A COMMUNITY WATER AND SANITATION PROJECT IN SEMI-URBAN AREA OF NEPAL : ASSESSMENTS BASED ON PERCEPTION AND SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA

Abstract

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world with the problem of inadequate safe drinking water and sanitation. Only 46% of the population has access to latrines against the water supply coverage of 76% in the country. About 3,000 children under age five die of diarrheal disease per year due to poor hygiene condition and the country continues to bear the loss of some 10 billion rupees each year in terms of health expenses, loss of productivity and adverse effects in tourism. Assessing the need of safe drinking water and sanitation, the government of Nepal has also adopted Millennium Development Goals and has implemented National Water Plan (2002-2007). Under this plan about 20 donor agencies are helping the government of Nepal and NGOs to facilitate different water and sanitation projects. As a response to the Water Plan, Water for Asian Cities Programme (WAC) of UN-HABITAT implemented the project called ‘Siddhipur Integrated Water and Sanitation Program’ in Siddhipur semi-urban area through an NGO called Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO). The project is unique in terms of it’s fast track and integrated approach in the semi-urban areas. The central objectives of this study are to know the impact of the project on the community and to identify the potential risk in the project that might danger the self-sustainability of it. The assessments were done with criteria like current status of project features, user’s satisfaction, cost benefit analysis and sustainability. The study shows that only the drinking water supply feature of the project is working properly while other features still face some kind of problems. Thus, only the drinking water facility has huge positive impact on the people and thus the degree of satisfaction is high as compared to others features. The study also finds out that for the project to be beneficial it should generate at least 25% reduction in illness of water borne diseases. Moreover, the problems like lack of awareness, motivation, sense of ownership etc exist along with some weaknesses of the management committee, thus project seems to contain some risks of sustainable from social and institutional factors. These assessments indicate that this type of project might work in the semi-urban areas if the physical and social factors are balanced. However, the fast track concept seems to be little problematic especially for the social features since it includes human values, culture and attitude. The study also tries to suggest some feasible steps for the better performance of the project features and long term functionality of it. It proposes that community must be given more time to adjust with the new environment for which continuous trainings, awareness and different ways of mobilizing people should be identified. Similarly, other suggestions includes, identification of different income generation activities, regular follow up for different programs, extension of coordination with different organizations, creation of interaction and feedback means with individuals, and for specific problem of drainage system, a small scale waste water treatment systems like constructed wetland can be used