Summary
Proposed four villages (Bhataguda, Melghara, Dalguma and Podapadar) in tribal dominated hilly pockets of Thuamul Rampur block of Kalahandi has been deprived of safe drinking water sources leaving 249 families under the threat of water borne diseases.
Background
The Proposed area (Villages & People)
The area proposed for the project is in Thuamul Rampur block of Kalahandi district having 57.60% scheduled tribe population and 25.7% of the scheduled caste population and 87% among them living below the poverty line. The Below poverty line percentage is as per the record at the government, but in reality 97% of the population face food stress among whom 63% people are landless.
Thuamul Rampur block is surrounded by inaccessible terrain and forest and is mostly inhibited by Kondh tribes. Most of the tribals do not have lands and depend on shifting cultivation and forest produce for subsistence. The area is dreaded for malaria and basic health and education services are lacking. Tribals of this block face severe food shortage during lean agricultural season. Food insecurity and starvation deaths are the major problems of the area. This block is also ranked as No-312 block among 314 community development blocks of Odisha taking all the development indicators into consideration by the Planning & Coordination department of Orissa government.
The proposed 4 villages (Bhataguda, Dalguma, Podapadar & Melghara) are the four inaccessible villages in Karlapat GP surrounded by Hills from all sides and are situated near Sagada River which creates communication problem for the people depriving them from all amenities. In these four villages live 249 HHs (Tribals-179, Scheduled Caste-42 & Others 28). The total population of these villages comes to 945. Though there are 5 bore wells and two sanitary wells in these villages all the bore wells are defunct as they produce water with high iron content which has bad odour and not suitable for drinking purposes. The Sanitary well dug there by ANTODAYA at the Benipatang hamlet of Melghara village produces very less water during summer and the other one at Dalguma got damaged due to landslide in the well. Only the sanitary well ANTODAYA dug in the Melebasang hamlet of Podapadar village is serving the people of that hamlet only for the entire year.
During summer all the villages face the problem of scanty water and go for water from the river nearby and during the Rainy season the river flows with muddy water not fit for consumption. In the summer people dig water holes near the springs and /or on the sand in river bed to get water which is not possible in the rainy season. Due to this, people suffer from all types of water borne diseases among which Typhoid and Jaundice are the killers during summer and Diahorrea occurs as epidemic during Rainy season. The rainy season is more troublesome for the people as they can not move out of their village to get any medicine crossing full flowing Sagada River. In this situation the women and children suffer the most.
In all the villages there are natural springs coming out of the hills and water from those springs can be tapped and supplied to the villages through pipe after filtering it by slow sand filter media in the Intake well.
All the 249 HH / families in these four villages shall get benefits out of the project and are the main stake holders in this project. The target community shall be involved form the beginning of the project starting from the stage of planning of activities, material contribution, collection, to the stage of construction and after that the management/maintenance of the project.
These villages are selected on the basis of the gravity of the problem in the villages and its location. Following are some indicators of the villages for selection
• Having problem of drinking water in their villages
• Situated at far away and inaccessible place where government schemes are not reaching easily
• More concentration of tribal and Scheduled caste population
PROBLEMS
The proposed villages don’t have sources of drinking water, and depend upon the water from the river which causes diseases and epidemics. In this situation a project is needed to mitigate the problem of potable water in these villages and eliminate the threat of deaths due to water borne diseases in these villages.
- What are the causes of this water problem? (Why does it exist?)
The villages are situated at inaccessible locations surrounded by Hills and river. In the area the bore wells are not functioning properly and produce water with high iron content, which is not acceptable to the community. The sanitary wells / dug wells are very swallow (there are solid rock beds just 5-6 meter below the ground) and produce less water.
- What effects/impacts does the problem have?
The problem related to Drinking water has the impact directly on the community in its health aspects. In summer number of people suffers from Jaundice and typhoid and during Rains they suffer from Diahorrea. Skin diseases are the phenomenon during the entire year. Women are the most sufferers as they have to bring water from far away places and also take the burden of the ailing family members. The entire community suffers.
OBJECTIVES
Eliminating the threat of death due to Water borne diseases like jaundice, Typhoid and especially Diahorrea in the area
The project seeks to address the issue of “Lack of safe drinking water in Tribal & Hilly regions” causing water borne diseases / epidemics like diahorrea/ Cholera, gastro-entities, Typhoid & reducing the incidence of death due to the diseases.
Expected results and outputs
The proposed project envisages to:
• Provide safe drinking water using available resources in a sustainable manner
• Reduce / Eliminate incidence of deaths due to epidemic like diahorrea / Cholera in the area, especially during rainy season
• Reduce drudgery of women and children
• Increase nutrition level of the community through vegetable cultivation using surplus water
Activities Proposed:
1. Promote and strengthen Village level organisation / community based organisation like Gram Sangha & Water user committee for management of the project
1-a) The existing Gram Sanghas (Village committees), at each village level shall be strengthened and mobilised around the issue and project through regular meetings of the committees at the village level, at least once in a month in each village.
1.b) The existing women Self Help Groups (formed by ANTODAYA) will be mobilised around the issue of drinking water and the planned activities to ensure their participation in the process and contribute. (Include the subject in their regular meetings twice in a month already in practice).
1.c) Water users committee (if required separate from the Village Committee) to be formed and strengthened / capacitated in implementing and managing the assets built through the project. Regular meetings and trainings would be organised for the committee
2. Preparation of Micro plan of the village for sustainability and also for other livelihood enhancement initiatives
The trained community members shall be organised for preparation of their village micro plan for holistic development of the village based on the information gathered by themselves using PRA method and prepare a roadmap for the development of the village in coming five years and the plan of funds mobilisation from different sources. The community would be mobilised to liaison with different government schemes and other resource agencies and link their village plan for the funds from government as well as from other sources including ANTODAYA and potential donor partners like NABARD, Frank water etc.
3. Strengthen existing CBOs like SHGs / women groups for taking up livelihood activities and also for sanitation measures
3.a) The women groups / Self help groups existing in the villages would be strengthened by organising trainings on Nursery raising, vegetable cultivation, vermin-composting for taking up such activities for enhancing their income level and also nutrition standard mobilising resources from WADI project and NABARD
3.b) The Women groups would also be mobilised through trainings and meetings for taking up sanitation / kitchen sanitation and to adopt Smokeless Chulla
4. Technical Survey and feasibility study of water sources and its potentiality
Technical survey and Feasibility study of the water sources in all the villages would be taken up with the help of Project Engineer and the consultant engineers at the beginning of the project in all the villages to asses the potentiality of the sources required for designing the structure and supply system.
5. Preparation of plan, design & Estimates for water supply system
Alongwith the Feasibility study Plan, design and estimates for the water supply structures would also be prepared based on the findings of the study with the help of the Consultant engineers in consultation with the Village Committee and water user committees for construction of the system and structure. The Engineers shall also prepare the plan and estimates for the soil and moisture conservation activities to be taken up on the Hill slopes / catchment above the water sources for the sustainability.
6. Organising exposure and Trainings for the village youths for maintenance of the project
To make the villagers / village leaders conversant with the system and its management the village leaders, volunteers, women members would be taken for exposures to those villages where there are gravity flow water supplies systems already exist (in our OTELP funded project area)
7. Soil & Moisture conservation activities like plantation and bunds to protect the source of water
To protect the water sources from drying up and / or damaged due to soil erosion, siltation and land sliding from the hill slopes soil and moisture conservation activities like Plantation on the slopes (if required), construction of Contour stone bunds, digging of contour trenches and Water absorption trenches would be taken up in the catchment area by the community. There shall be every effort from ANTODAYA to mobilise the financial support from Government of Odisha under MGNREGA, Watershed Mission, Forestry plantation etc.
8. Installation / construction of the system
The construction of the Intake well and laying the pipeline for water supply system would be taken up as per the plans, design and estimates prepared by the Project engineer and consultant engineers with active participation of the community of the village concerned. The target community has to contribute minimum 15-20% cost of the project in shape of raw materials available around them and in shape of labour.
9. Initiation of Kitchen garden / Nutrition garden through women groups using surplus water of the system
The women groups would be supported to take up Kitchen garden / Nutrition garden at each HH level using the surplus water of the system for supplementing their income as well as nutrition and for the purpose of seeds and implements they shall be linked with existing government schemes. The women members would also use their SHG savings as loan for the purpose.
10. Link the target HH with other government schemes for sanitation facilities at HH level
As the government of Odisha is having the scheme of Total Sanitation Mission and supports the tribal HH for construction of toilets at HH level, the project would encourage the community to access the benefits from government for construction of Toilets at each HH and ensure sanitation in the village.