Monitoring Sustainability of Rural Water Supply in Some Selected Towns of Sindh Province, Pakistan

F H Mughal
Senior Water and Sanitation Engineer Karachi, Pakistan

ADB Water Week

12 15 March 2013 Manila

Pakistan
Current estimated population = 180 million Land area = 0.8 million sq km Provinces: Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan

Sindh
Current estimated population = 43 million Land area = 140,914 sq km. 52% of the population lives in rural areas Major cities: Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Nawabshah, Larkana, Mirpurkhas and Khairpur. Agriculture is the main activity in rural Sindh. Except landlords, who are rich, the general population of Sindh in poor economically, and vast majority of them work as farmers. The literacy among the rural population is low (less than 5%). Women and girls are weak in health.

 It is women's responsibility to fetch water they walk Water source is 4 to 6 km away from home, typically The quality of water is poor Service delivery is poor Water treatment plants design is deficient Waterborne diseases are rampant About 40% of the beds in hospitals, at all times, are occupied by patients suffering from waterborne diseases (WWF, 2007)

The Study
Objectives: To assess the causes of low effectiveness and
sustainability of rural water supply in Sindh

5 rural towns selected Tando Adam, Hala, Shaheed Fazil Rahu, Tando Muhammad Khan and Thatta (Thatta is partly rural and partly peri-urban)

3 approaches: adopted

Meetings Questionnaire Site visits

Evaluation
RWS development largely based on preferences and understanding of lowest category of officers (Overseers, Supervisors and SDOs). Their qualification is diploma in civil engineering - - not qualified to design water treatment plants No public consultations

Needs of people not taken in account

Public participation is zero

Typical Design of Water Treatment Plant

Raw water from canal pumped into large earthen ponds. Raw water has high turbidity (150 ntu - nephelometric turbidity units) Earthen ponds size: 100m x 100m x 2m (typical) No. of ponds: 4 to 6 Earthen ponds serve as sedimentation tanks, according to staff From earthen ponds, water goes to underground tank, called clear-water tank by the staff Water is pumped from clear-water tank into the distribution system. Quality of water in clear-water tank is poor Disinfection rarely practiced; it is not effective if turbidity is > 10 ntu

 Canal water carry floating materials No protection for pumps (e.g., bar screens) No thrust blocks on the bends on the delivery side of pumps Large earthen ponds cannot serve as sedimentation tanks Quiescent conditions, proper inlet design (to prevent eddies), and proper outlet weirs are essential to promote settling. Water discharge in the ponds at 10 cm above the water surface caused water currents and waves (large surface area of ponds, aided by wind movement) prevents settling Poor location of interconnecting pipes, connecting two ponds, caused short-circuiting of water, with water discharged in the first cell traveling directly to the outlet pipe.

Findings
Level of expertise of technical officers for the design of water treatment plant is not up to the mark

Inadequate funds provided for the O&M of treatment plants

Plants are not properly maintained Governance issues are significant Technical officers desired capacity building training programs No government plans for capacity building in place currently ADB may step in, develop and provide trainings. For example, for Water Sector Improvement Program (WSIP) in Sindh, World Bank has a contract with AIT, Bangkok, for regular capacity building of WSIP staff

 No public participation; consequently, citizens disown public works

No or negligible revenue collection

Hygiene principles (principally, the hand-washing) not practiced

Women consider the feces of the infants as harmless Significant error in reporting rural water supply coverage, due to lack of proper governance. Water demand figure taken is on the lower side, giving inflated coverage For example, a 4,000 cu meters/day treatment plant will serve 0.8 million population, if water demand figure is taken as 5 lpcd RWS coverage in Sindh is currently around 10%, according to this writer. 90% coverage is reported in international circles. See Table in the next slide..

Rural Water Coverage in Pakistan from Various Sources _____________________________________________________ Rural Water Sources Coverage in Pakistan, % _____________________________________________________
Sindh's Development: Issues & Agenda, World Bank (year?) Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (PSLM) 10 13

WASH Strategy, NDMA, PK Gov (overall percentage)

ADB Asia Water Watch 2015 (figures for 2002) Sadia Jabeen, et al., 2011; (total coverage) JMP (updated March 2012) Writers estimate, 2013

90
87 65 88 10

Roadmap
There is significant room for improving the sustainability of RWS, provided the government and service providers move out of the box Stakeholders Participation
Citizens are scared away due to bureaucratic attitude of officers Show and display positive attitude towards citizens Invite citizens for discussions on development plans Initiate some public awareness programs

Household Water Treatment Systems (HWTSs)

Setting the Scene ..
Behavioral changes takes time

Current business-as-usual will continue On the other hand, waterborne diseases are high due to poor quality of drinking water People use polluted canal for drinking Some pockets of freshwater are available

So
Advocate and use of HWTSs Initial thrust is required to propagate their use Recent floods in Sindh has given some realization for the promotion of HWTSs Increased availability of micro-finance facilities can be tapped

Self Supply
Generally, drinking water supply is limiting. Way-out is self supply In Karachi, people are looking to self supply to meet the water shortages In rural Sindh, main constraint to self supply is the cost involved for wells

Major Advantages
Time saved by women in fetching water from distant sources Time saved, can be put to income-generating activities Dug well in a house means hygiene promotion and, hygienic use of toilets NGOs need to launch support program, with adjuncts as: (a) Use of micro-finance to support construction program; (b) Creation of a dependable supply chain; (c) Change in behavior; (d) Creation of demand; (e) Promotion of self supply as something that is of great use; and (f) Simple and affordable, when there is mass production of dug wells components.

Use of Mobile Phones

Nearly 90% of Pakistan population have mobile phones Mobile phones used in agriculture, health, and transportation In water supply, mobile phones can be used for collecting data and disseminating information

Way Forward
Local government dept should nominate a focal person Contact numbers be widely publicized, along with the reasons of why this is done Interaction of rural people with focal person will lead to quick action and, rapid problem solving Data collected by the focal person can be put into the development of plans, which would fills the gaps areas where there is no access to safe drinking water

Capacity Building
Knowledge management and capacity building of officers is required. ADB may step in for the capacity building, the way the World Bank is doing for Water Sector Improvement Program in Sindh trainings of staff at AIT, Bangkok

Micro-financing Facilities
Following the footsteps of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, there is increasing trend in PK of providing micro-finance.Awareness programs are required

Governance
Red-tapism and bureaucratic attitude is common in govt depts, ADB initiative, already in place in Sindh (Sindh Cities Improvement Program), should be given the responsibility of improving sustainability of the rural water supply for a transitional period of 5 years, by which time, it is expected that the governance would improve and rural water supply projects are taken on a sound footing. This will require the Government of Sindh to request ADB for increased funding for the additional work

Innovative Rural Water Supply Technologies

Ram Pumps
Ram pumps, an old technology of 1798, have been given a new life by a Philippines-based NGO. The ram pump makes use of the energy of falling water. The energy of falling water generates electricity by driving a turbine and generator or build up pressure in a hydraulic ram, so that a portion of this water can be pushed to great heights (nearly 100 meters).
The basic principle is to convert velocity head into pressure head. The technology is simple and if locally fabricated, it becomes easy to repair and maintain, since it is based on locally available spare parts. It can be used to a great advantage in rural water sector, and also in the irrigation sector.

Hippo Rollers
It is a common sight in rural Sindh to see village women and girls, frail in health due to malnutrition, carrying earthen pots on their heads and under their arms, walking and carrying water from a water source, as far away as 6 km, fetching water for their homes. Hippo rollers come in handy in such situations. The Hippo Water Roller is a barrel-shaped container designed to transport significant quantity of water. It comprises of a drum with a large screw-on cap and a clip-on steel handle. The drum, made of UV stabilized polyethylene, is designed to withstand typical rural conditions such as uneven footpaths, rocks and even broken bottles. The sealed lid ensures hygienic storage of water and the steel handle provides firm control over difficult terrain while pushing or pulling the roller.

Aquaplenty
Aquaplenty, patented by a Netherlands-based firm, produce water from air. Wind speed, temperature and humidity are the three ingredients required for the production device. It produces clean and safe water in places where no water is normally available. The Aquaplenty is a simple and robust water-production device, driven by a traditional wind turbine. It has a water-production rate of 1,000 liters a day and the water-quality is similar to that of rainwater.

WATSOL
WATSOL is a technology that uses the process of electrolysis to convert salt and water into sodium hypochlorite. The resulting solution can be used for rural drinking water chlorination or as a disinfectant for use in households. The local production of sodium hypochlorite can be of great benefit in the context of rural Sindh, where fecal contamination of water is a major problem.

Additional Issues in Sindh Rural Water Supply

There are some issues identified which have the potential to impact the sustainability of rural water supply.

These are:
Drying-up of surface raw water resources (small canals and water-carrying drains) needs a ADB study Climate change adaptation in rural water supply Safe storage of chemicals used in water treatment in the wake of the floods. ADB study is also required for feasibility of river bank filtration.