Sustainable Water and Sanitation in Rural India
Sandra Eichenberger and Carole Küng 2008

Sanitation is becoming increasingly recognized as being an important driving force for development. At the same time, conventional construction of sanitation infrastructure has been heavily questioned because of immense associated ecological and socio-economical costs (e.g. Gleick 2003, van Vliet 2006).
Paliyad is a remote village in the state Gujarat of India. There, sanitation coverage is poor as this is common in rural Gujarat where 78,3% of the population does not have access to sanitary facilities. As a consequence the habit of open defecation is widespread. A certain community, the manual scavengers, cleans faeces from the streets and private dry toilets with nothing but a broom and a bucket. The scavengers are among the most marginalized communities within the Indian caste system. In Paliyad, a Dalit-Human-Right Organisation called Navsarjan Trust wants to eradicate the practice of manual scavenging by providing an environmentally sound sanitation system. At the same time the local government started to construct a conventional sewage system. However, a treatment plant is still missing today.

The two theses from Sandra Eichenberger and Carole Küng study the ecological sanitation (ecosan) intervention in the village Paliyad (rural Gujarat, India). The research is realised as a research partnership between the University of Basel, Program Sustainability Research (Prof. Dr. P. Burger), and the V. J. Technological Institute in Mumbai (Dr. P. Bhave). The results of the two theses shall give valuable inputs for the future development of the sustainable sanitation project in Paliyad.

Thesis Sandra Eichenberger: Sanitation Systems in the Context of an Indian Village

The thesis of Sandra Eichenberger concentrates on the economical dimension of the Paliyad Project by comparing it to the conventional sanitation system. The methods used are expert interviews, a social survey and mapping with the help of geographical information system (GIS), participative observation and literature research. The main findings of a cost and externalities analysis are as follows:
Considering the direct costs, the ecosan option turns out to be more effective as it generates income through the selling urine and manure. Nevertheless, to generate that income, further planning of a logistical concept is crucial to ensure success on such a large-scale. Concerning the externalities, there are spheres where one sanitation system perform better than the other one (e.g. the saving and the reuse of natural resources is better with ecosan than in the conventional system). Moreover, there are spheres where it rather depends on a system that functions properly and is well maintained (e.g. health and convenience of the users). The main differences between the two sanitation systems studied occur due to their differing goals. Whereas the closing of the loops in the nutrient-cycle is a fundamental part of the ecosan philosophy, the conventional system intends to provide toilets to large populations. Nevertheless, on the village level, the conventional system is likely to be installed improperly as the treatment plant is not planned yet but the first pipes are already put in place. In addition, a combination of public and private toilets turned out to be crucial to cover the whole village including the dense and poorer sections. Thereby, the analysis of potential sites for public toilets show that distance alone is not the only factor determining the acceptance of a facility. Specific social circumstances that are also reflected in the physical structure of the village have to be respected as well.

Thesis Carole Küng: Assessing the Sustainability of Sanitation Interventions ? A Case Study in Paliyad Rural Gujarat

This thesis focuses on the construction of a framework for assessing the sustainability of ecological sanitation interventions following the decision-making path of implementers. The framework is applied on a project in Paliyad.
In a first step the local sustainability potential of the technology for the dimension ecology, economy and health is examined through a literature review. In a second step it is studied how the technology is placed within the local societal context. Therefore criteria are deduced based on pre-existing sustainability criteria for sanitation, which had to be backed by global sustainability rules (Kopfmüller 2001). The following criteria resulted: ''organizational/institutional support is ensured'', ''awareness raising is effective'', ''appropriateness to current local cultural context is ensured'', ''convenience for different population groups is respected'', ''demand is developing'', ''waste is considered and treated as a resource'', ''actual and correct use is ensured''. A multi-method approach is chosen for the assessment including expert interviews for an actor analysis, a social survey with preliminary qualitative interviews, participant observation and a qualitative system analysis.
The assessment leads to the following insights: As the qualitative system analysis showed, organizational support is the key factor for a successful sanitation intervention. Further a culturally acceptable and exemplarily communicated strategy for maintenance, logistics and reuse of human waste is not only important from an ecological or health point of view, but also for building consumer confidence into the provided ecosan system.
Awareness raising as performed did not show a significant increase in demand. Therefore, a social marketing strategy going beyond the rational explanation of advantages of ecosan seems to be vital for furthering demand. Instead awareness raising proved to be a valuable tool to increase the appreciation of ecosan fertilizer as a clean product (acceptance of ecosan fertilizer increased 42,8% (n=86), respectively, 47.9% (n=85) through awareness raising; Pearsons Chi-square, p<0.01). One result questions the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme Rules (2005, 6) for appropriate sanitation, which do not consider public toilets adequate. The provision of public toilets with decentralized waste water management and a convincing maintenance concept (e.g. pay and use, franchising) could prevent the technology lock-in of conventional water based sanitation in a first step. In addition public sanitation is depicted as an intervention meeting the demand of the poorest (Eichenberger 2008) and neediest, especially the females, which are customarily used to go to, nowadays inappropriate, public facilities.
Improved social marketing strategies and consumer confidence building, combined with well working models displaying increased flexibility, could increase demand for ecological sanitation in the future. The future of sustainable sanitation in India depends on institutions with the capability to create demand and to take care of all sustainability aspects such as health, resource management and in addition ensure human dignity by providing new means of livelihood for manual scavengers.

Contacts:
Carole Küng
Address:
Hebelstrasse 67
CH-4056 Basel
Phone: +41 (0)61 534 51 03
Mobile: +41 (0)79 607 99 68
Email: carole.kueng at stud.unibas.ch

Sandra Eichenberger
Address:
Riehenteichstrasse 58
CH-4058 Basel
Phone: +41 (0)61 310 27 81 or
+41 (0)81 322 94 84
Mobile: +41 (0)79 502 25 66
Email: sand_ra at bluemail.ch

Prof. Dr. Paul Burger
Adress:
University of Basel
Program of Sustainability Research
Vesalgasse 1
CH-4051 Basel
Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0)61 267 04 03
Fax.: +41 (0)61 267 04 09
Email: Paul.burger at unibas.ch

Description of involved organisations:

Involved organisations
Since Winter Semester 2005/2006 it is possible for students to join the Master's Programme in Sustainable Development (MSD) at University of Basel. In addition to specific disciplinary competences, the master’s programme draws on aspects
of sustainability that are generated by the natural, social and economic sciences.
Professor Burger with its Sustainability Research Programm at the University of Basel will participate in the build up of a research network, which is important for giving MSD students the chance to participate in projects of today’s critical fields of sustainable development. www.msd.unibas.ch

Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI)
The department of Civil & Environmental Engineering from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) continuously undertakes research and consultancy projects to share and enhance technical knowledge. Dr. Bhave agreed to kindly support the two students from Basel University during their Master thesis in Paliad/India. As the overall goal is a research partnership over several years not only in the Paliad Project but in the field of ecosan in India in general, the capacity building and the close collaboration is of interest for the VJTI. Therefore, the reflection of the results in the
Indian context is essential. www.vjti.ac.in/dept_civil_env.asp

Ecosan Services Foundation India (ESF)
Ecosan Services Foundation India (ESF) is involved in the build up of ecological sanitation in Paliad. ESF is a non-profit Indian company established in 2006 providing ecological sanitation services. The Ecological Sanitation Foundation
India can benefit from the gain of know-how about the build-up of ecosan for a whole city. Insights can be taught to students of their ecosan capacity building training. www.ecosanservices.org

Seecon International
Seecon is a Swiss company designing, managing and guiding interdisciplinary sustainable development projects internationally. Ecological engineering and sustainable water and sanitation management is one of their main fields of
activity. Seecon is a partner of Ecosan Services Foundation India. The strengthening of the ecosan network corresponds with seecons commitment. www.seecon.ch

Navsarjan
Navsarjan is involved in the build up of ecological sanitation in Paliad. The organisation has the mission of eliminating discrimination based on caste and untouchability practices, to assure equality of status and opportunities for all, and ensure the rule of law. The Dalit organisation as a planner of the Paliad sanitation system will be supported in their decision making process. www.navsarjan.org

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
MIT human rights professor Balakrishnan Rajagopal, who initiated the build-up of a sanitation system in Paliad and raised funds, is interested in the research contributing to a good project outcome. He is also planning further research in
Paliad with some of his students in January. Therefore, coordination and information dissemination is crucial.
 

Lady carrying water in front of a mud house with an uncovered sewage run-off in Paliyad (Küng 2007)