PROFILE

Kerala is one of the smallest states in India-covering only 1.3% of the total area of the country. However, it has a total population of over 29 million. The population density, at 747 per sq. km, is much higher than the national average of 267 per sq. km. Geographically, Kerala can be divided into three distinct natural divisions- viz., Sandy Coastal Region (<7.6 m above MSL), Midland region (7.5 - 75 m above MSL) and the Western Ghats (> 75m above MSL). Blessed with an abundance of rainfall of about 3000 mm annually, Kerala has 44 monsoon- fed rivers with a minimum length of 15 kms. However, given the terrain conditions, run-off is also quite high. A study showed that of the total run-off of 77,900Mm3, 70,200 Mm3 is from Kerala catchment areas alone. Thus, it is an irony of sorts that a green, verdant state like Kerala has a lesser than average per capita availability of potable water, even lesser than that of Rajasthan.

Piped water coverage in State, till date, is only 51%, Urban coverage is 77.66%. Most of the families depend on private water sources, which are usually open wells. Most of these wells dry up by early March and remain so till the monsoons, which are in May. Studies show a widespread bacteriological contamination in open wells, borewells and surface sources. Sanitation coverage is only 51.36% in the urban areas and 44% in the rural areas. Only 32% of families below poverty line have Latrines.

Despite the more than adequate investment made by the Govt. on the water and sanitation sector over the years, resultant coverage in both these areas were not in keeping with the investment levels. Some of the major reasons stated were: an unacceptable top down approach to planning, non- involvement of the users, highly inadequate levels of cost recovery, depletion of sources due to overdrawal, frequent breakdowns due to poor operation & maintenance, etc.

The Policy Makers of all the States met together for a Summit on Water Policy in 1999 and brought out the Cochin Declaration, which redefined the approach of the Government towards provision of water security. The 1999 Cochin Declaration on Rural Water Supply Policy Reforms spoke of:

· Adopting "Demand- Responsive Approaches through use of participatory processes
· Changing the role of Government from provider to facilitator
· Establishing financial viability and sustainability of rural water supply services; and
· Promoting integrated water resource management

The Kerala Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project is designed on the redefined premise of delivery of water and sanitation services. It is a demand driven project - conceptualised, planned and implemented by the users themselves as against the "top-down approach". This will be owned, operated and maintained by the users themselves on a total cost- recovery basis. Apart from this, there are also other well-integrated components, which make this project unique in nature. The major objective of the organisation being the sustained provision of adequate quantities of safe, drinking water to the rural poor, the focus on ensuring sustainability of source, sustainability of operations, adequacy of water and quality of water are equally important and are designed into components within the project design. This is a pilot project and will be implemented in the four selected districts of Kozhikode, Palakkad, Malappuram, and Thrissur. The Government has also created an autonomous institution "Kerala Rural Water Supply And Sanitation Agency" to implement this project.

The total outlay of this Project is Rs. 400 Cr. This project is expected to cover over three lakh households, benefiting a population of over 15 lakhs. This will be implemented in the selected 80 panchayaths of the 4 districts over the next five years from 2001 to 2006. Kerala gets on an average of 307 cms rainfall, the bulk of which (70%) is received during the South-West monsoon which sets in by June and extends upto September. The state also gets rains from the North-East monsoons during October to December. The state experience severe summer from January to May when the rainfall is minimum. The two monsoons have a direct bearing on the ground water potential of the state, which also follows the same seasonal trends.

The ground water level receding drastically during the summer months and drying up of wells are common features of the ground water levels in many parts of Kerala. The ground water replenishment and hence the levels depends also on the geo-morphological, physical and chemical properties of the soil in general, the depth of water level in Kerala state varies from few cm bgl to 56 M bgl and most of the area fall under 0-20 M bgl. The depth of the water level in the weathered crystalline midland areas in Kerala varies from 3- 16 M bgl. The midland area sustains medium capacity dugwells. Borewells tap deeper fractured aquifer are feasible along potential fractures in the midland and hill ranges. Potential fractures are seen down to 240 M and the most productive zone is between 60 M and 175 M. The discharge of borewells range between 3,600 Iph and 1,25,000 Iph. In laterites, which is the most widely distributed lithological area in the state having a thickness from a 3 M to 30 M, the depth of water level ranges from less than a meter to 25 M.bgl. laterites from potential aquifer along valleys and can sustain wells with yields in the range of 0.5 M3 to 6 M3 per day. Along the coastal plains the ground water occurs at depth ranging from less than a meter to 6 M.bgl. filter point wells are feasible wherever the saturated availability indicate that ground water depths are farthest for laterite regions and shallowest for coastal alluvium during all times of the year. The availability of the groundwater level between the post and pre monsoon levels varies widely. The water level fluctuations in the post monsoon and pre monsoon vary between coastal alluvium, river alluvium and valley hills.

Kerala has got 41 west-flowing and 3 east-flowing rivers originating from the Western Ghats. The total annual yield of all these rivers together is 78,041 Million Cubic Meters (MCM) of which 70,323 MCM is in Kerala. The peculiarity of the rivers flowing across Kerala is short length of the river and the elevational difference between the high and the low land leading to quick flow of water collected from the river basin and quickly discharged into the Lakshsdweep sea, the state has not been able to utilise the river water sources to a major extent. The major portion of the runoff through the rivers takes place during the monsoon seasons. 67.29% of the surface water area of 3.61 lakh hectares is constituted by brackish water lakes, backwaters and estuaries.

There are about 3000 watersheds in the state, the management of which through land use patterns, conservation practices adapted to the topography and soil conditions can determine the extend of run off retention and infiltration. Here is an urgent need for local community based micro watershed management coupled with broader integrated river basin support and control management An overall and integrated approach in water resource management in the State is yet to emerge. On a rough estimate, the source wise dependence by rural households for domestic water supply dependent on traditional ground water systems is 80%, 10-15% use piped water supply systems, and 5% use traditional-surface and other systems.