ADVOCATING FOR SAFE WATER SOLUTIONS - PROF. JOHN KURAKAR

ADVOCATING FOR

SAFE WATER SOLUTIONS

Prof. John Kurakar

Water is critical for human survival, yet if present trends continue, the livelihood of one third of world’s population will be seriously affected by water scarcity by 2030. In its 2014 Global Risks Report, the World Economic Forum cites water as one of the top eight threats to global stability.  Unsafe drinking water is a global problem, with almost one billion people currently without access to an improved water supply. There is no greater way to impact a community in the long-term than to build local capacity and empower its people to advocate for themselves. CWC promotes the direct participation ofimpacted communities in the development of effective and affordable regional clean water solutions. Our work focuses on:

1. Building community capacity to engage in water infrastructure planning and funding processes;2. Advocating for better water quality, water planning, and water funding policies, as well as working to eliminate barriers to disadvantaged community participation at the local, regional, and state levels;3. Facilitating direct contact and communication between impacted community members and the decision-makers impacting local community drinking water challenges; and4. Developing and disseminating resources and information to support strong community voices in decision-making processes impacting drinking water in the valley.

To these ends, CWC provides extensive organizing, outreach, meeting facilitation, and technical assistance support for local development of long-term, sustainable solutions for safe drinking water. This support includes helping local communities identify specific contaminants in their water supply, sources of pollution, and potential project alternatives. CWC also facilitates the development of joint-solutions among communities to reduce long-term vulnerability and strengthen the resources available to resolve the problem. In this work, CWC utilizes a strong and growing list of project partners to develop additional funding sources through public agencies, private organizations, and charitable foundations to invest in drinking water solutions.Ensuring safe drinking water in the home is difficult. When there is no improved source available, water is likely to be unsafe due to microbial and especially faecal contamination. Even when water is drawn from an improved, uncontaminated point source – such as a sealed handpump on a protected borehole – it is very often re-contaminated due to unhygienic transport and home storage practices. And while somewhat less likely, water from treated piped water systems can still become re-contaminated, especially when it is delivered through the intermittent, leaky distribution networks that are common in the developing world. Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage addresses this problem by helping to ensure the microbial safety of water at point of use. HWTS programmes develop and promote a package of improved technologies and practices for water storage and transport. The package includes cost-effective treatment systems involving the disinfection of water (using chlorine and other chemicals, and/or heat or ultraviolet radiation), the filtering of water (through a physical media such as in a ceramic filter, or through biological processes), or a combination of both. It also involves better designs for storing and handling water in the home, ranging from simple solutions involving covers and long-handled ladles to new re-designed storage containers. Of course, HWTS is not about technology alone. To reliably improve drinking water quality – and ultimately reduce diarrhea – technologies must be used correctly and consistently. Users must be knowledgeable and skilled, and have the motivation and funds to purchase products and consumables throughout the year. This in turn means that HWTS programmes are successful only when technologies are affordable, available and become desirable through effective marketing. Finally, HWTS should not be carried out in isolation. It is only one part of a comprehensive WASH programme. Protected water sources continue to be of critical importance to communities: for health, for education, for gender equality and for poverty reduction. The transmission of faecal contamination can never be stopped without adequate sanitation, and unless people habitually wash their hands with soap at critical times, sanitation and water interventions – including HWTS – will not achieve their full potential.

Global Advocacy for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene: A Resource Guide WASH Advocates December 2015 In developing countries, improving access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) as standalone efforts or in partnership with other development challenges such as health and education can stimulate development, build economies, and reduce poverty. Although the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target for safe drinking water was met five years ahead of schedule, data indicates the number of people using safe water supplies is overestimated.1 Despite the success with water, 2.4 billion people still lacked access to sanitation in 2015, making the sanitation target the most off-track of all the MDGs.2 The new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will attempt to eliminate these concerns, with the ambition to achieve universal access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene.3 Advocacy is defined as “the process of strategically managing and sharing knowledge to change and/or influence policies and practices that affect people’s lives.”4 Advocacy continues to evolve and now includes work undertaken by development agencies, civil society groups, and individuals to bring about positive change. This includes raising awareness at the grassroots level and with key influencers, creation or reformation of policies, and encouraging the effective implementation of those policies.5 Advocacy is essential for effective partnerships, adequate funding, and long-term sustainability of development outcomes, and will be necessary for effective implementation of the SDGs. This resource guide provides recent reports, manuals, strategies, examples of advocacy efforts, and other resources that cover WASH and global advocacy along with relevant organizations in the WASH advocacy field. This guide can serve as a tool for professionals, implementers, and advocates looking to pursue and promote WASH advocacy efforts. Acknowledgements: Kyle Colonna compiled this resource guide, with guidance from and editing
Kerala, which enjoys the status of being India's 100% literate state, is in trouble due to poor water conservation and faulty planning. According to Magsaysay Award winner, Rajendra Singh, a leading exponent on water literacy: "The state might have attained total literacy more than a decade ago. But it's still illiterate as far as conservation of bio-diversity is concerned."Kerala's leanings towards a centralised system of pipes to deliver safe drinking water to everyone continues to parch thousands all over the state. The cost of drinking water projects has increased six times in the last two decades, touching Rs 719.53 crore by the Ninth Five-Year Plan. All along, the issue of water conversation has been ignored.

"Kerala, which is one of the wettest places in the country, is behind arid Rajasthan in per capita availability of drinking water," says Dr E J James, executive director of the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM), Kozhikode.In Vypin, an island off mainland Kochi, it's hard to walk more than a few hundred feet without getting one's feet wet. But the groundwater is almost entirely saline and unfit for drinking. Being at the extreme end of the pipeline system, the people here have to queue up at public taps for much longer. "There are nights when the water pressure is so low that I get water only after midnight," says Veronica. She says this is the situation even when there's been a fairly good monsoon.

The villagers are worried about what the summer will hold for them. They dismiss promises by the district administration that free drinking water will be distributed during the peak summer months. "Those who can afford it will buy water sold by private tanker operators. But people like us who depend on public taps for our drinking water are doomed," says Veronica.Kerala has been experiencing law rainfall regularly since 1980. Vembanad lake, included in the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance, has lost one-third of its approximately 250 sq km to encroachment. Bharathpuzha, the second largest river in Kerala, on which 23 lakh people in 103 gram panchayats depend, has been reduced to a thin stream.

According to expert opinion, government policies over the years have worsened the effects of the state's natural disadvantages. The fact that the steep slopes of the Western Ghats carry rainwater to the sea within 48 hours of their precipitation on the hills has been repeatedly overlooked. Kerala has also mismanaged its natural resources and failed to check deforestation, sand mining and pollution in almost all its rivers, say experts.Professor S Sitaraman, secretary, All-Kerala River Protection Council, points out that in the last 100 years the state's forest cover decreased from 47% of its land area to about 10%.A Greenpeace study reveals that the 244-km-long Periyar, which serves the drinking water needs of 50 lakh people, and irrigates 57,800 hectares, is polluted by about 250 industries, the worst culprit being the Eloor Industrial Area, 30 km from north Kochi. "My river is dying and I am helpless. The state is indifferent. Only if the people come together in strength and conviction can we save it now," says V J Jose, a Greenpeace activist who has been designated 'river keeper' for Periyar.

In January this year, the government made rainwater harvesting mandatory for every new building. The same month, a group led by Rajendra Singh launched a water literacy campaign -- the Jala Paristhiti Sandesha Yatra (water awareness rally).According to environmental activists, Kerala is going through highest recorded temperatures in the last decade at the beginning of this year itself. Palakkad district has crossed 40 degree Celsius several times, while Kannur hovers near 40 most of the time.The average temperature in the rest of the districts is around 35 degree Celsius.

Severe drinking water problem has been reported from different parts of Kerala as fresh water bodies have started drying up. People in rural settlements which are exclusively dependent on natural water bodies are now traversing long miles just to access drinking water.

Saline water incursion¬Situation in cities are also not different. In cities like Kochi and Kannur, the saline content in the water supplied by the municipal corporations has increased, as when the water level in the rivers dip, sea water tends to enter the rive¬¬rs. Places like Kunnumpuram, Cherai, Thundiparambu, Kazhuthumuttu and Vypeen to name a few in Kochi have been reportedly receiving saline water.In a study conducted on the summer of 2015 by the SCMS College in Kochi, it was revealed that last year’s summer saw the chloride concentration in water in these areas rise to 1000mg per litre as against the permissible limit of less than 250 mg in a litre of potable water.

In cities like Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram, rivers are drying up rapidly with simultaneous reduction in water supply. Dr.V.Subhash Chandra Bose -Director at Communication and Capacity Development Unit (CCDU), Water Resource Department, Kerala- is alarmed at the prospect of chronic water shortage in the state, if such high temperatures continue to prevail.For example -he says- the 300-million-litre per day treatment plant at Aruvikkara, one of the major plants that distributes water to the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram has water just about sufficient for hardly a month more of supply.The plant mainly gets its water from the Peppara dam built across the Karama river in Thiruvananthapuram. The dam and the river which are well-known for its abundance of water have now almost dried up. Photographs of the catchment area of the dam proves it.

“Ideally we should get 10% of rainfall during the summers; the rest of the rain we usually receive during the monsoons. But this time, we hardly had any summer rain. Kerala has got orographic rainfall which depends on the Western Ghats; so deforestation of the ghats could be a major reason,” he feels.“A rise in temperature first affects the surface water and gradually it will lead to drought and disasters,” he warns. He also adds that mono-culture i.e. cultivation of a single crop in a given area, rubber cultivation, urbanization etc… are all adversely affecting the water resources in the state.So what will Kerala do if the current temperature prevails?

“If it does not rain this summer, next summer too will see us without access to any fresh water. Discussing about drought at the time of actual drought doesn’t make any sense. It should be done when there is plenty of water. Think about means of preserving water when we have abundant rains. There are hundreds of ways to harvest rain water. Save water for the future,” he says.He also warns that 30 or 40 years ago, the rain water which fell on the Western Ghats reached the Arabian sea in three or four weeks’ time. Now the water hardly takes two days due to rapid urbanization. “So day by day, Nature is losing her capacity to preserve water, which makes man-made preservation of water all the more mandatory,” he stresses.

Kerala is blessed with abundant sunlight and rain which makes it a fertile land for agriculture. The farmers are now the most affected by the impending drought-like situation.In 2013, a study conducted by the state agricultural department found that drought caused a loss of Rs 24.13 crores to the farmers from paddy cultivation alone. The study also revealed that the loss in total agriculture cultivation in Palakkad district alone was around Rs 33 crores.In 2016, reports say that 377 hectares of paddy farms have already been fully destroyed this summer, and 530 farmers have been affected.Since 2016 has recorded such high temperatures at the beginning of the year itself, this could be much higher this year. Though Palakkad is the most affected, the situation in other districts is no less different.Unless drastic remedial measures are not put in place by authorities concerned, Kerala -known as God’s Own Country- is now on the verge of becoming a literal hell-hole to live in.

Prof.John Kurakar