Safe water leads to healthy life

Kharsan, Rajasthan Adopted by Standard Chartered Bank

Kharsan village in Bhinder,Udaipur,Rajasthan has a population of 2905 people with about 655 households. The people live a simple life and earn their living by farming and other family businesses. Village literacy rate is 66.3% and people have a monthly income ranging from 5000 to 15000.

Our team conducted baseline survey to dipstick the awareness and perception of drinking water and related habits. People based ‘taste’ of water as a parameter for quality of water. They had salt deposits on their utensils, they felt TDS and acidic contamination was a major impurity in their water. They were dependent on groundwater with average TDS of 2100ppm as source of drinking water so joint pains and discoloration of teeth were highly common. Some of them used had domestic RO or purchased from private vendors at Rs 15/- for 20 litres. 97% (31/32 households) of the people expressed dissatisfaction over quality of water and need for safe drinking water. 

Partnership: 

Standard Chartered Bank under their CSR initiative adopted 17 villages across 7 states in India to provide access to safe drinking water to these villages. One such village is Kharsan, Rajasthan where in 2017 a 500lph machine with water ATM was installed to serve safe drinking water to the villagers. 

How to become a Sarvajal Customer:

A customer has to get a RFID card from our Sarvajal Kendra then recharge with the operator for ongoing use. Our team made 254 members card and till date 599801.3 liters of water has been dispensed. 

How to use the RFID card:

Step 1: Place the card on the screen of the ATM. 

Step 2: The balance of the card and TDS of the water is displayed.

Step 3: He chooses to withdraw water as per his wishes as our ATM allow flexible dispensing and pays only for water taken by him. 

Changes after the intervention:

A midline survey was done in 2018 showed that

• 44% of the population has been fetching water from more than a year. 

• Among 16 households, 56% of them shared that they have experienced reduced in medical                     expenses 

• 69% of households have lesser number of water borne diseases. 

• Drinking water from Sarvajal Kendra was also a matter of pride for the consumers that have been         surveyed. 

• They acknowledged the importance of the water quality as it is beneficial to them. 

The Operator’s Voice:

“There are more than 253 cards; I consider this as Sewa ; Agar kisi bhi vajah se atm is pani nahi milta hai toh mein Seva ke taur pe aise hi pani de dete hu, log 800meter door se bhi aate hai paani lene toh unko aese khaali nahi jaane dete” – Operator Radhe Shyam

                                                                                                                                                                      

“As the sarvajal Kendra closeby my house I go and fetch water at any time in a day. Three years back a team came from Delhi to conduct research on water, later the reports came and the percentage of acid and fluoride was high. After knowing this, my family decided to take water through RO tankers from Kheroda Village (near to Kharsan) for 15 lts for 20 Rs. Now, ever since Sarvajal Kendra is in our village, it’s easy to go and take water. I have relief from joint pain and acidity”

 –Shaanta Manariya, Home Maker.  

She has done 425 transactions of 4198.1 Litres till date (Data from SEMS; Sarvajal Enterprise Management System).

“We take Sarvajal Water even though we have a borewell at home as it tastes good” –Rekha ji  ( 169 transactions of 2071.9 Liters till date)

“We get water from the Sarvajal plant as most of us find domestic RO very expensive”– Vipul Manera (636 transactions of 7397.3 Liters till date)

“When we got to know from the people that the quality of water is good, it motivated us to take water from Sarvajal plant.We take water everyday and have seen health improvements in my family” – Shyam Lal (617 transactions of 8792.5 Litres till date)

“We use filtered water from panchayat(Sarvajal) machine for our drinking purpose only. I realized that my constant painful joints have relived after continuous use of Sarvajal.However we use borewell water for cooking as the water gets boiled while cooking the food; Khana banate waqt ubal jaata hai toh usme hi kaam le lete hai, Kitaanu bhi hat jaate hai”- Suresh’s wife (342 transactions of 4756.4 Liters till date)

”We trust our Operator; he is the one who is serving every one of us. Some of us cannot afford domestic RO so use of this service at an affordable price is the best thing about your service.” - Ishwar Lal and Nana Lal

SEMS data showing a monthly pattern of liter dispensed on a daily basis

Our internal impact assessments have showed: 

• Marked difference in the behaviors of the people towards drinking water.

• Our community engagement activities of safe drinking water facilities have created awareness                amongst the people.

• They appreciate the price at which it is made available to everyone. 

• The card recharge is extremely easy and found facility clean and hygienic managed by a friendly             operator.

This intervention is changing the health of the community as 44% people moved to safe drinking water practices from more than a year because of health benefits and overall improvement in their quality of life. Water is precious and the people of this village are sensitive to it. There is awareness on water conversation as 2 houses had rain water being harvested in a structured way.

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Making water Convenient

Bimalpura is a large village in Jaipur district of Rajasthan, having a population of 2,018 and 297 houses in total. The majority of their livelihood comes from farming and labour work. The main challenges that the village face is the unavailability of safe drinking water. The facility of borewell water has 1460 TDS. (Source: Baseline Report)

Aligning with the issue faced by the community, baseline research was conducted by the Impact Assessment team of Sarvajal. It shows that all the surveyed households were highly dissatisfied with the quality of drinking water and 94% face difficulty in access and availability.

 Thusly to resolve the challenge of the community, Standard chartered’s CSR initiative synergised with Piramal Sarvajal, a social enterprise working specifically towards safe, accessible and affordable drinking water by leveraging technology. The Bank adopted Sarmaliya and through its implementing partner Sarvajal, installed a water purification unit on 25 May 2018

Till now, Standard Chartered has adopted 22 villages by setting up community-level purification plants with Water ATM.

After the Installation, Piramal Sarvajal’s team engages with the community every month to spread awareness about health and water linkages. They appreciate the price at which it is made available to everyone and have eased from the previous challenge of the lack of accessibility. Out of 297, 167 households moved to safe drinking water practices because of overall improvement in their quality of life.

Door Delivery helps women to take charge in decision-making for water 

It’s been three months since I’ve started taking water from Sarvajal Home delivery service. The taste is good and I could feel relief in my stomach.”- Mohini Ji

“The services of Sarvajal are good. I am amazed with the price of water which is available at only 10 Rs per camper.” - Seeta Devi Ji

“In my village, borewell water has fluoride contamination and feels salty in taste. It is been 8 months since I am taking Sarvajal water which is high in quality.”- Chigna Devi

Pride of providing first access to safe water

“I am glad that I got the opportunity to provide quality water at the doorstep of my villagers. It gives me a feeling of pride that people are happy and satisfied with the services of Sarvajal” -Shravan Kumar Yadav, Operator

(Sarvajal Enterprise Management System) SEMS showing the daily pattern of data ranging between 700-1200 of litre dispense during summer season

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Safe water is a blessing!

Story by: Barnini Chatterjee (Volunteer) 
Location- Dwarka Sector-3 adopted by Delhi Jal Board

Providing safe, accessible and affordable water to the underserved communities has always been Piramal Sarvajal’s mission. With increasing cases of COVID-19 across the country, we have seen prolonged lockdown and disrupted services everywhere. There has been a constant fear about everything related to jobs and making basic needs meet especially for the community living in Dwarka Sector 3. 

Fortunately, Sarvajal has been able to continue to support the locals here by providing uninterrupted service even in these uncertain times. We caught up with 3 users while they were at the plant to get water, and they shared their experience with us. 

Consumer Md. Shakeel filling up a can to take back home

Md. Shakeel has been a user of Sarvajal for the past year and is quite satisfied with the service. A family of 4, currently living on rent in the area; strongly feel that because of using Sarvajal, there has been no major sickness or any water-borne diseases. The family consumes about 500-600 litres monthly, and feel it is highly affordable and safe.  Shakeel quotes ‘’yeh meetha paani, tanker jaisa nahin hai. COVID-19 ke dauran swacch paani milna mushkil nahin hua- Sarvajal se kabhi bhi koi bhi card se paani le saakte hai’’. He also adds that the community has largely benefitted since there are no long queues and everyone can get water as per their requirement.

Consumer Om Prakash sharing his experience while taking water
Another resident Om Prakash, who has been using Sarvajal for 2 years, echoes the same sentiment. The convenience of the recharge system makes it easy and hassle-free to get drinking water for his family. Consuming around 1000 litres, the 5 member family, are being extra cautious due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and are strictly following good hygiene practices. He added, ‘’Mohalle mein kisiko koi pareshaani nahin hai, kyounki hum sabko swach aur surakshit paani mil raha hai.’’

Vijay Kumar seen collecting water in empty cans

Vijay Kumar who lives with 6 of his family members in A Block shares “Hum pichle 3 saal se hi Sarvajal ka paani istemaal kar rahe hai. Paani ekdum filter RO jaisa hai, saaf aur meetha; koi ghar mein bimaar bhi nahin hota’’ Vijay and his family consume 900 litres monthly and are quite satisfied with the system of the water card where there is no specific time to collect the water.

Before Sarvajal, the community had no source of regular clean water and would end up spending 250 for 1000 litres, with the exception of few NGO’s and social workers’ occasional involvements and water supply. However, the residents of Dwarka Sec 3 have unanimously agreed that the quality and taste of Sarvajal has been by far the best.

Sarvajal ensures to continue connecting with more families and hear of positive stories from them; where the communities keep getting the benefits of access to safe drinking water in these unprecedented times. 

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