Water

Country Water Action: India
Changing the Sanitation Landscape
February 2009

By Maria Christina Dueñas
Water Knowledge Products Manager

Sudhamnagar residents made the big leap from defecating in the open until 2007 to having household latrines in 2009, proving that once people understand what they’re missing, they will find ways to get it.

Community mobilization and grassroots participation may be mere buzzwords to many but they are real and working for the residents of Sudhamnagar, a slum community in the heart of Bangalore City.

For generations, residents of this poor community accepted open defecation as a way of life. “We defecated in the fields,” said Chitra, a local resident. “It was tough. We had to deal with frequent infections from parthenium plants and snake bites, and risk getting accosted or mugged when we go in the evenings.”

A combination of factors trapped them into this practice—tradition, lack of awareness about the importance of sanitation, and misconceptions about the costs involved to name a few.

But things changed radically when the neighborhood water and sanitation (WATSAN) committee got its act together. Within 2 years, the villagers transformed from being polluters of the open field to proud owners of their own latrines.

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Bangalore, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka, is India’s 3rd most populous city and the country’s fastest growing metropolis. Though more popular as India’s Silicon Valley, Bangalore also serves as hub for culture, industry, and sports. It is likewise home to the richest people in India, with dollar millionaires numbering in the tens of thousands.

Unfortunately, not everyone enjoys Bangalore’s generally cosmopolitan lifestyle. Side by side with the modern buildings and high-tech facilities are almost 400 slum communities serving as home to roughly 10% of the city’s population—over half a million people.

Sudhamnagar, comprising 300 households of mostly daily wage earners engaged in casual labor and services industry, is one such community. For the longest time, Sudhamnagar residents had no access to safe water supply, no basic sanitation facility in their homes, limited educational opportunity for children, and very little hope for a better quality of life.

“Everything changed when AVAS stepped in and helped us by constructing a community toilet,” says Josephine, a local resident and dedicated member of the WATSAN committee.

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AVAS is the Association for Volunteer Action and Services, a 29-year old Bangalore-based NGO dedicated to improving the physical, social, and economic wellbeing of the urban poor. Firmly believing that slum communities, when given the opportunity, can develop their resources and solve their problems, AVAS systematically engages residents so that they themselves find solutions to their problems.

When AVAS came to Sudhamnagar in 2007, it engaged the community in a dialogue about their challenges and aspirations. AVAS learned early on in its experience working with slum communities that the starting point is always the people’s most urgent needs. In Sudhamnagar’s case, these included basic facilities like housing, water, sanitation, and electricity. And typical of AVAS’ holistic approach to slum development, the dialogue later branched out to wider grounds—from education to health to land tenure to livelihood.

These consultations brought community leaders together. “Since AVAS came to Sudhamnagar, there have been plenty of improvements in terms of basic facilities,” says Sagai Raj, another slum resident. He added that the area leaders worked with the people more and unity in the community is stronger. “Even today, we have problems on water but we are all united in fighting for our rights and facilities,” added Sagai.

The newly established cooperation between the local leaders and residents boosted the WATSAN committee’s resolve to eradicate open defecation in the community. After ensuring that the community has stable land rights, AVAS and the WATSAN Committee negotiated with the local government and area water authority for the installation of water connections and construction of public toilets.

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Connecting to safe drinking water wasn’t immediately successful. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) wanted to tap Sudhamnagar as a pilot site for its project to connect the urban poor. “But the water pressure wasn’t high enough to reach our homes,” says Josephine, “and we refuse to pay for service we aren’t receiving as promised.” With persistence and cooperation, AVAS, the WATSAN Committee, and BWSSB worked things further so that water now flows from every household tap in Sudhamnagar.

The public toilets had a more successful run, so successful that people immediately recognized the problem with it. “Too many people and too few toilets,” says Poongan, one of Sudhamnagar’s more vocal residents. Frequent use of the facilities led to maintenance and cleanliness problems. Pretty soon, residents were clamoring for individual toilets in every household.

With AVAS’ technical guidance and a little financial assistance, and the WATSAN Committees’ frequent dialogue and encouragement, residents began constructing latrines in their houses. Today, Sudhamnagar residents are proud owners of their own latrines. The community’s efforts easily demystify many myths about sanitation—that sanitation requires expensive and high-tech solutions, that the poor have more important needs than sanitation, or that governments and utilities do not have access to financing for sanitation.

“The poor are willing to pay if they have access to the service,” says Anita Reddy, AVAS’ dedicated Managing Trustee. “Accessibility, affordability, and participation in decision making are the critical ingredients that helped the residents change their lifelong habits,” she added.

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