The Joint Monitoring Project (JMP), an arm of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), in its Report in 2012 : Progress on Drinking Water & Sanitation, (WHO 2012) conceded that, in 2012, 783 million(mn) people remain without access to safe water. Most of them live in the rural areas of developing countries, are poor and some are physically vulnerable. The purpose of this work is an attempt to answer the question "What is the Role of Safe Water in the Rural Development Process?" through considering the questions "Why do rural water projects fail" and "What makes for sustainable rural water projects". Examining the importance of safe water to the development process, considering the reasons for the continuous failure of autonomous, self - governing "Operation and Maintenance" regimes, ascertaining why, despite the existence of substantial academic papers on the importance of "Sustainability", "Community Participation", "Empowerment", translating them into practice remain problematical, the paper will try and provide answers as to what could be done to overcome such failure. Political aspects, economic consequences and engineering designs, impact on the supply, delivery and pricing of safe water. Whilst there is a plethora of work covering each of the above areas, overarching narratives, integrating all aspects, are notable through their paucity. A secondary aim of the work is to rectify this deficit. The main method used is Case Studies covering work in three countries, across two continents, where rural water projects have not been given the degree of attention that they required. Interviews were conducted, with users, to determine operational success and in one particular instance installation and operation of a water project was carried out. The evidence suggests that a holistic approach to water projects i.e. its integration with other development plans with active community involvement and participation, and long term political and financial commitments at all levels, has the possibility of providing sustainable solutions for rural water provision and delivery, thereby making a significant contribution to the development process and to poverty alleviation. Format and Contents The thesis is in three parts. First the background, the political and operational context, analysis of social development as well as the conceptual framework and the methodology used, are considered. The second consisting of Case Studies, examines the organisation and engineering solutions, determining the lessons to be drawn. Finally, Conclusion draws together the disparate elements of community participation, engineering aspects, operation and maintenance of projects and allied matters in order to deduce what enables sustainability and infer the developmental consequences flowing from them. Whilst every effort has been made to refer to contemporary work, regrettably the water sector moves very slowly - international conferences where global decisions are taken, take place every 5 - 10 years and evaluation projects are over 10 - 15 year periods e.g. JMP on Water Supply and Sanitation (WS&S) reports in 2015, World Water Forum (WWF), last meeting in Marseilles 2012 considers follow - up to 2030, hence a fair number of references are almost 20 years old.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:631729 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Chanda, Ranabir |
| Publisher | London South Bank University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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