Tigers and Water

Today we met with Satpuda Foundation to learn about some of the complex relationships between water quality, pesticide usage, forest and preservation of tiger habitat. The Satpura mountain range in Central India is the largest contiguous tiger habitat in the world and as such is crucial for the big cat’s continued survival into and beyond the 21st Century. The forests of the Satpuras need to be protected for their contribution to augmenting India’s supply of that most precious of resources – water.

We are making the final edits to our report. Tomorrow we fly to Mumbai then back to the US. What a wonderful trip this has been.

Tuesday, 11 May 2010

We made an amazing contact over breakfast at the hotel when we met Peyush Dwivedi. Peyush was college chums with all of the MP ministers. He thinks our cause is noble and is embarassed by the lack of government response we have received. He got on the phone to make things happen. He offered to have our story in the newspaper. His uncle owns the paper.

Monday, 10 May 2010
Roadblock: Our overnight sleeper berth train ticket to Indore never clears standby and is canceled. This is a very busy holiday with school out. No more train seats availble for two days so we take a 5 hour car ride to Delhi then fly to Indore. Indore is a large modern city much like the US. We are here to reach out to local NGOs and goverenment officials concerning water and sanitation issues.

Quick visit to The Taj Mahal

We took one down day in the middle of our trip for a train ride to Agra. We saw the sun rise on the Taj Mahal. Magnificent!

Friday, May 7th - A visit to a remote village

Today we met with one of WaterAid's local NGO parterners called Samarthan. This wonderful organization is improving lives in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Samarthan was kind enough to bring us on a tour of the remote village of Didakhedi, which is comprised of Dalit people. The village is made up of 30 families. The Dalits are the lowest caste.


The Didakhedi people are very gracious hosts-as is everyone in India. They sat with us and, through a translator, told us about their village and the impact of Samarthan's help. Samarthan began working with the Didakhedi village last June. Since that time toilets and water taps have been added to each house. The improvements in sanitation has helped alleviate illness. With the new water taps, women are saved from having to walk long distances to water sources and no longer are burdened with carrying heavy loads of water back to their villages. With the time they save they are able to spend more time with their children. These improvements have left the people of Didakhedi feeling empowered and eager to further improve their lives.

Here are some photos of our arrival at Didakhedi. We were offered water and also a delicious concoction that tastes like lemonade. As a gesture of welcoming, a spot was placed on our foreheads. We asked the villagers if westerners had ever visited them before. They told us no. In fact, the elders said that we were the first foreigners they have seen in their entire lives.

Adventures in Driving

We thought you might be interested in seeing what driving in India is like. There's never a boring moment! Still, it all works somehow.

All's well that ends well....

We faltered out of the gate this morning as the technology gremlins did their best to slow us down. Our Internet connection was down, cell phone communication was lost and even our hot water was out (although this seems to happen daily). To boot, our hopes for meeting with the Engineer in Chief of the Public Health Engineering office were dashed when we were informed that he would not be available to meet until Monday. Since we are leaving for Agra on Saturday we will not be able to conduct this interview. As the morning progressed however, things began to fall back into place and we were able to work on our report.



After lunch we headed over to the United Nations Madhya Pradesh Office for a meeting with their general manager, Mr. Manish Mathur. This meeting provided us with important input for our report and will help us build a strong case for Water for People's expansion into Madhya Pradesh. Mr. Mathur agreed that of all of the states in India, Madhya Pradesh has the greatest need for relief in water and sanitation. We all left the meeting a little "jazzed."



Since we still had time left with our driver we stopped off at the State Museum on the way back to our hotel. We were amazed at size of their collection of antiquities, and also astonished by the ages of the relics. Below is a photograph of a water recharge system dating back to the 2nd century B.C. We couldn't quite figure out how it worked, but thought it was appropriate for our blog.

Meeting with WaterAid

Wednesday, May 5
Today, we met with WaterAid, a British based International NGO working in Madhya Pradesh with a similar development model as Water For People. Their lessons learned developing local partners was very useful information.
One of the water issues that we are learning about is the social inequalities of water and sanitation delivery in the rural areas. The higher caste person will have the right to take water first. Also at the source the lower caste person will ensure that his vessel does not touch the vessel of the higher caste. The animals will drink water first before the members of lower caste groups will be allowed to take water. During times of acute water shortage, the members of upper caste groups do not allow access to the members of the lower caste to common and private water sources within their neighborhood or on their fields. Consequently the lower caste households have to access water source that is at a longer distance.
Our study group is thankful that we all continue to be healthy with no discomfort. We plan to visit the state government tomorrow then visit a rural village water project on Friday.

A visit to the slums of Bhopal

Tuesday, May 4
Today, we met some amazing people at AARAMBH which is a local Indian NGO focused on child issues and water/sanitation projects in the slums of Bhopal. We saw and heard firsthand the impact of the water projects on their lives. In community meetings, they reported to us that the incidence of diarrheal diseases has decreased dramatically. The impact was greatest on the lives of the women in the community. Previously they spent several hours a day going to fetch water for the family. Now the water is available at a set time each day and close by their house at the pump stand. Many of the women were able to start businesses in their home because of the water project. They were very happy. Everone was so welcoming and gracious to our team.

One little girl asked, “Did you come all the way from America just to look at our toilets?” I replied "Yes. That, and to see the Taj Mahal. "

After flying for 27 hours, we were welcomed to our ornate hotel which looks more like a Moorish palace with inlaid marble floors. We took a quick sightseeing and shopping trip through downtown Bhopal – combination of lavish tropical scenery and people living on the side of street in slums.
Two water and sanitation experts from UNICEF met us at the hotel even though it was their day off. They spoke with us for several hours describing water and sanitation issues in Madhya Pradesh. Their focus is to encourage sustainable development. Almost any water project will succeed as long as the international NGO is pumping in money and handholding. The challenge is to develop projects that will transition to local support and continue. There is often a tradeoff between technology and convenience. The community needs to make decisions that are right for their situation. For example a simple handpump may be a preferred solution for a community rather than a more sophisticated piped water system. This is because the village has the resources to maintain the handpump but the more complex system will not be sustainable. Mr. Singh and Sanjay also provided many other contacts for us in the government and university. This was a most valuable meeting for us and an encouraging start for our study.

The Journey Begins Tomorrow

Tomorrow we depart, flying from Denver to Frankfurt to Mumbai to Bhopal, India (10,534 miles in 27 hours). Our mission is to conduct research on the potential for Water For People projects in Madhya Pradesh – the largest state in India.

There is no ITT or Water For People presence In Madhya Pradesh now, so we will be on our own to develop contacts. We prepared a list of potential contacts from internet searches including government offices, NGOs, universities, and companies. After tens of emails and faxes, we have three intriguing leads. UNICEF replied with an official looking letter of interest in our work. One local Indian NGO (AARAMBH) is eager to speak with us. We are hopeful that they will be willing to let us visit some of their water projects in the slums of Bhopal that we have read about. Professor Choudhary (Civil Engineering Department at Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal) replied with an interest to meet with our team. He also suggested another collaborator; Professor Chauhan (Environmental Engineering) who is interested in our work. It will be helpful to have a collaborator in the academic community that can help us make appropriate contacts in the government. We have heard this is the way of doing business in India. You rely on one contact making additional introductions for you. Our first attempts at cold calling the university were challenged to understand the rapid fire king’s English spoken with an Indian accent.

One intro fax went out to the Principal Secretary for Water Resources in Madhya Pradesh. Unfortunately last week the Principal Secretary was removed from office for financial irregularities and arrested after lavish jewelry and enormous foreign bank accounts were discovered in tax raids. His wife and father (Police Chief of Madhya Pradesh) were also implicated in the raids. This all was another reminder of the rampant corruption that has stifled attempts to improve living conditions in India.

Getting Ready for India

We leave on Friday, April 30th for our scoping study. In preparation for our trip we've received (numerous!) vaccinations, filled prescriptions for anti-malaria pills and run down our pack list. We've also prepared for our time in India by conducting research on Madhya Pradesh, the local water and sanitation situation and by setting up appointments with local NGO's and government officials. We are eager to embark on our adventure!