#36. Sustainable 24 x 7 Water Supply Scheme in Kaziwal Village of Tarn Taran District
Introduction:
The case study is on sustainable functioning of a piped water supply scheme in Kaziwal Village of Tarn Taran District in Punjab, where lives of people are improved due to provision of piped water supply in all households of the village. For improved water supply situation and O&M of the water supply scheme in the village, the role of Gram Panchayat Water and Sanitation Committee (GPWSC) is significant. Kaziwal village has a population of 530 and total numbers of households in the village is 100. The village has 1 school and 1 anganwadi centre.
Water Storage Tank in Village Kaziwal Block Khadoor Sahib District Tarn Taran
Issues:
Prior to the piped water supply scheme, there was no regular piped water supply in the village. The school, anganwadi centre and Govt. buildings in the village were facing problems due to unavailability of piped water supply. There was only one hand pump in the village. All village households were collecting water from the hand pump. Because of this, all villagers were facing problems such as crowding near the hand pump in the morning and evening and wastage of time in collecting water from hand pump. Children were also collecting water from the handpump, which affected their studies.
Strategy:
The strategy for improvement of water supply situation in the village included construction of a new water supply scheme with total involvement of villagers along with simultaneous campaign on importance of safe water use. As an initial step, several meetings and gram sabhas were conducted to discuss the strategy to achieve 24×7 water supply in the village. Subsequently, a water supply scheme was constructed with an expenditure of Rs. 34.43 lakhs under Subcomponent 1.A (ii) PRWSSIP. The beneficiary contribution for the water supply scheme was Rs. 0.53 lakhs. The scheme was commissioned on 31st Oct 2018 with provision of water connections to all households of the village. The scheme has a OHSR of 25,000-liter capacity. The following activities were taken up to generate awareness among the community regarding 24X7 Water Supply:
- Gram Sabha Meetings
- Door to door campaign for awareness need of clean water.
- Organising water testing camps
- Announcements from Gurdwara Sahib for pay timely water bill.
- Women empowerment Camps
- Training programme with ASHA worker, AWWs and women member of the village.
- Capacity building trainings for men, children, and women.
- Training to pump operator on documentation and record keeping.
- Wall writings.
Focused discussion Use of FTK and H2S
GPWSC is maintaining records of water charges of all household and collecting water supply revenue every month. GPWSC conducts meeting every month to discuss income and expenditure of their water supply scheme and ensure that rules and regulations are strictly adhered by every household in the village
.
volumetric metered water charges are being done by GPWSC. Initially, there were some challenges in collection of water revenue as many household were not paying on time and wastage of water was done by many household. Under the guidance of Social Staff of DWSS, GPWSC decided to engage a revenue collector for the collection of water revenue from the village households and to motivate people to save water. After engaging of revenue collector and his daily door to door visits resulted that consumer started paying water revenue and now there is no wastage of water in the village as fines and warning are issued by GPWSC.
A penalty of Rs.10 is imposed on the household for not paying the bill on time. As a result, all water revenue arrears are received regularly by GPWSC. Proper chlorination of water is being done by the pump operator. Regular testing of residual chlorine is also being done by the pump operator with help of field test kit. Testing for quality of water are also done regularly with the help of field test kits. All records like ledger, cashbook, logbook, chlorination register etc. are maintained. Now, the scheme is financially sustainable with timely billing and collection of water revenue.
Main credit to run the water supply scheme goes to GPWSC Chairperson Smt. Gurmeet Kaur and GPWSC Secretary Sh. Manjinder Singh. The GPWSC Secretary is working as pump operator also and he is not taking any remuneration for the work. Champions of the village along with DWSS Team are conducting intensive Social and IEC campaign regularly to motivate community regarding 24×7 water supply in the village. Promotion of ‘Save Water Save Life & sustainability of Dawn to Dusk Water Supply’ are conducted through various community mobilization campaigns
Outcomes
Due to proper functioning of GPWSC, people of Kaziwal village especially the women are very happy as water supply is being supplied 24 hours a day since Oct 2018. Water is available all time and they turn off the tap, when water is not needed. When the villagers were asked about this, they replied that after a long time they have got pure water for 24 hours continuously. They also responded that, if they do not save water today, their future generations will be forced to drink contaminated water. At present, the community is totally aware about the advantages of 24X7 water supply and potable drinking water. People have enthusiasm to pay bills due to continuous supply of clean and hygienic water. No one in the village is wasting water and regular payment of monthly remuneration to the revenue collector is done by GPWSC. The surplus balance available in GPWSC bank account is Rs. 0.55 lakhs. It is a good example of financially sustainable water supply scheme..
Paani di Kahaani (ਪਾਣੀ ਦੀ ਕਹਾਣੀ) 