Appropriate Technology Study Group
Project Proposal
Location: Kolwan Valley, about an hour outside of Pune, Maharashtra, India [Google Maps | Yahoo! Maps]
Need: A survey to describe the socio-political constraints to clean water access and recommend strategies to overcome these challenges
Date(s): October 2007 to May 2008 [see project timeline]
Partners: Sadhana Village, Mahindra United World College of India, Gomukh Environmental Trust
Project Leads: Tim Shadix, Jessie Conrad, and Daniel Bachhuber, Anat Carmel
Budget: $210.00 [See budget]
Resources
Proposal | Water Quality Assessment Addendum
Status: In progress - analysing data for the report [Team blog]
Description of History and Area
The Kolwan Valley sits approximately 30 kilometers outside of Pune, Maharashtra, India. Home to 15,000 villagers and 3,900 families, the valley is marked by its natural geological boundaries which aid in creating cohesion amongst the two regional peoples, the Shindewadi and Waringwadi. Nineteen villages radiate from the centrally located village, Chikhalgaon, at distances of approximately ten kilometers. Each community claims a population of 600 to 4,000 people, where Marathi is spoken as the primary language, Hindi as the second. Villages are governed by the Panchayaat – a group of five elected members – which is responsible for all judicial, legislative and administrative issues. Within the villages, families make their homes in clusters of wall-to-wall concrete and tin huts arranged around a communal area. Paths between structures are generally six to eight feet in width and are traveled by humans, animals, and carts alike. The people rely on agriculture for subsistence, and take advantage of the rice paddies which stretch along the river basin.
The Bhima River, a major tributary of the Krishna River, cuts through the Kolwan Valley as the primary water source during seasonal periods of low precipitation. According to reports, the Kolwan Valley’s water retention in the ground is poor at best, due to the hard rock base covered by a shallow layer of soil. The valley experiences rain during the monsoon season from June to September, with very little precipitation before or after; and, in total, the region expects an average rainfall of 1200 mm per year.
About Sadhana Village
In implementing the Appropriate Technology Study Group, Whitman Direct Action is partnering with Sadhana Village, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in the Kolwan Valley in Maharashtra, India. The final report will be a resource for Sadhana Village in securing funding and support for water development projects in the Kolwan Valley.
Sadhana Village is a volunteer organization established in 1994, with support groups in Pune and Mumbai, Maharashtra. Originally working with the rehabilitation of mentally challenged adults, Sadhana’s first project was to found a home and care center for adults with special needs. Sadhana has since expanded its operations to include projects in rural infrastructure and women and child development.
Rural infrastructure projects have included the management of three water conservation dams, establishing lift irrigation schemes for five families, setting up a milk collection and marketing unit with a capacity to handle 3000 liters of milk per day, operating a rice mill capable of processing ten tons of paddy every day, and establishing an information center on rural health and activities for local families. In an effort to improve the social and economic position of local women, Sadhana has facilitated the formation of over 25 women development groups. These support networks have allowed 500 women to be trained in backyard poultry and dairy farming, provided 150 women with small loans to purchase livestock, and helped 140 women build toilet facilities near their houses. Additionally, Sadhana holds adolescent health camps, maintains a library for rural youth, and provides assistance for girls to attend high school.
Sadhana Village has received support for its projects from numerous local and international organizations, including the University of Glasgow’s Department of Development, Rotary International, East/West Fund of the United States, and Pearson College. However, there has been no government support or funding for Sadhana’s projects, and as a result the organization regularly runs on a deficit. Thus, the research resources Whitman Direct Action can bring in partnering with Sadhana Village can potentially be of significant help in implementing further water development projects.
The Challenge
The problem, in so many words, is that common drinking water sources are unclean and unfit for human consumption; and, past attempts to introduce appropriate technology for the purification of drinking water have faced barriers from religious misunderstanding to operational shortcomings of purification technologies.
Villagers are slow to recognize the importance of evaluating the quality of their drinking water and are often ignorant of the potential risks when consuming unpurified water. Some adhere to religious ideologies guided by the assumption that the valley’s water is pure and safe, thereby reinforcing this ignorance. For instance, many uphold the notion that the river is their mother; consequently, the water can neither be polluted nor should a filtration system be required before the water is consumed. Furthermore, implementation of clean water technology requires the cooperation of families within a particular village to arrive at a mutual decision in order to secure and maintain purification technology.
But in terms of the technology itself, it tends to be cost prohibitive and require non-local spare parts and repair services. Villagers in charge of maintaining the equipment need to first, be aware of repair facility locations and second, have the means to travel to this location and back again in a reasonable time frame. Some technology is hard to maintain because it is difficult to keep clean (for instance, the glass on solar cookers dirties quickly), and often there is not enough space between homes for other purification such as rainwater collection mechanisms. The local government does provide drinking water schemes - commonly 5HP pumps - but they too are difficult to install and keep updated. All in all, there are many barriers to the successful implementation and use of technologies to keep the villagers healthy and well hydrated.
Our Proposal
The direction of our study group has been guided by information generously provided by Sadhana Village. To address the challenges that have been outlined in this proposal, WDA and its partners, UWC and Sadhana Village, will conduct a study investigating the water quality in the Kolwan Valley and attitudes towards water and clean water technology among villagers in the area. The goal of the study is to determine the extent of water-related problems occurring in the Kolwan Valley and to examine how these problems are perceived by the villagers, with the hope of gaining an indication of how cultural factors shape water development in rural India.
The first step in the study will be to administer a comprehensive survey to villagers in the Kolwan Valley. The survey will ask villagers to describe the water sources in their area, as well as their methods of collection and purification and their attitudes towards water purification technology. Students and translators from WDA’s partner organization UWC will administer surveys verbally. A concurrent step in our research will be a series of scientific measurements of water quality that will be conducted in the villages where surveys are administered. These water quality measurements will give us a better idea of the full extent of water problems in the area and will also allow for the comparison of villagers’ assessments and perceptions with actual conditions.
The second step in the study will be a series of focus groups conducted by members of WDA during their stay in the Kolwan Valley. These focus groups will take the form of moderated small group discussions about water conditions and issues in the participants’ villages. The goal is to allow for a more open-ended dialogue about the challenges villagers face in accessing clean water. Participants may be broken up into specific smaller groups, such as by gender, to allow for a more open discussion.
The desired outcome of the study is to credibly demonstrate the problems the region faces and to justify the needs of Sadhana Village and other organizations working in the region. To be most effective, the study should also be broadly distributed to be used as a case study or justification for NGOs implementing water development projects in conditions similar to the Kolwan Valley.
- November - December - Survey development and planning
- January 2008 - Survey implementation by MUWCI and Gomukh
- March 2008 - WDA team in Kolwan Valley for focus groups [Itinerary]
- April to July 2008 - Analysis of data and report preparation
- August 2008 - Report available for download
“Appropriate technology (AT) is technology that is designed with special consideration to the environmental, cultural, social and economic aspects of the community it is intended for. With these goals in mind, AT typically requires fewer resources, is easier to maintain, has a lower overall cost and less of an impact on the environment” - Wikipedia