Water Matters

Water Matters Annual Report 2017 DHAN Foundation Water Matters Perspectives, Principles and Practices of DHAN’s Water Initiatives “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way people treat the environment”. - Mahatma Gandhiji “Anyone who can solve the problems of water will be worthy of two Nobel prizes, one for peace and one for science.” - John F. Kennedy PERSPECTIVES Water and Life Water is elixir of life. Water is everywhere on our planet, in the air, in our bodies, in our food and in our breath. Without it life as we know it would not be possible. Saint Poet Tiruvalluvar wrote about the water and the impact of its presence and absence 2000 years ago in the following lines: “It is the unfailing fall of rain that sustains the world. Therefore, look upon rain as the elixir of life”. “Unless raindrops fall from the sky, Not a blade of green grass will rise from the earth”. “No life on earth can exist without water, And the ceaseless flow of that water cannot exist without rain”. “Rain produces man’s wholesome food; And rain itself forms part of his food besides”. “Though oceanic waters surround it, the world will be deluged By hunger’s hardships if the billowing clouds betray us”. Monsoons are the primary source of water for sustaining life in the Indian context. Also, the monsoon causes problems to human life here. Saint Poet Thiruvalluvar further says, “When clouds withhold their watery wealth, Farmers cease to pull their ploughs”. “It is rain that ruins, and it is rain again That raises up those it has ruined”. He elucidates the nexus between the terrestrial and marine water ecosystems, and how do they interact to sustain the ecological balance. Annual Report 2017 11 “The very nature of oceans, though vast, would drinking water from an improved water source that is diminish, located on premises, available when needed, and free If clouds ceased to take up water and give back from faecal and priority chemical contamination. rain’s gifts”. According to World Health Organisation, in 2015, Illuminating the social, cultural and spiritual 5.2 billion people had access to safely managed functions of water Tiruvalluvar says, drinking-water services, that is, they used improved water sources located on premises, available when “Unless the heavens grant their gifts, neither the needed, and free from contamination. The remaining giver’s generosity 2.1 billion people without safely managed services Nor the ascetic’s aloofness will grace this wide included: w o r l d ”. • 1.3 billion people with basic services, meaning “Should the heavens dry up, worship here of the an improved water source located within a heavenly ones round trip of 30 minutes In festivals and daily rites would wither”. • 263 million people with limited services, or an improved water source requiring more than 30 Access to water is an imperative for public health, minutes to collect water whether it is used for drinking, domestic use, food • 423 million people taking water from production or recreational purposes. Improved unprotected wells and springs water supply and sanitation, and better management of water resources, can accelerate economic growth • 159 million people collecting untreated surface and can contribute greatly to poverty reduction. water from lakes, ponds, rivers and streams. In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly Sharp geographical, socio-cultural and economic explicitly recognized that access to water and inequalities persist, not only between rural and urban sanitation is a human right. It reinforces that areas; but also, in towns and cities, where people living everyone has the right to sufficient, continuous, in low-income, informal, or illegal settlements usually safe, acceptable, physically accessible, and affordable have less access to improved sources of drinking-water water for personal and domestic use. than other residents. Water, a Global Development Priority Water and Poverty Under the Millennium Poverty is complex, multidimensional, and is the Development Goals, the target result of myriad interactions between resources, of reducing the proportion of technologies, institutions, strategies, and actions. the world’s population without The multidimensional character of poverty has been sustainable access to safe water reflected in a wide array of approaches, poverty (MDG 7), was measured by reduction strategies, and policies. Although water the indicator of the population provides only a single element in the poverty equation, using improved drinking-water it plays a significantly powerful role through its wide sources, but without taking into impact on such factors as food production, hygiene, account the location, availability, sanitation and health, vulnerability/food security, or quality of the water. Whereas and the environment. Indeed, development agencies, the Sustainable Development groups, and experts worldwide are increasingly Goal target 6.1 calls for universal recognizing the important role that water can have on and equitable access to safe poverty. and affordable drinking water. The target is measured with an Meeting the needs of the poor has too often been indicator of “safely managed seen as simply providing safe drinking water. Quite drinking water services” – important as this is, it is not the only challenge facing DHAN Foundation poor women, men, and children around the world. Identifying such innovative approaches and They also need access to water for productive use processes should be one of the main goals of to provide a livelihood, and water is critical to the development. There is need to create more pro-poor ecological services on which many of the poor depend. water governance, improve access to quality water services, mainstreaming gender in all aspects of Water is indeed a significant key to sustainable water management, involve and empower the poor development. The problems with water and its use and develop their capacity in making decisions that pervade the lives of the poor. The link between poverty affect their water management and their water-related and the familiar issues of health, food security, and livelihoods, strengthen their ability to cope with environmental integrity are well understood and disasters, manage the water resources sustainably widely documented and there is common agreement and improve the health and well-being of the poor. that poverty and water are inextricably linked. The There are no easy prescriptions, no panaceas, or details of this connection vary greatly, but the impact universally applicable solutions. However, there are of water on the lives and prospects of the poor is clear. some fundamentals that apply everywhere, including the need to create fair and representative governance Pro-poor actions in water service provision and conditions and means of participation for all, resource management for improved health and well- ensuring efficient and sustainable levels of service being should be the central element of any programme provision. There is also the need to ensure that water to tackle poverty. While it is true that globally, things is mainstreamed into wider national and international have improved at a faster rate than at any time in development approaches such as the poverty reduction human history and developments such as broader and strategy papers. Water can-and often does-make a improved irrigation, increased water supply coverage, major contribution to poverty reduction but water better primary health care and education systems management alone will not solve poverty problems have improved the lives of many, it is also true that the and poverty will not be reduced without improved poorest and most vulnerable remain untouched by this water security. progress and will remain so, however well we make conventional approaches work. Water, Agriculture and Poverty As things stand, if we continue to rely solely upon Within the water and poverty debate, agricultural traditional approaches, the best we can hope for water holds a unique place. While solutions to is improvements that will help more poor people other dimensions of the water and poverty problem significantly, but still leave a significant proportion of such as sanitation, hygiene, and potable supplies, the poor with few or no prospects of ever improving generally call for increased expansion of services, the their water security. Above all, there can be little agricultural water/irrigation problem requires drastic optimism that the approaches of the past century can improvements in existing services. Furthermore, be replicated to reach the hundreds of millions of the agriculture is now the world’s largest user of water, poor who live in societies and environments where consuming 70–80% of annual utilized supplies and large-scale infrastructure investments will not work. providing livelihood for most of the world’s poor. For these people, new approaches are needed for water management that more closely reflect their conditions Within agriculture, water is a vital resource for of poverty and optimize the opportunities that exist to many productive and livelihood activities and many reduce this poverty. developing countries have promoted water resources Water, Agriculture and Poverty: Key Dimensions Key Dimensions KeyImpacts Increased crop yields Increased crop areas Increased cropping intensity Production Increased crop diversication Opportunity for year - round cropping Increased income from crop production Income / Increased family consumption of Consumption

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