#35. Residents Converting Warring Khera Village from Water Scarce to Water Secure Village (Lambi block of Sri Muktsar Sahib District)
Introduction
Working with grit and determination in a collective manner can provide solution to centuries old problems. This is proved by the villagers of Warring Khera village located in Malout-Dabwali road of Lambi block of Sri Muktsar Sahib District in Punjab. The residents of the village faced water scarcity. The water supplied was not sufficient to meet the local requirements. Few houses did receive water, while many residents had to walk miles in search of water to meet their daily needs. There was no water management system. People did not pay water tariff. Those who were getting water through taps were unmindful of its usage. They would let the water flow on roads. Drinking water was used to clean animals and wash vehicles. The wastage of water resulted in shortage of water supply. There was complete apathy with respect to water and the needs of others living in the same village. The case study on Warring Khera village is on its transformation from a water scare village to water secure village. Warring Khera has a population of 4,125 of which 50% are scheduled castes, while the remaining belong to general category. The village has 825 households. The village is inhabited by farmers and most of the residents depend on agriculture.
Interventions under Jal Jeevan Mission
In year 2019, when the Government of India announced Jal Jeevan Mission to provide tap water connection in every rural household in the country. That ignited hopes of getting adequate water supply among the residents of Warring Khera. Punjab as a State was quick to start work so that its people do get access to safe drinking water. Keeping in line with the guidelines of Jal Jeevan Mission, the Department of Water Supply and Sanitation, Govt. of Punjab decided to decentralize the responsibility of intra-village water supply with Panchayats and User Groups. In Warring Khera and other villages of the state, Gram Panchayat Water Supply Committees (GPWSC) was constituted. The committees were entrusted with the responsibility of planning, implementing and operation & maintenance of water supply system. The aim was to improve rural water supply and sanitation service delivery through community participation. The State of Punjab achieved 100% tap water coverage for all its rural households in April 2022.
The people of Warring Khera under the leadership of its Sarpanch Smt. Beant Kaur constituted GPWSC for the village. They received necessary support and guidance from DWSS. As per the procedure, a resolution was passed, which raised demand to develop a village action plan for supply of tap water to the residents of Warring Khera. Roles and responsibilities were assigned during Gram Sabha meeting. The GPWSC had passed a resolution to select Ramesh Kumar and Badri Ram as Pump operator and Helper.
Every effort was made by DWSS and GPWSC/GP to involve the community in every stage of planning and implementation of the water supply schemes so that the community takes ownership and responsibility of its maintenance and upkeep at a later stage. The local wisdom was used in planning. The community was assigned the responsibility of monitoring the implementation to ensure that the pipelines are laid as per the approved plan and quality of work is ensured.
At the time of implementation stage, 650 households had access to tap connection. Today, Warring Khera village water supply scheme is providing potable water to all its 825 rural households. GPWSC has fixed water tariff of Rs 50/- per month for SC households, while Rs 100/- is paid as User Charge by people belonging to general category. The money is used to pay the salary to the pump operator. The GPWSC has over the time collected and saved Rs. 1,61,810/-.as surplus amount in operation and maintenance account. The money will be used to carry out minor repairs and maintenance of water supply infrastructure. The pump operator was given training by Block Resource Coordinator on operation and maintenance.
Post implementation of the scheme, it has been observed that every household of Warring Khera is getting water in sufficient quantity with adequate pressure even in the tail end households. The villagers are happy with the services and 70% of households pay six months user fee in advance, which is helpful in planning and ensures that payments for salary of the pump operator and repair works, can be done in a timely manner.
As water is supplied in adequate pressure, there is no need for the residents to install pumps on main pipeline. It has reduced the burden on every household of purchasing the pump, installing, maintaining and repairing it. The village has taken up the responsibility of sensitizing the community on judicious use of water and timely payment of water bill for long-term sustenance. Announcements with specific messages on saving water, recharge of ground water, keeping the water source catchment area free of litter is made from religious places. Faith based leaders are involved under the programme, which has a far larger impact on the community.
Smt. Beant Kaur, GPWSC Chairperson is efficiently maintaining the water supply with the support of key stake holders in the village. The Pump Operator Ramesh Kumar and his helper Badri Ram are regularly collecting the User charges. Regular chlorination is undertaken to ensure that water supplied is of prescribed quality. Regular testing of residual chlorine, biological and chemical testing of water is undertaken. The village surveillance committee tests the water samples using field test kit. Divisional Lab technical staff of DWSS also test water samples from source to ascertain the quality of water.
The GPWSC maintains all the records in the ledger. A logbook is maintained to keep record of chlorination in the register and tests undertaken through use of FTK by village women. The money spent from the User Fee collected from the villagers is recorded in the Cashbook and can be inspected by the community. The transparency maintained by the GPWSC is helping build trust in the village. The work undertaken in Warring Khera serves as a Model for others to follow.
Social and IEC Interventions
As social and IEC interventions, numerous meetings and discussions took place under the supervision of Sarpanch and panchayats members along with other activists of the village. The effort of the GPWSC and especially present Sarpanch Beant Kaur and other members of gram panchayats namely Makhan Singh, Jagdev Singh, Jaswinder Singh was useful for solving the problems of the water supply scheme in Warring khera village.
Issues & Challenges Faced
The challenges faced in the village were:
- No reliable system in GPWSC for monitoring complaints of leakages and supply of water in village.
- There was wastage of water by beneficiaries.
- Water works staff (pump operator) delayed in fixing defects and leakages.
- Inconvenient timing and irregular supply of water to the beneficiaries.
- Some households were having illegal, and more than one household connections and some consumers were not paying the bills from months.
- The quality of the water that consumer were getting was very poor and chlorination was not being done properly
- Non transparency of accounts and records
Lessons Learnt:
Due to efforts of DWSS and GPWSC, villagers are now getting daily water supply for 6 hours duration. The water supply scheme is financial sustainable. The learning is that, it has become possible as DWSS and GPWSC were determined and there was perfect planning.
Paani di Kahaani (ਪਾਣੀ ਦੀ ਕਹਾਣੀ) 