E1539 LIMITED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT For RURAL COMMUNITY WATER PROJECT Public Disclosure Authorized Conducted by: The Environment Protection Training and Research Institute Submitted to: Naandi Foundation Date of Submission: 27th September 2006 Chapter CONTENTS Page No 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Need for Safe Drinking Water 2 1.3 Safe Drinking Water Project 2 Public Disclosure Authorized 1.4 Limited Environmental Assessment 4 2 Study Area 5 2.1 Introduction 5 2.2 Project Location 5 2.3 Methodology of the study 9 3 Baseline Environmental Status 10 3.1 Kovalli 10 3.2 Pedapadu 11 Public Disclosure Authorized 3.3 Pulla 12 3.4 Nagayalanka 14 3.5 Bantumilli 15 3.6 Pedavadlapudi 16 3.7 Vllagewse baselne parameters 17 4 Socio-economic Assessment 18 4.1 Introduction 18 4.2 Identification and Assessment of Socio-economic Impacts 18 4.3 Socio-economic Status for Six Villages 19 Public Disclosure Authorized 5 Stakeholders’ Consultations 32 5.1 Introduction 32 EPTRI 1 5.2 Objectives 32 5.3 Target Participants 32 5.4 Consultation Workshops 32 5.5 Process of Consultations 33 6 Water and Soil Quality Analysis 37 6.1 Introduction 37 6.2 Physico-chemical Analysis 38 6.3 Bacteriological Analysis 44 6.4 Conclusion 47 6.5 Soil Analysis 48 7 Impact Assessment 54 7.1 Scope 54 7.2 Major Environmental and Social Impacts 54 7.3 Impacts due to Surface Water Contamination 55 7.4 Impacts due to Solid Waste 57 7.5 Impacts due to Sewage 57 8 Environmental Management Plan 58 8.1 Multiple Barrier Approaches 58 8.2 Principles of Water Supply Systems 59 8.3 Mitigative Measures 61 8.5 Maintenance of Ultra Violet Treatment Plant 65 8.6 Institutional Arrangements 65 Annexures Annexure 1 Statistical Data A-1 Annexure 2 List of Participants–Stakeholders’ Consultative Meetings A-3 Annexure 3 Questioners A-10 Annexure 4 Technical overview of the purification process A-20 Annexure 5 UV Waterworks– An Innovative, Reliable & Cost effective tech A-21 EPTRI 2 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Today, water is an increasingly scarce resource and is in the forefront of policy formulations of all the developing countries. Until now, the paradigm of managing water has followed two interconnected routes. One, the state took upon itself the role of sole provider of water (it was the colonial state that centralized control over water resources. The post-independent state inherited this role, and continued with it). Among other things, this led to communities and households being no longer the primary agents of water provision and management. Two, the earlier use of rainwater and floodwater declined. In its place, there came a growing reliance on surface water (primarily rivers) and groundwater. But a closure look at the current and future scenarios reveals that water availability, both in terms of quality and quantity has declined sharply and needs to use judiciously besides adapting scientific techniques for conservation of water. India has 4% of the world’s water availability, out of this, 70% is not potable. The agriculture sector accounts for 90 to 95% of surface and groundwater and the remaining is for industry and the domestic sector. Water quality problems like excessive concentrations of fluoride and arsenic in groundwater, varying iron levels, presence of nitrates and heavy metals, bacteriological contamination and salinity result in water related and water borne diseases all over the places. About 50% of villages in India do not have any source of protected drinking water. Inadequate access to safe drinking water causes waterborne diseases that affect 37.7 million Indians annually, out of this 75% are children under the age of five years. In Andhra Pradesh, where the proposed project would take place, it is estimated that between 9 and 17 million people are exposed to water with pathogen levels >100 MPN/ml. 500,000 people live within areas with severe fecal contamination of >2,000 MPN/ml in the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh (Krishna, East and West Godavari, EPTRI 3 Prakasam and Guntur). Rural communities need access to better water resources and need to be educated to make villagers aware of the risks posed by the consumption of unsafe water. In spite of the efforts put in for identifying good management practices and scientific solutions for supply of potable water to the rural households, the results are not encouraging. There is still a large gap that exists between what has to be done and what to be done. The importance of local Panchayats are mainly felt in the context of implementing rural water supply schemes and providing potable water to all the rural households, as the supply of potable water is the sole responsibility of the local Panchayat. 1.2 Need for safe drinking water Most of the villages are dependent on irrigation canals for drinking water. Each village has a pond, fed by the irrigation canal at regular intervals, storing required quantity of water. In most villages, under Rural Water Supply (RWS) scheme, the water in the pond is put through Slow Sand Filters. The filtered water is chlorinated and pumped into an overhead tank for distribution through a system of pipes. But due to the frequent clogging and poor maintenance of the slow sand filters, the quality of raw water in the pond is extremely poor. This has necessitated for rural water supply schemes for providing safe drinking water to the rural poor. Rural Water Supply Schemes are designed to supply 40 litres of water per capita per day. Out of this, only 3-4 litres of water is used for drinking and cooking purpose, which is about 7.5-10% of total quantity to be supplied in villages. 1.3 Safe drinking water project Naandi Foundation is a public charitable trust set up in 1998 with a vision to eradicate poverty through public-private partnerships is engaged in piloting projects to EPTRI 4 promote alternatives for safe water provision, and expects to scale up the results to larger areas in Andhra Pradesh. Naandi’s strengths are supporting participatory community involvement through Village Panchayats, and building capacity in the villages for managing and delivering self-sustainable services. Naandi’s experience in the water sector comes from a series of pilot community water projects where they have implemented water education campaigns and improved access to safe water Naandi’s Community Safe Water Systems Project depend on low-maintenance, environmentally friendly, highly effective U.V. Waterworks technology that effectively eliminates bacteria and viruses typically found in drinking water sources (wells and ponds) across the country. The Project is to be implemented in 25 villages of coastal Andhra Pradesh with the support of an international multi-donor trust fund called the Global Partnership on Output Based Aid (GPOBA). The criteria for selection of these 25 villages is: • Villages with population of 8000-20000 • Existence of a surface water body in the village that can be used as a raw water source to fulfill the drinking requirements of the village • Prevalence of bacteriological contaminants in the raw water source • Existence of a suitable plot of land of a minimum size of 4 cents located close to the raw water source for construction of the purification plant • Willingness of the community represented by the local self-government i.e Panchayat to pledge the raw water source and land for the project • Willingness of the community/inhabitants to buy the treated water from the plant • Ability and willingness of the community or a philanthropist on behalf of the community to furnish 20% of the capital cost of the plant The project is expected to bring about positive health and environmental benefits through supply of ‘safe’ drinking water to atleast 10,000 under privileged families (500 households per village) In addition to the construction, installation and maintenance of EPTRI 5 Community Water Systems, the project will have programs related to health and hygiene education. Several environmental mitigation measures will be included in the project design and the project is expected to have a net positive effect on the environment. 1.4 Limited Environmental Assessment (LEA) Study EPTRI has been entrusted the task of conducting limited environmental and social assessment in 6 villages i.e Kovvali, Pedapadu, Pulla, Nagayalanka, Bantumilli and Pedavadlapudi of West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts of Andhra Pradesh where the proposed project would take place. These 6 villages were selected out of the 25 GPOBA Project villages by Stratified random sampling method. Care was taken to ensure that all the three districts across which the project villages are located were represented in the sample. The main objectives of this LEA study is • To understand the environment-related aspects of the rural community water project • To collect and analyze information regarding the environmental (physical – chemical and biological) parameters related to surface water • To collect and analyze the socio-economic issues related to the project • To prepare an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) The LEA study is to be carried out in two stages i.e. pre and post construction of UV treatment plants in the above 6 villages. EPTRI 6 2 STUDY AREA 2.1 Introduction Naandi Foundation in association with Water Health International (WHI) a US based organization is planning to set up water treatment plants in 25 villages in Andhra Pradesh. The project is expected to bring about positive health and environmental benefits through supply of ‘safe’ drinking water to atleast 10,000 under privileged families (500 households per village). The proposed UV treatment plant can treat 60,000 litres of raw water per day. In addition to the construction, installation and maintenance of Community Water Systems, the project will have programs related to health and hygiene education.