Sanitation Triggers Transformation
With the implementation of sanitation and drinking water programs in the squatters’ settlements and slums in Kathmandu valley, those living in poor urban settlements have reason to rejoice. Discriminated, ignored and suppressed by other communities for centuries, health of the poorest of the poor living in urban areas has improved a lot following the improvement in sanitation conditions. With the support of WaterAid Nepal, the sanitation and drinking water programs launched by Lumanti, a non-governmental organization, has transformed the attitude of richer communities towards poorer besides making poor people healthier
By KESHAB POUDEL
“Do not eat green things raw. Roast or cook them before eating them, Use water for drinking only after filtering and boiling it, and then letting it become cool, as otherwise worms which exist in water eat up the our liver thus causing death. Local people should cover up wells so that rainwater may not fall into them. Avoid the use of water from fields, streams, irrigation channels, and wells which are not covered up.” This was the Royal order issued in June 1880 by King of Nepal following a massive outbreak of cholera and other water-borne diseases in the capital valley.
Despite such proclamation issued by the Nepalese King more than a century ago, large number of Nepalese particularly poor people living in slums and squatter settlements near urban centers of Kathmandu are yet to have complete safe water and sanitation facilities. Drinking contaminated water and living in the areas without sanitation, they are always vulnerable to outbreak of water-borne disease.
Surrounded by diseases, unhealthy environment and open sewer, majority of urban poor are still discriminated against by nearby communities of so called middle or affluent class who treat them as pariah and avoid to touch them believing that it would transmit their diseases. Disparities between hygienic and unhygienic localities have resulted into widening cultural and social gaps between the residents of slums and squatter settlements and others.
Although agencies like WaterAid Nepal have been making some efforts to improve sanitation facilities and drinking water to urban poor, there is still a long way to go before providing sanitation facilities to all urban poor living in squatter settlements and slums. Having nominal monthly income of less than 1 US$ a day, drinking boiled water and constructing sanitation facilities is still a distant dream for large number of urban poor living in squatter settlements. Under a shadow of big bungalow and well built roads, development planners and policy makers have ignored the painful situations under which thousands of urban squatters have been forced to live.
According to information compiled by ENPHO, an NGO, in the month of May 2004, a total of 1,361 patients were hospitalized due to water-borne diseases including cholera in Kathmandu.
Although the urban poor have much worse conditions than rural poor, the government is yet to identify these areas as a priority.. >From Bishnumati river bank to Bagmati river
Bank and Dhobikhola riverbank, thousands of poor people have been living in the squatter settlements with virtually no access to clean drinking water and sanitation. According to a study, there are between 15,000-20,000 squatters living in the valley. Unofficially, the number is said to be five times higher. Most of the internally displaced populations are also living in squatter settlements.
Despite intervention by Lumanti – an NGO -- and others, situation of sanitation in places like Pathivara squatter settlement with 162 households is yet to improve. Open sewer, congested lane, open garbage and dirty water in the nearby river all are contributing to retain highest number of incidence of water-borne disease in the community.
“Despite construction of some latrines, sewer and boring for drinking water, our people continue to suffer from water-borne disease. Of course, the improvement in basic services and community work has changed attitude of the people. Till five years back, no body dared to visit our settlements because of the unhygienic environment here,” said Thule Tamang, 52 of Pathivara, Kapan in Kathmandu. “We have now realized that we need to improve cleanliness of our settlements to get social recognition from nearby well to do community.”
Most of the people in these settlements work as a low paid household worker or laborer. With an average family of 5.3, these people spend most of their income to treat their children and family members. With 297 households, Srijana Basti, Mandikhatar, a squatter settlement 8 kilometers north of capital, has better sanitation and drinking water program. Supported by WaterAid and implemented by Lumanti, the sanitation program has virtually transformed the locality.
“Our intervention has brought a lot of change in the slums and squatter settlements including in the attitude of people,” said Lajana Manandhar, president of Lumanti.
Due to intensification of conflict and lack of employment opportunities at the local level, poor continue to encroach riverside or public land to develop squatter settlements within the capital. A new settlement is in the making just east of Tribbhuwan International Airport—at the bank of Manahara River.
According to the Census of Nepal 2001, out of 23 million population, more than 14 percent of population live in the urban areas and it is growing at the rate of more than 5 percent, which is higher than the growth of urbanization of any South Asian cities. Kathmandu valley has reportedly about 1.5 million population. Kathmandu Metropolitan alone has the population of 670,000 with the migration rate of 35 percent. Although the government claims that 78 percent of urban population have access to water supply, most of the areas in Kathmandu receive only half an hour supply of water every alternate day.
As the migration of poor people continue to grow, population of various slums and squatter settlements continues to go up. The study conducted by Nepal Water Supply Corporation in 2001 showed that only 17 percent of 218,322 households are unconnected to piped water supply. Nearly 63 percent of unconnected are poor.
Program for Urban Poor
The WaterAid Nepal has been supporting programs in a number of slums and squatter settlements to develop strategies for the delivery of water and sanitation, within a shelter support framework to improve the situation of slums, squatters and low-income communities of Kathmandu valley and 3 small towns.
Thanks to the implementation of sanitation and drinking water programs, many squatter settlements and slums have seen drastic changes. Lumanti has already shown that interventions like construction of sewer, drinking water tanks and latrines give a lot of economic, social and health benefits to the community.
Despite being close to well-to-do local communities, Srijana Basti of Mandikhatar-- just 7 kilometer north of capital Kathmandu-- used to suffer from outbreak of all kinds of water-borne diseases from time to time. Because of open sewer, open wells and muddy pavement, the possibility of contamination of water was very high. Whether it was monsoon or dry season, water related ailment was common among the people and most of them spent their time visiting hospitals and dispensaries along with their children. As they were living in an unhygienic and dirty situation with frequent outburst of water-borne diseases, nearby communities considered the slums and squatter settlements as an area of curse.
The situation has changed now. A program implemented by Lumanti has changed the face of settlements of 297 communities. The introduction of Soar Disinfection (SODIS) system to purify water has made a lot of difference. “ After drinking purified water through SODIS method, our family has saved lot of money,” said Punmati, 59. “I don’t have to send my grand-children to hospital now.”
WaterAid Nepal has been worming in urban areas since 2000 when it collaborated on the first study on the water and sanitation situation of the urban poor in the Kathmandu valley. It has formed partnership with 5 urban NGOs, namely Lumanti, ENPHO, UEMS CIUD and NEWAH to improve water supply and sanitation conditions especially in slums and squatter communities.
According to a situation analysis of Urban Poor communities in Kathmandu and Lalitpur, in the squatter communities diarrhea disease are common, especially during the rainy reason when the water is more heavily contaminated. The high level of water-borne disease in the squatter communities can also be attributed to the fact that water is not boiled or filtered. Infectious diseases and intestinal worms (such as roundworms, threadworms, hookworms ant tape worms) are common among children in the squatter communities.
After the construction of new wells, toilets and pavement as well as introduction of new technologies for water treatments like SODIS, people in these slums and squatter settlements get relief from all kinds of water-borne disease and the number of infections has drastically reduced. The World Bank supported Nepal Living Standard Survey Report 2003/04 showed that almost 39 percent of households in the country now have toilet facilities in their own dwellings, compared to 22 percent in 1995/96.
Compared to national average, slums and squatter settlements in the valley have almost hundred percent toilets. “We are working with more than 55 slums and squatter settlements where hygienic condition has drastically changed. We also support to build latrines. The clean and organized settlements have also changed the attitude of other communities towards them,” said Manandhar, president of Lumanti.” Our small intervention has brought a lot of change in people’s attitude towards slums and squatter settlements.”
Said Dinesh Bajracharya, programme support manager of WaterAid Nepal, like in rural areas, the construction of latrines has enhanced the dignity of the poor. “The social recognition is one of the major achievement of the sanitation program.”
According to Asian Development Bank’s Country Strategy and Program for 2005-2009, 72 percent of population in Nepal has access to drinking water. Overall sanitation access has increased from 6 percent in 1990 (prior to the restoration of democracy) to 39 percent in 2004. However, it must be noted that significant disparities exist in access to water and sanitation, in spite of rapid expansion over the last fifteen years.
In Nepal, the richest strata is 13 times more likely to have piped water in their homes than the poorest 39 percent and are nearly eight times more likely to have improved sanitations 79 percent vs. 10. According to Nepal Millennium Development Goals progress report, there is a resource gap of US$ 1962,83 million in investment from 2005 to 2015 in the drinking water and sanitation sector.
Sanukanchi Tamang, 50, a resident of Srijana Basti, Mandikhatar, recalls the days when there used to be frequent epidemic of stomach illness, diahorrea, typhoid, jaundice and cholera. “These diseases were something like all weather diseases in our community since there were no latrines. We spent more than half of our income to treat our children and we had to sacrifice our working days in taking children to hospitals and dispensaries,” said Sanukanchi. She now uses SODIS technology to purify drinking water.
Prepared jointly by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and National Planning Commission, Nepal Human Development Report 2004 reveals that drinking water supply and sanitation is yet to cover large number of urban poor. Like all other parts of the country, services to poor people fail often in terms of quality, quantity and access.
“Many urban population in Nepal have inadequate provision of water, sanitation and drainage systems which contribute to very large disease burden and hundreds of thousands of premature deaths each year. The urban population in Nepal is growing rapidly, and is expected to reach 23% by 2016 from 14% in 2001. The rate of unplanned urbanization growth itself is alarming. As population grows and water use per person rises, demand for fresh water is soaring. Yet the supply of fresh water is finite and threatened by pollution,” said Sanjaya Adhikary, country representative of WaterAid Nepal. “Even in the 21 st century, many residents of Kathmandu continue to cope up with huge water stress – not only in dry period but during wet season also. In slums and squatter settlements, whose deprivation is hidden behind national averages, there are specific problems relating to water and sanitation provision. Land tenure issues have further exacerbated the already worsening health situation and these issues act as an obstacle to the provision of water supply and sanitation despite the fact that there is global commitment towards MDGs to improve the living conditions of 100 million slum-dwellers by 2020. To avoid a crisis, there is an urgent need to conserve water, pollute less, manage supply and demand, and control rapid population growth,” Adhikary added.
According to the situation analysis of urban poor communities in Kathmandu and Lalitpur conducted by Lumanti, the number of squatter settlements in the valley has been steadily growing. There are more than 65 settlements in the valley. With the intensification of the Maoist insurgency and lack of employment opportunities, large number of marginal people are coming to the valley encroaching the public land for their settlements.
Occupied by low income, socially disadvantaged and marginalized people, the squatter settlement in the valley is largely unorganized and unhygienic for human being. Officials on their part say drinking water and sanitation program is high priority of the government. Our efforts are to fulfill the target set by Millennium Development Goals, they said.
Slums are a different world. People here live in the house of less than 20 feet width and 20 feet length. Most of them work as street vendors, domestic helpers and laborers. Just few yards behind the squatter settlements, people live in spacious bungalow will all modern amenities with a smaller family. However, the squatters live in small huts with average family size of over 5 persons.
The history of squatter settlements is very new. With the growing urbanization of the valley during the decades of 1980s, economic opportunities in the valley attracted migrant workers. With an average monthly income of Rs. 2,363 (US$ 30), the squatters have to feed their family members and send their children to schools.
Covered by big buildings around and ignored by the government for decades, the squatter settlements and slums of the valley are in the process of transformation.
Although no body knows how people responded to orders issued by the then king more than a century ago, the programs launched under the partnership between local communities, Non-governmental organization and INGO like Water Aid Nepal is yielding results. From health to social status, sanitation makes a lot of difference in the life of urban poor – which were forgotten by mainstream development activities.
