From Chicu Lokgariwar, Gomukh Environmental Trust, Pune
Posted 31 January 2007

I work for the Gomukh Trust, an NGO working primarily in watershed management, decentralized water supply and sanitation, and negotiated integrated River Basin Management. We also attempt to influence policy by researching, developing, and creating awareness about sustainable mechanisms for water supply. As part of the last, we are now working on a European Economic Union project to document and develop action plans for innovative watsan systems in Indian cities.

For the above documentation, we are compiling a handbook on “best practices” in urban water supply and sanitation. These “best practices” are expected to be of the following types:

• Technologies - including comprehensive systems of water supply and sanitation and processes like water distribution, purification, and metering.
• Institutional innovations - for equitable and participatory management and monitoring of watsan systems.
• Economic innovations – e.g. through cost sharing, metering, revenue models, etc.

The “best practices” will be selected for inclusion in the handbook on the basis of following criteria:

1. Economic, environmental and social sustainability.
2. Reliability, ease of operation and maintenance
3. Affordability of the installation and running costs
4. Potential for scaling up and replicability

Members are requested to include case studies of where the “best practices” faced major opposition and how these were overcome. Case studies of not-so successful innovations but possessing a major learning value may also be contributed, as sometimes failures teach more than successes.

Needless to say, all contributors will be acknowledged in the compendium.

Please see attachment below for the responses.