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i
Sustainability of Rainwater Harvesting System for the Domestic Needs
(A Case Study of Daugha VDC, Gulmi, Nepal)
by
Ramesh Chandra Bohara
PU Registration No. 2013-1-50-0011
Exam Roll No. 13500015
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master
of Science (M.Sc.) in Interdisciplinary Water Resources Management
awarded by Pokhara University
Nepal Engineering College – Center for Postgraduate Studies
Pokhara University
Chagunarayan, Bhaktapur, Nepal
March, 2015
ii
Dedication
I would like to dedicate this thesis to all those who are involved in rainwater harvesting
endeavor to support rural hard hit families to meet their domestic water needs.
iii
ABSTRACT
The installation of Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) system to address the water needs
was initiated in support of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme (RWSSP)
funded by Finnish International Development Agency (FINNIDA) in 1996 following
the successful execution and well performance of a pilot case in Daugha VDC of
Gulmi District. All households of the VDC implemented the systems to systematically
collect rainwater to ease their water needs. Families are still adding on such water
harvesting jars and tanks whenever they feel the need and have money to afford.
Thus, rainwater harvesting has become a “unique water culture” in Daugha. There are
altogether 1,238 water harvesting jars and storage tanks of varied sizes (916 jars of
2,000-liter capacity, 236 jars of 6,500-liter capacity and a total of 86 stones masonry
tanks of bigger size ranging from 15 cum to 85 cum) at present in 663 households of
the VDC. The study attempted to analyze the sustainability of the Rainwater
Harvesting Systems (RWH) implemented 18 years back at the household level of
Daugha VDC. Various participatory tools like household interviews, key informant‟s
interviews, observation and water quality tests were carried out.
To analyze the sustainability of the rainwater harvesting system four key
sustainability dimensions i) Technical ii) Socio-environmental iii) Institutional and iv)
Cost recovery were defined and the corresponding core factors and sub factors
contributing to these dimensions were identified. The core factors and sub factors
were given weightage following the Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) method.
The communities have accepted the rainwater harvesting systems as an appropriate
and effective alternative to meet the domestic water demand in the VDC. The system
has been highly appreciated by the communities as a big relief measure to address the
drudgery of fetching water from long distance especially of the women and school
going children. The study has found that on an average 6.35 hours per family per day
is saved because of rainwater harvesting system. The saved time is being utilized in
some economic, social and childcare activities by the women, however, best
utilization of saved time for economic growth through various income generating
activities and mobilization of local funds to improve income level of the people seems
lacking. Similarly, capacity and skills of local people to upgrade and improve their
RWH systems have been observed as a gap. It has also been observed that the RWH
systems in the VDC have very positive effects on sanitation and hygiene front.
Significant progress was seen in terms of construction and use of toilets, increased
knowledge about the importance of sanitation and hygiene issues and changes in
sanitation and hygiene behavior in the communities. This has resulted in decrease of
water borne and water washed diseases recorded in the local sub health post.
These indicators portray the strong technical and socio-environmental acceptance of
the system. In contrast to this, the study reveals institutional and cost recovery
dimensions are weaker in the case of Daugha VDC which pulls overall sustainability
of RWH system under “sustained but at risk” when compared to sustainability
dimensions and sustainability ranking.
iv
Declaration
I hereby declare that this study entitled "Sustainability of Rainwater Harvesting
System for the Domestic Needs – A Case Study of Daugha VDC, Gulmi, Nepal"
is based on my original research work. Related works on the topic, by other
researchers, have been duly acknowledged. I owe all the liabilities relating to
accuracy and authenticity of the data or any other information included hereunder.
Signature:
Name of Student: Ramesh Chandra Bohara
Date:
v
Recommendation
This is to certify that this thesis entitled "Sustainability of Rainwater Harvesting
System for the Domestic Needs – A Case Study of Daugha VDC, Gulmi, Nepal"
prepared and submitted by Ramesh Chandra Bohara, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements of the degree of Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Interdisciplinary Water
Resources Management awarded by Pokhara University, has been completed under
my supervision. I recommend the same for acceptance by Pokhara University.
Signature:
Name of the Supervisor: Prof. Suresh Raj Chalise
Organization: Independent Researcher, Formerly with Tribhuvan University and
ICIMOD
Designation: Professor
Date:
vi
Certificate
This thesis entitled "Sustainability of Rainwater Harvesting System for the
Domestic Needs – A Case Study of Daugha VDC, Gulmi, Nepal" prepared and
submitted by Ramesh Chandra Bohara, has been examined by us and is accepted for
the award of the degree of Master of Sciences (M.Sc.) in Interdisciplinary Water
Resources Management by Pokhara University.
……………………….
External Examiner
……………………..
Signature
………………..
Date Signed
Prof. Suresh Raj Chalise
Supervisor
……………………..
Signature
………………..
Date Signed
Prof. Dr. Khem Raj Sharma
Director, nec CPS
Nepal Engineering College-
Center for Postgraduate Studies
……………………..
Signature
………………..
Date Signed
vii
Acknowledgement
First of all, the author wishes to extend his profound thanks and gratitude to the
following persons and institutions for their invaluable assistance they extended in the
conduct and final preparation of this piece of work
Author is extremely thankful to Prof. Suresh Raj Chalise, Research Supervisor for his
continuous guidance, encouragement and invaluable comments and suggestions in the
preparation of this thesis. Also, he is thankful to Mr. Robert Dongol, Asst. Professor,
nec-CPS for his continued support to prepare this report and Prof. Dr. Narendra Raj
Khanal for his valuable suggestions in finalization of field questionnaires and
checklists.
Office bearers of Daugha Village Development Committee (VDC), Gulmi District
deserve a high level appreciation for generously providing access to information and
for providing assistance in conducting field study.
Mr. Lok Bahadur Gyawali, Ex. VDC Chairperson including all other local leaders,
school teachers, and community based organizations (CBOs) of Daugha VDC for
their active participation in series of interviews and discussions and for their full
support during the course of field study. The author innumerably owes their valuable
time and effort given in the entire works of the field study.
All respondents of household level interviews from 104 families of 9 wards of the
VDC, who participated actively in the discussion and provided the required data and
information in a very generous and cooperative manner, deserve a high level
appreciation and sincere thanks. Also, all 14 participants of key informants interviews
(KII) equally deserve lots and lots of sincere thanks for their support they provided in
conducting this study.
Last but not the least, author is extremely thankful to his own family members and
especially to his beloved wife Mrs. Pushpa Devi Bohara for her immense moral
support, encouragement, patience and love while performing this task.
Ramesh Chandra Bohara
Roll Number: 013-715
viii
Table of Contents
Dedication ............................................................................................................................. ii
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... iii
Declaration ........................................................................................................................... iv
Recommendation .................................................................................................................. v
Certificate ............................................................................................................................. vi
Acknowledgement .............................................................................................................. vii
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... viii
List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ x
List of Figures ...................................................................................................................... xi
List of Plates ....................................................................................................................... xii
Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................................................................................ xiii
Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................. 1
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background ................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................ 2
1.3 Research Questions ..................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Research Objectives .................................................................................................... 5
1.5 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................ 5
1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study.............................................................................. 6
Chapter2 .............................................................................................................................. 7
LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................. 7
2.1 Water and Sanitation Service Provision and Millennium Development Goals .......... 7
2.2 Rural Water Supplies in Nepal ................................................................................... 7
2.3 Rainwater Harvesting: A Potential Water Source ...................................................... 8
2.4 Rainwater Harvesting in Context of Nepal ............................................................... 11
2.5 Review of National Policy on Rainwater Harvesting ............................................... 13
2.6 Water Quality ............................................................................................................ 13
2.6.1 Microbiological Aspects .................................................................................... 14
2.6.2 Chemical Aspects............................................................................................... 14
2.6.3 Physical and Aesthetic Acceptability Aspects ................................................... 14
2.7 Sustainability Analysis.............................................................................................. 15
2.7.1 Key Sustainability Dimensions .......................................................................... 15
2.7.2 Sustainability Ranking ....................................................................................... 16
2.8 Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................. 16
Chapter 3 ........................................................................................................................... 17
METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................... 17
3.1 Study Area ................................................................................................................ 17
3.2 Water Drudgery in Daugha Village Development Committee ................................. 18
3.3 Water Sources in the VDC: Springs, Kuwas and Traditional Ponds ........................ 19
3.4 Research Design........................................................................................................ 21
3.5 Research Approach ................................................................................................... 22
ix
3.6 Sample Size ............................................................................................................... 22
3.7 Sampling Unit and Method ....................................................................................... 23
3.8 Methods of Data Collection ...................................................................................... 23
3.8.1 Household Interview .......................................................................................... 24
3.8.2 Key Informant Interview.................................................................................... 25
3.8.3 Observation ........................................................................................................ 26
3.9 Water Quality Testing ............................................................................................... 26
3.10 Data Analysis .......................................................................................................... 26
Chapter 4 ........................................................................................................................... 28
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ....................................................................................... 28
4.1 Potential of Rainwater Harvesting in Daugha Village Development Committee .... 28
4.2 Historical Background on Rainwater Harvesting Initiatives .................................... 28
4.3 Present Context on Rainwater Harvesting ................................................................ 29
4.4 Sustainability Dimensions of the Rainwater Harvesting Systems ............................ 30
4.4.1 Technical Aspect ................................................................................................ 30
4.4.2 Socio-Environmental Aspect of Rainwater Harvesting System ........................ 36
4.4.3 Cost Recovery: Financial costs (O&M costs, Capital Cost for Upgrading of
Service) ....................................................................................................................... 42
4.4.4 Institutional Dimension ...................................................................................... 45
4.5 Sustainability of Rainwater Harvesting System ....................................................... 47
4.5.1 Technical Dimensions ........................................................................................ 48
4.5.2. Socio-Environmental Sustainability ................................................................. 48
4.5.3. Institutional Dimensions ................................................................................... 50
4.5.4 Cost Recovery .................................................................................................... 51
Chapter 5 ........................................................................................................................... 54
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................... 54
5.1 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 54
5.2 Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 56
References .......................................................................................................................... 58
Annex I: Schematic Diagram of Rainwater Harvesting System .................................. 61
Annex II: Required Sample Size by Research Advisors ............................................... 62
Annex III: Household Interview Questionnaire ............................................................ 64
Annex IV: Checklists for the Key Informants Interview .............................................. 70
Annex V: Sustainability Dimensions and Factors Weightage List (Adopted from
WaterAid that uses Multi Criteria Analysis, MCA method). In MCA method,
weightage is given to each sub factor based on the field findings and
participatory discussions with the users. ........................................................................ 72
x
List of Tables
Title Page
Table 2.1 Water Quality Test parameters ........................................................................... 14 Table 3.1 Population Distribution Ward-wise in Daugha VDC ......................................... 18
Table 3.2 Ethnic Composition of the Daungha VDC ......................................................... 18 Table 3.3 Location of the Springs and Benefited Wards of Daugha VDC ......................... 19 Table 3.4 Average Water Fetching Time from Different Water Sources .......................... 20 Table 3.5 Traditional Water Collection Ponds in the VDC ................................................ 21
Table 3.6 Number of Household Samples Distribution across the Wards ......................... 23 Table 3.7 Number of Respondents in Households Survey ................................................. 24 Table 3.8 Respondents in Household Interview with Economic Status ............................. 25 Table 3.9 Number of Respondent in Key Informants Interviews ....................................... 25
Table 3.10 Sustainability Weightage to the Core Factors..................................................27
Table 4.1 Household Level Rainwater Collection Jars in the VDC ................................... 29 Table 4.2 Storage Capacity with Family Size vs. Sufficiency in Months .......................... 30
Table 4.3 Number of Jars vs. Water Storage Capacity at Households in the VDC ............ 31 Table 4.4 Average Time Saved per Household with RWH Program in the VDC .............. 32 Table 4.5 Sufficiency of Water for Households in the VDC .............................................. 33
Table 4.6 Water Quality Test Result................................................................................... 34 Table 4.7 Overall Access to Service (Technical Aspect) ................................................... 35
Table 4.8 Access to Sanitation Services ............................................................................. 37
Table 4.9 Incidences of Water-borne Diseases Before and After the Project .................... 37
Table 4.10 Equity in RWH System Allocation and Sharing .............................................. 38 Table 4.11 Post-project Impact by type of Water Supply System ...................................... 39
Table 4.12 Number of Patients Recorded in Daugha Sub Health Post ............................... 39 Table 4.13 Income through Agriculture Production ........................................................... 43 Table 4.14 Effectiveness of Services Provided by the Trained Persons ............................. 45 Table 4.15 Functioning of Water User and Sanitation Committee ..................................... 46
Table 4.16 Overall Sustainability of the Rainwater Harvesting System ............................ 53
xi
List of Figures
Title Page
Figure 2.1 Timeline of the Rainwater Harvesting System in Daugha VDC, Gulmi .......... 12 Figure 2.2 Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................... 16
Figure 3.1 Daugha Village Development Committee (VDC) Gulmi District .................... 17 Figure 3.2 Methodological Framework .............................................................................. 22 Figure 4.1 Average annual precipitation of Ridi Bazar from 1994 to 2013 ....................... 28 Figure 4.2 Time saved in fetching water per day................................................................ 35
Figure 4.3 Reliability of water services .............................................................................. 35 Figure 4.4 Incidence of water-borne diseases before and after the project ........................ 37 Figure 4.5 Technical Dimension for Rainwater Harvesting Sustainability ........................ 48 Figure 4.6 Socio-environmental Dimensions of Rainwater Harvesting Sustainability ...... 49
Figure 4.7 Institutional Dimension of Rainwater Harvesting Sustainability ...................... 50 Figure 4.8 Cost Recovery Dimension of Rainwater Harvesting Sustainability.................. 51
xii
List of Plates
Title Page
Plate 3.1 Rainwater Harvesting System .............................................................................. 26 Plate 3.2 Water Quality Testing of Harvested Rainwater ................................................... 26
Plate 4.1 18 years old Rainwater Harvesting Systems ........................................................ 29 Plate 4.2 Up-scaling of the Rainwater Harvesting System ................................................. 30 Plate 4.3 Physical Status of Rainwater Harvesting System ................................................ 36 Plate 4.4 Improved Sanitary Practices ................................................................................ 36
Plate 4.5 Innovation of Rainwater Harvesting Jar on the roof of toilet .............................. 38 Plate 4.6 Relief from Water Drudgery for Women............................................................. 40
xiii
Abbreviations
CBS Central Bureau of Statistics
CGI Corrugated Galvanized Iron
DWSS Department of Water Supply and Sewerage
ENPHO Environment and Public Health Organization
FINNIDA Finnish International Development Agency
FMC Fund Management Committee
GoN Government of Nepal
HDPE High Density Polyethylene
HHs Households
IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature
KII Key Informants Interview
lpcd liters per capita per day
MCA Multi Criteria Analysis
MDGs Millennium Development Goals
mg/l milligram per liter
MoPPW Ministry of Physical Planning and Works
MoUDWS Ministry of Urban Development and Water Supply- Sri Lanka
NDWQS National Drinking Water Quality Standard
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
NMIP National Management and Information Project
O&M Operation and Management
PMS Participatory Monitoring System
PoU Point of Use
QARQ Quality, Accessibility, Reliability and Quantity
RUC Rainwater User Committee
RWH Rainwater Harvesting
RWSSP Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project
SPSS Statistical Package for Social Sciences
UN United Nation
UNEP United Nation Environment Programme
UNICEF United Nation International Children Education Funds
VDC Village Development Committee
VWASHCC Village- Water Sanitation and Hygiene Coordination Committee
WASH Water Sanitation and Hygiene
WHO World Health Organization
WSS Water Supply and Sanitation
WT Weighted Table
WUSC Water Users and Sanitation Committee
WWF World Wildlife Fund
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Millions of people throughout the world do not have access to clean water for
domestic purposes (WHO/UNICEF, 2012). In many parts of the world conventional
piped water is either absent, unreliable or too expensive. One of the biggest
challenges of the 21st century is to overcome the growing water shortage. Population
growth all over the world is causing similar problems and concerns of how to supply
quality water to all. Much actual or potential water shortages can be relieved if
rainwater harvesting (RWH) is practiced more widely. Individual rainwater harvesting
systems are one of the many tools to meeting the growing water demand. RWH is an
environmentally sound solution to address issues brought forth by large projects
utilizing centralized water management approaches (Julius et al.,2013).
RWH is an art of accumulating and storing rainwater for present and future before it
reaches the aquifer. It has been used to provide drinking water, water for livestock,
water for irrigation, as well as other typical uses. Rainwater collected from the roofs
of houses and local institutions can make an important contribution to the availability
of drinking water. Rainwater harvesting can be used for ground water recharge, where
the runoff on the ground is collected and allowed to be absorbed, adding to the
groundwater. Water harvesting in its broadest sense can be defined as the collection of
runoff rainwater for domestic water supply, agriculture and environmental
management. Water harvesting systems which harvest runoff from roofs or ground
surfaces fall under the term “rainwater harvesting”.
The precipitation pattern in Nepal shifts generally from east to west inversely
proportional to the distance from Bay of Bangal, the source of summer monsoon.
Eastern Nepal usually gets about 2,500 mm of annual rainfall, Kathmandu receives
about 1,400 mm and the western Nepal about 1,000 mm (DHM, 2013). Nepal, on
average, receives 1,500 mm of rain annually the major part of which is received
during the monsoon (about 60-90%) i.e. during the months June to September. The
remaining part of rain falls during the winter (Nayava, 1980). The average rainfall
data of the nearest rain gauge station of Daugha VDC located in Ridi Bazar of Gulmi
District shows 1,330 mm for the period of last 20 years (DHM, 2014). Because of the
geography of the country, most part of the received rain quickly flows down to the
valleys, catches rivulets and streams to join the big rivers and the sea. As the country
receives such a big amount of rainwater, harvesting it could, therefore, be one of the
most appropriate and suitable methods for the water scarce communities. The
rainwater harvesting projects are environmentally feasible in all parts of Nepal, except
in the rain shadow areas that lie beyond the high mountains where annual rainfall
drops as low as 160 mm, creating cold semi-desert like conditions (NEWAH, 2012).
Because of its feasibility, many agencies today are involved in supporting
communities with rainwater harvesting programs in different parts of the country. At
this point of time, when several agencies, both Government Organizations (GOs) and
Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) are involved in building Rainwater
2
Harvesting (RWH) systems, it is imperative to check the sustainability aspects and the
use of those systems.
Dimensions are the highest level of sustainability monitoring indicators adopted in
Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) sector in Nepal. For WSS facilities, four
monitoring dimensions are used: technical, socio-environmental, financial and
institutional (WaterAid Nepal, 2010).
Each sustainability dimension is significantly governed by many factors (parameters).
For example, „technical‟ as one of the sustainability dimensions of water supply
services is greatly governed by four key parameters: Quantity, Accessibility,
Reliability of the source and Quality of water (QARQ) and also the physical condition
of engineering components. Similarly, other sustainability dimensions also are
governed by the various other factors.
Each of the sustainability dimensions has been rated equally, as all of them have
similar level of potentiality and significance in making the system sustainable.
Further, all key factors under the sustainability dimensions were rated considering
their significance to make the particular dimension sustainable. A Rainwater
Harvesting (RWH) system, thus, could be ranked in terms of either “Sustained” or
“Sustained but at risk” or “Not sustained” projects.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Rainwater harvesting is the art and science of collection and productive utilization of
runoff from rooftops and ground surfaces as well as from intermittent watercourses.
Rainwater harvesting, though an old-age practice, is emerging as a new paradigm in
water resource development and management due to the recent efforts of both
government and non-governmental organizations to promote water harvesting and
groundwater recharge in urban and rural areas (Dey & Sikka,2010).
884 million people on the Earth are deprived of the access to an improved water
source and many more do not have access to safe and sustainable water supply.
Similarly, about 2.5 billion people live without improved sanitation and 1.1 billion
people still practice open defecation. It is a dreadful fact that by 2050, there will still
be a total of about 1.4 billion people without access to sanitation (WHO/UNICEF,
2012). Diarrhea alone is the cause of death of about 2.2 million people annually. The
sanitation sector suffers largely for having low priority from the states on allocation of
funds. The most recent estimates suggest that globally, the benefits of achieving
universal access to sanitation outweigh the costs by a factor of 5.5 to 1, whereas for
universal access to drinking‐water, the ratio is estimated at 2 to 1 (Hutton, 2012).
Public service alone is inadequate to meet the demand of water and sanitation services
to the population of rural areas especially where there is a huge technical challenge to
establish a water supply system. The idea of collaborative effort of states and 'non-
state providers‟ can possibly improve the service related to water supply in the areas
as mentioned above. In case of Nepal, about 19.6% of the total population lack access
3
to the clean and potable water supplies (NMIP/DWSS, 2011). The reason behind
could be one or more of the following:
Lack of viable water sources in the vicinity
Reliability of the existing water source(s) is questionable i.e. seasonal scarcity
Scattered or isolated households along the ridges or up hills
Settlement(s) in the Bhabar zone (bolder belt)
Disadvantaged and excluded groups etc.
The declining water sources in some areas of Nepal as a result of climate change and
many other factors provides a great challenge for meeting the National target of 100%
coverage by 2017 (GoN, 2011). To work towards meeting the water needs of the un-
served population and to overcome the challenges of climate change, promoting RWH
as a high quality drinking water source and for recharging groundwater supplies to
revive the spring sources, seems quite viable. In general, by harvesting and storing the
rain that falls during the monsoon season can reduce water scarcity in the dry season.
Nowadays, RWH is also known as one of the best adaptations to impact of climate
change on water resources (NAPA, 2010).
Daugha Village Development Committee is situated in the Southern remote part of
Gulmi district. Considering the alarming water scarcity in Daugha VDC of Gulmi
District, Nepal, where people used to spend more than three hours to fetch a pitcher of
water, Finnish International Development Agency (FINNIDA) supported Rural Water
and Sanitation Support Programme (RWSSP) introduced rainwater harvesting
technology (Schematic diagram is shown in Annex I) at household level in 1996.
RWSSP developed and designed appropriate technology suitable for the area. The
entire system consists of rainwater harvesting jar, gutter system with water flushing
apparatus. The system consisted of 2000-liter capacity jars to collect water from the
Corrugated Galvanized Iron (CGI) roof catchment through High Density Polythene
(HDPE) pipe gutters (Bohara, 2001). Later, jars with capacity of 6,500 liters were
designed and construction was started. During the first phase, each household has
been supported with 2 jars of 2000 liters (i.e. storage capacity of total 4,000 liters per
household) and during the phase two, they were supported with one jar with capacity
of 6,500 liters each. Though there are various methods of household level rainwater
collection used in the different parts of the world, the above mentioned systems with
ferrocement jars have also been proved to be the appropriate in context like Nepal as
this has been implemented in many Districts of the country so far.
Safe handling of the stored water in the jars and proper and regular maintenance of
the system (roof catchment, gutter system, jars and all other parts) are critical aspects
to be taken into account all the time. As the water quality is to be maintained safe for
a long period of time inside the jar, it is very important to maintain the whole system
in a proper way on a regular basis. Considering this fact, RWSSP oriented all
households in the matter and established a Participatory Monitoring System (PMS) in
facilitation of Rainwater Users' Committee (RUC). Also, 14 local rainwater harvesters
were trained in the village to build and support maintenance of systems on need basis.
4
Equally important aspect to look at is the quantity of water in terms of its availability
and reliability. How much water is used per day in a family of average size and for
how many months it lasts with the given quantity of stored rainwater? For how long
(months) the stored water is enough to meet the minimum basic needs of the
households and how they manage for the remaining duration? It is also important to
evaluate whether they have added some more jars to increase their water storage
capacity by themselves during the period or still have the same quantity and are
somehow managing with that. Also, it is necessary to find out if there is any system
like micro-credit facilities, revolving funds etc. established in the community from
where the poor people can also get support to upgrade their rainwater storage
capacity.
Hence, this study intends to analyze a case of RWH program, which has been
implemented for nearly two decades in Daugha VDC, Gulmi, from the point of view
of its sustainability.
1.3 Research Questions
Key Question
Is rainwater harvesting a sustainable solution for the rural communities to meet their
domestic water needs in context of Nepal?
Sub Questions
1. What is the water supply service level to the people from the rainwater
harvesting project in terms of Quantity, Accessibility, Reliability and Quality
(QARQ)?
2. How much time on average do people save per day from fetching water, do they
utilize the saved time and energy in some kind of income generating activities,
how is status of community health after receiving water, do they notice
reduction in water borne diseases because of water, are there any environmental
benefits like reduction in landslides, erosion, gulley cutting etc. due to reduced
runoff?
3. How people manage the financial requirement for operation and maintenance of
the rainwater harvesting system? And how they manage financial costs for
upgrading their systems?
4. How the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of the RWH systems take place, is
there functional Rainwater User‟s Committee, is there any support mechanism
like micro-credit facilities or revolving funds in the VDC to support the poor
families to upgrade their water storage capacity, how is the local capacity in
terms of RWH system building and maintaining and what kind of support the
community is receiving from the locally trained rainwater harvesters?
5
1.4 Research Objectives
The general objective of the study was to assess the sustainability of rainwater
harvesting system for the rural communities to meet their domestic water needs in
context of Nepal through study of rainwater harvesting (RWH) case in Daugha VDC.
The specific objectives were as follows:
To find out the water supply service level of Daugha VDC people in terms of
QARQ and determine how far the rainwater collection system has been useful
to fulfill their domestic water needs.
To assess the tangible and non-tangible socio-environmental and health related
benefits.
To find out the cost recovery mechanism to maintain and upgrade the system;
how the people (especially the poor households) have been managing the
O&M of the system and how they manage to upgrade their water storage
capacity.
To appraise the institutional roles and functioning towards maintaining and
sustaining the system.
1.5 Significance of the Study
As RWH systems have also been replicated in many other parts of the country by
different agencies, the findings from the Daugha VDC serve as the basis for further
improvement of rainwater harvesting systems to a larger context ensuring its
sustainability.
By far and largely, this study tries to contribute some practical and essential elements
of sustainability that need to be considered as a significant input to the National
Rainwater Policy and the implementation guidelines that are in the process of
finalization in Nepal. As of now, the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works
(MoPPW) has prepared the working policy on rainwater harvesting which is being
used mainly by the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage (DWSS) (MoPPW,
2009). This study provides lots of insights coming from the real ground as policy
inputs and the inputs to the national guidelines.
In true sense, the study is meant to highlight the areas that need further improvements
to ensure sustainability of the rainwater harvesting systems. This compiles the
knowledge, experience and learning gained by the people of Daugha VDC, in
implementation and use of the rainwater as their primary source of water for about
two decades. This largely supports achieving the Government of Nepal‟s (GoN‟s)
goal of universal coverage (100%) of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) by the
year 2017 (GoN, 1997), through implementation of sustainable water systems.
6
1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study
This study aims to draw the lessons and experiences gained by the people of Daugha
in relation to use of rainwater for nearly last two decades. This is the very first case in
Nepal where systematic rain harvesting project at household level was initiated in the
year 1996. There are several VDCs, at present, in the country using the same
technology. Hence, to look at the sustainability aspects of the system is a big scope in
itself. It is also obvious that there remain some limitations in the study as briefly
mentioned below:
1. While analyzing the quality of stored rainwater in the jars, WATER TEST
KIT developed by Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO)
was used to check different parameters. This kit provides only the range of
contamination. Results are presented based on the findings of the field kit
tests.
2. In terms of cost recovery, the study focused mainly on the financial costs
(operation and maintenance and the upgrading of services) but not on the
economic cost recovery in detail through cost benefit analysis.
3. Quantity of water i.e. liters per capita per day (lpcd) taken into account to
analyze water supply service level of the households is based on Sphere
standard due to absence of National standard.
4. This study covered only one VDC, conclusions and recommendations based
on the findings might be difficult to generalize for the larger context.
7
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review was done to form a theoretical background for the research study
related to RWH. In the first place, literature review focused on drawing background
of study with the issues of RWH and its impacts on people. It proceeded with the
discussion on century-long traditional practices of rainwater uses, emergence of
community based management of rainwater in different forms like collection of rain
in traditional ponds, development of systematic community level rainwater collection
and management systems, initiatives of household level rainwater collection systems
and their management. It also included the capacity building, participation and
sustainability parts of the systems.
2.1 Water and Sanitation Service Provision and Millennium Development Goals
With the lessons from UN sanitation decade (1981-1990), a need to deal with the
problem of drinking water and sanitation led to the declaration of Millennium
Development Goals (UN, 2000), a step forward to deal with the problem. The
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) form a set of political commitments aimed
at tackling the major development issues faced by the developing world, within a
fixed deadline. In the United Nation summit held in September 2000, 189 UN
member states including Nepal adopted the millennium declaration, from which
emerged the "Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)". Since Nepal was lacking
behind in sanitation coverage, the commitment of GoN was to achieve at least 53%
toilet coverage by 2015 to meet the MDG target (GoN, 2010). However, as a result of
collaborative effort of all sector agencies, the sanitation coverage has reached to 62
percent in 2011 (CBS, 2011).
Though almost all the MDGs can be indirectly linked to Water Supply and Sanitation
(WSS) issues, goal 7 to ensure environmental sustainability addresses them directly:
one of its targets, target 10, is to halve the proportion of people without sustainable
access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.
2.2 Rural Water Supplies in Nepal
Remoteness and sparse population in the rural areas of Nepal have direct implications
on infrastructures development cost. In addition to these factors, the risk in collecting
fees after investment for the private sectors pull back the private sectors from
investing in rural drinking water services leaving the responsibility solely on the state
agencies. The states in the meantime, face various challenges to ensure the
sustainability of water projects from different dimensions, especially in case of
developing world.
In response to these market and government level challenges, community based water
supply approaches are adopted in the rural as well as in urban areas. Nevertheless,
community-managed approach also faces some constraints such as elite capture,
8
limited capacity and knows how etc. which may fail the approach in ensuring
effective services.
Nepal with rugged topography, most often faces problems of water stresses at various
parts of the country though it is considered to be one of the richest countries in the
world in terms of water resources. According to the National Management and
Information Project (NMIP) report published by the Department of Water Supply and
Sewerage (DWSS), the quantitative water supply coverage of Nepal is 80.4% of
population. This means 19.6% of the population is still unreached from the service
provision point of view in Nepal as of 2011. However, while assessing the actual
functionality of the coverage, the actual functional coverage is found to be only about
56.8%, out of which well functional is 17.9% and coverage needing minor repair is
about 38.9% of the population (NMIP/DWSS, 2011). Due to uphill-scattered
settlements and low lying water sources, it is difficult and relatively expensive to lift
water to serve such water-stressed areas. For such areas, rainwater harvesting schemes
may prove to be the best alternative for water supply provision.
2.3 Rainwater Harvesting: A Potential Water Source
Rainwater is a universal resource, harvested from roofs and ground catchments, safely
stored and/or infiltrated, treatable as required for its end use. It has potential energy
and, capability of supplementing other sources currently used (MoUDWS, 2005).
Water harvesting systems which harvest runoff from roofs or ground surfaces fall
under the term “rainwater harvesting”. Rainwater collected from the roofs of houses
and local institutions can make an important contribution to the availability of
drinking water. Rainwater harvesting has, thus, regained its importance as a valuable
alternative or supplementary water resource, along with more conventional water
supply technologies. Much actual or potential water shortages can be relieved if
rainwater harvesting is practiced more widely. Water harvesting in its broadest sense
can be defined as the collection of run-off rainwater for domestic water supply,
agriculture and environmental management.
The human civilization, entirely depend upon rivers, lakes and ground water to fulfill
their water demands. However rain is the ultimate source that feeds all these sources.
The implication of rainwater harvesting is to make optimum use of rainwater at the
place where it falls i.e. to conserve it without allowing it to drain away. Rainwater
harvesting is an ancient technique enjoying a revival in popularity due to the inherent
quality of rainwater. Rainwater is valued for its purity and softness. It has a nearly
neutral pH, and is free from impurities such as salts, minerals, and other natural and
man-made contaminants. Archeological evidence attests to the capture of rainwater as
far back as 4,000 years ago. The concept of rainwater harvesting in China is as old as
6,000 years. Ruins of cisterns built as early as 2000 B.C. for storing runoff from
hillsides for agricultural and domestic purposes are still standing in Israel (Dwivedi &
Bhadauria, 2009)
National Rainwater Policy and Strategy of Sri Lanka states that the “Rainwater
harvesting shall be made mandatory, yet introduced in phases, in all areas under
Municipal and Urban council jurisdiction within a prescribed time period, as will be
9
prescribed in law, for certain categories of buildings and development works, and
shall be strongly promoted in all Pradeshiya Sabha areas” (MoUDWS, 2005).
Rainwater Harvesting has been practiced in Sri Lanka for many centuries; a good
example is the sophisticated rainwater-cum-reservoir systems in 5th century Sigiriya
fortress complex. In recent years many of these rain water collection skills have
become obsolete due to introduction of pipe supplies, boreholes or protected wells or
springs (Ariyananda, 1999)
In Bangladesh too, the possible solution to address the water hardship is the regionally
sustainable production of durable building materials, which would resist the actions of
flooding and provide a roof surface suitable for the harvesting of rainfall, to provide a
source of clean drinking water in the context of rural and peri-urban centers (Moore &
Mclean, 2008). Rainwater harvesting is an ancient technique that has been practiced
for thousands of years in different part of the world. It has been often found that areas
where surface water or groundwater is not available in sufficient amount, rainwater
harvesting is the best available option and popular also. In Bangladesh, rainwater
harvesting is very much in practice in coastal areas where salinity has left only a few
scarcely located ponds as a source of potable water (Dakua et al., 2013).
Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) is an economical small-scale technology that has the
potential to augment safe water supply with least disturbance to the environment,
especially in the drier regions. In the Northeastern part of Nigeria, where the average
annual rainfall is around 915 mm, the potentiality for water harvesting has been
calculated as 63.35 m3 per household with the existing roof catchments. The amount
could meet the water demand for the villagers round the year (Ishaku et al., 2012).
Similarly, in the history of India‟s water sector, the past two decades are characterized
by a boom in rainwater harvesting. They are markedly different from the years of
traditional harvesting in two ways; first, in terms of the context; and second, in terms
of the purpose. As regards the context, the two decades are able to use recent
advancements and modern day techniques and technologies. As regards the purpose,
modern water harvesting systems are employed as resource management solutions,
and not as resource development solutions (Agarwal & Narain, 1997).
Water scarcity has become a serious global threat due to rapid population growth,
frequent droughts and changing climate pattern. Now a day, the need of domestic
water is magnifying tremendously in a developing country like India which has long
tradition of rural culture. Attempts have been made to harvest the rainwater to satisfy
the total annual drinking and cooking requirement of the people in this village. Rain
water harvesting techniques are proficiently useful to tackle down the water scarcity
problem in rural areas (Patil & Mali, 2013).
Rainwater harvesting emerges as the most suitable alternative to combat the water
scarcity issues throughout the world, especially for India where adequacy of
monsoonal rainfall is perhaps not a major concern but its un thoughtful wastage
through overland flow and surface runoff pose a scope for enhanced attention.
Harvesting rainwater and making it available in the dry season could have major
implications for agriculture and livelihoods in the rural areas and make living easy in
10
urban areas. The city of Kolkata is carrying unbearable load of population where the
civic facilities are insufficient, poor and old for the growing population. Thus various
efforts are made in order to reduce such problems both at the macro level and micro
level. One of such efforts has been the establishment of a new urban area. The new
area has been the brainchild of Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority, and the
project is highly appreciable in the view of sharing excessive population loads on the
city of Kolkata. The new area provides residences for families of lower, middle and
high-income groups with proper sanitation and other civic facilities including newer
methods of Rainwater Harvesting for solution of water scarcity (Sen, 2012).
Roof-top rain water harvesting is mandated by law for all buildings in Bermuda and is
the primary source of water for domestic supply. The average rate at which rain water
is harvested at the typical house with four occupants is, however, insufficient to meet
average demand. While just over one-third of households have access to
supplementary water either from mains pipelines or private wells, the majority rely on
deliveries from water “truckers” (tankers) to augment their rain water supply.
Assuming a reasonably constant daily demand, there is a linear relationship between
the “maximum optimum capacity” of a water storage tank and the size of the rain
water catchment area, which depends on the characteristics of the rainfall at a given
geographic location. Because of this reason, law has been enforced to design and tap
the rainwater from the roofs of the buildings (Mark, 2011).
The Hindu Kush-Himalayas (HKH) is the largest storehouse for the fresh water in the
lower latitude and as such is important water towers for almost 500 million people.
The two volume document “Waters of Life-Perspectives of Water Harvesting in the
Hind Kush Himalayas” discusses the methods of water harvesting throughout the
HKH Mountains amongst a wide variety of human groups, focusing on efforts being
made by communities on harvesting water (Banskota & Chalise, 2000).
The mountainous region in China accounts for 70% of its territory and water
harvesting is both very useful and also holds promise for the future. Besides the
Alpine areas, all the arid and semi-arid regions which occupy two third of Chinese
territory , including the rain shadow areas of Himalayas and 6,600 or more island
along the sea coast are introducing rainwater harvesting to overcome the water
shortage (Liu & Cheng, 2000).
In 1995, Ganshu Province government began its rainwater catchment policy to put its
1-2-1 rainwater harvest projects into operation. This means that each household in the
project area makes use of the house, roof and the yard to catch rainwater by forming a
one hundred square meter of compressed surface with poor permeability to collect
rainwater. The collected rainwater is stored in two cisterns or tanks separately for
drinking and production uses. One of them is projected to supply water for one mu (15
mu per hectare) of the land so that cash crops can be planted in the yard around the
house. So this is called 1-2-1 project (Liu & Cheng, 2000)
Water harvesting technologies are of special importance to the people in hills where
traditional services can no longer meet the present needs of rapidly growing
population. The technology has to protect and meet the needs of communities as well
as protecting and conserving the environment. The technology used for water
harvesting varies according to the available sources and supply. Although there are
11
various technologies in use, water can be harvested from roofs, from catchment area
runoff, diverting flowing water and so on (Saravanan, 2000).
2.4 Rainwater Harvesting in Context of Nepal
Rainwater harvesting practice is based on the concept of “old wine in new bottle”,
which has been practiced in Nepal since ages. Collection of rainwater in natural or
manmade ponds for communal uses and collection in improvised containers at
household level have traditionally been practiced during the rainy season (MoPPW,
2009) in Nepal.
Rainwater harvesting and utilization is not a new technology, it is an ancient legacy.
On top of hills and mountains of Nepal, ponds were dug in ancient times to collect
rainwater mainly for livestock use. At present, significant number of ponds are filled
and put to other uses. Stone spouts were constructed in the hills and also in urban
areas. The ancient people had a good knowledge of the hydrological cycle and they
constructed ponds to collect water for dry season and also recharge the springs and
increase soil moisture (Sainju et al., 2000).
Rainwater harvesting is an appropriate solution for the households situated on hilltops
and along the ridges where gravity flow systems are not feasible and lifting water
through electric powered pumps is not economically viable. This technology is
equally feasible in the Bhabar zone, foot hill of Siwalik, commonly known as the
bolder belt.
Also, the technology of collecting rainwater at household level in city areas has
proved as an additional reliable, easy and economic source of water to meet various
domestic needs. Cities like Kathmandu where there is an acute shortage of water in
most of its parts; rainwater harvesting may prove as an effective and supplementary
practice to solve the problem. Investments in this underutilized resource would
definitely support the present state of people in terms of water, and a gift to be
bestowed for the future. Hence, its economic benefits outweigh its costs, especially in
the city areas.
It was in 1996, the systematic rooftop rainwater harvesting in a large scale was
implemented by RWSSP, a project supported by the Governments of Nepal and
Finland. The technology piloted in Daugha VDC, Gulmi was replicated all over the
country following its large social acceptance and promising outcomes both in terms of
environment and economies of the households. After successful implementation of
the system and well accepted by the community, RWSSP replicated it in other VDCs
of project districts, Gulmi, Palpa and Arghakhanchi. In a very short period of time, the
same technology of RWH System gained very good popularity and other sector
agencies also started its replication in different part of the country.
Timeline showing key achievements in RWH System in Daugha VDC is shown in
figure 2.1
12
13 Rainwater collection
traditional ponds (4
perennial and 9 seasonal),
11 Springs (8 seasonal and
3 perennial) and 9
community water
collection tanks of 20 cum
each in the VDC.
Piloting of
rainwater
harvesting systems
in 45 households of
the VDC @ 5
households in each
ward
Completion with full
installation of about 250
RWH systems consisting of
about 500 jars. With this the
total jars in the VDC reached
to 545.
14 local Rainwater harvesters
trained for future up scaling
and replication support
Additional 150 RWH
system with 300 jars
of 2,000 liters capacity
and about 150 RWH
systems of 150 jars
with 6,500 liters
capacity.
Daugha people themselves
continued to construct the additional
RWH systems to upgrade their
water storage capacity. At present
there are 1,238 number of RWH
systems in 663 households of the
VDC (Field Visit, 2014). People
also used the revolving fund money
to upgrade their storage capacity
created in the VDC.
(Before 1996)
(1996-1997)
(1997-1999)
(2000-2002)
(2003-2014)
With full financial
support from
RWSSP/FINNIDA
With financial support from RWSSP/FINNIDA,
Daugha VDC and Users family on a certain
matching ratio (Bohara, 2001) and technical support
from RWSSP
RWH systems are still being
implemented in Daugha VDC by the
people themselves. They invest to
upgrade their water storage capacity
when they can afford. Some families
have taken loan from the revolving
fund to implement the RWH systems in
their households. Its' easier for them
that they have trained skilled persons in
their own village.
Also, nine revolving funds at
ward level @ NRs. 100,000
each were established, with
the support of Gulmi
Arghakhanchi Rural
Development Project
(GARDP), as seed money.
Figure 2.1 Timeline of the Rainwater Harvesting System in Daugha VDC, Gulmi
13
Other major donor and implementing agencies involved in support and
implementation of rainwater harvesting systems in different Districts of Nepal are;
EU funded Gulmi Arghakhanchi Rural Development Program (GARDP)
Water Aid/NEWAH
World Bank Funded Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Fund Development
Board.
ICIMOD at the regional level (Hindu Kush Himalayan Region)
Department of Water Supply and Sewerage (DWSS)
Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC)
Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agriculture Roads
(DoLIDAR)
Helvetas Nepal
Plan Nepal
Biogas Support Programme (BSP)
Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO)
RAIN Foundation
IDE Nepal
Including other various national and local level NGOs in different Districts
There are around 11,000 RWH systems in use in hilly regions of Nepal and the users
satisfactory level is reported as 78 % with these RWH systems (NEWAH, 2012)
2.5 Review of National Policy on Rainwater Harvesting
To ensure proper utilization and conservation of water resources, the Government of
Nepal, MoPPW has prepared a working policy on rainwater harvesting in 2009 to
promote suitable developments in rainwater harvesting for human consumption and
domestic use, and facilitate guidance and capacity building (MoPPW, 2009).
The GoN, working policy aims to:
• Foster optimum utilization of rainwater to cater for the needs of rural and urban
households that face shortages of water for daily uses
• Stimulate development of technical and financial solutions to effective rainwater
harvesting in domestic and institutional settings
• Provide an enabling framework for local government and NGOs to encourage
and facilitate application of rainwater harvesting in all suitable situations.
2.6 Water Quality
Absolutely pure water is rarely found in nature. The impurities occur in three
progressively finer states – suspended, colloidal and dissolved. These may be present
14
also in floating state. Although appearance, taste and odor are useful indicators of the
quality of drinking water, suitability in terms of public health is determined by
microbiological, physical, chemical and radiological characteristics. However, the
radiological characteristics have not been specifically mentioned in the National
Drinking Water Quality Standards (NDWQS, 2005).
2.6.1 Microbiological Aspects
In all cases and all types of water supply systems, the fecal coliform and coliform
organisms should always be zero.
2.6.2 Chemical Aspects
Thousands of individual organic compounds enter water bodies as a result of human
activities. The compounds have significantly different physical, chemical and
toxicological properties. Monitoring every individual component is not feasible.
2.6.3 Physical and Aesthetic Acceptability Aspects
Though in setting up water quality standard parameters those are capable of producing
direct health impact should get priority, the drinking water should be acceptable in
appearance, taste and odor as well. Some of these constituents are color, taste and
odor, temperature and turbidity.
Key water quality parameters, of microbiological, physical, chemical, as mentioned in
the following table 2.1, were tested in all sample households using the field kit and
the result will be analyzed and presented in the report.
Table 2.1 Water Quality Test parameters
S/N Parameter National Standard WHO Standard
1 Temperature °C
2 Odour (observe) Unobjectionable Unobjectionable
3 Taste (observe or ask) Unobjectionable Unobjectionable
4 Colour (observe) 5(15) TCU* 5(15) TCU
5 Turbidity (observe) 5(10) NTU** 5(10) NTU
6 pH 6.5-8.5 6.5-8.5
7 Ammonia mg/l 1.5 mg/l 1.5 mg/l
8 Iron mg/l 0.3 (3) mg/l 0.3 mg/l
9 Hardness mg/l 500 mg/l 500 mg/l
10 Coliform bacteria (present/absent) not to be present
not to be present
(Source: GoN, 2005)
Note:
* TCU: True Color Unit (measured in water samples from which particulate matter
has been removed by centrifugation.
** NTU: Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (measures scattered white light at 90 degree
from incident light beam)
15
2.7 Sustainability Analysis
“Sustainability” is a well-liked term in modern development practices and discourses
and is understood in many ways according to the situation in which it is applied. It has
become a complex term that can be applied to almost every system on earth. In fact,
the earth‟s resources are limited and all human activity should emphasize the
sustainable use of it. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World
Wildlife Fund (WWF), sustainability consists of “improving the quality of human life
while living within the carrying capacity of supporting eco-systems”. Therefore,
sustainability of drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) projects need to be
viewed as a crucial cross-cutting element that impacts on overall human development.
Longer-term sustainability is certainly a desired end result expected from most of the
human undertakings in the infrastructure sector, which is governed by a number of
complex sustainability dimensions, corresponding factors and sometimes many sub-
factors.
As setting indicators for sustainability monitoring is a complex job, selecting the most
reliable and pragmatic analysis tool for decision support is also an equally complex
undertaking in the development sector. Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) is a process of
integrated assessment of a finite set of projects in a structured way to determine
overall preference among alternatives, where the alternatives accomplish several
objectives. The advantage of the MCA process is that it enables an integrated
assessment of subjective and objective information with stakeholders‟ values in a
single framework. While various MCA tools are available, the appropriate integrated
decision modeling tool for developing countries, single or in combination with other
MCA or non-MCA tools is still a subject of research. However, the simplest form of
MCA, called the Weighted Table (WT) method, is found to be appropriate for micro
projects to use at the local level at the initial stage (Kanta & Bhattarai, 2010).
2.7.1 Key Sustainability Dimensions
Sustainability Dimensions are the highest level monitoring indicators adopted by
WaterAid in Nepal. For water supply and sanitation facilities, four monitoring
dimensions are used: technical, socio-environmental, financial and institutional.
Each sustainability dimension is significantly governed by many factors and sub-
factors. As per the principles of multi-criteria approaches, each set criteria is rated
depending upon its potential contribution or its significance in making the case
sustainable. The comparative weights given to dimensions, factors and sub-factors
were determined through participatory methods involving sector professionals and
field workers. Further, each factor and sub-factor is rated considering its significance
to make the case sustainable (Kanta & Bhattarai, 2010).
16
2.7.2 Sustainability Ranking
A project‟s services are ranked in terms of sustained, sustained but at risk (sustained
risk) and not sustained projects. The objective of this type of ranking was to help
decisions for future investment. The assumption is that Water Aid does not need to
provide any support for „sustained‟ projects, needs to provide some follow up support
to „sustained but at risk projects‟ and needs to provide significant project
rehabilitation support to „not sustained‟ projects. The ranking was made using the
following definitions (WaterAid 2010):
Sustained project: The project obtains equal to or more than 70% score in all
four sustainability dimensions individually.
Sustained but at risk project: The project obtains a 70% score in overall
sustainability dimensions, but fails to obtain 70% score in all four
sustainability dimensions individually.
Not sustained project: The project fails to obtain 70% score in overall
sustainability dimensions.
2.8 Conceptual Framework
Sustainability for WASH facilities is determined by four major dimensions (i)
technical (ii) Socio-environmental (iii) Cost Recovery (iv) Institutional, which are
further governed by many factors and factors. The figure 2.1 below shows the
conceptual framework for the study to assess the sustainability of Rainwater
Harvesting System in Daugha VDC.
Figure 2.2 Conceptual Framework
Technical
Socio-
Environmental
Cost Recovery
Institutional
Verification of QARQ (quantity, accessibility,
reliability and quality) level and physical status
of the systems
Health benefits, saved time, health status/water
borne diseases, environmental benefits and
GESI aspect
Financial costs (O&M costs, capital cost for
upgrading of service), income generation
O&M practices, operation and functioning of
Users‟ Committee or any other form of
committees, existence of micro credit or
revolving fund facilities, capacity and use of
local trained people
SU
ST
AIN
AB
ILIT
Y
17
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Study Area
Daugha Village Development Committee is situated in the South, remote part of
Gulmi District as shown in figure 3.1. It is located between Siddheshwor VDC of
Palpa District in the East, Chidika VDC of Arghakhanchi in the West, Kharjyang
VDC of Gulmi in the North and Bhuwanpokhari VDC of Palpa in the South.
Demographic Information of the VDC
There are altogether 663 households with a population of 3,032; 1,320 males (43.50
%) and 1,712 females (56.50 %) in nine wards of the VDC with the literacy rate of
75.25 %, of which the female percentage is 70.09 % and that of male is 83.25% (CBS,
2011). The main occupation is the subsistence farming with livestock and goat
rearing. There is neither any industry in the VDC nor any other type of permanent
employment opportunities for the people. Many male youths migrate seasonally to the
urban centers and cities for the employment. Table 3.1 below shows the demographic
information of Daugha VDC.
Figure 3.1 Daugha Village Development Committee (VDC) Gulmi District
18
Table 3.1 Population Distribution Ward-wise in Daugha VDC
Ward No. No. of HHs Male Female Total Percentage
1 54 112 112 224 7.3
2 66 155 195 350 11.5
3 57 93 155 248 8.2
4 91 184 242 426 14.2
5 65 107 176 283 9.3
6 103 168 236 404 13.3
7 86 184 212 396 13.1
8 88 197 227 424 14.0
9 53 120 157 277 9.1
Total 663 1,320 1,712 3,032 100
(Source: CBS, 2011)
Ethnic Composition
Daugha VDC is inhabited by different caste groups like Brahmins, Chhetri, Magar,
Sarki, Kami, Damai, Newar, Sunar, Kumal and others. Magar is the predominant
caste with population of 1,050 followed by Brahmins with that of 819. The following
table 3.2 provides data on population distribution in term of caste groups.
Table 3.2 Ethnic Composition of the Daungha VDC
S.N. Ethnic group Population Percentage
1 Magar 1050 34.6
2 Brahmins 819 27.0
3 Chhetry 390 13.0
4 Sarki 290 9.5
5 Kami 161 5.3
6 Sunar 126 4.2
7 Newar 67 2.2
8 Damai 63 2.0
9 Kumal 58 1.9
10 Others 8 0.3
Total 3,032 100
(Source: CBS, 2011)
3.2 Water Drudgery in Daugha Village Development Committee
Daugha used to be the most hardship VDC in terms of water supply situation until
mid-nineties out of 79 VDCs in Gulmi. Scarcity of water for domestic uses was so
severe that people had to spend more than three hours to fetch a pitcher of water
(RWSSP, 1995). Elderly people of Daugha still remember their decade-long
continued efforts to avail water in their village. Unfortunately, the efforts never got
19
materialized until the mid-nineties mainly because of unavailability of viable water
source in the vicinity, which could serve their area. They tell the story about how they
approached the then King Mahendra during his royal visit to Arghakhanchi District
and put forward the then burning problem of water in their village. King Mahendra,
generously had listened to their problems and instructed the then His Majesty
Government (HMG) of Nepal to solve the water problem of Daugha with high
priority (order of the Crown -1959 AD). This also could not get materialized because
of unavailability of technically feasible water source in the nearby area. Water for
Daugha was such a big issue that many politicians and political parties cheated local
people now and then with false promises to solve the problem, and in turn they
demanded people‟s favour especially during the elections. Also, people remember and
talk openly about the bitter truth that marrying a girl from outside the village used to
be a real big challenge for them and their proposal would often be refused by the
girl‟s parents because of the water drudgery prevailing in the village.
Women and children mainly bear the responsibility to collect water and manage it to
meet the daily demand. Before start of the rainwater project (until mid-nineties), it
was quite usual that school-going children used to carry jerry cans of suitable size
(ranging from 1 to 10 liters) every morning and bring the water on their way back
home from school in the evening. So, water used to be the main responsibility of
women partly shared by their children.
3.3 Water Sources in the VDC: Springs, Kuwas and Traditional Ponds
Daugha VDC is situated at an altitude of about 1,150 meters from sea level. There are
altogether 10 springs used regularly in the past for drinking water purpose. Many of
them are the seasonal sources, which dry during summer. Only few of them are the
perennial ones like Nigata (Hingya) mul, Dharapanimul and Gokulemulof ward
numbers 1, 5 and 6 respectively. Table 3.3 below shows the details about the springs
(Mul) used for drinking water purposes in the VDC.
Table 3.3 Location of the Springs and Benefited Wards of Daugha VDC
S.N. Spring (Muhan) Situated ward Benefited ward
1 Nigata (Hinga) spring* Ward No. -1 Ward No 1 & 2
2 Gokul spring Ward No.-4 Ward No 4
3 SimleMuhan Ward No.-4 Ward No 4
4 Jimirepandhero Ward No.-4 Ward No 5,7,8 & 3
5 Deep panimuhan Ward No.-5 Ward No 3,5,7,8 & 6
6 Dharapani spring* Ward No.-5 Ward No 6
7 Gaunda Sano Padhero Ward No.-6 Ward No 6 & 9
8 GokulePandhero* Ward No.-6 Ward No 6
9 SapangdiPandhero Ward No.-6 Ward No 6
10 KumalPani Ward No.-6 Ward No 6
11 Bhulke Spring Ward No.-8 Ward No 8
Note: * denotes the perennial Water Sources
(Source: RWSSP, 1995)
20
Almost all of them are situated in the lower altitude and people need to walk for about
2 hours per trip to fetch water from these sources (Table 3.4). A very conservative
estimate shows that one family of 3-5 members, on an average, needs around 60 liters
of water per days for the domestic purpose. That means each family had to make 4
round trips (one pitcher of 15 liters capacity) to the water sources to fetch water. As
the sources are located at a far distance (average round trip time of 2 hours), it takes
about 6-7 hours per day per family on average to be devoted for water collection. This
question of water fetching time was raised and discussed during the household
interviews in all the wards. Based on their response, a simple calculation has been
made for various categories of families depending upon the distance to the sources or
time required for one round trip. This gave an average of 6.35 hours of fetching time
per family per day.
Table 3.4 Average Water Fetching Time from Different Water Sources
S.N. Source Name Type of Source Average time for one round trip
(in minutes)
1 Hingya Spring 120 minutes
2 Gokule Spring 30 minutes
3 Simle Spring 90 minutes
4 Jimire Kuwa 60 minutes
5 Deeppani Spring 75 minutes
6 Dharapani Spring 180 minutes
7 GandasanaPadhero Kuwa 30 minutes
8 GokulePandhero Spring 90 minutes
9 Sapangdi Kuwa 45 minutes
10 Kumalpani Spring 45 minutes
11 Bhulke Spring 180 minutes
(Source: RWSSP, 1995)
Apart from the (Mul) springs, people of the study area depend mostly on the water
collected in traditional ponds for various domestic needs like; washing, bathing,
feeding cattle and also for the community needs like religious events, marriage
ceremonies, funeral activities etc. Some families also used the same water for cooking
especially during the peak time of agricultural works. These traditional ponds receive
water during the rainy season and the same lasts for couple of months in many of
them whereas few serve even for the year round. Bhuwane Pokhari (pond), situated in
ward no. 6 of the VDC is the largest one and it serves a large number of people from
wards 3,5,7,8 and 9 for the whole year. The list of traditional ponds in the VDC areas
follows in table 3.5;
21
Table 3.5 Traditional Water Collection Ponds in the VDC
S.N. Name of the pond Location Water availability
(seasonal/perennial)
Served population
(wards)
1 Mohare Sano Pokhara Ward –2 Seasonal Ward 1 & 2
2 MohareThuloPokhara Ward-2 Seasonal Ward 3
3 KaulePokhari Ward-3 Seasonal Ward 4
4 GofleGairaPokhara Ward-4 Seasonal Ward 4
5 HalgadePokhari Ward-4 Seasonal Ward 5
6 LaptanPokhara Ward-5 Seasonal Ward 5 & 7
7 Tare Pokhari Ward-5 Seasonal W. 3,5,7,8
8 ThuloPokhara Ward-7 Seasonal W. 3,5,7,8
9 GagalePokhara Ward-8 Seasonal W. 5,7,8
10 BhuwanePokhara Ward-8 Perennial W.5,7,8
11 PuccharPokhari Ward-8 Perennial W.5,7,8
12 AmalePokhari Ward-9 Perennial W 9
13 KhanePokhari Ward-8 Perennial W.5,7,8
(Source: RWSSP, 1995)
Also, there were nine 20 CUM capacity ferrocement tanks constructed in all nine
wards of the VDC, to collect rainwater, with support from the District Water Supply
Office, Gulmi during early nineties to cater the water needs of the community mainly
for the events like marriage ceremonies, religious events and festivals, funeral
activities etc.
3.4 Research Design
The research study followed step-by-step procedure starting chronologically from the
proposal preparation phase, preparation for fieldwork phase, field study phase, data
management and analysis phase and the thesis report preparation phase. The detail
tasks break down structure showing set of activities covered in each phase is
presented below in figure 3.2, the methodological framework.
22
Proposal Phase
Proposal Preparation
(Draft)
Submission and
Presentation of Research
Proposal
Finalization of the
Proposal
Preparation Phase for Field Work
Coordination with VDC/VWASHCC Formulation, administration and
finalization of the questionnaires
Field Work Phase
Rapport Building
with Communities
Conduct Household
Interviews
Conduct Key Informants
Interviews
Field
Observations
Data Management and Analysis Phase
Finalize Data base,
entry Formats
Coding
Questions and
Answers
Data
Entry
Checking of Data
completeness
Data Analysis &
Interpretation
Thesis Report
Draft Report Submission of draft report and
pre defense of the findings
Final presentation
to the nec CPS
Final
Report
Figure 3.2 Methodological Framework
3.5 Rresearch Approach
The research study followed both quantitative and qualitative methods of research. In
other words, this has been a mixed method of study that comprised set of
questionnaires to collect the quantitative data and also comprised set of checklists for
individual level interviews.
Both types of data i.e. quantitative data and the perceptions and experiences of people
in terms of qualitative data have been collected and processed using the SPSS
software to produce the final report.
3.6 Sample Size
The sample size, for the given universe of 663 households, has been estimated based
on some basic assumptions like:
i) Confidence level or the measure of reliability as 95% or the significance level
5%.
ii) Degree of accuracy as 91% or the margin of error as 9%
23
iii) Variability as moderate
The sample size is derived for the above conditions from the published tables as;
n= 104 nos.
Where, the formula used is;
n = N/(1+N e2) ………………………………………(i)
Where:
n = Sample Size
N = Population
e = Margin of error
Also, the derived sample size was further verified with the sample advisor
table downloaded from Google (Annex II).
3.7 Sampling Unit and Method
The sampling unit for the study was the household. While conducting the study in the
VDC, total households of nine wards constituted the study universe. The total number
of samples determined by equation (i), were divided in each ward based on
representative distribution principle with that of the ward households as shown in
table 3.6. In each ward samples were selected in a systematic way for which sampling
class intervals were determined by dividing the total number of households of the
ward by the total number of samples required as shown in equation (ii).
Sampling Class Interval = (Total Number of Households in a Ward/Total Number
of Samples required from the ward) ………….. ii
Table 3.6 Number of Household Samples Distribution across the Wards
Ward No Total Households Households
Interviewed
Sample Interval
1 54 8 7
2 66 10 7
3 57 11 5
4 91 14 7
5 65 10 7
6 103 15 7
7 86 16 5
8 88 13 7
9 53 7 8
Total 663 104
3.8 Methods of Data Collection
Primary data was collected for the study purpose through various participatory tools
of inquiry. While the secondary data was obtained through various literatures,
journals published and unpublished documents and reports.
24
3.8.1 Household Interview
The total VDC samples were distributed in each ward based on proportionate size of
ward household. The number of sample households in each ward was selected
following the systematic sampling method. The interview plan with the selected
households was made and the concerned households were pre-informed about the
date, time and purpose of the visit to their houses. Ideally, both the heads of
household (man and woman) were requested to attend the interview. However, it was
not possible in all cases to attend interview by both male and female mainly because
of other important household works. In this manner, a total of 104 households in all
nine wards were visited and interviewed with a help of semi-structured questionnaire
(Annex III). A total of 154 respondents participated in the household interviews with
92 males and 62 females as shown in table 3.7.
Table 3.7 Number of Respondents in Households Survey
Ward
No
Total
Households
Households
Interviewed
Total Interview Respondents
Male Female Total
1 54 8 8 0 8
2 66 10 8 2 10
3 57 11 9 7 16
4 91 14 12 12 24
5 65 10 8 6 14
6 103 15 13 3 16
7 86 16 14 12 26
8 88 13 13 13 26
9 53 7 7 7 14
Total 663 104 92 62 154
The respondents of household level interviews were of different age groups. This
helped to capture the feelings and perception of the varied aged groups, regarding the
RWH systems.
Also, interviewed people belonged to various economic strata ranging from the small
farmers to the large farmers and general middle class people as shown in table 3.8.
This has helped to listen the voices of all the social groups like pro poor and better
offs in terms of the facility that they are getting from RWH systems in the VDC.
25
Table 3.8 Respondents in Household Interview with Economic Status
Land holding (ropani) Livestock (number) Average annual
income (class)
HH
Count
Total
HHs
Land
less
Small
farmer
(1-10)
Middle
farmer
(10-20)
Large
farmer
>20
Less
than or
equal
to 5
5-10 >10
Upto
1
lakh
1-2
lakh
More
than
2
lakh
# 104 0 38 46 20 49 41 14 41 31 32
% 100 0 36.5 44.2 19.3 47.1 39.4 13.5 39.4 29.8 30.8
3.8.2 Key Informant Interview
Semi-structured checklists were used to conduct the Key Informants Interview (KII)
in the VDC. The key informants included the local elites and elderly persons,
teachers, VDC personnel, User‟s Committee representatives, the trained rainwater
harvesters, mother‟s group representatives and the representatives of the cooperative
groups. A checklist (Annex IV) was taken as a reference, which was followed by the
several probing questions during the discussion. Purpose of this exercise was to hear
and compile the voices of users, their local leaders and elderly people and then
triangulate the data that have been collected from the household interviews.
People from different walks of life have participated in this KII and expressed their
views and experiences related to the service they are getting from this system. A total
of 14 key informants were interviewed consisting of 9 male and 5 female from
different wards of the VDC as shown in table 3.9.
Table 3.9 Number of Respondent in Key Informants Interviews
Occupation Male Female Total
Skilled rainwater harvesters (Masons) 5 (14) 0 5
Health worker 0 (1) 1 (1+9*) 1
User‟s committee members 2 (5) 3 (4) 5
Teachers 2 0 2
Business person 1 0 1
Total 9 5 14
Note: * represents Female Community Health Volunteer (FCHV)
26
3.8.3 Observation
The rainwater harvesting systems at households were
observed thoroughly during the visit to all nine
wards of the VDC. The observation focused mainly
on physical condition of the installed RWH systems,
their functioning and level of service delivery,
operation and maintenance aspects of the systems,
available water quantity and quality and the overall
durability of the systems (plate 3.1). This helped
validation and cross check of data gathered from
households and the individual person‟s interviews.
3.9 Water Quality Testing
An extensive task of water quality testing
covering all 104 sample households was carried
out using the water test field kit. Key water
quality parameters of microbiological, physical,
chemical were tested in all the household
systems studied. The tested parameters of water
quality at the households included;
Physical: Temperature, Odour, Taste, Colour and
pH value,
Chemical : Ammonia, Iron, Hardness and Free
Residual Chlorine
Microbiological: Coliform bacteria (present/absent)
The results was compared with the National Drinking Water Quality Standard
(NDWQS), 2005 and also with the World Health Organization (WHO) Standard and
verified.
3.10 Data Analysis
Every day after completion of interviews, a proper and fair recording of the data was
done. The quotes and the stories that came up during discussion were clearly noted
down on the same day.
All primary data were translated into English, entered into Statistical Package for
Social Sciences (SPSS) format and coded and analyzed accordingly. Relevant tables
and charts have been generated for the reporting purpose.
Triangulation of findings from household interviews, key informant‟s interviews and
observations were made for verification of data obtained. It was proved as an effective
way of eliminating the errors and cleaning data for further processing.
The report presents the findings through statistical quantitative and semi-quantitative
data. The qualitative information was presented both in the descriptive and
Plate 3.1 Rainwater Harvesting
System
Plate 3.2 Water Quality Testing of
Harvested Rainwater
27
graphical/tabular forms. Case stories and beneficiaries views have been reflected as
box cases and „quotes‟. Photographs have also been placed and presented in the report
as deemed relevant.
To analyze the sustainability of the system four key sustainability dimensions i)
Technical ii) Socio-environmental iii) Institutional and iv) Cost recovery, were
defined and the corresponding core factors and sub factors contributing to these
dimensions were identified. The core factors and sub factors were given weightage
following the Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) method. Table 3.10 below shows the
weightage given to the core factors of the sustainability dimensions.
Table 3.10 Sustainability Weightage to the Core Factors
Sustainability
Dimensions
Core factors to assess the Sustainability Dimensions Weightage
Technical (25) Quantity of water (5) 5
Quality of water (5) 5
Accessibility/Time to fetch water (5) 5
Reliability/Availability Months per year(5) 5
Physical status of the system (5) 5
Institutional
(25)
Users‟ committee/Fund management Committee(5) 5
VWASHCC functioning (5) 5
Trained rainwater harvesters (5) 5
Coordination and linkage of the committees (5) 5
Transparency on loan disbursement, other
expenditures, procurement and repayment of loan (5)
5
Socio-
environmental
(25)
Water facility to the families and social equity (5) 5
Improved health status, improved sanitary practices
and improved hygiene behaviors (5)
5
Reduction in women‟s burden of fetching water,
utilization of saved time in IG activities, caring
children and their education (5)
5
Gender and Social inclusion in the program (5) 5
Environmental aspects and climate change effects on
RWH systems (5)
5
Cost Recovery
(25)
Managing O&M fund for the RWH systems(10) 10
Managing system replacement fund (10) 10
Availability of local fund and its diversified use (5) 5
Similarly each core factor under each sustainability dimension includes various sub
factors. Each sub factor is further given weightage based on the field findings and
participatory discussions with the users (refer Annex-V).
28
CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Potential of Rainwater Harvesting in Daugha Village Development
Committee
The annual precipitation recorded in the nearby meteorological station in Ridi Bazar
from 1994 to 2013 was observed. The average precipitation recorded for the given 20
years comes to be 1,330 mm. Based on the observed data the total annual rainfall
trend from 1994 to 2013 is shown below in Figure 4.1, which shows the decreasing
trend.
Figure 4.1 Average annual precipitation of Ridi Bazar from 1994 to 2013
4.2 Historical Background on Rainwater Harvesting Initiatives
In 1996, Finnish International Development Agency (FINNIDA) supported Rural
Water Supply and Sanitation Support Programme (RWSSP) in Lumbini Zone, under
which RWH technology at household level, on a pilot basis was introduced. A total of
45 RWH systems (jar systems) were installed at the rate of five households in each
ward. After one rainy season, people of Daugha were found highly convinced with the
technology and their acceptance level was found to be quite high (Bohara, 2001). The
demand to cover the whole VDC with the same RWH technology was put forth to
RWSSP by the local people through the VDC. They also committed to contribute
certain part of the capital cost plus required unskilled labour and the local materials.
29
Thus, the real project implementation started in 1997 and nearly 500 jars of 2,000-
liter capacity were installed in 250 households at the rate of 2 jars in each household.
The second round of implementation started in 1999 with modified design of 6,500-
liter capacity jars with provision of one jar in each household. Thus, the rainwater
collection jars of two sizes representing two generations can be found in Daugha
VDC. Also, to make local people able to build the system on their own, a total of 14
rainwater harvesters in Daugha were trained. This has largely helped to replicate the
system not only in other VDCs of Gulmi but also in different districts of the country
as such. As of now, many people have gained the skills on „how to build the system’
working together with the trained rainwater harvesters as on the job trainee.
4.3 Present Context on Rainwater Harvesting
After successful piloting of household level RWH
system in the VDC in 1996, upscaling and
replication of the technology took place rapidly
within and outside of Daugha. All nine wards of the
VDC formed their RWH users‟ sub committees
under the lead of VDC level main committee and
started implementation of the project. RWSSP in
support of FINNIDA, provided support to each
household with 2 jars of 2,000-liter capacity
(ferrocement jars) plus the gutter system and the
Corrugated Galvanized Iron (CGI) roofing sheets
equivalent to 180 sq. ft. area during the first round
of implementation. Later on the same, ferrocement jars of 6,500-liter capacity were
designed and households were supported at the rate of one jar each. Families with
better economic standing also started building bigger size stone masonry tanks to
store enough water for the whole year. In this manner, Daugha people started a huge
and wonderful campaign to collect rainwater to meet their daily water demand.
Altogether 14 rainwater harvesters were trained by RWSSP in the VDC to support
implementation of the project. Families are still adding on such water harvesting tanks
whenever they have money to afford. The table 4.1 below shows number of water
collection tanks in the VDC with different capacity.
Table 4.1 Household Level Rainwater Collection Jars in the VDC
S/N Description Number of jars/tanks
1 2,000-liter capacity jars 916
2 6,500-liter capacity jars 236
3 Stone masonry of different size ranging from 15 to 85 cum 86
Total 1,238
(Source: Field Visit, 2014)
Plate 4.1 18 years old Rainwater
Harvesting Systems
30
4.4 Sustainability Dimensions of the Rainwater Harvesting Systems
Dimensions are the highest level of sustainability monitoring indicators for water
supply and sanitation facilities which are known as; technical, socio-environmental,
financial and institutional (WaterAid, Nepal, 2010).
Each sustainability dimension is significantly governed by many factors and sub-
factors. As per the principles of multi-criteria approaches (MCA), each factor is rated
depending upon its potential contribution or its significance in making the case
sustainable. The comparative weights given to dimensions, factors and sub-factors
were determined through participatory methods.
4.4.1 Technical Aspect
In terms of water facility, the findings of the study, in line to the sustainability core
factors as explained earlier, have been presented in the following sections. Users were
asked about the level of water supply services reaching to the users in terms of
Quantity, Accessibility, Reliability and Quality (QARQ).
i. Quantity
In terms of adequacy, 22 households (21%), with
privately installed additional storage tanks, mentioned
that they have water availability all-year-round in
required quantity. A total of other 6 households (5.8
%) having family members equal to or less than 3,
who lived with the same storage capacity (4,000-
6,000 liters) as provided initially by the project
mentioned water sufficiency for about 10 months, the
other 56 households (53.8 %) having family members
up to 5, who lived with the same storage capacity
4,000–6,000 liters) as provided initially by the project
mentioned water sufficiency equal to nearly 6
months, and the rest 20 households (19 %) having family members more than 5 up to
7 who lived with the same storage capacity (4,000–6,000 liters) as provided initially
by the project mentioned water sufficiency just up to 4-5 months only. Hence, it is
clearly seen that in case of families with 3-5 members, an additional storage capacity
i.e. storage of about 12,000 liters is needed to fulfill the demand for the year round.
Finding of the study in relation to the storage capacity with family size and
sufficiency in months per year is shown in table 4.2 below.
Table 4.2 Storage Capacity with Family Size vs. Sufficiency in Months
S/N Households
(number)
Storage Capacity (liter) Family size
(number)
Sufficiency
(months/year)
1 6 4,000-6,000 < or = 3 10
2 56 4,000-6,000 Up to 5 6
3 20 4,000-6,000 >5 up to 7 4.5
4 22 >12000 >5 12
Plate 4.2 Up-scaling of the
Rainwater Harvesting System
31
The above data also reveals that, the water availability per family on average in months per year is;
M= (H1*m1+H2*m2+H3*m3+H4*m4)/(H1+H2+H3+H4) ……………………………(ii)
M= (22*12+56*6+20*4.5+6*10)/104
M=7.2 months,
Where, M= average months/year
H1, H2, H3, H4 = Number of households having sufficiency of water in range of
months m1, m2, m3, m4 = number of months with water availability for respective
households
Finding of the study in terms of water availability in the jars during the year is shown
in table 4.3 below.
Table 4.3 Number of Jars vs. Water Storage Capacity at Households in the VDC
Count of Jar number
per family
Jar capacity
(liter)
Households
with family
size of less
than or equal
to 3
Households
with family
size of
3 to 5
Households
with family
size of
more than
5
Total
1
2000 1 4 5
4000 2 2
6000 10 10
28000 1 1
Total families with 1 jar 3 1 14 18
2
4000 4 7 20 31
8000 2 6 13 21
16000 1 1
27000 1 1
29000 1 1
31000 1 1
34000 1 1
37000 1 2 3
41000 1 1 2
47000 1 1
52000 1 1
56000 1 1
Total families with 2 jars 9 16 40 65
3
6000 1 2 3
10000 1 5 6
39000 2 2
44000 1 1 2
54000 5 5
Total families with 3 jars 1 4 13 18
4
12000 1 1
16000 1 1
89000 1 1
Total families with 4 jars 3 3
Grand Total 13 21 70 104
32
ii. Accessibility
Of the total 104 sample households with rainwater harvesting systems in the VDC, the
time saved was reported to be 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours and 3 hours per
trip in 25 (24 %), 25 (24 %), 7 (6 %), 22 (21 %) and 25 (24 %) households
respectively. A calculation has been made for the saved time per day per family based
on the responses received from the households in terms of total number of pitchers
(gagries) of water they need per day. As presented below, the time saved per family
ranges from 42 minutes to 12.96 hours per day. An average saving of 6.35 hours per
day per family has been derived and presented in the table 4.4 below;
Table 4.4 Average Time Saved per Household with RWH Program in the VDC
Saved
time
range
HHs in
corresponding
range
Total
fetching trip
per day
Total time
saved/day
(min.)
Total time
saved/day/H
H (min.)
Total time
saved/day/HH
(hour)
1-15 min 25 130 1040 42 0.69
16-30
min 25 163 3749 150 2.50
31-60
min 7 40 1800 257 4.29
1-2hrs 22 151 13590 618 10.30
2-3hrs 25 162 19440 778 12.96
Total 104 646 39619 381 6.35(Average)
Before implementation of rainwater scheme, on average a household had to spend
about 6.35 hours per day to fetch water. So with the RWH system in place, if a
household saves 6.35 hours per day for a prolonged period of 7.2 months (average
storage duration), it can be calculated as time saved of 190.5 hrs. per family per
month or about 24 person days per family per month. It implies that one family saves
173 person days in 7.2 months, which can be utilized for income generation activities
for the family. With a very conservative calculation based on the prevailing labor
wage of NRS. 200.00 per day (local level), one household can gain as much as NRS.
34,600.00 per year from the time saved from fetching water. The saved time can be
also used in different activities such childcare, family care, household work, income
generating activities etc.
iii. Reliability
As mentioned earlier, stored rainwater is enough for domestic uses based on the
storage capacity and the number of users in the family. The study found that, out of
104 families, it is enough for 4-5 months for 20 families, 6 months for 56 families, 10
months for 6 families and the whole year for 22 families. The above mentioned 22
families who have enough water for the year round, have installed additional
rainwater storage tanks in their households and 6 families who have enough water for
about 10 months have less number of users (below 3 members in family). Similarly,
the trend shows that families with members up to 5 have water just enough for about 6
months with about capacity of 4,000-6,000 liters. Interestingly, it was found that at
the time of social bifurcation of the joint families, the rainwater harvesting tanks are
33
also divided among the nuclear families (Field Observation, 2014). This is the reason
amongst other, the insufficiency of the stored water. Thus, it shows that one family
with 5 members would require storage of about 12,000 liters to be able to fetch
needed quantity of water from the RWH system for the year round. Table 4.5 below
shows the storage capacity with number of users vs. reliability of service
(months/year);
Table 4.5 Sufficiency of Water for Households in the VDC
Count of Jar
number per
family
Jar capacity
(liters)
Sufficiency in
months for family
size of less than or
equal to 3
Sufficiency in
months for
family size 3
to 5
Sufficiency in
months for family
size of more than 5
1
2000 4 4
4000 9.5
6000 7.5
28000 12
2
4000 9 6 5
8000 12 9 7
16000 12
27000 12
29000 12
31000 12
34000 12
37000 12 2
41000 12 12
47000 12
52000 12
56000 12
3
6000 10 7
10000 10 7
39000 12
44000 12 12
54000 12
4
12000 10
16000 12
89000 12
iv. Quality
In terms of quality of the stored water in the jars, most of the user families replied as
suitable for drinking. However, it was learnt that more than 80% of the households
use water for drinking purpose after properly boiling it. A thorough testing of water
34
quality in all 104 sample households was carried out during the field study period.
The results obtained from the test are shown below in table 4.6
Table 4.6 Water Quality Test Result
Water Quality
Parameters
Result
Result within
the permissible
limit (OK) –No.
of HHs
Result outside
of the range
(objectionable)
–No. of HHs
WHO Standard
Limit
National
Standard Limit
Temperature °C 104 (average
25.6061 S.)
Odour (observe) 99 5 Unobjectionable Unobjectionable
Taste (observe
or ask)
99 5 Unobjectionable Unobjectionable
Colour (observe) 101 3 Unobjectionable Unobjectionable
Turbidity
(observe)
102 2 Free Free
pH 82 22 6.5-8.5 6.5-8.5
Ammonia mg/l 94 10 1.5 mg/l 1.5 mg/l
Iron mg/l 103 1 0.3 (3) mg/l 0.3 (3) mg/l
Hardness mg/l 104 0 500 mg/l 500 mg/l
Coliform
bacteria
(present/absent)
54 50 not to be present not to be present
The above quality test result shows that about 48% samples of stored water in the jars
have been found contaminated with the coliform bacteria. Further, 22 out of 104
samples have been observed to have acidic nature, pH values lower than the normal (5
to 6.5) and 10 out of 104 samples were having low Ammonia content between 0.5 to
1.5. As man y as 5 household water samples were found to be questionable in terms of
odour and taste. More than 80% of the households were found to consume water only
after boiling; it is an excellent practice to address the problem of coliform bacteria and
to some extent the solution to improve other physical properties like odour and tastes. Chemical contaminants persistence in Nepal includes pesticides through agricultural
spray drift and hydrocarbons from wood smoke emissions. Rainwater is very low in
dissolved minerals but slightly acidic as it dissolves carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
rendering it relatively aggressive. Rainwater can dissolve heavy metals and other
impurities from materials of catchment and storage tank. Normally, chemical
concentrations in rain water are within acceptable limits, however possibility of Zinc
and Lead leaching from metallic roofs and storage tanks cannot be ruled out. Rain
water lacks minerals like Calcium, Magnesium, Iron and Fluoride, which are
considered essential for health. However most of them are derived from food stuffs
(DWSS, 2014).
With the above findings of RWH systems in terms of QARQ, the following summary
(table 4.7) can be generated as overall access of the people to the water service:
35
Table 4.7 Overall Access to Service (Technical Aspect)
Access to water services HHs %
Time saved in water fetching/day (2-3 hours) 25 24
Time saved in water fetching /day (1 -2 hours) 27 26
Time saved in water fetching (up to 1 hour) 52 50
Average time saved in fetching water per day = 6.5 hrs. 104 100
Quality of available water (good round the year- as people‟s perception
and practice of boiling in most cases)
85 82
Sufficiency of water (sufficient quantity round the year) 22 21
Sufficiency of water (sufficiency partly) 82 79
Regularity of service (sufficient up to 4-5 months per year) 20 19
Regularity of service (sufficient up to 6 months per year) 56 54
Regularity of service (availability up to 10 months per year) 6 6
Regularity of service (availability up to 12 months) 22 21
The time saved in fetching water per day and the reliability of water services are
shown below in Figures 4.2 and 4.3 respectively:
Figure 4.2 Time saved in fetching water per day
Figure 4.3 Reliability of water services
36
v. Physical Status of the RWH Systems
RWH systems building in Daugha VDC started in 1996 as
a pilot work. Rainwater collection though used to be a
traditional practice for centuries in Nepal, harvesting
systematically through installing a properly designed
collection system at household level is first piloted in
Daugha VDC in Nepal. With the promising results from
this test case, a rapid and wider replication of the system
took place in several parts of the country by various
agencies.
The RWH system in Daugha VDC has already crossed the normal design lifetime of
water project i.e. 15-year time period. The first round systems constructed during
1996 have crossed even 18 years of age. As mentioned earlier, the first generation of
the jars was made of 2000-liter capacity followed by 6500-liter capacity later as the
second generation. During the study, all nine wards of the VDC have been visited and
the systems were thoroughly observed in terms of their functioning and durability and
overall physical status. Almost all the systems are found intact and functioning well
except only few requiring minor repairs.
4.4.2 Socio-Environmental Aspect of Rainwater Harvesting System
i. Access to Sanitation Services
Respondents‟ awareness levels about the importance of
sanitation and hygiene in the study areas was also a
subject of inquiry. The findings indicate significant
progress on that front. All 104 households were found to
be reasonably aware of the importance of sanitation and
hygiene. The extent of open defecation seems to have
gone down drastically in the VDC. More than 80 % of
the households in the VDC reported to have toilets in
their homestead. Similar trend is noticed in case of hand
washing with soap during critical times. Interestingly,
about 9 % of the respondents in the wards did not respond to the question related to
hand washing with soap. Accordingly, the significant positive changes in washing
clothes and bathing in post-project situation was reported. Tables 4.8 and 4.9 below
describe the sanitation related details in the VDC and incidences of water borne
diseases before and after the project in the VDC.
Plate 4.3 Physical Status of
Rainwater Harvesting System
Plate 4.4 Improved Sanitary
Practices
37
Table 4.8 Access to Sanitation Services
Access to sanitation services HHs %
General awareness of people regarding proper sanitary practice (acceptable
level)
104 100
Households use to defecate openly before the project 67 64
Households with and using toilets at present 92 88
Hand washing with soap practiced after using toilet and at other critical
times (+ve response)
95 91
Hand washing with soap practiced after using toilet and at other critical
times (no response)
9 9
Interval of bathing and washing clothes before the project (average once in
two weeks)
85 82
Interval of bathing and washing clothes at present (average twice in a week) 90 87
Table 4.9 Incidences of Water-borne Diseases Before and After the Project
Project
status
Occurance of
Diarrheal disease
Worms related
infectious cases
Skin diseases
among the
children
Other water borne
diseases
HH
with
cases
HH with
no cases
HH
with
cases
HH
with no
cases
HH
with
cases
HH
with no
cases
HH
with
cases
HH
with no
cases
Before
(HH) 98 5 57 47 71 33 97 6
% 95 5 55 45 68 32 93 7
After (HH) 10 94 22 82 14 90 15 89
% 9 91 21 79 13 87 14 86
The incidences of various water-borne diseases declined remarkably after the
implementation of the project as shown in the Figure. 4.4 below:
Figure 4.4 Incidence of water-borne diseases before and after the project
Incidences of
water-borne
diseases in the
VDC
38
ii. Sharing Water Supply Facilities in the Community
The century-old notion of caste structure, although gradually breaking down, is still
persisting in Nepalese society led with Hindu structures. Moreover, caste hierarchy
also has implications in socio-economic standing in Nepal. In considering this reality,
an attempt was made to assess the equity issue related to the sharing of the facilities in
terms of allocation and building RWH systems in the poor and dalit‟s households. It is
noteworthy that no discrimination (table 4.10) against the caste and economic
hierarchy existed in the VDC as all the household interviews and key informants level
interviews confirmed this fact.
Table 4.10 Equity in RWH System Allocation and Sharing
Equity Issues in Sharing the Facilities HHs %
All the members of community have equally treated in allocation of the RWH
systems
104 100
All households in the community have received the RWH systems on an equal
basis without any discrimination based on the castes. All households have
installed the system and getting water facility from the beginning regularly.
104 100
Discrimination based on castes and classes do not persists in the VDC 104 100
Capacity building and training events have also been organized without any
discrimination.
104 100
Local skilled Masons (Mistries) belong to all castes like Brahmin/Chhetri, Janjati
and Dalits
104 100
Behavioral Changes and its Effects
Many development interventions in society are linked to
objective of anticipated output and it is also true in case of the
RWH project under study. RWH project also has common
objectives, as in other Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
projects, of reduction if not total elimination of the vectors
causing various diseases. Accordingly sanitation & hygiene
components are also to save human beings from various diseases
in addition to elevate the people to live with human dignity. In
this regard, the existing situation in the project area under study
was assessed.
Findings made from the household level interviews reveal a decline in incidence of
waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid etc., as reported by around
90 % of households as shown in table 4.11. Accordingly, more than four-fifth of the
respondent households reported that the time saved after the implementation of the
RWH schemes in their community is being used in livestock raising, vegetable
cultivation and other income generation activities. In addition, the saved time is
reported to have been used in household chores and off-farm activities like small
business in the village.
Plate 4.5 Innovation of
Rainwater Harvesting Jar
on the roof of toilet
39
Table 4.11 Post-project Impact by type of Water Supply System
Impact of RWH systems Number of
respondent
households
Number of
respondent
key persons
Yes % Yes %
Decline in the incidence of water borne and water washed
diseases
95 94 14 100
Saved time used for kitchen gardening and livestock
rearing
104 100 14 100
Saved time used for taking rest, caring children and other
household chores
104 100 14 100
Saved time used for non-farm activities (small scale
businesses)
8 7.5 2 14
Saved time used for skilled labor and unskilled wage labor
works
53 51 5 36
Increased monthly income with utilization of saved time 77 74 10 71
Household level interviews and KII revealed that accessibility of water in the VDC
has improved significantly and confirmed the cases of water borne and water washed
diseases have gone down significantly. Likewise, with regard to use of time saved
from fetching water, all 104 respondent households affirmed that they use the time
saved in vegetable cultivation, fodder/firewood collection and also in giving more
time in caring children.
In this manner, the results of the interviews and discussions indicated significant
positive changes to have occurred in all communities. Achievements made in regard
to household toilets in and their uses the VDC, reduction in incidence of water borne
diseases due to availability of clean water in the community, reduction in time
consumed for fetching water and alternative use of the saved time (in economic
activities and household chores), were the notable changes in the scheme areas as
reported by the users. It is worth noting that there have also been spillover effects
especially in building RWH systems in the neighboring VDCs and districts of the
country.
The records of a decade-long outpatient cases in sub-health post substantiate the
observed information and data collected from the Key Informants Interview and
household Interviews. The sub-health post's annual report for two years (year 2000
and 2014) is shown in table 4.12 below:
Table 4.12 Number of Patients Recorded in Daugha Sub Health Post
Months Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Total
2000 16 10 10 13 35 38 42 45 42 36 30 20 337
2014 2 0 0 3 10 13 15 20 16 12 8 5 104
(Source: Field Visit, 2014)
40
iii. Changes in Women's Status
The women of study area had to walk for hours
and hours every day to fetch water. In fact
women were heavily burdened with various
household tasks including fetching water from
long distance. The situation used to be more
worsened during the peak agriculture period
(during planting and harvesting) when women
work in the fields almost for the whole day. It
was the night time when they used to go to the
water sources to collect it to meet the
requirements of next day. People remember
those days as several groups of women going
to different water sources during night time
with fire torches (bundle of pine wood sticks)
in their hands. One can see hill slopes around
the water sources in the VDC full of fire lights
during the night time. The life of women used to be so hard and miserable that one
had to work for about 13-14 hours every day just to solve the daily needs of hand to
mouth.
After implementation of RWH project, women of Daugha expressed drastic positive
changes in their life as quoted “they feel like living in the heaven” by them. Most of
the girls are sent to school these days. Women can apportion more time to productive
activities. Now they have time to take rest, more time devoted for bringing up the
children and growing vegetables and similar activities at homes. They also participate
in various development activities in their village. They have formed various Self Help
Women Groups (SHWGs) such as mothers‟ groups and women groups in their wards.
In such manner, they take part in educational and infrastructural development
interventions hand-in-hand with male counterparts. Thus, with the implementation of
RWH program in the VDC, not only the drudgery of women from enormous
workload has reduced but also their confidence level for participation in development
works is gearing up and hence, the social status has been expressed increasing
gradually. Community development concept through balanced gender participation
was found increased in the VDC. The male members have realized that the
involvement of women in water and sanitation sector is crucial. In this manner, the
rainwater harvesting program in Daugha has proved to be the key milestone in
improving and uplifting the women‟s welfare.
Plate 4.6 Relief from Water Drudgery
for Women
41
iv. Environmental Changes
The perception and experiences of people in Daugha regarding the environmental
effects on RWH system were collected during the households and key informant‟s
interviews. The information revealed that there are many environmental related issues
that people have been experiencing over the period of about two decades. Briefly they
can be summed as:
gfn em/]b]lv bf+t embf{ ;Dd kfgLsf] clgsfn
Mrs. Indra Gharti, a 76-year-old lady of Daugha VDC ward no. 9, who suffered a lot in
her life just because of water scarcity and inadequacy, mentioned “gfn em/]b]lv bf+t embf{
;Dd kfgLsf] clgsfn” (Scarcity of water in Daugha since birth to death). Indra, born in
Amararbathok VDC ward no. 5 of the Gulmi District, was married at an age of 16 to a
Daugha resident Bhim Bahadur Gharti. It was ever since then she had suffered due to
the water related problems. She mentioned that she never faced any kind of trouble
related to water before her marriage. Indra used to live with her mother and two
brothers. Upon receiving proposal for her marriage to a fellow from Daugha, her elder
brother straight denied that. But, her mother and younger brother were in the favor of
marriage as they believed it was her age to get married. Finally, she got married. On
the day of her marriage, some people and her brothers from her village came to her
house and stayed overnight. During morning hours, her relatives asked for water so that
they can wash their faces but there was no water available. They were told to use the
water of a pond nearby. The water of the pond was so dirty and full of mud that the
relatives got furious. Her brothers apologized to her for making her life a living hell
and left.
In the following days, she suffered lack of sleep as the woman in the village had to
wake up early in the morning and fetch the water for the whole family. She said that
she could barely have 3-4 hours‟ sleep. She had to walk 2 hours to reach the water
sources. She had to collect water for her whole family of about 10 members and bring
it home before dawn. She recalls a moment when she was bitten by a snake on her way
back home after collecting water. The situation was horrifying as she was 7 months
pregnant. Fortunately, both she and her baby were saved with the help of local healers.
It was normal to encounter small accidents as the way used to be slippery and it used to
be so dark. She said, “I have broken around 8 water pitchers (copper gagris) by falling
off the slippery roads.” Unable to bear the burden, she even wanted to finish her life so
many times but could not do it. She had never imagined that there will ever be easy
access to water in this place. Indra said that they are fortunate that FINNIDA project
reached the place and helped the people there with RWH systems. She considers her
life to be blessed because of the FINNIDA project. She further considers the brides
nowadays are very lucky as there is plenty of water available at their homes.
She finally wished happiness for all those who supported them with such a miraculous
commodity in her old age.
42
i) Rainwater harvesting has been proved as the most appropriate and the best
option in the given context and is the most suitable adaptation to the given
environment.
ii) It has several benefits as it reduces soil erosion, gulley formation and
triggering landslides by catching rain before reaching to the ground
iii) They expressed the experience regarding possible effect of climate change.
They mentioned that for about half a decade after construction of the system,
there used to be regular winter rain, which used to be sufficient to fill the jars.
But, since last few years the winter rain has stopped and the water jars mostly
remain empty during the dry season. This has become a big climatic problem
for RWH projects.
iv) They further added that monsoon rain is also highly fluctuating in terms of its
timing. The normal trend is that the monsoon rains are getting pushed further
expanding the dry duration gradually.
4.4.3 Cost Recovery: Financial costs (O&M costs, Capital Cost for Upgrading of
Service)
Cost recovery is the concept that contributes to sustainability and it‟s planning
requires an appropriate strategy. Indeed, it will help define processes as well as
determine a structure upon which the management of a service will operate in short
and long term perspective. Cost incurred to establish a WASH project can be summed
as; (Cardone, Rachel ; Fonseca , Catarina, 2003)
Financial costs (operating costs, capital costs, cost of servicing capital)
Economic costs/benefits (lost value of water for other uses, gains from
productive use, time savings, pollution created or alleviated) and
Support costs (institution building, HRD, information systems, monitoring and
assessment, regulation, planning and strategy development).
The following questions can be used as a starting point while discussing about the
cost recovery.
Should only basic O&M costs be recovered, and by whom and how?
Should initial investment costs be recovered, and by whom and how?
Should replacement and rehabilitation costs be recovered, and by whom and
how?
How and where will the money be generated to recover these costs?
In case of RWH system, being a household asset, it is the full responsibility of the
concerned household to bear all the costs related to its operation, maintenance and
replacement over the period of time. The major question here is: how and where will
the money be generated to recover these costs? Does RWH systems have created
opportunities for the families to earn money at least equivalent to the above-
mentioned level of amount? Have people realized and started utilizing their time and
43
energy saved through implementation of RWH systems which otherwise would have
been spent on fetching water.
A simple calculation showed that saving time of 6.35 hour per day per family on
average for a period of 7.2 months (average storage duration) per year saves about
173 person days of labor. This is quite a big amount of time that can utilized to earn
money in any manner either working as a wage labor, working on farm productions
like vegetable farming, rearing goat, promoting poultry, starting own small business,
starting small scale cottage industry etc. This is an excellent opportunity created by
the RWH system for the families to earn money for better livelihoods including cost
recovery of the RWH systems.
It is also true that people‟s livelihood do not consist entirely the goods and services
that have only the market value, they depend also on home productions defined as
activities which improve the quality of life without involving market transactions. In
many cases, the greater convenience of the RWH show benefits for home production
activities such as cooking, housework and childcare to a greater extent than benefits
measurable in market values. Through improvement of these small but essential
facilities, families achieve greater benefits of improved health and hygiene. Also,
RWH systems have contributed in minimizing conflict in the communities which
often is seen in the shared water facilities like gravity flow systems, community
pumps etc.
i. Income through Agriculture Production
The main occupation of people is the subsistence agriculture in the VDC. Almost all
families depend on agricultural production. The main crops that are grown are the
maize, wheat, pulse and mustard. The comparison of income level before and after the
project is shown below table 4.13.
Table 4.13 Income through Agriculture Production
Crops Before the project (per family) After the project (per family)
Average
production
Average income
(Rs.)/year
Average
production
Average income
(Rs.)/year
Food crops
(maize, wheat)
20 muri 10,000 25 muri 12,500
Mustard (oil) 20 ltr. 3,200 30 ltr. 4,800
Cash crops sell
(vegetables)
0 0 LS 4,000
Sell of milk
products
LS 1,000 LS 1,500
Total 14,200 22,800
(Note: The unit price for the commodities is as of 2014)
Apart from above mentioned average income, some families have started goat rearing
and poultry farming in the village. Thus, it is evident that many families have been
doing income generation activities utilizing the saved time. The above table shows
that people's income through sell of agriculture products was NRs. 14,200 (US$ 142)
before the implementation of RWH project whereas it has increased to NRs. 22,800
44
(US$ 228) per year after implementation of the project with an exchange rate of US$
1 = NRs 100 as of 2014).
ii. Employment Opportunities
They utilize the saved time in many activities. Some of them have also been trained as
rainwater harvesters. Rainwater harvesters are almost busy for the whole year. They
are able to earn hundreds of thousand rupees every year. In turn, they have attained a
well-improved livelihood. Because of their increased income, they have been able to
send their children in better schools within and far from the area.
During implementation of RWH project, sand mines with good quality sand were
identified at the local level. Some families have been still involved in making sand
business. They mine the local sand reserves and sell it to the construction sites.
Similarly, some families are involved in goat rearing poultry farming and other
various agriculture related activities in the VDC. Apart from this, many others are
involved in wage labor and have been earning quite a reasonable amount of money. In
such manner, because of saved time several employment opportunities have been
generated in the VDC. Most people in the VDC do utilize their saved time in
productive ways.
iii. Establishment of Revolving Funds for Rainwater Harvesting Extension
The concept of revolving fund has been the part of the sustainable RWH program. In
case of Daugha VDC, RWSSP supported families with 2 jars of 2000 liters each at the
initial stage. The calculation was made to have at least 12,000 liters of storage per
family with an average member size of 5. The rest of the storage capacity was
supposed to be added by the families themselves on a gradual basis. In case of poor
families it was rather difficult to arrange such a huge amount to invest on jar
construction. Hence, the concept of the revolving fund was introduced and discussed
among the VDC people. It was agreed finally that all wards would have a fund of
certain amount and the user‟s committee would manage the same initially until the
project implementation phase. Later on, the committee would be reorganized as the
fund management committee at ward level.
With this consensus, people of Daugha in support of RWSSP approached various
agencies to seek support to establish the revolving funds. The then ongoing European
Union (EU) supported Gulmi Arghakhnachi Rural Development Project (GARDEP)
accepted their proposal of revolving fund and supported with a seed amount of NRs.
900,000.00, NRs 100,000 for each ward as ward level revolving funds. Fund
Management Committees (FMCs) at the ward level manage the fund. These
committees are formed with seven to nine members in each based on the size of ward
both area and population wise. All of these committees are represented by at least two
women members and minimum one member from Dalit group. The committees
sanction the loan based on the need and priority among all requests. A nominal
interest rate of 18% per annum is fixed for the loan and the maturity period of one
year is fixed all nine revolving funds. The management committees have developed
the grounded rules to operate this fund.
45
The fund created in 1999, mainly was meant to target the poor families, who are not
able to upgrade and upscale the rainwater harvesting system despite its beneficial
impacts on the households and a community as a whole, with a loan. In addition, it
was also agreed that the fund be lent for diversified uses in the VDC rather than just
keeping ideally in the bank. This had created an avenue for the people to start their
own small business. The fund is still maintained in the VDC and the amount has
reached NRs. 2.5 Million as of 2014. Many families have been benefitted from this
fund so far to upgrade their RWH systems, to build the household toilets and some
have also taken loan to start their small business at the local level.
4.4.4 Institutional Dimension
i. Effectiveness of Services of Trained Persons at Local Level
Information on the views of the respondents about service rendered by the locally
trained rainwater harvesters (mistri) during the course of the implementation of
scheme was solicited. Altogether 14 such rainwater harvesters were trained in the
VDC and almost all of them have been engaged fully in implementing RWH systems
in different parts of the country and in neighboring country. Few of them reported that
they were also engaged in installing such systems in Tehari Gadhwal area,
Uttarakhand, India. The table 4.14 of the household survey indicated that the services
of such technicians were useful to the communities. Information indicates that 75 %
of the respondents mentioned their performances as good. It was mentioned by them
during the key informant‟s interviews that they are earning handsome amount of
money with the skills they acquired as a rainwater harvester. Some harvesters said
that the earnings come up to around NRs. 500,000.00 per year. However, 25% of
respondents of the household level interviews mentioned that since the trained
persons mostly work outside the village, availability of their service is rather difficult
to get when required by the villagers.
Table 4.14 Effectiveness of Services Provided by the Trained Persons
Responses HHs %
Rainwater harvesters in the VDC were selected and trained in an
inclusive manner representing from all castes and social groups.
104 100
Trained rainwater harvesters have good skills and knowledge about the
systems.
104 100
Performance level of rainwater harvesters is very high and excellent. 78 75
Services rendered by the rainwater harvesters in the village are
satisfactory.
78 75
Water User and Sanitation Committees and Village Water Sanitation & Hygiene
Coordination Committees
Functioning of Water User and Sanitation Committee
Water User and Sanitation Committee (WUSC) is the grass root level institution and
its nature of functioning has strong bearing on the sustainability of the schemes in
46
communities. Therefore, an attempt was made to learn about user‟s knowledge and
perception of the existence of WUSC, its composition and functioning. The findings
indicate that all the respondent households of rainwater harvesting systems confirmed
their knowledge about WUSC. With regard to WUSC functioning, more than 90 % of
the respondents at household level affirmed that it is virtually inactive at present. The
WUSC remained active during implementation of the project and turned inactive soon
after completion of the project. The same WUSC has been made responsible for
handling the revolving funds and is commonly known as fund management
committee at present. Related to transparency of the system, knowledge among the
respondents about the total fund, about its deposition and uses was found to be very
low as only 25 % of the respondents have know-how about it (Table 4.15).
Table 4.15 Functioning of Water User and Sanitation Committee
Description HHs %
Know-how about WUSC 104 100
WUSC turned inactive after completion of project
construction
104 100
WUSC managing the revolving funds at ward level 104 100
Know-how of revolving fund management (including size) 26 25
Know-how on fund loaning and its processes 26 25
WUSC functioning was also discussed during the key informant‟s interviews (KII)
and the findings were in confirmation and in line with the findings made at the
household level interviews.
Functioning of Village Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Coordination Committee
(VWASHCC)
A newly constituted Village Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Coordination Committee
(VWASHCC) coordinates all WASH activities at VDC level as per the policy
formulated in the National Hygiene and Sanitation Master Plan, 2011 (GoN, 2011), in
the direction to achieve universal coverage of WASH in Nepal by 2017. The finding
reveals that the VWASHCC in Daugha VDC is active in coordinating the WASH
activities as per the stipulated mandate. Activities of VWASHCC mainly in
coordinating and organizing sanitation awareness campaigns, hygiene promotion
activities leading towards Open Defecation Free (ODF) are highly appreciated and
acknowledged by the ward people. However, it is constrained by physical facilities,
and fund resources for its effective regular functioning.
Local Organizations
There are some local organizations, groups and cooperatives in the VDC. They work
together with VWASHCC in promotion of WASH activities at VDC level. They
actively support the VDC in all sorts of coordination and social mobilization works.
Mother‟s groups, local youth club, revolving fund management committees at VDC
and ward levels, forest user‟s group etc. are some main local level institutions that
support various WASH activities to plan, implement and manage. This issue of local
47
institutions and their support was discussed mainly during the KII. The major areas
discussed included;
Orientations/trainings organised at WUSC and community (both hardware and
software)
awareness raising and sanitation improvement campaigns
community mobilisation for WASH activities
sanitation promotion issues
transparency and public auditing mainly for the revolving fund
technical fesibility for water projects with other technologies
Responses received in terms of supports rendered by the local instituitons, in general,
was found to be at the satisfactory level. However, it was reported that the fund
management needs to be user-friendly and should be made easily available to the
poorest of the poor group in an easy pay back system.
4.5 Sustainability of Rainwater Harvesting System
To analyze the sustainability of the system four key sustainability dimensions i)
technical ii) socio-environmental iii) institutional and iv) cost recovery were defined
and the corresponding core factors and sub factors contributing to these dimensions
were identified. The core factors and sub factors were given weightage following the
Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) method.
48
4.5.1 Technical Dimensions
Under the “Technical” dimension, five core factors of Quantity, Accessibility,
Reliability, Quality (QARQ) and the physical status of the system have been
considered and is shown in figure 4.5. Users were asked about access to the water
supply services in terms of quantity, accessibility, reliability and quality (QARQ).
Regarding quantity, 21% of the total interviewed households responded to have water
sufficiency for all year round whereas 79% of the households mentioned availability
of water ranging from 5 to 10 months a year based on the storage capacity and the
number of users. Regarding accessibility to water, 50% households mentioned time
saved as up to 1 hour per trip, 26% mentioned from 1-2 hours saved per trip and 24 %
mentioned the time saved as 2-3 hours per trip to fetch water. This comes to be on
average 6.35 hours of saved time per family per day. Similarly, reliability aspect
shows that 21% of the total families interviewed have availability of water throughout
the year, 6% have availability up to 10 months, and 19 % have water availability up to
6 months whereas remaining 21% have availability up to 5 months a year. Concerning
the quality of stored rainwater in the jars, people have perceived it to be of good
quality.
Quality test results obtained with the field kit test also indicate that most of the
parameters are in the permissible range. There was large number of samples found
with bacteriological contamination. However, most families (82%) use water for
drinking after proper boiling.
Figure 4.5 Technical Dimension for Rainwater Harvesting Sustainability
4.5.2. Socio-Environmental Sustainability
Under “Socio-Environmental” dimension of rainwater sustainability, the core factors
were identified as improved sanitary practices, health status and hygiene behaviors,
water facility to the families and social equity, gender and social inclusion in the
program, reduction in women‟s burden of fetching water and environmental aspects
and the climate change effects as shown in figure 4.6. The findings indicate
significant progress on that front. All 104 households were found to be reasonably
49
aware of the importance of sanitation and hygiene. The extent of open defecation
seems to have gone down drastically in the VDC. More than 80 % of the households
in the VDC reported to have toilets in their homestead. Similar trend is noticed in case
of hand-washing with soap during critical times. Decline in incidences of waterborne
diseases, such as diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid etc., was reported by nearly 90 % of the
households. Regarding water facility to the families and social equity, it is noteworthy
that no discrimination against the caste and economic hierarchy existed in the VDC as
all the household interviews and key informant level interviews confirmed this fact.
Regarding gender and social inclusion, there has been a remarkable positive change in
this front. Women, because of their saved time from fetching water, have started
participating in various development activities and have formed various Self Help
Women Groups (SHWGs) such as mothers‟ groups and women groups in the village.
They have started taking part in educational and infrastructural development
interventions hand in hand with male counterparts. This equally implies in case of pro
poor and dalit families as well. Dalits have found representing in all the groups and
committees on a proportionate basis. In this manner, the rainwater harvesting program
in Daugha has proved to be the key milestone in improving gender and social
inclusion in development. Similarly, the perception and experiences of people in
Daugha regarding the environmental effects on RWH system were collected during
the households and key informant‟s interviews. The information revealed that there
are many environmental related issues that people have been experiencing over the
period of about two decades. Briefly it can be summed that, rainwater harvesting has
been proved as the most appropriate and the best option in the given context and is the
most suitable adaptation method to the given environment.
Figure 4.6 Socio-environmental Dimensions of Rainwater Harvesting Sustainability
50
4.5.3. Institutional Dimensions
In the similar manner under “Institutional” dimensions of the sustainability core
factors identified include functioning of users committee/fund management
committee, functioning of VWASHCC in the VDC, skills and capacity of trained
rainwater harvesters, transparency about the fund and linkages with other government
and non-government organizations in the District and is shown in figure 4.7.
Regarding functioning of users committee, the findings indicate that more than 90 %
of the respondents at household level affirmed that it is virtually inactive at present.
The users committee remained active during implementation of the project and the
same committee has been made responsible for handling the revolving funds,
commonly known as fund management committee at present. Related to transparency
of the system, knowledge among the respondents about the total fund, about its
deposition and uses was found to be very low as only 25 % of the respondents have
know-how about it. Information on the views of the respondents about service
rendered by the locally trained rainwater harvesters (mistri) was solicited. 75 % of the
respondents mentioned their performances as good. All 14 trained rainwater
harvesters remain mostly outside of the village implementing RWH systems in
different parts of the country. Some of them also engaged in installing such systems in
Tehari Gadhwal area Uttarakhand Pradesh, India. However, 25% of respondents of
the household level interviews mentioned that service is rather difficult to avail when
required by the villagers as they remain mostly out of the village.
Similarly, regarding functioning of Village Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Coordination Committee (VWASHCC), though active in the VDC related to WASH
coordination issues, it is constrained by physical facilities, and fund resources for its
effective regular functioning.
Figure 4.7 Institutional Dimension of Rainwater Harvesting Sustainability
51
4.5.4 Cost Recovery
Under “Cost Recovery”, the core factors identified are managing funds for O&M of
RWH systems, managing replacement fund of systems and diversified use of the local
fund as shown in figure 4.8. Cost recovery in case of RWH system is the full
responsibility of the concerned households. Cost needed for annual repair and
maintenance of the system was calculate to be NRs. 2,000.00 per household on
average based on the information provided by the households. It basically includes the
cost of chlorination at frequent intervals for maintaining water quality, cost of white
cement or lime to paint two coats both inside and outside the jars, some nails to repair
and properly fix the gutter system, few HDPE/GI fittings (occasional), and mosquito
net to replace in the jar lid. However, to add one more jar of 2,000-liter capacity, it
requires an amount of nearly equivalent to NRs. 15,000.00 excluding own labor.
The major question here is: how and where will the money be coming from to recover
these costs? Have RWH systems created opportunities for the families to earn money
at least equivalent to the above-mentioned level? Have people realized and started
utilizing their time and energy saved through implementation of RWH systems which
otherwise would have been spent on fetching water. A simple calculation showed that
saving time of 6.35 hour per day per family on average for a period of 7.2 months
(average storage duration) per year saves about 173 person days of labor. This is quite
a big amount of time that can be utilized to earn money in any manner either working
as a wage labor, working on farm productions like vegetable farming, rearing goat,
promoting poultry, starting own small business, starting small scale cottage industry
etc. Also, there exists a revolving fund originally established with support from the
then ongoing European Union (EU) supported Gulmi Arghakhnachi Rural
Development Project (GARDEP) worth NRs. 900,000.00 in the VDC focusing to
increase the WASH facilities, which is also used for various purposes in the village.
The fund created in 1999, mainly to target the poor families, who are not able to
upgrade and upscale the rainwater harvesting system. In addition, this fund was also
agreed to lend for diversified uses. This had created an avenue for the people to start
their own small business. The fund is still maintained in the VDC and the amount has
reached NRs. 2.5 million as of 2014.
Figure 4.8 Cost Recovery Dimension of Rainwater Harvesting Sustainability
52
4.5.5 Overall Sustainability of the Rainwater Harvesting System
Thus the sustainability of the RWH system has been tested and found that the
institutional and cost recovery parts of the system remain weaker (Table4.16). Best
utilization of saved time for economic growth through various income generating
activities and mobilization of local funds to improve income level of the people seems
lacking behind the expected level. Similarly, capacity and skills of local people to
upgrade and improve their RWH systems have been observed as a gap. However, the
Technical and Socio-environmental dimensions have been found to be strong enough
in the system.
The above result, by definition, indicates that the RWH project in Daugha VDC is a
“sustained but at risk” category project with reference to the sustainability figures as
prescribed by WaterAid Nepal (section 2.7). There are two sustainability dimensions
i.e. Institutional dimension and the cost recovery dimension which draw the project at
risk from sustainable point of view. However, the technical and the socio-
environmental dimensions have proved to be strong enough to bring the whole project
in category of two i.e. “sustained but at risk”. In Daugha VDC, local people have
taken rainwater harvesting as their inherent culture, which itself shows high social and
environmental acceptance for the system. It is now very clear from the above results
that an urgent step towards the improvement of the institutional and cost recovery
aspects of the project is needed.
53
Table 4.16 Overall Sustainability of the Rainwater Harvesting System
Sustainability
Dimensions
Core factors to assess the
Sustainability Dimensions
Weightage Allocated
based on
Field
survey
Individual
Cumulativ
e score
Percentage
(100%)
Technical (25) Quantity of water (5) 5 3.3
18.7
74.8
Quality of water (5) 5 4
Accessibility/Time to fetch
water (5)
5 3.6
Reliability/Availability
Months per year(5)
5 3.3
Physical status of the system
(5)
5 4.5
Institutional
(25)
Users‟ committee/Fund
management Committee(5)
5 3.0
17
68
VWASHCC functioning (5) 5 3.5
Trained rainwater harvesters
(5)
5 4.5
Coordination and linkage of
the committees (5)
5 2.5
Transparency on loan
disbursement, other
expenditures, procurement
and repayment of loan (5)
5 3.5
Socio-
environmental
(25)
Water facility to the families
and social equity (5)
5 5
21
84
Improved health status,
improved sanitary practices
and improved hygiene
behaviors (5)
5 3.5
Reduction in women‟s
burden of fetching water,
utilization of saved time in
IG activities, caring children
and their education (5)
5 5
Gender and Social inclusion
in the program (5)
5 4
Environmental aspects and
climate change effects on
RWH systems (5)
5 3.5
Cost Recovery
(25)
Managing O&M fund for the
RWH systems(10)
10 6.5
14.0
56 Managing system
replacement fund (10)
10 5.0
Availability of local fund
and its diversified use (5)
5 2.5
Overall Sustainability Score 70.7
54
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Conclusions
Mainly to “reach the unreached”, government of Nepal and many of the Non
Governmental Organizations are installing Rainwater Harvesting System in various
parts of the country where the water drudgery is pronounced. The installation of RWH
system not only helps individual households to secure their water resources but in the
mean time, also increases the water supply coverage in the nation as envisioned in
national and international policy documents. Mainly this system is in place in the mid
hills of Nepal, where the water sources are located below the settlement and hence has
proved to be viable option for them. Daugha, a mid hill water scarce VDC in Gulmi
District, was the pioneer in installing Rainwater Harvesting System in 1996 with
support from RWSSP/FINNIDA. These installed systems are still intact even after 18
years from its first installation. The aim of this study was to examine the sustainability
of the system in terms of the four key sustainability dimensions; Technical, Socio-
environmental, Cost recovery and Institutional as well as to check how far these
dimensions comply with the sustainability criteria and contribute to overall
sustainability of the system. Various participatory tools and methods were applied in
carrying out the study. These included household level interviews, key informants
interviews, observations, rainwater quality testing at the households and series of
formal and informal interactions with the community people during the field visit.
This study ultimately allowed appraising the level of service to community people
with respect to water supply from the rainwater harvesting systems. The analysis of
the data was done mainly to check the sustainability against each sustainability
dimension and their contribution to overall system‟s sustainability. This initially
examined the changes due to RWH systems on the core factors of each dimension of
sustainability separately and analyzed status of each dimension and its contribution to
the overall sustainability of the system with the help of thus obtained results.
In light of the insights arising from the RWH case study of Daugha VDC, Gulmi, the
thesis infers that the explicit adoption of RWH systems at household level, especially
in the hard hit areas where there are no viable sources in the nearby vicinity to
establish a cost effective water supply system, it can be concluded as below;
Results of the study indicate that the average service level is satisfactory when
seen in terms of key parameters like Quantity, Accessibility, Reliability and
Quality (QARQ).
The rainwater harvesting system has been accepted by the communities as an
appropriate and effective alternative to meet the domestic water demand in the
water scarce areas. The RWH system has been highly appreciated by the
communities as a big relief measure to address the drudgery of fetching water
from long distance especially of the women and school age children. It has
been estimated that the time saved per family per day in Daugha comes to be
around 6.35 hours on average. The above saved time is being utilized in
economic, social and childcare activities by the women.
55
Findings indicate that the people have been able to earn additional income
from various income generation activities. Earning through vegetable
production has been reported in many cases as a result of water availability.
Likewise, earning from goat rearing, poultry, from small business,
employment as daily wage labour and skilled labour are other means of
income from the saved time and energy.
On the sanitation and hygiene front, significant progress was seen in terms of
construction and use of toilets, increased knowledge about the importance of
sanitation and hygiene issues and changes in sanitation and hygiene behavior
in the communities. This is directly seen on decreased cases of water borne
and water washed diseases recoded in the sub health post in the VDC.
The service level in case of RWH systems is just at the very basic level
(almost emergency level service) where quantity is a major nagging issue. The
storage of 4,000-6,000 litres per family is just enough to provide drinking
water for about six months for a family of average 4-5 members.
The sustainability of the RWH system has been tested and found that the
institutional and cost recovery parts of the system remain weaker. Best
utilization of saved time for economic growth through various IG activities
and mobilization of local funds to improve income level of the people seems
lacking behind the expected level. Similarly, capacity and skills of local
people to upgrade and improve their RWH systems have been observed as a
gap.
The other aspect needing action is the planning, implementing and
maintaining of water quality issue. It is important that water quality needs to
be taken into account by the concerned households and the communities. The
water quality test results reveal that there are various ways and possibilities to
pollute stored water in the jars making it questionable for drinking purpose. As
most families consume drinking water after boiling, this has largely taken care
for making drinking water safe.
Loan from the revolving funds for upgrading water storage capacity, mainly
for the poor households has not been seen as very friendly as the payback
period is of just one year and the interest rate of 18% is also higher for the
poor households to pay.
Likewise in sanitation front, findings indicate that some newly built toilets
have been observed in need of repairs mainly because of their very temporary
nature. Daugha VDC is approaching to the stage of declaration of ODF. This
makes sometimes VDC to ignore the quality of structures and their durability
but somehow go for declaration of ODF. Sometimes VDCs even provide
subsidies to build toilets to all households and sometimes they even put
pressure by withholding people‟s administrative support or certification from
the VDC.
56
5.2 Recommendations
In view of the problems identified from the results of the study, the following are
suggested for schemes to function as expected:
I. The water shortage situation (quantity part) in RWH systems could be
addressed by gradual increase of the storage capacity. Additional jars at the
family level could be made through installing;
i) Smaller sized jars like 2000 litres (this largely reduces the net amount
of fund required)
ii) Local availability of the trained rainwater harvesters in order to
facilitate households who can afford themselves to add required
number of jars on a gradual basis
iii) Proper management of the revolving fund at the VDC level to support
families who cannot afford to make jars on their own. An easy pay
back system by reducing the interest rate and also by increasing the
payback period should be established in the VDC.
A wealth ranking method can also be adopted to support poor families,
to upgrade their water storage capacity, through easy loaning system.
iv) Harvesting of other local water sources (tapping mini/small water
sources from nearby vicinity) could be suggested during the wet and
moist season. Ponds and springs are very important traditional sources
for human as well as animal usage. There is an obvious need to protect
them properly.
II. Quality of water is a very essential issue to be taken into account urgently and
properly. A regular surveillance of water quality stored in the jars seems very
important to carry out.
Further the study recommends to carry out an in depth water quality
assessment of the stored rainwater at households so that it could provide user‟s
friendly recommendations to ensure the water quality at Point of Use (PoU)
i.e. various household treatment methods like; boiling, chlorinating, using
SODIS method, WATA, use of bio sand filters etc.
The study should also look at the institutionalization of development and
maintaining the water safety plans at the community level through capacity
building of VWASHCC as a monitoring institution and capacity building of
secondary level schools to conduct regular quality surveillance and to support
families to follow the household treatment methods on a regular basis.
III. Efforts are warranted to enhance the capacity of VWASHCC to ensure
functioning of the schemes and ensure safe drinking water to help families to
be able to carry out regular repair and maintenance works of the systems.
57
IV. IGAs need to be promoted to make the saved time productive through
increased linkages and coordination with concerned district line agencies such
as District Agriculture Office , District office under Department of Cottage
and Small Industries etc.
V. VDCs are seen to play increasingly important roles in the WASH sector,
however, are normally not equipped for such roles. Therefore, the project
implementing agencies should support training events on monitoring and
generating resources for VWASHCCs. This equally applies for Daugha VDC
as well.
VI. School level awareness activities regarding the rainwater harvesting systems
including maintaining its quality should be initiated. The Ministry of
Education should encourage the concerned district education offices to include
this subject in the secondary level school curriculum.
VII. Preparation of simple Nepali written handbook on how to repair and maintain
the RW systems including household level water treatment methods would
help largely the community people to understand and maintain the system.
VIII. GoN policy on RWH should elaborate the support to VDC/VWASHCC in
terms of their capacity development.
58
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61
Annex I: Schematic Diagram of Rainwater Harvesting System
62
Annex II: Required Sample Size by Research Advisors
Confiden
ce =
95.0
%
3.841
459
Confiden
ce =
99.0
%
6.6348
97
Population Size
Probability of
Success
Degree of Accuracy/Margin of
Error
Degree of Accuracy/Margin of
Error
0.5 0.05 0.09 0.025 0.01 0.05 0.09 0.025 0.01
10 10 9 10 10 10 10 10 10
20 19 17 20 20 19 18 20 20
30 28 24 29 30 29 26 30 30
50 44 35 48 50 47 40 49 50
75 63 46 72 74 67 55 73 75
100 80 54 94 99 87 67 96 99
150 108 66 137 148 122 87 142 149
200 132 75 177 196 154 101 186 198
250 152 81 215 244 182 113 229 246
300 169 85 251 291 207 122 270 295
400 196 92 318 384 250 136 348 391
500 217 96 377 475 285 145 421 485
600 234 99 432 565 315 153 490 579
700 248 102 481 653 341 159 554 672
800 260 103 526 739 363 163 615 763
900 269 105 568 823 382 167 672 854
1,000 278 106 606 906 399 170 727 943
1,200 291 108 674 1067 427 175 827 1119
1,500 306 110 759 1297 460 180 959 1376
2,000 322 112 869 1655 498 186 1141 1785
2,500 333 113 952 1984 524 189 1288 2173
3,500 346 115 1068 2565 558 194 1510 2890
5,000 357 116 1176 3288 586 197 1734 3842
7,500 365 117 1275 4211 610 199 1960 5165
10,000 370 117 1332 4899 622 201 2098 6239
25,000 378 118 1448 6939 646 203 2399 9972
50,000 381 118 1491 8056 655 204 2520 12455
75,000 382 118 1506 8514 658 204 2563 13583
100,000 383 118 1513 8762 659 204 2585 14227
250,000 384 119 1527 9248 662 205 2626 15555
500,000 384 119 1532 9423 663 205 2640 16055
1,000,000 384 119 1534 9512 663 205 2647 16317
2,500,000 384 119 1536 9567 663 205 2651 16478
10,000,000 384 119 1536 9594 663 205 2653 16560
100,000,000 384 119 1537 9603 663 205 2654 16584
264,000,000 384 119 1537 9603 663 205 2654 16586
† Copyright, The Research Advisors (2006). All rights reserved.
The recommended sample size for a given population size, level of confidence,
and margin of error appears in the body of the table.
63
For example, the recommended sample size for a population of 1,000,
a confidence level of 99%, and a margin of error (degree of accuracy) of 3.5%
would be 575.
Change these values to select different levels of confidence.
Change these values to select different maximum margins of error.
Change these values to select different (e.g., more precise) population sizes.
64
Annex III: Household Interview Questionnaire
Code NEP-DAUGHA-WARD
No.-……
Cluster Name: RWH Jar Yes/No
Household No.
Latrine Yes/No
Date
Venue
Participants SL Name Age/Yr. Relation Sex
1
2
Total Family
Member
Occupation of
the family
Land holding
size
Average
family income
(yearly)
Livestock Number
Cow Buffalo Goat/ships Poultry Others
Contact
Number
Start Time
Ending Time
Signature of Interviewer:
65
Questions
Q.1: Access to
Water Services
When was this system installed in your house? Month: Year:
Were you able to get sufficient water before the project or
was there acute shortage of water?
Enough water
Acute shortage
Do you get sufficient quantity of water now (from the RWH
system)?
Yes
No
How much water is needed for your family per day (in
liters)?
If rain harvested water is not sufficient, then how many
months it serve for (no. of months)?
Name of the months when you get water from the RWH
system for your domestic needs?
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Where do you go to fetch water in case if there is no water in
the jar (secondary sources name)?
1.
2.
How long it takes to fetch water from the secondary source at
present (one round trip)?
Up to 1 -15 min. 16-30 min 31-60 min 1-2 hrs. 2-3 hrs >3 hrs.
How much time it used to take to fetch water for your family
before installation (one round trip)?
Up to 1 -15 min. 16-30 min 31-60 min 1-2 hrs. 2-3 hrs >3 hrs.
Who was mainly responsible to fetch water in your family
before the project?
Female Male Children
Who is mainly responsible to fetch water presently when
there is no water in the rain jars?
Female Male Children
How is the quality of rainwater in your opinion?
Good
Moderate
Poor
For what purpose you use the collected rainwater?
Drinking Cooking Washing clothes Bathing Cleaning utensils For animal Kitchen garden
How do you rate the level of your satisfaction with RWH
system?
Good Moderate Poor Not satisfied
Do you share the collected rainwater with other
families/people also?
Yes Just for own use Share only rarely
If you share the water, what you take in turn?
Against labor Against money Free
How do you utilize the waste water? Use for
kitchen garden
Use for cattle Throw away
66
Q.2: Access to
Sanitation
Services
Where your family members used to defecate before the project
intervention?
Own Latrine
Shared Latrine
Fields
River side
Bush
Others
Where your family members used to defecate now? Own Latrine Shared Latrine Fields
River side Bush
Others
With what stuff you used to wash your hands after defecation
before the project?
Soap Ash
Sand & Soil Others
No wash
With what stuff you used to wash your hands after defecation
before the project?
Soap Ash
Sand & Soil Others
No wash
How regularly you used to take bath before the project? Everyday Weekly 2/3 times
Once in a week
Once in 15 days
Once in a
month
How regularly you used to take bath now? Everyday Weekly 2/3 times Once in a week Once in 15 days
Once in a
month
How frequently you use rainwater for bathing?
During the rainy season Only Sometime Never
67
Q.3: Effects due
to changes in
WASH
How are the
incidences of
water borne and
water washed
diseases before
and after the
project, at your
family?
Diarroheal cases ( before the project) Frequently Sometime No
Diarroheal cases (after the project)
Frequently Sometime No
Worms related infectious case (before the
project)
Frequently Sometime No
Worms related infectious cases (after the
project)
Frequently Sometime No
Skin related diseases among children (before
project)
Frequently Sometime No
Skin related diseases among children (after
project)
Frequently Sometime No
Others major water borne
diseases:(Dysentery /Cholera
/Jaundice/Typhoid before the project)
Frequently Sometime No
Others major water borne
diseases:(Dysentery /Cholera
/Jaundice/Typhoid after the project)
Frequently Sometime No
How much time
is saved per day
in your house
from fetching
water?
Up to 1 -15 min. 16-30 min 31-60 min 1-2 hrs. 2-3 hrs >3 hrs.
How do you use
saved water
fetching time
now?
Farming (kitchen
gardening)
Small Business
Caring children
Taking rest
Others
Time not
saved
Do you really utilize & earn more money because of the saved time? Yes No
If Yes, how much on average you earn with that utilized time?
Monthly equal to NRS…………
How you utilize the earned money for your family?
Food Cloths Child education Other
When you used to fetch water during the peak season like; during
planting and harvesting time?
Morning Noon Evening Night
Who was mainly responsible to fetch water during night in such busy peak days? Female Male Children
How far the RWH system has been Fully To large extent Moderately Not at all
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able to address/solve the above
situation of water fetching at night?
How the system has served different
castes or classes and social sections in
the VDC?
Fully on equal basis Equal basis to large extent Partly (have
made few efforts)
Differences do exist
If differences do exist, explain them in
detail
Do you feel any environmental benefits
from RWH system in your area (like;
control in erosion, gulley formation
etc.)? Please explain
In your opinion, how is the effect of
climate change in RWH system (like;
very less or no winter rain, decrease in
rainy days etc.). Please explain
If the system is affected due to the
climate change, then how you manage
your water needs in such a case? Please
explain
Q.N. 4
Financial
Management
aspect
How regularly you do the maintenance
of your RWH system?
On annual basis On two yearly basis
On need basis Others
Q.5 Institutional
Aspect
What main tasks you undertake for the regular maintenance of RWH system?
How much it costs for the regular maintenance of the system and how do you
manage the required fund (source of money)?
Have you added any water storage jar in your house so far? If yes, then how many
of what capacity, please explain?
If you have added some storage jars, then how you managed the required fund for
it (farm income, utilizing saved time, loan from any funds etc.)? Please explain
5.1 Managerial skills
and performance level of
the User‟s committee
(O&M arrangements
including O&M funds)
How is the functioning of User‟s Committee? Good Poor UC does not exist
Does UC meet on a regular basis? Quarterly Half yearly Yearly
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How the discussed/agreed issues are
implemented?
Promptly on time
Moderately
Poorly
Never
implemented
How the repair and maintenance of the RWH
system takes place and how UC supports to do it?
Please mention briefly?
Is there any funding mechanism to support poor
families to do the maintenance of the existing
system and to add the new jars? If yes how the
fund is managed and how the poor families can
approach it? Please explain.
How do you rate overall functioning of the
committees?
Excellent Very Good
Good
Moderate
Poor
5.2
Locally trained persons
(Rainwater Harvesters‟
performance level and
promptness)
In your view how is the skills/capacity of trained
rainwater Mistries to perform their tasks?
Excellent Very Good
Good
Moderate
Not enough
No use
How do you judge their readiness for work and
the performance level?
Excellent Very Good
Good
Moderate
Not enough
No use
How do you get their services? On wage basis Against some commodity or food stuffs Free service
Others Remark (Based on your long experience, what could be done to make the system sustainable, please advice) :
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Annex IV: Checklists for the Key Informants Interview
Nep-Daugha-
Ward
No…
Cluster
Name:
RWH Jar Yes/No
House
Symbol:
Toilet Yes/No
Date
Venue
Participant Name Age Sex
Occupation
Family member
Land Holding
Size
Average Annual
Income
Livestock
Number
Cows Buffalos Goat/Ships Poultry Others
Contact Number
(Phone)
Interview Start
Time
Interview End
Time
Signature of Interviewer
1. When the RWH system was implemented in this VDC and how was the water
supply situation before in each ward of this VDC?
2. What do you say about the facility that people of this VDC have received with
implementation of RWH system?
3. How many months do you get water from this system and how do you manage
water for your domestic needs when there is no water in the jars?
4. Who used to be mainly responsible for fetching water before and who is
responsible now when jars become empty?
5. How do you utilize the saved time from fetching water in your family and how do
you see this in other families in the VDC? And how is the trend of utilizing the
wastewater in the families and for what purposes?
6. How do you see the differences in sanitary practices of the people and differences
in incidents of water borne diseases before and after the project in this VDC?
7. As per your knowledge, what is the percentage of household toilets in this VDC
and what percentage would be in proper use?
8. Have the user‟s committee been formed during implementation of this project? If
yes, what is the status of the above UC at present?
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9. How many rainwater harvesters were trained in this VDC and how is their level of
skills and capacity? How busy they have been in the past years to install the RWH
systems in different places and how is their improved earning level than before?
10. Mention the name of the other projects where you have been involved in
implementation of the system? (ask to RWH Mistries only)
11. How much you earn on average from installing the system in different places,
annually? And for what main purposes you spend that earned money? (children‟s
education, treatments, agriculture and livestock etc.)? ---- (ask to RWH Mistries
only)
12. Do you have any established funds like micro credit funds or revolving finds etc.,
in the VDC, to support poor families to construct additional water storage jars in
their households?
13. How is the trend of O&M of the RWH system in general and what percentage of
the families, in the VDC, have added RW jars in their houses? And, how they
manage the required financial costs for regular O&M and for upgrading the
system?
14. Do you feel any environmental benefits from RWH system in your area (like;
control in erosion, gulley formation etc.)? and how is the effect of climate change
in RWH system (like; very less or no winter rain, decrease in rainy days etc.). If
there is any affect of climate change in the RWH system, then how you manage
your water needs in such a case? Please explain
15. Could you please explain/enumerate the benefits mainly to the women and
children of this VDC due to implementation of the RWH systems at households?
16. Do you think this project has benefited all classes and castes equally in this VDC
or there remains some discrimination among the rich or stronger and poor or
weaker families?
17. Based on your long experience, what key elements need to be considered to make
this system a long term sustainable system for all families of a community?
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Annex V: Sustainability Dimensions and Factors Weightage List (Adopted from WaterAid that uses Multi Criteria Analysis, MCA
method). In MCA method, weightage is given to each sub factor based on the field findings and participatory discussions with the
users.
Sustainability
Dimensions
Total Score (100)
Core Sustainability
Factors
Sustainability Sub factors Score obtained Remarks
Technical (25) Quantity of water (5)
(Using Sphere standard
and the National RWH
standard draft)
* Equal to or > 10 lpcd (5)
* 7-10 lpcd (4)
* 5-7 lpcd (3)
* 3-5 lpcd (2)
* = 3 lpcd (1)
* < 3 lpcd (0)
3.3
Average of 9 wards;
Equal to or > 10 lpcd = 22 Hhs
(21 %)
7-10 lpcd = 6 Hhs (5 %)
5-7 lpcd = 56 Hhs (54 %)
3-5 lpcd = 20 Hhs (19 %)
= 3 lpcd < 3 lpcd
Quality of water (5)
*Good (5)
*Moderate (3)
*Poor (0)
4 (Lies between
good and
moderate)
7 out of total 10 tested parameters
were found to be within the
allowable range whereas, 2
parameters pH and Ammonia
have found violated in some
households, however, that is not
health hazardous. However, the
presence of E-coli in 50
Households out of 104 is a
serious one but most of the
families boil water before its use
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Accessibility/Time to
fetch water (5)
*<15 minutes per trip (5)
* 16-30 minutes (4)
* 31-45 minutes (3)
* 46-60 minutes (2)
* > 1 hour (1)
3.6 Average of 9 wards;
22 HHs <15 min
6 HHs = 75% <15 min, 25% 1 hour
56 HHs = 50% < 15 min, rest 1 hour
20 HHs = 30% <15 min, rest 1.5 hrs.
Reliability/Availability
Months per year(5)
* 12 months per year (5)
* 9-upto 12 months per year (4)
* 6- up to 9 moths per year (3)
* up to 4- 6 months (2)
* up to 4 months (1)
* < 3 months (0)
3.3 This corresponds with the
available quantity of water
Physical status of the
system (5)
*System intact (5)
*Jars ok but gutters requiring some
repair (4)
*Jars and gutters requiring repairs
(2)
*System not functioning (0)
4.5 Almost all the hoses jars are ok
some of the gutters need minor
adjustments or repair
Institutional (25)
Users‟ committee/Fund
management Committee
(5)
*Existence, functioning, meetings
and record keeping (2 )
*Representation of women in
WUSC (1.5)
* Representation of excluded group
in WUSC (1.5)
*Existence, functioning and
meetings (2)
*Representation of women in
WUSC (1)
* Representation of excluded
group in WUSC (0.5)
VWASHCC functioning
(5)
*VWASHCC in place and active (2)
*Coordinating and leading in the
WASH issues in the VDC (2)
*Systematic record keeping of
VWASHCC(1)
*VWASHCC in place and active
(1.5)
*Coordinating and leading in the
WASH issues in the VDC (1.5)
*Systematic record-keeping of
VWASHCC (0.5)
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Trained rainwater
harvesters (5)
*Trained rainwater Mistries
sufficient in number (1)
* Trained rainwater mistries
included from the excluded group
also (1)
*Trained mistries promoting RWH
systems regularly (1)
*Quality of work of the trained
mistries(1)
*Trained mistries providing support
in repair and maintenance of the
systems in the VDC timely (1)
*Trained rainwater Mistries
sufficient in number (1)
* Trained rainwater mistries
included from the excluded group
also (1)
*Trained mistries promoting RWH
systems regularly (1)
*Quality of work of the trained
mistries (1)
*Trained mistries providing
support in repair and maintenance
of the systems in the VDC timely
(0.5)
Coordination and linkage
of the committees (5)
*With local authority & other
agencies. Like; Health, Education
and Agriculture line agencies in the
district for necessary diverse
supports (3)
*With other projects at national and
district level to promote WASH (1)
*With other organizations for
capacity building and IG related
activities (1)
*With local authority & other
agencies. Like; Health, Education
and Agriculture line agencies in
the district for necessary diverse
supports (1.5)
*With other projects at national
and district level to promote
WASH (0.5)
*With other organizations for
capacity building and IG related
activities (0.5)
Transparency on loan
disbursement, other
expenditures, procurement
and repayment of loan (5)
*Fund management committee‟s
account operating properly and all
expenditure are kept transparent (2)
*Loan from the fund is sanctioned
*Fund management committee‟s
account operating properly and all
expenditure are kept transparent
(2)
Interaction
with the
WUSC
75
based on set criteria (1)
*Repayment of loan is not disturbed
and smoothly running (1)
*75-100 % beneficiaries aware of
the fund (1)
*Loan from the fund is sanctioned
based on set criteria (1)
*Repayment of loan is not
disturbed and smoothly running
(0.5)
*75-100% beneficiaries aware of
the fund (0)
members, users
plus checking
all expenditure
bills,
quotations and
vouchers.
Social (25) Water facility to the
families and social equity
(5)
* RWH Systems running properly in
all households (2)
* Equal access to the RWH facility
by all social sections (2)
* No discrimination to poor and
dalits in provision of RWH systems
(1)
*RWH Systems running properly
in all households (2)
* Equal access to the RWH facility
by all social sections (2)
* No discrimination to poor and
dalits in provision of RWH
systems (1)
Improved health status,
improved sanitary
practices and improved
hygiene behaviors (5)
*Improved awareness about
sanitation and hygiene in the
community (1)
*Household toilets and ODF status
(2)
*Hand washing practice with soap at
critical times (2)
*Improved awareness about
sanitation and hygiene in the
community (1)
*Household toilets and ODF status
(1.5)
*Hand washing practice with soap
at critical times (1)
Reduction in women‟s
burden of fetching water,
utilization of saved time in
IG activities, caring
children and their
education (5)
*Women‟s time and energy saved
from the burden of fetching water
(2)
*Women‟s rest/sleep hours during
the night have increased (1)
*Women involved in IG and other
*Women‟s time and energy saved
from the burden of fetching water
(2)
*Women‟s rest/sleep hours during
the night have increased (1)
*Women involved in IG and other
76
social activities (1)
*Women giving more time to take
care of their children and themselves
(1)
social activities (1)
*Women giving more time to take
care of their children and
themselves (1)
Gender and Social
inclusion in the program
(5)
*Inclusion of all social groups
(including DAG, rich and poor) in
decision making about RWH (2)
*Inclusion of both male and female
in decision making about RWH (1)
*Inclusive selection of rainwater
harvesting trainees (Mistries) from
all social groups and all trained
equally (1)
*No discrimination to disabled
families, female headed families and
pro poor families regarding the
RWH facilities (1)
*Inclusion of all social groups
(including DAG, rich and poor) in
decision making about RWH (1.5)
*Inclusion of both male and
female in decision making about
RWH (0.5)
*Inclusive selection of rainwater
harvesting trainees (Mistries) from
all social groups and all trained
equally (1)
*No discrimination to disabled
families, female headed families
and pro poor families regarding
the RWH facilities (1)
Environmental aspects
and climate change effects
on RWH systems (5)
*Awareness of communities
regarding the environmental benefits
of RWH (1)
*Awareness of communities
regarding climate change effects to
the RWH systems (2)
*Adaptation practices of
communities against climatic
consequences (2)
*Awareness of communities
regarding the environmental
benefits of RWH (1)
*Awareness of communities
regarding climate change effects to
the RWH systems (1)
*Adaptation practices of
communities against climatic
consequences (1.5)
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Cost Recovery (25) Managing O&M fund for
the RWH systems (10)
*Utilization of saved time to earn
money for O&M purpose through
agriculture activities (3)
*Utilization of saved time to earn
money for O&M purpose through
small business/cottage industries (3)
*Utilization of saved time to earn
money for O&M purpose through
wage labor (3)
*Getting loan from the revolving
fund and repayment of it on time (1)
*Utilization of saved time to earn money for
O&M purpose through agriculture activities
(2)
*Utilization of saved time to earn money for
O&M purpose through small
business/cottage industries (2)
*Utilization of saved time to earn money for
O&M purpose through wage labor (2)
*Getting loan from the revolving fund and
repayment of it on time (0.5)
Managing system
replacement fund (10)
*Utilization of saved time to earn
money for O&M purpose through
agriculture activities (3)
*Utilization of saved time to earn
money for O&M purpose through small
business/cottage industries (3)
*Utilization of saved time to earn
money for O&M purpose through wage
labor (3)
*Getting loan from the revolving fund
and repayment of it on time (1)
*Utilization of saved time to earn money
for O&M purpose through agriculture
activities (1.5)
*Utilization of saved time to earn money
for O&M purpose through small
business/cottage industries (1)
*Utilization of saved time to earn money
for O&M purpose through wage labor
(1.5)
*Getting loan from the revolving fund
and repayment of it on time (0.5)
Availability of local fund
and its diversified use (5)
*Establishment of revolving fund and
its management (2)
*Transparency (1)
*Use of revolving fund for various
purposes at the VDC level (2)
*Establishment of revolving fund and its
management (1)
*Transparency (0.5)
*Use of revolving fund for various
purposes at the VDC level (1)
78