Sustaining Secure Water: Future Prospects for Rural Communities

1. Sustaining Secure Water for Rural communities- Prospects for Future ? Rajindra de S Ariyabandu Sri Lanka wrsrsd@sltnet.lk

2. Country Status • High Availability of per capita water • Target of meeting MDGs by 2025 • High cost involved in meeting MDGs • Short fall of nearly 50% of cost in meeting MDGs • Govt: strategy to encourage private sector and Rural communities to take over management of water supply

3. Key Rural Water Providers • Asian Development Bank III & IV RWS projects • 1st and 2nd Community Water Supply and Sanitation Project (With WB support) • Local Authorities ( by statute) • Minor interventions by NGOs

4. Approach Adopted • Demand Responsive Approach • Key ingredients, cost recovery, community participation, decentralization • Approach had mix results. Favoured the majority at the expense of poor and marginalised

5. Community Empowerment and Management • Participatory decision making • Cash and labour cost to cover 20% of capital cost • Full O&M cost recovery through differential tariff • Enhanced payments including penalties for late comers • Regular monitoring of water usage, tariff collections, accounts and audits

6. Water Supply to meet Basic Needs & Household Water Security • Adequate water, 5 fold increase in consumption • 24hr service • Good quality water ( regular check for quality) • Timely availability • Within accessible distance (<200m)

7. Productive Uses of Water • Increased household productivity ( food and non-food income) due to improved access to water • Progressive and separate tariff for commercial use of water • Ineffective implementation of commercial tariff due to lack of a clear definition

8. Categories of Potential Water Users • Liberal water users, for domestic purposes including bathing and washing. • Judicious water users, only for drinking, cooking and occasional bathing. • Domestic water users with means to improve and start small businesses • Domestic water users with limited means but enterprising to start small scale commercial enterprises • Domestic water users with limited resources but use water for livelihood support like house construction.

11. Strength of Productive Water Users • Means to have back up sources like dug wells • Have the ability to combine access to water with other livelihood skills and assets. • Larger number of indirect beneficiaries • Can afford to pay higher tariff

12. Benefits for high-end Productive Water users • Improving asserts • Increased employment • Increased income through prolong business hours • Cost saving on water transport • Better service for customers • Pay penalty for not attending CBO meetings.

13. Lower-end Productive Water Users • Small scale gardening for market and domestic use ( earns up to Rs 500-600 additional per month) • Home gardening and brick making ( for own use) • Improved small scale plant nurseries

14. Benefits for low end Potential Water users • Improved household food security • Additional household income • Increased extent of home garden cultivation • Provision of building material for house construction.

15. Drop Outs • “Who are drop outs” • Two types of drop outs • Due to bad financial management • Due to poverty • They don’t have access to loan schemes • No access to resources, regular income or free labour.

16. Management Models • Single use model- only domestic water, customer-service provider relationship • Multiple use model- water for income generation, livelihood support and community welfare • Local Authority model- govt: back up support, facilitation for multiple water use and sustainability

17. Environmental Impacts • Greater depletion of ground water in pump schemes. • Depleting water in domestic wells, (impact on poor) • Abandoning traditional point sources • Reduce replenishment of domestic wells leading to pollution • Willful contamination of domestic wells • Increased contamination from Fluoride in service wells