Solid and Liquid Waste Management in Rural Areas

INTRODUCTION

  Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) directly impact human health and have far reaching consequences when ignored. India is one of the fastest developing economies, but when it comes to WASH indicators, it continues to lag behind. With a population of over 1.2 billion, there is a mounting and urgent need to address sanitation. Solid and Liquid Waste Management1 (SLWM) is one of the key components of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) (G), launched with the objective of bringing improvement in cleanliness, hygiene and the general quality of life in rural areas. This document presents a basic, quick introduction to Solid Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) in rural areas. The document is geared, particularly for district administrators to help focus on SLWM along with Open Defecation Free (ODF) activities. 

1   WHAT IS WASTE?

    Waste is any item beyond use in its current form and discarded as unwanted. It can be solid or liquid with respective management methods. 

          

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 1.1   SOLID WASTE

           In rural areas, examples of solid waste include wastes from kitchens, gardens, cattle sheds, agriculture, and materials such as metal, paper, plastic, cloth, and so on. They are organic and inorganic materials with no remaining economic value to the owner produced by homes, commercial and industrial establishments. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                

Most household waste in rural areas is organic, with little inorganic material, and is non-toxic. Because of its environment-friendliness, composting is a highly suitable method of waste management in rural areas.

 

 1.2    LIQUID WASTE

 

 When water is used once and is no longer fit for human consumption or any other use, it is considered to be liquid waste. Wastewater can be subcategorised as industrial and domestic:

                 ๐  Industrial wastewater is generated by manufacturing processes and is difficult to treat

                 ๐  Domestic wastewater includes water discharged from homes, commercial complexes, hotels,

                      and educational institutions.

 

 2       SLWM  under SBM Guidelines 

 

  SBM focuses on generating awareness and providing community managed sanitation systems. To implement SLWM initiatives economically and efficiently, ownership at grass root level and community involvement at all stages is critical. Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) interventions should focus on SLWM to create a demand for a sustainable system. This must lead to setting up systems for waste disposal in such a way that it has tangible impact on the population. The community/Gram Panchayat (GP) has to be encouraged to come forward and demand such a system, which they can subsequently operate and maintain.

Compost pits being inaugurated

 

 Awareness and education campaigns should aim for panchayat officials, elected representatives, schools, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) working in villages, shop keepers, families, and general public.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The GP functionaries would be responsible for design, implementation, operation and maintenance (O&M) of SLWM systems with support from respective state governments. Mechanisms for involving third parties in construction and management activities under GP and community supervision can be explored. In such cases, absolute clarity in the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders in managing SLWM systems is a must. Community contribution and appropriate user charges for sustainable SLWM initiatives are also desirable.

 

 3   INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR SLWM

         ๐  SLWM resource team at state level: states should decide on technologies suitable to their areas.

         ๐  SLWM resource team at district level

         ๐  Explore the need for qualified persons at GP for O&M and enable GP to make provisions.

         ๐  Involve Self Help Groups (SHGs), other community groups, and private sector / entrepreneurs 

            for SLWM as a ‘Village Level Sanitarian’ (service provider)

         ๐  Enable basic monitoring/recording systems at GP level for indicators identified  through                             SBM   (G).

 

 

       TABLE1: ACTORS IN RURAL SLWM

  FIGURE 1: SUGGESTED FRAMEWORK FOR CONVERGENCE AND COORDINATION

 

                                           

                                                                           

  Source: Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Asian Development Bank (2014) Guidelines on Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) in Rural Areas. Government of India.

 

 

  All GPs are to be targeted for coverage with an SLWM project. SLWM projects for each GP should be part of Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) of a district. The AIP should be approved by State Level Scheme Sanctioning Committee. Each individual SLWM project may be approved at the District Water and Sanitation Committee (DWSC) level according to the technical and financial rules of the individual states. Every state should have at least one SLWM consultant at the state level and one SLWM consultant in each District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM)/DWSC to guide preparations for SLWM projects). Professional agencies/NGOs may be sought to prepare, develop, test and implement such projects. Costs payable to such agencies may be made a part of the project cost itself.

 

 4.  FUNDING

      Under SBM (G), assistance for SLWM projects is based on the total number of households within a GP. Table 2 outlines the maximum permissible costs.

        Funds for SLWM project under SBM (G) are provided by central and state governments, which if required, can be supplemented by dovetailing funds from other programmes and sources like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme(MGNREGS), Member of Parliament Local Area Development scheme (MPLADS), Member of Legislative Assembly Local Area Development scheme (MLALADS)funds, Finance Commission funds, Corporate Social Responsibility contribution, Swachh Bharat Kosh (SBK), donor funding, programmes of other ministries and departments, etc. Maintenance costs for the first five years of operation may be made part of the project cost.

 

 FIGURE 2:SCHEMATIC FLOW OF DIFFERENT PROCESSES FOR DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING A GP LEVEL SLWM PLAN

 

 5  CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF TECHNOLOGY

                ๐Availability of space near houses and housing pattern.

                ๐Geophysical condition of the village including topography, soil structure and ground water     

                   conditions

                 ๐Availability of common space in and around the village

 

 

 

      

6   VILLAGE SWACHHTHA INDEX

            

       Government of India has developed a detailed statistical analysis to identify factors that may be necessary for measuring cleanliness across India in order to raise awareness about cleanliness and to instil a sense of competitiveness amongst villages, GPs, Blocks, Districts and States. Based on several consultations with states and experts and a large survey involving over 70,000 households in 75 districts across the country, Cleanliness Index and SLWM index have been defined. Cleanliness index captures the overall cleanliness of a village including village households which have access to and are using safe toilets and environmental friendliness. SLWM index captures environmental friendliness as evidenced by absence of litter around houses and public places and no stagnant water around households. SLWM index is derived out of Cleanliness index as per the following: Village Cleanliness Index (C) is defined as C = 0.4*X1 + 0.3*X2 + 0.1*X3 + 0.2*X4 In addition, Village SLWM Index is defined as S = 0.5*X2 + 0.17*X3 + 0.33*X4 where, X1 = % of households having access to safe sanitation X2 = % of households having no litter around them X3 = % of households having no stagnant waste water around them X4 = % level of litter free around public places Gram Sabhas are responsible to estimate the various factors defined above that comprises the cleanliness index. SBM (G) implementing authorities at the GP/Block/District level are required to upload the information on the MIS. Once uploaded, the system will calculate and display the Cleanliness Index and SLWM Index scores as per the formula developed. An independent verification process will be arranged by the Government of India to find out state level estimates of villages that lie above a certain level of SLWM index for incentivisation of states. GoI proposes to use same factors to allow members of the public to rate the cleanliness levels of villages through MDWS website or a mobile application. This will also provide an independent citizens’ rating about the cleanliness of villages.

 

7.   FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON SLWM

 

      BOX 1:FAQs (SLWM)