Strengthening Safe Water Provisions in Bihar

Strengthening Safe Water Provisions in Bihar

Access to safe water is a prerequisite to good health; the state of Bihar faces tremendous challenge in ensuring access to safe water for its population of 100 million. Over the years the Public Health Engineering department has worked diligently for creating improved water sources and according to NFHS3 achieved coverage of 96%; but the challenge is far from overcome. While on the one hand there is frequent break down of old assets, lack of repairs and maintenance, and irregular power supply and on the other hand the problem of contamination of water sources is becoming critical. Contamination of ground water remains a widespread problem with several districts reporting contamination of ground water with fluoride, arsenic, bacteria and iron. Arsenic and Fluoride contamination of ground water are the two more serious water quality problems. As many as 22 of the 38 districts have either arsenic or fluorine in excess, while the two districts of Bhagalpur and Munger have excess of both fluoride and arsenic. The disease burden of water quality is quite high.

Ground situation of water quality and supply status in Bihar

For last three decades there has been gradual shift from surface water sources to ground water sources across the country. This has lead to over extracting of ground water which in turn reason for use of ground water with excess of fluoride and arsenic resulting from geogenic sources.  Hand pumps, Tube wells are major drinking water sources across Bihar. Rural drinking water supply is mainly dependent on groundwater. Emphasis has been physical coverage of habitations with water supply that were undertaken under mission mode with little emphasis on quality of the supply. This has resulted in widespread use of ground water laden with fluoride, arsenic and iron.

It is said that Bihar has largest number of hand pumps both shallow one’s which are locally fabricated and India mark 3 pumps that are promoted by government agencies. The table 4 gives the number of hand pump created by state agency (PHED).

Table: 1 Government created sources across the state

S. No.	Description	Number	Remarks
1.	Total no. of HPs across the State (Bihar)	6,56,048
2.	Total no. of defunct HPs	71,419	As on 1.04.10
3.	New HPs Installed in 2010 - 2011	61,796
4.	HPs rehabilitated in 2010 - 2011	16,554

Source: Public health engineering department

Major contaminants in the ground water of Bihar

·         Fluoride: In vast tracts of Bihar, the prevalence of physical deformity is a chilling evidence of excessive fluoride. Although there is lack of any structured study, dental fluorosis is widely prevalent in 18 districts affected with fluoride.

·         Arsenic: Arsenic is a much more serious problem and is often termed as disaster in waiting in case of Bihar. A survey of 15,000 samples from Bihar (since 2002) has found arsenic concentrations above 50 μg/l in 12 districts, 32 blocks and 201 villages. The survey also confirmed the presence of arsenical skin lesions, consistent peripheral motor and sensory neuropathy as well other neurological abnormalities in the arsenicosis patients of Bihar

·         Iron contamination: Although Iron is not toxic but it creates unpalatable taste to drinking water, creates enormous laundry problems due to discoloration. There are reported cases of indigestion and gastro-intestinal cases among population consuming iron laden waters. At least 9 districts of Bihar have severe Iron problems. Apart from this it is found that water containing high levels of arsenic also contains considerable levels of iron in drinking water.

Strengthening the gaps in water quality management for provision of safe water

DFID SWASTH is working closely with the PHED on the issue of water quality in an integrated manner addressing the critical gaps in the rural water quality management of Bihar. These are outlined below: 

1)      Strengthening the O&M of water treatment facility: Understanding this major gap, efforts have been made to operationalise 50 fluoride and arsenic treatment plants that were lying dysfunctional in absence of any O&M policy.  This has resulted in signing of 5 year contract through open bidding on maintaining these treatment plants. Based on the success this process is likely to be scaled up by government.

2)      Operation and maintenance policy of water supply schemes: The O & M policy has been developed by government of Bihar (PHED) with the support of BTAST. The policy encompassing various components of water supply schemes are under process of adoption at state level.

3)      Piloting water quality interventions with effective delivery mechanisms: Our study revealed that there is a dichotomy between access to the source and access to safe water. In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the private household sources outnumber government created sources and this has resulted in community not accessing safe sources. As on date all government interventions are restricted to installation of community level treatment plant for addressing arsenic and fluoride contamination. To address this critical gap , BTAST is piloting RO technology for addressing the contaminants with household delivery mechanisms and with built in software component aimed at  community awareness through NGOs . This approach is first of its kind in Bihar to test the willingness to pay when water is delivered at household level at affordable price.

The lessons learnt from this can develop into profitable social enterprise at village level.  Similar practice is found successful in rural Telengana (AP), Karnataka and West Bengal affected by fluoride and arsenic

4)      Piloting Affordable Technology for removal of Iron: Iron in the drinking water is a major contaminant in Bihar. Government of Bihar through PHED is relying on expensive media based technology.

Terra filter has been identified and promoted by government of India as low cost and affordable technology that is developed by IIMT, a unit of council of Industrial research (India) using indigenous materials. Piloting has been envisaged in Bihar for A demonstrable model involving local community.  Success of this pilot will pave way for scaling up across the state and districts as village level social enterprise. Terra filter has been successful in iron affected areas of Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka as cost effective intervention.

5)      Evidence based research : These are learning challenges arising at field  level and are being undertaken as part of overall water management by BTAST

i)Research on innovative and commercial adsorbents : Based on over reliance on imported media for removal of arsenic which are not cost effective and sustainable at community level, we have conducted comparative  assessment of    arsenic adsorption using  different commercial,  imported media that are available and  used extensively for  arsenic removal in India and Bangladesh  along with  many innovative media developed in the laboratory  to find  viable , cost effective and affordable media with better property than Activated alumina with property on par  with imported media  and with capacity to remove Trivalent arsenic and Penta-valent  arsenic from drinking water. Very encouraging results have been obtained that can offer cost effective substitute for imported media without compromising on quality if taken forward.

ii) Development of evidence based research & IEC for fluoride management: This proposed study in Khaira, Munger is expected to have the following outcomes.

a) Complete mapping of water quality sources with range of fluoride concentration

b) Safe and unsafe water sources well demarcated to facilitate community to access safe water

       c) Community awareness based on scientific data 

d) Correlation established between fluoride intake, excretion and disease burden

e) Identification of long term strategy in combating fluorosis in khaira

f)  IEC developed based on scientific evidences

6)      Institutional Strengthening

Strengthening infrastructure:  One of the major challenges in water quality management is strengthening the infrastructure of the district laboratories and addressing human resource component. A comprehensive assessment was commissioned by WATSAN involving district staff of BTAST to understand the functioning of district laboratories and to know the strength and weakness of these labs. One of the major recommendations emerging from this study has been infrastructural support in terms of equipments and consumables like glassware’s. This issue is being addressed through FA funding of DFID. Technical approval, tendering process is underway. Mobile water quality monitoring for addressing emergency situation and analysis of water treatment unit is also addressed as part of strengthening overall water quality monitoring. BTAST will oversee the implementation through periodic monitoring. BTAST will push towards outsourcing through PPP model in few select district lab to increase the efficient monitoring during the next phase based on the study recommendations.

Capacity building of PHED staff on water quality management:

Capacity building of state officials involved in the monitoring of drinking water is key to overall water quality management. In this connection sensitization workshop has been conducted for fluoride management bringing in the expert in this field. Critical aspects were discussed and way forward has been envisioned for tackling the menace of arsenic, fluoride and iron in the drinking water

7)      Testing, mapping and on-line data management

Efforts have been made to commission the project on blanket testing of all government sources in water quality affected district. This project is aimed at digitizing the info developed at village level on water quality. This online tool will facilitate taking informed decision on prioritizing interventions by the government.  This will also help in classifying the district as endemic and non-endemic for fluoride and arsenic contamination.

The project is about to take off through FA support to PHED. Necessary ToR, costing has been worked out as technical support by BTAST. Further critical support in form of developing RFP, bid evaluation will be undertaken. During implementation period, effective monitoring of whole process will be undertaken through periodic visits, quality control and assurance of data generated during this project will be evaluated.

8)      Exploring alternative surface water Options:

As part of sustainability, it is increasingly felt by policy makers at centre to look for alternate surface water like large ponds, lakes, river, rivulets and develop these surface water bodies to supply drinking water systems for communities especially in quality affected parts to overcome the present trend of commissioning water purification devices in quality affected habitations which is expensive and not sustainable on long-term basis. Bihar has substantial surface water sources. Project is envisaged in this direction.

9)      PPP model: 

Large pilot involving private sector investment and participation in managing the large government assets is seen as viable option as current water scenario across the developing countries. This would involve community support in terms of payment for safe water at affordable price that is profitable to private entrepreneur. There are various models for this approach. Government of Bihar has shown interest in PPP projects. A pilot is being envisaged in quality affected area for provision of piped drinking water through surface water sources. BTAST will be developing a concept note and framework for PPP projects in Bihar and also assesses the willingness to pay for water supply through such projects.

Future directions

·         Apart from on-going support, future technical support in water quality would increasingly focus on monitoring the project implemented under DFID support including the Pilot under TA and FA.

·         Increased focus will laid in evaluating the cost benefit and health impact analysis of various water treatment and supply system undertaken by government of Bihar.

·         Facilitate increased role of community in O&M of water supply & treatment facility and social enterprise

·         Provide leadership in the sector through evidence based research impacting policy.

·         State policy for selection of water supply schemes

·         Capacity building of engineers in design and monitoring of water supply schemes.