PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION FOR THE DECADE FOR WATER
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PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION
FOR THE DECADE
FOR WATER - extracted text
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COMMUNITY HEALTH CELL
PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION
FOR THE DECADE
FOR WATER
COMMUNITY HEALTH CELL
326, V Main, I Block
Koramangala
Bangalore-560034
India
Water supply and sanitation
problems in the developing
nations are not, by and large,
technical ones. The technology
exists, somewhere and at some
price, to provide adequate water
and sanitation services to
virtually any community under
virtually any conditions. The
difficulty lies in choosing the best
technology, putting it in the
context of a planned program,
and implementing it. The reason
water supply and sanitation
systems fail is usually not
because the technology is faulty,
but because the process of
choosing and implementing it is
poor.
With the impetus of the
International Drinking Water
Supply and Sanitation Decade,
billions of dollars will be spent
during the 1980's on water and
sanitation facilities. Effective
expenditure of these funds
requires that a country's plan for
the Decade address technical
equipment and human
considerations in the right way.
1
The Need for a
Development Approach
A plan for a countrywide
program to improve water
supply and sanitation facilities
must define the approach that
will be used to develop those
facilities. Not every community
nor every water supply problem
can or should be treated in
exactly the same way. One set of
solutions cannot be imposed on
every problem with any
expectation that it will work.
However, the approach to
development of systems can and
should be the same. This
development approach—that is,
the way in which the
government will set about
2
addressing community water
supply and sanitation
problems—should take into
account all phases of project de
velopment and how project
implementation should proceed
in each phase. There are five key
elements that the development
approach should address:
standard system designs,
appropriate technology,
operation and maintenance
requirements, training, and
community involvement.
3
Standardized System Designs
From a purely technical
viewpoint, standard designs
should be developed with
corresponding standard costs.
This will reduce both project
preparation time and
engineering costs. These
standard designs must be
carefully considered initially so
that they take into account the
realities of the country's
situation, both technically and
socially.
Standardized designs should
not be used to force square pegs
into round holes. Modifications
to desiens, both for technical and
social reasons, will be required to
fit the technology to the
community. However, there is
no reason to approach the
technical aspects of water supply
and sanitation development as if
they were unique; they probably
are not. Boxing a spring, for
example, requires the same basic
design every time it is done.
There will be modifications
needed depending on the
spring's location and quality, but
the basic design features will be
uniform. If a standard design has
already been developed for a
spring box, a substantial amount
of time and money can be saved
4
by using it rather than by
commissioning a new design for
every spring box needed.
The technologies used should
be as simple as possible so that
local people can do the operation
and maintenance with a
minimum of outside assistance.
Given cost and reliability
problems with energy sources,
gravity or water-powered
systems should be used
wherever possible. The designs
must be cost effective in the long
run: initial savings realized by
using cheap materials will be
more than offset by early failure
of the system or by its frequently
being out of service for repairs.
As far as possible, the standard
designs should use local
materials and technologies and
be suited for construction using
unskilled local labor.
Standardized designs will
allow for routinized operation of
the program and for quick start
up and efficient development of
each individual project. Further,
they will give the program
manager the means necessary to
ensure quality control in facilities
development.
5
Appropriate Technology
Appropriate technology is a
popular concept these days and
one that is often misunderstood
and misapplied. It does not
necessarily mean simple, home
made technology. Rather, it is
the technology best suited to
solve the problem at hand under
existing physical conditions at
the lowest initial and operating
cost. It is technology specifically
designed for the conditions
under which it will be used. This
does not mean that standardized
designs cannot be developed,
merely that a great deal of prior
study must be devoted to them
to ensure that they are the
appropriate designs.
In the end, the selection of
technologies should be based
primarily on the community's
social and economic conditions.
However, the type and
availability of supporting
infrastructure must also be taken
into account. For example, a
project that provides water
connections inside the house will
lead to an increase in water
usage and an increase in the
amount of wastewater to be
disposed of. If a wastewater
disposal system is not planned
and cannot be developed, indoor
water connections are probably
not the most appropriate
technical solution. The most
appropriate technology is the
one that does the job adequately
for the least amount of money
while pleasing the community
and not creating new problems.
6
COMMUNITY HEALTH CELL
326, V Main, I Block
Koramong?la
Bangalore-560034
India
Operation and Maintenance
Operation and maintenance is
possibly the most neglected
aspect of water and sanitation
project development. Designs
are often selected and funds
allocated for construction with
only the most cursory
consideration as to how the
system will be run once it is
completed. Poor or nonexistent
system management and
operation, including lack of
funds for operation and
maintenance, are the most
frequent causes of system failure.
In one case, it was found that
village systems were failing
almost as fast as new ones were
being built. Obviously, this was
a waste of resources.
If scarce resources are to be
used effectively, a water supply
and sanitation program must
emphasize operation and
maintenance at least as much as,
and perhaps more than,
construction of facilities.
Depending on conditions in the
country, it is possible that its
water supply and sanitation
program should emphasize
repair and maintenance of
existing systems rather than
construction of new ones. At the
very least, operation and
maintenance needs must be
taken into account at the
planning stage and when
standardized designs are being
developed. This does not only
mean considering the cost and
complexity of maintenance—
although these are critically
important—but answering the
very specific questions of who is
going to maintain the system,
who is going to train them to do
it, and what kinds of technical
support are going to be available
when they run into problems
they cannot solve alone.
The number of new facilities
being constructed is not the only
way, nor even the best way, to
measure the progress of a water
supply and sanitation program.
A more realistic and more useful
measure is the number of people
being served by reliable,
operative systems.
7
Training
Training is too often as ignored
as operation and maintenance.
Even where cost and complexity
of operation and maintenance
are considered, training often is
not. Training needs are not
limited to operation and
maintenance, though. In
assessing training needs, the
whole range of skills needed for
water and sanitation project
development must be taken into
account: local staff such as
plumbers and operators;
8
tradesmen such as bricklayers
and well drillers; supervisory
staff such as foremen and
sanitary inspectors; technical
professionals such as engineers
and chemists; and administrative
personnel such as planners and
community organizers.
A substantial training element
should be included in the
country's water supply and
sanitation program and it should
be fully integrated into the
overall program. A careful
inventory should be made of the
skills needed in the program and
the extent to which they are
already available in-country,
although possibly occupied in
other fields. Civil engineers, for
example, may be working on
bridge and road construction
because the pay is higher than in
the water supply industry. Every
reasonable attempt should be
made to attract these people to
the water and sanitation
program.
The design of the training
component of the program
should be tailored to the specific
skills to be imparted, the existing
levels of capability of the people
to be trained, and the resources
available for training. Since
training program design is itself
a fairly specialized skill, the
assistance of a specialist in the
area may be needed. If at all
possible, in-country, local
experts should be used because
they will find it easier to design
training programs that fit local
needs and circumstances.
Community Participation
The ultimate test of the success
of any water supply and
sanitation project is whether or
not people use the facilities.
However efficient the program,
however appropriate the
technology, however superb the
construction, and however
smooth the operation and
maintenance, it will all go for
naught if the community ignores
the new system. There is no way
to absolutely guarantee that this
will not happen but a strong
community participation element
from the outset of project
develoment will surely help.
Community involvement
should begin at the point at
which communities to receive
new facilities are selected.
Experience in many countries
indicates that villages that
express a strong interest in
having a new or improved
system will maintain it better,
abuse it less, and give it greater
financial support than
communities whose need may be
greater but whose interest is
weaker. The best indication of
strong interest is the willingness
of community residents to
contribute to construction costs,
either with money or free labor,
and to pay a reasonable fee for
service once the system is
operational.
The system design for each
project should be selected in
consultation with the villagers
who should be told about the
alternative designs available and
the costs of each. This increases
the chances of selecting the
"right" system for each
community and, by increasing
the participation of the villagers,
increases their sense of
responsibility for the system.
Successful community
involvement takes time and
effort and planning. It will not
happen naturally and it cannot
be done as an afterthought or
treated as a burdensome duty
grudgingly performed.
Community participation is at
least as important as facility
design. No responsible program
would be inattentive to the latter;
it should not be inattentive to the
former, either.
9
Putting Together the
Development Approach
"I agree," the reader may be
saying at this point. "We will use
a development approach that
addresses all of these factors to
implement our plan for the
Decade. But how, exactly, do we
set about it?" The United States
Agency for International
Development has developed a
set of materials called "Water for
the World" that provides many
of the answers.
There are two kinds of
materials in the "Water for the
World" series. First, there is a
volume titled Safe Water and
Waste Disposal for Rural Health: A
Program Guide. This book was
written for people in the
developing nations who have or
are interested in having the
responsibility for developing a
countrywide rural water supply
and sanitation program. It is not
primarily a technical manual.
Although it gives an overview of
water supply and sanitation
technologies, other "Water for
the World" materials contain far
more comprehensive information
10
on technologies. The Program
Guide is written for the program
manager and includes advice on
almost every aspect of setting up
a program—technology,
planning, community
participation, training and
economics.
The second part of "Water for
the World" is a set of about 160
technical notes which describe in
detail water and sanitation
technologies, their planning,
design, construction, and
operation and maintenance.
There are also technical notes on
involving the community and on
training for operation and
maintenance. These technical
notes will be invaluable in
putting together a standardized
development approach. They
take each technology from start
to finish and explain how to
select a method of water supply
or sanitation, how to plan the
system, how to design it,
construct it, and operate and
maintain it. There are technical
notes, for example, on springs,
surface water intakes, roof
catchments, dams, all types of
wells, water treatment methods,
water distribution and storage,
privies, cesspools, septic tanks
and sewer systems.
Virtually any technology that
would be suitable for a rural
village is covered and in enough
detail so that with appropriate
modifications for local
conditions, the technical notes
can be used as standardized
designs. In addition, the
technical notes on community
involvement and training—
together with chapters on those
subjects in the Program Guide—
contain the information needed
to weave these elements into the
development approach.
11
Begin putting together your
approach to facilities
development by reading these
materials, especially the technical
notes. Study them, give them to
other people who are interested
in the program: to engineers,
training specialists, planners and
community organizers. Discuss
them, select the ones that are
most appropriate for your
country, and modify them to fit
your needs. Then use them as
the basis for building a
development approach that will
result in a successful and
efficient water supply and
sanitation program.
12
Editorial Advisory Board
Gordon Alexander*
United Nations Children's Fund
Mary Elmendorf
Consultant
P. A. Stevens*
World Health Organization
R. C. Ballance*
World Health Organization
Leon Jacobs
Consultant
Dennis Warner*
Water and Sanitation for Health Project
John Kalbermatten*
World Bank
Gerald F. Winfield
Consultant
Horst Otterstetter*
Pan-American Health Organization
Robert Worral
Population Reference Bureau
David Donaldson
Pan-American Health Organization and
Water and Sanitation for Health Project
Fred Reiff*
Pan-American Health Organization
Martin Young*
University of Florida
Ex Officio Members
Project Manager
Photographs
John H. Austin*
Agency for International Development
Mary E. Morgan
Institute for Rural Water
Raymond Victurine
Michelle DeNevers
Michael McQuestion
Noel Perry
Christopher Walter
James Bell*
Peace Corps
Martin Beyer
United Nations Children's Fund
Earle Lawrence
Agency for International Development
Victor Wehman*
Agency for International Development
Edwin L. Cobb
National Demonstration Water Project
’Did not serve for full duration of project
Prepared by
National Demonstration Water Project
for
U.S. Agency for International Development
under
Contract Number AID/DSAN-C-0063
Knowledge Synthesis Project
Environmental Health Information Activity
COMMUNITY HFA! t
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This document is a summary of a book entitled Safe Water and Waste Disposal for Rural Health: A Program Guide published as a part of
"Water for the World" materials prepared under contract to the U.S. Agency for International Development. Other parts of "Water for
the World" include about 160 technical notes on narrowly-defined technical topics and two documents similar in length to this one
entitled Executive Summary, Safe Water and Waste Disposal for Rural Health: A Program Guide and Program Planning for the Decade for Water.
The views expressed in this document are the responsibility of National Demonstration Water Project and do not in any way represent
the policy of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Information on this and other "Water for the World" materials may be
obtained from the Development Information Center, Agency for International Development, Washington, D.C., 20523, U.S.A.
July, 1982
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