Nepal: Economic and Social Inclusion of the Disadvantaged Poor through Livelihood Enhancement with Micro-Irrigation
(Financed by the Poverty Reduction Fund)
Prepared by Deepak L. Adhikari
Technical Assistance Consultant’s Report
“A report on Micro-irrigation Developments in Nepal”
Asian Development Bank, November 2007 Full report
In the context of Nepal, micro-irrigation, non-conventional irrigation (NIT), minor irrigation or small irrigation are almost synonyms. The report describes the historical development of micro-irrigation in Nepal, the present status, and current issues and challenges.
In an annex descriptions of the following technologies are presented:
simple drip irrigation (SDI)
sprinkler / micro-sprinkler irrigation
low cost water storage tanks: the Sulav tank models
Improving the Delivery of Infrastructure Services in the Pacific : Technical Assistance Consultant’s Report
Prepared by GlobalWorks, United States of America
For the Asian Development Bank, December 2007
3 volumes Full report
This report contains the findings, regional and national strategies, and recommendations that constitute the chief results of ADB’s regional technical assistance (RETA) project: Improving the Delivery of Infrastructure Services in the Pacific. The infrastructure sectors examined include: telecoms, water/sanitation, power, roads, ports, and shipping.
Volume I is the Executive Summary, providing a synopsis of the main findings concerning the critical issues and the status of infrastructure sectors in the eight ADB Pacific Developing Member Countries (Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu) participating in the RETA’s consultative process, and of the national and regional strategies and of the concept of a Regional Advisory Service that have been developed from the consultations.
Volume II contains the full national strategies and country reports of the eight countries, the regional strategy paper, and the concept paper for a Regional Advisory Service (a capacity that might be developed to support implementation of the regional strategy).
Volume III contains the full papers discussing the critical issues affecting infrastructure that have been examined by the RETA, to wit, (i) Governance and Regulation, (ii) Finance and Private Sector Partnership (PSP), (iii) Asset Maintenance, and (iv) Benchmarking.
Author: Nitya Jacob
Published by: Penguin Books India
April 2008, Paperback, 280 p.
Price: Rs 295.00
ISBN 0143104136
ISBN13 9780143104131
Order online here
“‘In spite of surplus water, and one of the world’s richest traditions of managing it, India’s water crisis has reached critical levels.’
Water shortage and the poor quality of water available for human consumption and agricultural purposes are problems that plague urban as well as rural India. This, according to Nitya Jacob, is because inherited knowledge regarding traditional methods of managing and maintaining water resources has been consistently ignored.
The author looks at the traditional water harvesting structures of southern India-the eris and ooranis-and the gharaats, the river-run flour mills of Uttaranchal. In Chambal, he meets Brij Mohan Gujjar, dacoit turned water conservationist, who is working on the check dams designed to control the flow of water in the ravines; and in Shillong, Lan Potham shows him the uses of the easily available bamboo to construct the shyngiar which irrigates his areca nut plantation.
Each system, Jacob finds, takes into account the lay of the land, available raw material, as well as the social structure and make-up of the area it serves. Thus the springs of Uttaranchal, important for water supply and social interaction, are also accurate indexes of the caste lines along which the society using them is divided. The upper castes use the water nearest the source. The author also notes that in most places, modernization of water supply and management systems, which may range from plastic pipes that have replaced the more malleable bamboo for the shyngiar to inefficient dams, has not succeeded.
Water Engineering in Ancient Civilizations
5000 years of History
Author: Pierre Louis Viollet / Forrest M. Holly Jr. (Translator)
Year: 2007
Publisher: IAHR
ISBN: 978-90-78046-05-9
Price: €68.00, IAHR members: €61.00
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An engineer’s perspective on the history of water technology and it’s impact on the development of civilisation.
2nd ed. and translation into English of the French book “L’Hydraulique dans les Civilisations Anciennes”
Table of contents:
Preface by Georges Tate
Introduction
Part I
4,000 years of hydraulic development in the East
From the era of the early cultivators to the conquests of Alexander the Great
Chapter 1. Hydraulics and the birth of civilization
Chapter 2. From Mesopotamia to the Syrian shore: the land of water pioneers
Chapter 3. Ancient Egypt and the Arabia Felix (in modern Yemen), the rhythm of the flood seasons
Chapter 4. The maritime civilizations of the Aegean Sea: urban and agricultural hydraulics
Part II
The Empires of the Builders
Chapter 5. Mathematicians and inventors of Alexandria and the Hellenistic world
Chapter 6. Hydraulics in the Roman Empire: driving force of development and symbol of civilization
Chapter 7. Beyond Bibliographic References Rome, the East and the Arab world
Chapter 8. Rivers, canals, and hydraulic technology in China
Chapter 9. The mills of the Middle Ages
Deak, A. (2008). Taking community-led total sanitation to scale : movement, spread and adaptation. (IDS working papers , 298). Brighton,UK, Institute of Development Studies,University of Sussex.
48 p. ISBN 1 85864 677 4. Hard copy price £12.95. Free download here
When a practice becomes widespread enough, then it has ‘gone to scale’. But increasing the intensity and spread of a particular practice is not a linear or obvious endeavour. The paper proposes that going to scale is multi-dimensional and complex. It focuses on Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS): an innovation in participatory methodology, as well as a unique approach to sanitation. While CLTS has followed both vertical and horizontal trajectories, with quantitative, political, functional and organisational scaling-up, its general movements are best described as ‘spread and adaptation’. The paper describes how CLTS offers important lessons to understand spread which is critical for scaling up in an effective way. CLTS shows how increased scale entails both wide-scale coverage, with pertinent adaptations to local contexts. The main argument is that spread and adaptation are important aspects of scaling up, which is often neglected in the literature. After a brief overview of CLTS, the paper reviews the literature on scaling-up and extracts the useful points relevant to CLTS, and highlights the gaps in the literature around self-spreading movements. A number of case studies of innovative methods or approaches that have been successfully scaled-up are then considered: PRA, Reflect, Community Integrated Pest Management and System of Rice Intensification. The author then maps out CLTS experience, outlining the various ways in which CLTS has spread. After considering the various forms of spread, the ‘spatial strategy’ employed by CARE Bangladesh is given specific attention. The paper then discusses how CLTS and other participatory approaches challenge dominant thinking around community developing by critically examining the World Bank’s discourse around Community-based/driven development. The final section offers concluding remarks regarding how to better understand scaling-up and spread.
Pedi, D. (ed.) (2008). Sharing experiences : sustainable sanitation in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Mitcham, VIC, Australia, WaterAid Australia and Brisbane, QLD, Australia, International WaterCentre. 64 p. Download here.
The publication presents nine case studies from: Indonesia, Vietnam, Vanuatu, Fiji, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati.
Key improvements related to the case studies:
The WSLIC 2 project in Indonesia used a Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach which has empowered communities to take collective action to ensure 156,995 people live in villages that are 100% free of open defecation.
Plan in Vietnam introduced locally produced latrines which reduced household toilet cost by almost 55% and enabled poor farmers to safely reuse human fertilizer for their farms.
The World Vision project in Vanuatu increased access to sanitation by 25% and made safe water accessible in seven villages. Access to potable water resulted in better diets in households and increased hygiene practices.
The 3 Delta Towns project in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam used a revolving loan scheme to improve access to household septic tank toilets for 22,500 people.
The SOPAC Sanitation Park in Fiji showcases a range of sanitation technologies. It has become a training site for local villagers, health workers and students.
In a record 42 days from the commencement of WaterAID Australia’s pilot CLTS sanitation program in Timor Leste, total sanitation coverage in five target villages was achieved. The success of the program has resulted in an inter-agency workshop and training programs to promote the CLTS approach.
The ATproject in PNG promoted hygiene among school children and designed and constructed the locally ‘ATloo’ toilets in schools. The positive results of the project sparked a growing interest in the program in other schools and a demand for sanitation in households.
The World Toilet Organization project in Aceh, Indonesia has used a community toilet and biogas technology to help introduce the concept ecological sanitation whilst restoring normalcy to communities affected by the 2004 Asian Tsunami.
Ecological sanitation training workshops for communities in the Pacific Islands provided theoretical knowledge and practical skills for the participants, which they passed on to their home island communities in Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Tonga.
The Micro Water Facility (MWF), an independent foundation based in The Netherlands, was established in 1 July 2007 to support innovative, small-scale technologies for improving access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation in developing countries. MWF advises entrepreneurs and project organisations on appropriate business strategies and acts as an intermediary in finding the right partners and appropriate financiers.
DIEDE and AIDIS (2008). Integrated risk management to protect drinking water and sanitation services facing natural disasters. (Thematic overview paper ; 21). Delft, The Netherlands, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. 58 p. Download here
This TOP explains the concept of integrated risk management, a strategic and proactive approach to anticipating, assessing and managing natural events. By analysing the main risks and investing in prevention and mitigation, societies become less vulnerable. Financial, social and environmental damage and rehabilitation and reconstruction costs are reduced. This approach is already having an important effect in a number of countries of Latin America.
This TOP shows what can be learned from these experiences, and why prevention is better, more effective and as much as twenty times cheaper than cure.
Documentary film (46:00 minutes), directed by Amy Hart
By featuring the inspiring story of Charles Banda, a local fireman turned waterman who has drilled over 800 wells for impoverished communities in Malawi, the film aims to show why clean water should be first if we are genuinely committed to reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and reducing poverty and the suffering it causes in developing nations. The MDGs address the need to reduce poverty and hunger, achieve universal education, empower women, combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases and build partnerships for development. As Charles Banda articulates, it is impossible to achieve any of these goals without putting water first.
The documentary premiered on World Water Day, March 22, 2008, at the DC Environmental Film Festival, USA. The film is now available for festival and conference screenings and broadcast agreements. The DVD will be on sale soon.
The short version of the film premiered at the IV World Water Forum in Mexico City where it picked up 2nd prize for best short documentary at the 1st Annual International Water & Film Festival.
The NGO PlayPumps International uses this web site to promote its work in schools by providing background information on the world water crisis and lessons plans for teachers, which they have developed together with the National Youth Leadership Council. Visitors can also “Take the KnowH2O Water Quiz“.
Deak, A. (2008). Taking community-led total sanitation to scale : movement, spread and adaptation. (IDS working papers , 298). Brighton,UK, Institute of Development Studies,University of Sussex.
The 
