Spm-niwas: How A Facility Aims To Improve Water And Sanitation Services For Millions Of People?

The Indian government has been pursuing transformational programs to improve "comfort of life" by assuring the availability of fundamental amenities and services. The most fundamental human need for health and well-being is access to clean water, proper sanitation, and hygiene. Access to clean water and sanitation as well as sustainable management of water resources are crucial for boosting economic output and providing a considerable return on current investments in health and education. 

 

In addition to addressing drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene, the UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 (Achieve access to water and sanitation for everyone) also addresses the quality and sustainability of water resources, which are vital to both human and environmental existence.

 

By providing basic amenities and services like housing, electricity, toilets, cooking gas, financial inclusion, social security, accessible healthcare, roads, broadband connectivity, tap connection, etc., the Indian government has been implementing transformational programs to improve "ease of living." These programs have succeeded in achieving the "twin" goals of "no one is left out" and "bridging the urban-rural divide" while offering essential amenities and services. 

 

With the UN's International Decade for Action "Water for Sustainable Development" running from 2018 to 2028, water and sanitation, which are considered to be essential services, are going through a significant shift in the nation.

 

The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) was established on October 2, 2014, with the goal of achieving universal sanitation coverage and eliminating open defecation in India. The prime minister made this statement during his first Independence Day speech. With this mission, women and girls received the promised dignity and freedom from the stigma of open defecation. 

 

The SBM has advanced to SBM 2.0 in order to maintain villages' Open Defecation Free (ODF) status and raise rural regions' standards of cleanliness through solid and liquid waste management initiatives, guaranteeing communities maintain their ODF Plus status. On July 4th of this year, exactly five years later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Jal Jeevan Mission, a $43.43 billion initiative to provide drinkable tap water to every rural home by the year 2024.

 

The mission, which at the time of launch required four times the speed and scale of the advancements made in the previous 70 years of independence, focuses on the quantity, quality, regularity, and affordability of water supply over the long term. It is also designed as a decentralized demand-driven mission, with communities playing a significant role in its management. Since the mission's inception, the percentage of rural households with access to clean drinking water has increased from 16.71 to 55.91 percent (adding nearly 7.59 crore tap connections) in the previous three years.

 

Both of these transformation goals require skilled public health engineers, effective administrators of water and sanitation systems, and utilities that are in good working order. Due to the country's issues with diversity, such as the geographic and seasonal variations in water supply, it is difficult to maintain the country's drinking water sources.

 

The need for long-distance water transfers for water-scarce areas, testing the quality of the water supplied on a regular basis, taking adaptation measures for challenges posed by climate change, geographical divergence, the presence of geogenic contaminants in groundwater, governance issues, treatment of sewage/grey water and its reuse, handling the animal waste, staying in tune with technology development and innovation etc., calls for intensive capacity building efforts throughout the country.

 

Rural Development/Panchayat Raj Departments in states/UTs/responsible for water supply and sanitation are currently largely staffed with personnel with civil engineering skills, and it is necessary for them to evolve into more holistic public health engineers focusing on assured water and sanitation service delivery and utility management in the long term.

 

To address the aforementioned difficulties, the institutional support for the water and sanitation sector must be built and nurtured organically since it is currently insufficient. With the aforementioned new realities and problems, academic programs in the drinking water and sanitation industry also need to be revised.

 

SPM-NIWAS has been established under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation with an initial investment of Rs 100 crore as an autonomous institution to look beyond engineering elements of water supply and sanitation. It is registered under the Societies Act and is expected to take the lead and grow into a worldwide apex institution for drinking water and sanitation, engage in academic pursuits, conduct research, teach public health engineers, and cooperate with other stakeholders.

 

The institute will also address different technological difficulties associated with maintaining cleanliness and delivering adequate drinking water, serving as a resource for solutions. The center is positioned to develop into a true referral center and would also offer consultancy services and solutions to developing nations in the WASH sector.

 

The Water Supply, Water and Sanitation, Public Health Engineering (PHE) Departments of various States and UTs, as well as other nodal implementing agencies formed under State's statute, would all communicate actively with the NIWAS. Selected reputable institutes like NEERI, IITs, NUJS (NLU), Kolkata, AIIH and PH, Kolkata, BIS, etc. would be involved in the collaboration.

 

Additionally, a hub-and-spoke approach of collaboration with Knowledge Resource Centers (KRCs), Centers of Excellence (CoEs), and Jal Jeevan Mission - Professor Chairs is envisioned. Additionally, it will tackle important national water quality issues as well as the monitoring and evaluation of water and sanitation programs and schemes in both rural and urban regions.

For this reason, NIWAS will have a multidisciplinary staff led by the Director that includes renowned WASH experts, field experts, scientists, etc. The infrastructure would include cutting-edge laboratories for research and innovation, a training facility for academics, a contemporary dorm, office space, etc.

 

The institute would eventually become an "Institute of National Importance." The NIWAS will be acknowledged as the key figure in the nation's development of highly qualified employees in the water and sanitation industry. It will also serve as a fully funded hub to assist and direct water and sanitation organizations throughout all States.

 

The institute is intended to give other developing nations technical know-how, training, etc. In Long-term, the SPM-NIWAS would become a new VISWAS (hope) and shine as a leading WASH center around the world, upholding the Bharatiya spirit as stated in the Yajur Veda:

‘Amirtham va aapaha;Amirthesya natharithai’ - "Let the water be ever present; without being destroyed,"