Sub- vidual connection. Thus, a new quently became a GP. The Maharash- Division of the Maharashtra Water household connection currently costs tra Jeevan Pradhikaran’s (MJP) policy Supply and Sewerage Board. As the Rs. 520. Interestingly, the annual was to hand over such schemes to the adjoining Spinning Mill water supply charge of Rs. 200 per Zila Parishad. However, the Kolhapur would also benefit from the scheme, a household connection levied by the Zila Panchayat was not prepared to representative from the Mill was mandal is lower than the Rs. 365 take it over because it did not have the included in the mandal. charged by the Zila Panchayats in financial resources to pay for the oper- In May 1981, the mandal took the rest of Maharashtra. ation and maintenance (O&M) costs over the O&M of the Kolhapur multi- If the subscriber fails to pay the of the scheme. village piped water scheme. There annual charges, the mandal imposes A Government Deputy Irrigation was no formal handing-over from MJP a penalty. Recurring non-payment Engineer, and the Headman to the mandal, but only an informal leads to disconnection. However, dis- (Sarpanch) of Lat GP, discussed the arrangement where the MJP contin- connections are rare and till now ued to own the scheme, and the man- dal was responsible for its O&M. THE PANCHAYATI RAJ This unprecedented move would TECHNICAL DETAILS INSTITUTIONAL (PRI) not have been possible without the OF THE SCHEME STRUCTURE motivation and advocacy of the Irri- WATER IS pumped from the river THE PRI structure is a three-tiered gation Engineer and the Lat by a 30 horsepower pump to a Sarpanch, who took it upon them- one: Zila Panchayat (district level), settling tank 4 kilometers (km) selves to convince villagers to accept Block Panchayat (intermediate the responsibility of self-management. away. Subsequently, water is level) and Gram Panchayat (village To their credit, the villagers responded released to the 4 villages through level). A district typically has sever- to this challenge, and took on the pipelines, according to a fixed al Block Panchayats and each Block responsibility of the O&M. time schedule. The scheme was Panchayat contains several Gram designed to provide 70 liters per Panchayats (GP). Each GP, which The Scheme capita per day (lpcd). Piped water comprises one or more villages, has supply is given to individual house- several wards, which are electoral in Operation holds and, in addition, a few pub- units for GP elections.There are also lic standposts are located at cen- several hamlets within a village, HE SCHEME started with 419 tral points in the village for the eco- which are locally-recognized clus- household connections. Over nomically weaker sections in the ters of habitations. TT the next 19 years, the mandal village, and for common purposes. replaced and repaired faulty equip-

2 ■ Table 1 Annual Income and Expenditure of the Mandal

(1981-82 to 1997-98) Rs. ‘000

Year ANNUAL Cumulative Balance Income Expenditure Balance

1981-82 83 55 28 28

1982-83 66 38 28 56

1983-84 89 60 30 86

1984-85 104 72 31 117

1985-86 121 111 11 127

1986-87 155 185 -30 97

1987-88 138 146 -9 88

1988-89 223 194 29 117

1989-90 175 160 16 133

1990-91 250 164 86 219

A jack-well on the river Shiradwad paying Rs. 4,500, 1991-92 211 205 6 225

and Shivnakwadi, Rs. 1,500 per 1992-93 275 286 -10 215 only 16 household connections have year. These amounts were revised 1993-94 285 255 29 244 been disconnected. in 1995, and Shiradwad now 1994-95 260 248 12 256

pays Rs. 5,000 and Shivnakwadi, 1995-96 343 329 13 270

Public Standposts Rs. 2,500 per year. 1996-97 564 432 132 402 These amounts work out to 1997-98 462 493 -31 371 Those who cannot afford a less than 1 rupee per villager per household connection - or do not year in each of these villages, Source: Mandal Account Books desire a higher level of service - use and each GP adds this amount to public standposts. These provide free the annual Panchayat charges (of for paying electricity bills on time, water. While there were about 70 Rs. 40 per year currently) routinely and interest income from its invest- public standposts at the start of the collected from all villagers. ments (Table 2). scheme 19 years ago, there are cur- The largest contribution to the rently only 43. The mandal reduced Finances of the Mandal income of the mandal in 1997-98 the number of public standposts to came from annual water charges promote revenue-yielding household Over the 18 years of its opera- A mandal meeting in progress connections within the villages. tion, the mandal has accumulated a For the O&M of the existing public revenue surplus of standposts, the mandal has been col- more than Rs. 370,000 lecting payment from the 4 GPs. On an (Table 1). average, the annual contribution has The annual rev- been Rs. 18,000, with the GPs of Lat enue of the mandal and Latwadi paying Rs. 12,000, comes from annual water supply charges SINCE EVERYONE pays the Pan- and penalty fees from chayat levies - including those private subscribers, who have opted (and paid) for pri- payments from the vate connections - the non-poor GPs, payment from the Ichalkaranji Spin- also pay part of the cost of pro- ning Mill, a rebate viding drinking water to the poor- from the Maharashtra er households in the village. State Electricity Board

3 ■ Table 2

Details of Income and Expenditure of the Mandal (1997-98)

INCOME SOURCES HEADS OF EXPENDITURE

DESCRIPTION AMOUNT % OF THE DESCRIPTION AMOUNT % OF THE (Rs. ‘000) TOTAL* (Rs. ‘000) TOTAL*

Household annual water charges 315 3 Worker salaries 168 35 Household connection deposits 12 69 Bonus to workers 19 4 Household connection fitting charges 3 1 Maintenance and repair work 23 5 Contribution from Shiradwad Extension of pipelines 36 7 Village Panchayat 5 1 Chemicals 57 12 Contribution from Shivnakwadi Pump electricity bill 30 6 Village Panchayat 3 1 Office electricity bill 4 1 Contribution from Ichalkaranji Spinning Mill 35 8 Telephone bill 4 1 Interest from bank deposits 13 3 Mandal’s contribution to Employees’ Provident Fund 7 1 Rebate from the Electricity Board 6 1 Advance to workers from payment 8 2 Workers contribution to Employees‘ Provident Fund 3 1 Pump repair 69 14 Advance to workers** 8 2 Pump repair advance from payment 40 8 Advance for pump repair** 55 12 Uniforms for workers 5 1 Stationery 6 1 Advance for jack-well land purchase 10 2

TOTAL 458 99 TOTAL 485 98

Source: Mandal Account Books * Percentages have been calculated with respect to the full totals of income and expenditure (given in the last column of Table 1). Total income and expenditure in this table are only 99% and 98%, respectively, of those given in Table 1, because items of income and expenditure less than Rs. 1,000, and items contributing to less than 1% of the totals, have been omitted. ** Advances to workers are mentioned in both expenditure and income columns as an accounting identity, because these are payments already made to workers for which deductions will be made in future salaries paid. Advances for pump repairs appear in both columns for the same reason: advance payments made will be settled against bills produced in the future.

collected for household connec- tions, and the single largest head of expenditure was workers’ salaries. The expenditure on salaries, main- tenance and repair (including of pumps), chemicals, and electricity, was about 75 per cent of the total annual expenditure. The mandal has used part of its rev- enue-surplus to create assets, including an office building, a small shed for the watchman at the settling tank, a store for material, and a telephone line. It has also bought Government bonds and placed money in time deposits with A caretaker opening the reservoir valve to release water banks. Each year the accounts of the

4 ■ mandal are audited by a chartered mandal has been able to ensure that tered as a cooperative since it does accountant, and the entire set of villagers continue to enjoy the benefits not produce any conventional output accounts is available for scrutiny with of improved water supply, it has won that is mandated under the coopera- the Secretary of the mandal. the trust of the community. tive law. The mandal is reluctant to register itself as a society since that ■ Transparency of operations implies elections, which would intro- The Absence Apart from the sustainability of water duce a political element that might of Spread Effects supply, the fact that financial details impede the smooth functioning of the of the operation of the mandal are mandal. It cannot be registered as a always available on request from the Trust since it does not own any prop- HILE NEIGHBORING Secretary of the mandal has con- erty (ownership of all assets of the villages also have multi- tributed undoubtedly to the trust the scheme rests with the Government of WW village water supply mandal enjoys in these villages. Maharashtra). Yet it operates as an schemes, not one has been taken over ‘Informal Trust’ since the villagers are by the local community. Currently, ■ Able leadership The mandal has prepared to pay the mandal for its ser- either the MJP or the Zila Parishad been able to function effectively large- vices. Currently, the mandal is investi- manage and maintain these projects. ly because of the quality of leadership. gating the possibility of taking over the Even though these villagers have been Both the Sarpanch, who helped initi- ownership of the scheme from the paying the current annual State-wide ate the scheme, and the Secretary of Government. One possibility as yet tariff of Rs. 365 per household con- the mandal (who has held office over unexplored is of forming an associa- nection to their GPs, electricity bills the last 18 years) have invested con- tion of partners. remain unpaid. The payment of these siderable time and effort in its effective The second problem is more serious. bills is, however, a non-issue as vil- operation. One important aspect of The Panchganga river, which is the lagers know that even if bills remain their leadership has been their ability source of their water supply, has unpaid, their water supply will be to involve the GP members in the man- become extremely polluted over the assured. Indeed, in one neighboring agement of the mandal. years with the wastes from Kolhapur village, when the State Electricity city. No treatment plant was provided in Board cut off power supply for 3 days ■ Commitment of the mandal the original design of the scheme, which for non-payment of its bill, a public leaders Why have they been com- did not anticipate a problem of riverwa- protest by the villagers managed to mitted to the mandal? The reasons ter pollution. Tests of the water supplied generate sufficient political pressure on are common to the other mandal to these villages have revealed that it is the Board to restore supply forthwith. members. First, the satisfaction of unfit for human consumption. Yet, the vil- Within such an environment, it is overseeing a working public service, lagers have to drink polluted water since easy to see why the example of the and, second, the prestige that goes there is no alternative source. hard-working mandal of Lat, Latwadi, with being a part of a mandal with The third problem is also worrying. Shiradwad and Shivnakwadi does not sufficient finances to run the system There is a decrease in the water avail- seem attractive to their neighbors. and make small grants for social able to individual villagers from the development in the village. scheme. Although initially designed to Why has the provide 70 lpcd, it now provides only about 44 lpcd, which is less than the Mandal been Current Problems current norm of 55 lpcd set by the MJP. Successful? and Prospects This is due to 3 main reasons. ■ The efficiency of the pumps has ■ The need for water The scarcity HERE ARE 3 problems currently decreased with age Although 1 of water in these villages was the main facing the villagers of Lat, Lat- pump has been replaced, the other reason the scheme was constructed. TT wadi, Shiradwad and Shiv- pump works at only 70 per cent of its The villagers have, therefore, had a def- nakwadi. The first is that of its legal capacity. While designed to produce inite interest in sustaining the scheme. existence. The mandal does not own 1.09 million liters per day (MLD), the the schemes since it is not a legally old pump currently produces only ■ Evidence of benefits Since the registered body. It cannot be regis- 0.70 MLD.

5 ■ ■ The increase in population in the Lessons Water and Sanitation Program 4 villages The population of 14,371 per- - South Asia 55 Lodi Estate, sons in 1971 grew at a rate of more than ■ New Delhi 110 003 2.8 per cent per annum to 22,606 indi- This is a demonstration that village com- India viduals in 1991, and is projected to grow munities can operate and maintain an eco- at around 2.6 per cent to 30,900 persons nomically-viable multi-village piped water Tel: 011-469 0488/9 in 2004. This growth in demand reduced scheme over a long period of time. This Fax: 011-462 8250 per capita availability of water from the practical example also reveals that, despite E-mail: [email protected] designed 70 lpcd, to 48 lpcd in 1991, the lack of legal registration, the sustained Website: http://www.wsp.org and will reduce it further to 35 lpcd in delivery of a good quality civic service can 2004. If the efficiency of the pump is gain the informal trust of the community, assumed to reduce by 30 per cent, the with villagers prepared to entrust the man- availability of water in 2004 will be less dal with their money. The ambiguous status than 25 lpcd. With even a 10 per cent of the project could raise questions of its Other Publications reduction in pumping efficiency, there will sustainability, but the existence of the man- in this Small Private be only 31 lpcd by 2004. dal for the last 19 years has proved that Initiatives (SPI) even an “informal trust” can be sustained. Field Note Series: ■ The increase in the number of private connections has reduced ■ The creation of the mandal brings out the 1. Privatizing the Operation and the water pressure in the pipes important role of advocacy in motivating vil- Maintenance of Urban Water Supply: Given fixed pumping hours, the increased lagers to come forward to take up a project The Experience of Ajmer, time in collecting the same amount of that has provided them with rich benefits. Rajasthan, India water, especially from public standposts, Although the advocates were Government 3. Profits from Waste: An NGO-led will reduce the amount available per capi- officials, they were acting in the interest of Initiative for Solid Waste ta per day for the poorer households who community development. Management in Lucknow, depend on public standposts. They are, Uttar Pradesh, India consequently, more affected by the decline ■ This scheme has also demonstrated the in water pressure in the system than the rel- successful use of an innovative system for 4. Villagers Treat Water as an atively better-off households who can recovering the O&M costs of public stand- Economic Good, Olavanna, afford household connections. posts which also has the non-poor cross- Kerala, India subsidizing the poor. If these problems are not tackled imme- December 1999 diately, the scheme is likely to run into seri- ■ A crucial factor that enabled such inter-vil- ous difficulties in the near future. lage cooperation was the small size of the This document is a result of a study carried out by the Water and The mandal has approached the Zila scheme. The mandal officials were strongly Sanitation Program - South Asia under Parishad to replace the older pump and is opposed to the idea of multi-village piped the British Government, Department prepared once again to pay the 15 per water schemes serving more than 5 villages for International Development (DFID)- cent contribution required by the Zila because this would hamper effective deci- funded program, “Capacity Building Parishad to carry out the replacement. sion-making in the mandal. This, they felt, for National and Municipal Decision-makers”. The mandal has also written to the MJP to was the main reason for the failure of larg- install a small water treatment plant to er multi-village water supply projects. Water and Sanitation Program is an clean the water before supplying it to the international partnership to help the villages. On the basis of this request, the ■ There is an important lesson to be poor gain sustained access to MJP has designed a new scheme consist- learned also from the absence of ‘spread improved water supply and sanitation services. The Program’s main ing of new pumps and pipelines, and a effects’ of this experience to other villages, funding partners are the Governments water treatment plant costing Rs. 5.5 even neighboring villages. This is unfortu- of Australia, Belgium, Canada, crores, to provide clean and adequate nate, and largely due to the environment Denmark, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, water supply for the next 30 years. The where villagers know that sufficient political the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, new scheme has been approved for fund- pressure can provide an alternative to good Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, the United Nations Development ing. However, the mandal is not aware of management. Policy advocacy can ensure Programme and The World Bank. the details of the new project, and it is that Governments actively promote collec- currently uncertain when this new scheme tive action towards community self-manage- Created by Write Media. E-mail: [email protected] will become operational. ment, without Government subsidies. Printed at PS Press Services Pvt. Ltd.