Resources
04. Wastewater irrigation: Hubli-Dharwad, India
A paper presented by Andrew Bradford, Robert Brook and Chandra Hunshal on 21-23 January 2003, Muldersdrift, South Africa.
Within the twin city of Hubli-Dharwad approximately 60 million l of wastewater is generated every day: this flows, untreated, from sewers and wastewater nallas (open drains) into the natural watercourses that flow into the city’s hinterland. In the semi-arid climate, where the summer temperatures exceed 35 degrees centigrade and the monsoon rains are erratic and unreliable, the wastewater is an extremely valuable resource for urban and peri-urban farmers and many extract it from the nallas and underground sewer pipes to irrigate their crops. This is considerably cheaper than constructing a borehole, which makes the practice more accessible and attractive to farmers with fewer financial resources. The wastewater also provides an irrigation source during the dry season, which enables farmers to sell their produce for three to five times the kharif (monsoon) season prices, while its high nutrient load increases crop yields and also reduces the need for costly fertilizer inputs. While this farming practice alleviates poverty for many urban and peri-urban farmers, it simultaneously places them, the consumers of their products and the environment at risk. The farmers have repeated close contact with the untreated wastewater, which is a major source of pathogens, and the high levels of anaemia found amongst them can be attributed to water-borne parasitic diseases and worm infestation. The wastewater also contains potentially injurious bio-medical waste (including disposable needles and syringes), which after tilling operations becomes half buried in the soils creating hazardous conditions for farmers that work in the fields. Unregulated and continuous irrigation with wastewater also leads to environmental problems such as salinisation, phytotoxicity (plant poisoning) and soil structure deterioration (soil clogging), which in India is commonly referred to as ‘sewage sickness’. [authors abstract]
03. Multiple use of irrigation water in Northern Morocco
A paper presented by Eline Boelee and Hammou Laamrani.
The semi-arid Zaio region in North-eastern Morocco is one of the many parts of the country where water is stored for domestic purposes in subterranean tanks. A study was conducted to describe their importance, the different methods of storage and the multiple uses of the stored water. Though originally designed for the storage of rainwater, the tanks are now often filled with water from irrigation canals.
A full tank can provide water for a period of one week to more than two months, depending on the size, type of use and number of people in the household. The water is used for different purposes including drinking, cooking, bathing, washing utensils, sweeping the floor, laundry, sanitation, watering cattle, small scale brick making and home gardens. More than half of the users who drink the water, treat it with chlorine or crushed limestone. Users indicated an interest in simple and cheap treatment methods to improve the water quality. The tank water is the only source of water for sanitation and hygiene, thus bringing substantial health benefits to the households. Without the tanks, the water use per capita would be far below the minimum health requirements. Livestock, home gardens and small scale brick making also depend on water from the tanks and hence contribute substantially to local income. The paper compares experiences in Zaio to other regions in Morocco, demonstrating how the multiple uses of stored irrigation water can contribute to improving rural livelihoods beyond the advantages of irrigation. It argues that investments in water resources development could be more cost-efficient if multipurpose systems were conceived, catering for both agricultural and domestic water needs. [authors abstract]
02.A multi sectoral approach to sustainable rural water supply in Nicaragua
A paper presented by J.H.Alberts and J.J. van der Zee (2004)
The role of the rope handpump in Nicaragua.
A low cost rope handpump for boreholes and hand-dug wells up to 70 m deep has been developed, marketed, and subsequently mass-produced in Nicaragua by local, small, privately-owned workshops since the early 1990’s. It is easy to maintain and highly efficient at the family- as well as community level.
The pump has met with high social acceptance amongst rural users ever since the early, rudimentary models were first made available. By 1995 the technology became an integral part of rural water programmes implemented by NGOs and government agencies. Rural water supply coverage since then has doubled from approximately 27.5% to 54.8%. Of this 27.3 percentage point rise, rope pumps account for 23.6% (or 85% of the total increase). [authors abstract]
01. Water, poverty and productive uses of water at household level
Paper presented by Patrick Moriarty and John Butterworth
Around the world, hundreds of millions of men, women and children live in extreme poverty. Their poverty is multi-faceted: besides lacking money, they have limited access to education, suffer from poor health, have little political weight, and are vulnerable to all manner of external shocks like droughts and economic crises. In addition they have access to very limited resources, natural, physical or financial: in particular they typically suffer from limited access to water – both of safe quality and adequate quantity. A great many of these poor men and women, in urban, rural and peri-urban settings base their livelihoods on ‘informal activities’ – small-scale cropping, livestock keeping, agro-processing and other micro-enterprises. In many of these activities an adequate water supply is a crucial enabling resource: as a resource used in or necessary for the activity itself; as a provider of time (by reducing time spent collecting water); or as a key element in improved health that enables people to do work. Taken together then, water
supplies provided to households, and particularly the poorest (and women, who are found disproportionately amongst the poorest), have a huge potential to impact on poverty. This symposium is about such water supplies, about how to provide them and how to ensure that their potential to impact on poverty can be fully realised. [authors abstract]
Colombia: rural MUS study in Cali
Entitled 'Recognizing reality: multiple use of rural water supply systems', this case study documents the experience of some areas of Cali in meeting the multiple demand for water in rural areas.
Recommandations d'un colloque tenu à Johannesburg
Encourager l’utilisation de l’eau à des fins de production au niveau des ménages Recommandations d'un colloque tenu à Johannesburg, Afrique du Sud, 21-23 janvier 2003
Declaración del simposio en Johannesburgo 2003
Este documento presenta la declaración del simposio sobre ‘Pobreza y usos productivos de agua a nivel del hogar’, celebrado en Sudáfrica del 21 al 23 de enero del 2003.
Articulo 2: Disputas del agua para usos productivos
En Tarata, cerca de la ciudad de Cochabamba, la empresa de agua potable quiso usar una parte del agua de la represa para agricultura en las zonas peri-urbanas. Esta acción tubo como resultados un conflicto entre regantes y los pobladores.
Paper 2: Livelihoods in conflict
In Tarata (Cochabamba, Bolivia) disputes came to a head in 2002 over the rights to use water for urban agriculture from a multiple purpose water supply system (Laka Laka). The Laka Laka dam was planned to provide water for a large irrigation scheme and to meet the basic needs of domestic users in the town, but not specifically for productive water uses within the urban area. When the urban population demanded the right to also use water for cultivation around homesteads, there were violent conflicts with farmers from the irrigation scheme who were determined to protect their irrigation water rights.
Articulo 1: Estudios de caso del uso de agua familiar
Esta investigación, indica que poco menos de la mitad del total de agua potable en las zonas peri-urbanas de Cochabamba se usa para la producción en huertas y la cría de animales.
Paper 1: Multiple sources for multiple uses
This paper reports on a series of household water-use case studies around the city of Cochabamba in Bolivia. In particular it examines the multiple use of domestic water supplies, and the use by families of multiple sources to meet their water needs for both domestic and productive activities. As the city expands, it is argued that productive water uses such as irrigation of gardens or huertas are likely to make significant demands upon new domestic water supply systems. These uses are equally likely to have an important impact, whether positive or negative depending on your viewpoint, on the overall availability of water resources as well as on the livelihoods of urban and peri-urban water users.
Statement: Post-Johannesburg Symposium 2003
Responding to poverty: promoting productive uses of water at the household level summarises the findings, beliefs, and recommendations of a symposium held in Johannesburg in January 2003.
Summary: Household-level productive uses of water around Cochabamba, Bolivia
This case study focuses on both the contributions that household level productive water uses can make to livelihoods in peri-urban areas, and water resources allocations for such uses and potantial for conflict at the larger scale over scarce water supplies.
Global: How water supplies can play a wider role in livelihood improvement and poverty reduction
This IRC Thematic Overview Paper (TOP) looks at the broader range of uses which people allocate to their water supplies. It looks in particular at productive activities and micro-enterprises within households in villages, towns and cities in developing countries.
India: Linking Water Supply and Poverty Alleviation
The conventional objectives of domestic water supply projects are improved welfare and public health. However, having more water close to the home also has the potential to deliver significant economic benefits. Entitled 'Linking water supply and poverty evaluation: the impact of women’s productive use of water and time on household economy and gender relations in Banaskantha District, Gujarat, India', this report investigates the opportunities and impacts of water service delivery to households.
Global: Beyond domestic:case studies on poverty and productive uses of water at the household level
Is something missing from your work in water supply? Do individuals and communities that you work with use their water supplies for multiple purposes? Are you challenged by how to help the poor gain access to water (beyond 'traditional' domestic or field-scale irrigation needs) for activities that generate food and income like fruit and vegetable production, keeping livestock, brick-making and building, and a wide range of informal micro-enterprises? Do you search for ways to improve cost-recovery?
Zimbabwe: Pump Aid's 'elephant pump'
This case study provides an overview of the work and key interventions made by the NGO Pump Aid at the household (HH) and community levels in some parts of Zimbabwe.