Singaawan Khurd village, Chhatarppur, Madhya Pradesh

Village well pump station and disinfection building
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Haritika:

This morning we headed to a village of Singaawan Khurd, where we received another really impressive welcome with the whole village singing and watching. I was immediately struck by the apparent relative prosperity of the surroundings, compared to our previous visits, in particular the concrete road and some pukka houses. We were assured by the WaterAid staff that before its local NGO partner Haritika started work in 2001, this was a very poor and backward village.

Water brings mobile phone prosperity to village

Water disinfection
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Haritika work with people whose lives are dominated by extreme poverty, illiteracy, disease and other handicaps. The organisation aims to promote a sustainable process towards a dignified quality of life for rural communities characterized by:

- opportunities for secure livelihoods

- ecologically sound up-gradation of the natural resource base

- access to basic education and primary health care

Water tank as part of pumped water scheme
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- enhanced self-reliance and self esteem

- access to safe drinking water and hygienic living conditions

In order to meet this last objective Haritika have been working closely with WaterAid to deliver the Community based Rural Water Supply & Environmental Sanitation Project (CWRWSESP). In the long term this aims to enable convergent community action through the provision of services and resources to overcome the inertia that has been caused by the long spells of marginalization and deprivation suffered by rural communities. CWRWSESP also aims to transfer the momentum created through such community action into sustainable community owned and managed development systems.

Top of the range on suite latrine
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Latrines

Our visit began with a walk through the village towards the main water source, being continually invited into homes along the way to inspect new latrines. It was fantastic to see latrines had even been constructed inside houses, some of which also had a piped water supply. The families we met were clearly very pleased with their relatively easy access to such facilities. I noticed the concrete and paint was literally still wet on some of the latrines we saw, evidently the villagers had been preparing for our visit. I felt a bit like the queen, used to the smell of wet paint everywhere she goes!

A typical kitchen
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I understand that virtually all the latrines had been funded by WaterAid and the EU over the last 2 years, with a small donation from each family to encourage ownership. It was great to see so many latrines in use, Haritika’s own survey of the village had revealed that before intervention over 80% of the common diseases in the village could be traced to a lack of sanitation and unprotected water sources. Now the village is aiming to achieve Open Defecation Free status within the next 6 months.

Goat losing its head in a pit latrine
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Mini Pumping Water Supply Scheme (MPWSS)

A priority for WaterAid and Haritika was the Mini Pumping Water Supply Scheme, which was completed in 2003. This consists of a wet well pump station, point of source chlorination, a 650m rising main and 3no. 5000 litre water tanks.

We passed one of the water tanks in the centre of the village, from which a number of connections have been made. Depending on the price paid villagers could use a shared tap (50 Rupees per month) or have a private connection in their home (80 Rupees pm), with the money being banked and controlled by the Village Development Committee in their Apna Kosh fund. Prior to the scheme women were fetching drinking water from 1-2km away from the village, which took 4-6 hours daily.

Rian inspecting the road drainage
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On the outskirts of the village we visited the main water source – a large and very old well, with a KSB submersible pump installed in it. WaterAid have repaired the well and helped finance a concrete cover slab which reduces contamination of the water and mosquito breeding. As the bacteriological quality of the groundwater is poor a small point of source chlorination system on the rising main is necessary. The long term operation and maintenance costs of the system are covered by the interest from the Apna Kosh fund. The systems operation is undertaken by trained villagers.

Kids checking themselves on a digital camera
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We later discussed the MPWSS with villagers who were very positive and described benefits including:

1. Time saving (with resulting increased economic activity and school attendance)
2. Reduction in water borne diseases (before there was a case of diarrhoea in every household, now there is very little)
3. Marked improvement to the health of the community (partly due to improved personal hygiene as now there is sufficient water to clean clothes and wash properly)

Irrigation is now possible
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Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)

Charrtarpur district has been one of the most drought prone areas in India in recent years. Haritika have been working closely with the government of Madhya Pradesh on IWRM activities including the construction of more than 30 community dug wells and 5 stop dams across the seasonal river flowing near to Singrawan village. The impact of these includes:

- The average ground water table has increased by 0.5m to 4m. This is mostly due to much improved groundwater recharge now that seasonal surface water run off is controlled by the stop dams.

Me on a stop dam for groundwater recharge
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- Enhanced water availability (from the wells and stop dams) has increased the area under irrigation by 82% and doubled the overall crop production.

Income Generation

Agriculture is the main livelihood in the area, so the increased crop production has improved the economic situation of much of the population. The villagers spoke of growing cash crops such as chillies and being able to purchase more animals such as buffalo and goats.

Other income generation programmes have been introduced by Haritika including crafts, beads, animal husbandry training, co-operatives for agricultural products and improved agricultural training. During his speech a member of the village described how their economic situation had changed over the course of Haritika’s involvement, listing indicators of wealth in the village such as 1 tractor previously, compared to 9 now, motorbikes from 1 to 12 and even mobile phones from 0 to 40!

Afterthought

It was very clear to me after visiting Singrawan just how fundamental access to safe water and sanitation has been to the massive health and economic improvements witnessed over the last few years by everyone in the village. I found it very encouraging to see just how WaterAid have really helped the villagers take the first essential step out of the cycle of poverty and disease and into a better future.