A Better World - Volume 3: Ensure Access to Water and Sanitation for All

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Clean water and sanitation in rural communities

through people-centric watershed management

Suhas P. Wani, Mukund D. Patil and Aviraj Datta, International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

ood sanitation and access to clean water, though

prerequisites for healthy living, remain elusive

for resource-poor rural communities living in the

semi-arid tropics. Sustainable wastewater management,

using constructed wetlands and implemented on a commu-

nity scale, not only brings the possibility of healthy and

hygienic living but also increases the efficiency of water

usage and the beneficial effects of feeding nutrients back

into the soil. Better management of rainwater, proper drain-

age of wastewater and the reuse of treated wastewater can

significantly reduce the vulnerability of these communities

to climate change. The available technology is both effective

and intrinsically eco-friendly, and can involve local villag-

ers at each step of implementation in generating awareness,

site selection, construction, commissioning, maintenance

and the reuse of treated water in agriculture.

Today, about 80% of global wastewater is released into the

environment without adequate treatment.

Thus, we need

to reconsider the fact that the 500 million people living in

water-stressed arid and semi-arid areas, where the drinking

water demand exceeds the renewable water resources,

can

no longer afford to ‘waste’ the wastewater. Farmer-centric

scientific interventions have often focussed on increasing

productivity, working on the common misconception that

water and fertilizer availability will improve rural livelihoods,

despite the reality that one in nine people in the world today

does not have access to safe and clean drinking water.

Over the past five years, the World Economic Forum has

highlighted water crisis as one of the major global risks.

Despite growing awareness, and the efforts made towards

improved sanitation

and wastewater treatment efficiency

there is a mismatch between sewage generation and treat-

ment capacity in resource-poor regions.

In a country like

India, two-thirds of the population resides in villages where

formal wastewater treatment systems do not exist. It is esti-

mated that India’s rural population generates liquid waste

(greywater) in the order of 15 to 18 billion litres every day.

Inadequate focus on waste management makes a substantial

impact on the livelihoods of resource-poor villagers in terms

of health, economy, quality of life and the environment. The

link between wastewater management and health is well docu-

mented

– in developing countries as much as 80% of illnesses

are linked to poor quality water and poor wastewater manage-

ment.

In 2012, an estimated 842,000 deaths in middle- and

low-income countries were caused by contaminated drink-

ing water, as well as inadequate hand washing facilities

and sanitation services.

During the same year, 361,000

deaths among children under five years old could have been

prevented through reducing the risks posed by inadequate

hand hygiene, sanitation and unclean water.

Sustainable

decentralized wastewater treatment, enabling the reuse of

water and residual nutrients that are beneficial for farming

and seed production, as well as the growing of energy crops,

flowers and teak wood, can contribute towards achieving some

of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as SDG 1

– No Poverty; SDG 2 – Zero Hunger; SDG 3 – Good Health

and Well-Being; and SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation. As

forecast by studies made by utilities that manage both water

and wastewater infrastructure, the annual capital expenditure

required to achieve the SDGs is US$100bn and US$104bn,

respectively.

Thus, there is great need to explore economical

and sustainable wastewater management schemes.

An integrated water resource management approach

Decentralized wastewater treatment alone cannot greatly

impact the livelihoods of rural communities who might

be illiterate or lack adequate information and resources.

Moreover, these communities, that have been exposed to

poor sanitary conditions for most of their lives, do not often

consider the routes to healthier and hygienic living. In the

context of these living conditions the lack of availability

of improved wastewater management might be only one of

many sanitary challenges.

Natural watersheds comprise various types of land use

from where rainwater is drained through a common outlet,

for instance a lake or river, and can therefore vary in capac-

ity from a few to a million hectares. Watersheds are also

socio-political-ecological entities that play a crucial role in

determining, social, economic and food security and provide

life support services to rural populations.

The holistic

management of natural resources can give stability to crop

incomes during drought, therefore a number of watershed

projects have been undertaken in villages to compare crop

yields. For example, while the share of income from crops in

an average household declined from 44% to 12% in the non-

watershed project villages, crop income remained largely

unchanged from 36% to 37% in the watershed village.

An integrated watershed management approach has proved

to be a suitable strategy for water resource conservation as