JJM gives power to the people

Water is the foremost among necessities of life and drinking water supply is a basic and critical service delivery. Growing population and expanding economic activities in India have increased the demand for water. Jal Jeevan Mission was launched in 2019 to fill all the gaps in previous attempts made by the government to ensure access to potable quality water.

Millions of people in India have been using unreliable water supplies of poor quality, which are costly and are distant from their home. Lack of access to water has numerous socio economic implications. Indian cities in the last decade have witnessed sharp transformation in terms of population growth and infrastructural development. Rural areas on the other hand remained unexposed to necessary development like infrastructure for water supply. The unplanned and uneven development in the sector of water has led to unequal distribution of water in cities and villages of the nation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Jal Jeevan Mission to enable all households in India to have functional household tap connection (FHTC) by 2024. The mission simultaneously focuses on introducing innovative technologies for the purpose and turning the water infrastructure into a public utility service. Innovations like insulation jacket have been introduced in the pipes in villages of Ladakh to address the challenge of freezing water. The mission launched an online dashboard that displays real time progress made by the mission to maintain a transparent system with the beneficiaries of the mission. In a first of its kind initiative, India had launched a dedicated toll-free helpline number for rural water supply in 2015. The aim was to receive and address citizens’ concerns in a time-bound manner. This initiative has been included in the JJM.

JJM solving the water woes

Jal Jeevan Samvad from November 2020 stated that the 5T (transparency, teamwork, technology, and time leads to transformation) mantra learnt from Odisha is being used by the JJM as a guiding framework for sectoral transformation of water governance in India. Learning from the experiences of previous initiatives, this particular mission has been designed to be different in terms of its focus on the involvement of people in its implementation. The first community-owned water supply scheme was started in May, 2013 at Dhobi tola in Mohammadpur in Bihar. Lesson of community involvement and instilling a sense of ownership in people was learnt from successful implementation of such initiatives.
The mission involves engaging local community in the process of establishing tap water connection in form of labour and/or monetary contributions. Thousands of people had returned from cities to their villages during lockdowns imposed in 2020. Jal Jeevan Mission, under the Gareeb Kalyan Rozgar Yojana employed skilled local people to carry out the work of construction, retro-fitting, and repair works for which they received payment.

Community leading from front

In Samastipur and Muzaffarpur districts of Bihar, an examination revealed bacterial contamination in nearly 85 per cent of the water sources. JJM team carried out both curative and preventive interventions including awareness creation and sensitisation among communities, construction of concrete platforms near hand pumps and establishment of mini water testing laboratories to provide clean potable drinking water in villages. The village communities paid 10 per cent of the total estimated cost upfront in form of cash and labour. The villagers also agreed to pay ` 100 per month per household to cover the cost of operation and maintenance of established water supply system.
Stok, a village in Leh is situated at an altitude of 3500 meters above the sea level. The main source of water supply for the village is a stream flowing in the middle, which gets frozen in winters. After much detailed deliberations between team of JJM and villagers, a cost effective, decentralised water supply scheme was developed that takes the sub-surface water below the frost line. The decentralised system created 31 localised network zones with individual sources (bore wells) catering to a cluster of households. Household owners of individual clusters were trained to operate and maintain its network. It developed a sense of responsibility and ownership of the infrastructure among villagers.
Jal Jeevan Mission has presented itself as one of the leading initiatives that decentralises the process of development work. The plans are developed at the local level by taking the inputs of communities’ needs and suggestions. Five people, mostly women, are trained in each village on various elements of potable water and how to utilise Field Test Kits (FTKs) to test the quality of the water supplied, conduct sanitary surveys, and upload the data to the JJM portal.
The mission addresses the issue of deteriorating amount of fresh water availability, over usage and pollution have been cited as major causes. One of the objectives of the JJM is to rejuvenate fresh water sources. The Government of India released guidelines for springs (primary source of water in mountainous region) under the JJM on February 2020. Best practices on community involvement and technical innovations from among the previous spring shed rejuvenation and management has been shared with the stakeholders.
In villages of Luhali, Dhyali and Thanakasoga in Sirmour district of Himachal Pradesh, People Science Institute used hydrogeology to introduce infrastructure to protect recharge areas of springs located in the villages. Resource and social mapping with the help of villagers helped in the process. Communities later trained to monitor the water quality and maintain the good health of springs and the spring sheds continue to manage the water supply.

Community participation: A challenge in cities

Creating awareness around water crisis, water pollution and involving community at every step is an easier task in villages due to small population. The challenge will lie in involving large population of cities in the rejuvenation of rivers and ground water. Corporations will need to create rigorous awareness programmes to make community contribution a reality in cities.
30 Indian cities are expected to face a grave water risk by 2050 due to sharp rise in population, as per World Wild Fund for Nature. Sole focus on rejuvenation of water sources might not be able to address the needs of heavily populated Indian cities. Cities can take inspiration from Indore, which is planning to make rooftop rainwater harvesting mandatory in all building constructed on a minimum of 1000 square feet of area in the city. Indore Municipal Corporation is also considering giving rebate in property tax for building owners as a promotional incentive if they install a rainwater harvesting system in
their building.
The primary focus of the mission is on involving people at every stage in the development and implementation of action plans to instill a sense of responsibility in the minds of people regarding the available water sources. People who have access to water are often careless with it. Unscientific disposal of waste by households and industries pollutes the water sources. Therefore every person, every household, and every industry needs to take active part in attaining fair water governance under the JJM.