1. Empowering women through affordable and
sustainable technological solutions to
address various water challenges in the
country.
5th Nov 2012
Water and Women Conference: SM Sehgal Foundation,
Gurgaon
Neelima Alam, D.R. Prasadaraju, Sanjay Bajpai, Vineet Saini
Technology Mission Cell
DST
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference

2. • Is water a women’s question?
• Why is it so?
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference

3. • Women are home makers, nurturers and carers of natural resources
and hence they should be seen in those very roles in the water
sector.
• Women’s domain therefore remains that of domestic water sector-
collecting and using that water for the welfare of the family.
• Men’s domain is seen in the productive sphere or the irrigation
sector. This is considered as a natural extension of their work of value
addition and surplus generation.
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference

4. How are women visualised
• Women first seen as the victims affected by
the environmental crisis
• Then seen as the solution because of their
natural roles as care takers and nurturers
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference

5. • In rural areas, up to one-third of a woman’s time can be spent
fetching water and traversing physically a rough terrain Women may
carry up to 20 kg of water on their heads and/or side below arms on
each excursion (The Right to Water is a Woman’s right, Global Water
Crisis, Blue Planet Project http:blueplanetproject.net).
• Indian women can make up to six trips a day to collect and
transport water for the household requirement. These trips in rural
regions can aggregate upto ten kilometers a day, carrying up to
fifteen liters every trip.(Water, Work and Women in Rural India, by
Aditi Kapoor, World Resources Institute, Washington DC, USA).
• The women load vessels (jars or buckets) on their heads to carry
water. The pressure, added with the distance to water sources,
creates back ache, swelling in the feet, discomfort in the body and
posture problems. the time spent on collecting water and lack of
sanitation facilities increases women’s inequality thus continuing the
cycle of not able to pursue desired level of education and poverty.
• girls in rural India drop out of school, so as to help the mother for
carrying out the burden of collecting water for entire household.
Girls as young as ten or even below this age, contribute to household
tasks and fetching water is one of important tasks.
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference

6. • The tragedy is that, having spent so much time and effort in reaching a source of
water, the water itself is often dirty, polluted and contaminated posing a health hazard.
• Unsafe water causes many ailments and it is reported that consumption of such water
and unhygienic sanitation account for nearly 80% of common ailments, such as,
diarrhoea and dysentery, which are responsible worldwide for mortality of
considerable number of children under the age of five (WHO Report on Water related
Diseases-Diarrhoea, Fact sheet (http:www.who.int).
• Women and girls collecting water are also susceptible to diarrhoea, hepatitis A, and
leptospirosis, a bacterial infection from water that is polluted by urine of animals,
which many a times are brought to this very source of water for consuming water (The
Water Project, Water in Crisis-Spotlight on Women in India, by Alexandra
Barton(http:thewaterproject.org)
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference

7. Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference

8. DST’s Techno-based Initiatives
for Pure Drinking Water Security
• Water Technology Initiative (WTI)-a) Promoting R &D in Water
Sector for development of cost effective solutions for domestic applications
for ensuring safe portable water.
&
b) WAR for Water Action Plan-Started in 2009 under the H’onble Supreme
Court directives-enabling transfer of technology as the solution for the
identified problems at the field level to address various water challenges
facing the country.
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference

9. Methodology of Implementation for
WAR for Water
• Based on interactions with various States/UTs- TMC identified 26 challenges in
89 clusters for mounting challenges.
• Technical bids for solving diff water challenges were invited to have pilot trials
in a village of 10,000 people.
• 23 projects have been taken up so far for implementation in various parts of the
country (AP-2, Assam/Bihar/UP/WB-1, Gujarat-4, Haryana-2, Kerala-1, Mizoram-1,
Nagaland-1, Rajasthan-6, TN-3, Tripura-1, and Uttarakhand-1) during the last 2
years, out of which 9 are commissioned (AP-1, Assam/Bihar/UP/WB-1, Gujarat-1,
Rajasthan-3, TN-2 and Uttarakhand-1) so far.
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference

10. Location Key Water Challenges Process Adopted Deliverables Beneficiaries
Buja Buja, AP Low per capita Conventional treatment  125 Kl domestic 3000 families (drinking
availability, high levels of domestic water and water and domestic water)
of salinity, dissolved RO for drinking water;  75 Kl drinking 2000 farmers (irrigation
solids, bacteria, Wastewater treatment water of lands through treated
fluorides, seawater  1 MLD treated wastewater)
intrusion, etc waste water
Tantigaon+3 villages in High levels of Arsenic, Zero Valent Iron Arsenic Removal plant 6000 families in 42
Assam, Arak+20 villages bacteria each 600-100 LPH villages (drinking
in Bihar, water)
Bajhraja+12 villages in
UP,
and
Bikrampur+3 villages in
WB
Pacheri Kalan and
Low per capita Rain Water Harvesting Rain water harvesting 465 families in 2
Pacheri Kurd, Rajasthan
availability, over structures each 20 KL villages (drinking
exploitation of ground water)
water
Mamsapuram, Tamilnadu Low per capita Conventional treatment  125 Kl domestic 5500 families (drinking
availability, high levels of domestic water and water and domestic water)
of salinity, total dissolved RO for drinking water;  75 Kl drinking 2000 farmers (irrigation
solids, iron, bacteria, Wastewater treatment water of lands through treated
fluorides, etc  1 MLD treated waste
waste water
Augstmuni, Low per capita River Bank Filtration 300-900 LPH 5800 families in 4
Karnaprayag, Satpuli and availability, high levels villages (drinking and
Srinagar, Uttarakhand of suspended solids, domestic water)
bacteria, etc
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference

11. Transparency and Stakeholder
Involvement
S.No Activity Stake holders involved
1 Preparation of project proposal, submission and Solution Provider, Experts, Community,
related preparatory project- related including women self help groups, and
organizational aspects officials of DST
2 Selection of sites for construction of facility District& Panchayat authorities, Solution
Provider, Community, including women
self help groups, and officials of DST
3 Construction of plant and installation of Solution Provider, Experts, and officials of
equipment DST
4 Field investigations, monitoring and review of Solution Provider, Experts, and officials of
project DST
5 Capacity building, operation of plant Solution Provider, Community including
women self help groups, Panchayat,
village youth and officials of DST
6 Information, Education and Communication Community including women self help
tools for the scheme groups, Panchayat, Solution Provider, and
officials of DST
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference

12. Buja Buja Cluster …
Solution
Technology-RO provider-WSI
Pvt Ltd
• Water Issues-Low per capita availability, Salinity, sea water intrusion, Iron,
TDS
• The Solution addresses all the water issues in a holistic manner.
• Waste Water treatment Plant –to reuse it for irrigation and to recharge the
Ground water table.
• Sustainability and Replicability- Each household pays an amount of Rs 60-
90 per month for use of drinking water and a card system is put in place for
keeping a check on the quantity of water delivered. The unique approach for
the low per capita water availability and water quality problem can be easily
replicated anywhere in India where similar problem exists.
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference

13. Mamsapuram Cluster…
Technology-RO Solution provider-
WSI Pvt Ltd
• Water Issues-Low income availability, TDS, Salinity, Iron , Flourides
• Due to hydrogeological formation of hard rock up to 30 -150 m, in Mamsapuram,
availability and extraction of sub surface water has been extremely difficult. The solution
addresses all the water issues in holistic manner by using both surface water during
monsoon season and ground water in summer period for production of drinking water.
• Waste Water treatment Plant –to reuse it for irrigation and to recharge the
Ground water table.
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference

14. River Bank Filtration Technology in
Uttarakhand…
Process of River Bank Filtration technology-
Bank filtration describes pumping of ground water through drinking
water supply wells (tube wells) from aquifers that are in hydraulic
connection to adjacent rivers or lakes. Pumping induces seepage from
the surface water into the aquifer and results in quality improvements
enroute to the well by natural processes such as filtration,
biodegradation, adsorption, redox reactions and mixing. RBF can also
occur under natural conditions as a result of an influent river. Recent experiences have been
incorporated into a new concept
comprising methodological stage-wise
Regional Significance-In case of River Bank Filtration, the production phases of visual site reconnaissance,
of water from near-riverside wells was not favoured in the hills of geodetic surveys, field and laboratory
investigations, parameter determination
India due to the belief that the aquifer thickness was insufficient to and groundwater modeling to plan new
yield sufficient quantity of water. RBF sites in hills. Use of fast and
economical overburden drilling with
excentric bit, Percussion drilling method
technique found to be suitable for
construction of production wells in high-
energy fluvial environments typically
encountered at RBF sites in hills in India,
were adopted, leading to good yield of
water free from turbidity. 25% of the
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water project cost has been met by the
&Women Conference Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan (UJS).

15. Improvement in measurable
indicators
• The water now supplied in the villages/towns covered by WAR for Water
programme get 5 lpcd pure water on regular basis, compared to supply of
contaminated water, that too in an erratic manner. In case of villages with
RBF facility, 70 LPCD water, free from all contaminants, is supplied daily.
• Based on the initial sample survey, it was found that there has been
improvement in terms of digestion, cold, fever, urinary infection, kidney
stones, dental fluorosis, typhoid, cholera, diarrhea, etc. The women also
reported that using the treated water for cooking of rice gives pleasing
colour and a better taste. Further, ease of access and consumption of pure
water saves the villagers from buying packaged drinking water, which they
often resort to for serving the guests, patients, and consumed during
festivals/functions.
• As water source is created at a central location or in the household, most
people are collecting water from the plant itself, saving the effort and time
that can be put to other gainful purposes.
• Infrastructure to treat and supply safe water created lead to gainful
employment during construction (10,000-20,000 mandays) and thereafter
to maintain the facility (4-6 persons) within the village.

16. • Though various types of arsenic removal filters have been installed by
Public Health Engineering Dept in the affected areas, their utility is limited
due to poor maintenance, difficulty in access, lack of awareness on on its
working. ARUs are designed such that the daily lifestyle of the villagers is
not affected and the simple design and maintenance allows them to install
and use the filter wherever they wish.
• In case of RWH, wastage of roof water is sorted out and with the help of
technology the rain water is captured for proper storage. With the help of
advanced filter and chamber, fresh rain water is carried to the tanks easily,
making filter or chamber very easy and simple for use at household level.
• Conventional surface water treatment involves coagulation,
sedimentation, filtration through couple of stages, and finally disinfection.
In comparison, RBF provides sufficiently pre-treated water needing
disinfection, that too in small dosage, through chlorination, a simple and
conventional procedure, for eliminating any bacteria.

17. Conclusions
• Department of Science & Technology, through its Water Technology Initiative, is
actively involved in development of solutions for various water challenges facing
the country.
• this initiative has made some notable achievements towards addressing
challenge related to safe drinking water by providing sustainable and affordable
techno-economic and social solutions for potable drinking water in the identified
problem clusters.
• These interventions have benefitted all stakeholders, in general and women, in
particular. Considering the role of women as the epicentre in the rural India in
various aspects of water management, technology solutions have demonstrated
potential to reduce drudgery of rural women besides improving their health
status leading to their economic and social empowerment.
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference

18. Acknowlegdements
The authors wish to express gratitude to Department of Science and Technology, in
particular Dr T Ramasami, Secretary to the Government of India for the guidance and
encouragement provided in implementation of Water Technology Initiative and WAR for
Water Programme. The authors also convey thanks to Programme Advisory Committee on
Water Technology Initiative, experts, Principal Investigators, Solution providers and others
involved in implementing the projects in various parts of the country.
Neelima Alam 5th Nov 2102 Water
&Women Conference