Frog Journeys for Water

7/28/2019 Frog Journeys for Water

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JOURNEYS FORWATER


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

In November 2012, a small team o researchers and designers rom rog, workingwith unding rom the Institute or Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion,

traveled rom Ahmedabad to Delhi to understand how consumers acquire, storeand use drinking water. The research centered on the roll-out o a new water deliv-ery service rom Sarvajal, a company that supplies clean drinking water in ruralareas and looking to expand into urban slums through the same water ATMsystem it employs in the countryside.

The rog team included a multi-disciplinary mix o people rom our Banga-lore and Shanghai studios. During the course o their journey, they examined thedrinking water ecosystem in India and how consumers perceive its value in bothreal and abstract terms.

Historically speaking, its hard to understate just how valuable water hasbeen or individuals and societies alike. In India, or example, he proud and power-ul Sabarmati and Yamuna Rivers helped nurture civilizations and kingdoms inAhmedabad and Delhi or centuries.

To this day, the importance o water remains unquestioned, but the degreeto which the systems currently in place can meet the growing demand is ar lesscertain. In India, as in many nations, this has become particularly relevant in urbansettings. Over the past ew decades, India has seen a massive economic migrationrom villages to citiesand more people are on their way. Some 380 million Indi-

ans lived in cities as o 2011. According to the The World Bank, that number willrise to a staggering 600 million people by 2031.

Driven by economic opportunity, many frst settle in slums, squeezingthemselves, and sometimes their amilies, into small rooms on cramped streets,ar rom the lives theyd previously known. They work long, hard days, tryingto earn enough to sustain themselves and perhaps send some money home. Butin most cases, the inrastructure is inadequate to support them, and its becomeclear that unless changes are made, Indias major cities will be overwhelmed by thewaves o new arrivals. Drinking water provides a very stark example: The Planning

Commission o the Government o India has said the demand or water will rise byapproximately 50 percent by 2031 unless signifcant changes are made in the waywater is collected and used.

To this day, the importance o water remains unquestioned, but the degreerom villages to citiesand more people are on their way. Some 380 million Indi-ans lived in cities as o 2011. According to the The World Bank, that number willrise to a staggering 600 million people by 2031.

This is defnitely cause or concern, because, as the rog team saw frsthand,people in the slums already struggle on a daily basis to secure clean water. There are

ew systems in place, public or private, that provide this most basic necessity on aconsistent, dependable basis. People are instead let to search out water sourcesin some cases literally chase themand extract rom them what they can. Some-one who goes to work at 8am, or instance, might have to wake up at 4am to get thewater he or she needs.

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JOURNEYS

FOR WATER


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JOURNEYS

FOR WATERSurvival Strategies

in Urban India

BY GAURAv BhUShAN, NiTiN GUpTA & JENNiFER LEE FUqUA


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CONTENTS

7 iNTROdUCTiON

11 BACKGROUNd

12 Sarvajal14 Aims14 The Road Trip16 Research Focal Point: Savda Ghevra18 City Slums Versus Resettlements19 Savda Ghevras Journey or Water20 Research Methodology23 Biases

27 JOURNEYS FOR WATER

27 Comparing Daily Relations with Water28 Guru: The Decision Maker30 Mamata: The Community Inuencer32 Sakina: The Keeper o the House34 When Paths Merge: Strategies o Survival

41 WhAT WE LEARNEd

41 Water as a Store o Value41 Access to Water is Power42 Innovation by Necessity44 Case Study: Mother Dairy46 Water is a Human R ight, Badly Implemented

55 CONCLUSiON

55 Designing a Solution that Scales Quickly55 Creating Value or the Community, by the Community56 Threatening the Right?

Te always on suly of water s consere a luxury, an most use buckets to collect water an

measure cus to sense t.54


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iNTROdUCTiON

Mass urbanization across the globe is bringing resh waves o migrants into urbanslums220 million people moving rom the Indian countryside to cities in thenext twenty years alone and many o these are resettling in poorer communities.With this migration comes swollen demand on utilities including, o course the

need or clean drinking water. A ailure to meet these needs creates signifcantupheaval rom social interaction to healthcare, to business, spanning every aspecto city lie.

When people think o the places that represent our global uture their mindsturn to modern metropolises like Seoul, Tokyo, or San Francisco. But over the lastdecade Ive seen globally cutting edge thinking and services shiting to includeplaces like Manila, Nairobi, and Mumbai. This innovation is oten driven by wide-spread, aordable connectivity and is increasingly supplemented by new ways tosense and interpret the world around us.

Recently a venture unded by the P iramal Foundation introduced a or-proftpilot to sell clean drinking w ater in slums through a novel water ATM, supply-ing water at a r action o the current market costs. It has great potential to be a orceor good not least through providing a consistent service at a ar more aordableprice; located in proximity to the people it serves; remote monitoring o waterquality and usage, and considered use o mobile technology.

At the same time there is signifcant social, economic and political capital in-vested in current water practices rom: the nuanced give-and-take o neighbors look-ing out or each other in a tight-knit community; the promise o water-or-votes;

through to bribes paid to have water delivered. For a slum-dweller putting aith ina technology, regardless o the benefts over existing practices can be daunting notleast because it requires trust that the underlying system will permanently change.It also requires trust in technology: that it is prudent to store something o monetaryvalue in a pre-paid smart card, and that value will be released when required.

With unding rom the I MTFI Journeys or Water explores the strategies ad-opted by slum dwellers to ensure that their households have the water they neednot just to survive, but thrive. In doing so, it provides a small, but important con-tribution in addition to Piramal Foundations vision o bringing water or all.

Jan Chipchase, Executive Creative Director of Global Insights at frog

TOP: In India, water t for drinking is often labeled

or peene ka an.

BOTTOM: Tere are aroun 20 major rer basns across ina,

but most of them carry water that is polluted or unt for drinking.


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98 Water collecton n Saa Gera.


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11

BACKGROUNd

In November 2012, a small team o researchers and designers rom rog, workingwith unding rom the Institute or Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion,traveled rom Ahmedabad to Delhi to understand how consumers acquire, storeand use drinking water. The research concentrated on the roll-out o a new waterdelivery service rom Sarvajal, a company that supplies paid-or drinking water inrural areas and looking to expand into urban slums through a novel water ATM.

A multi-disciplinary rog team rom our Bangalore and Shanghai studiosexplored the drinking water ecosystem in India and how consumers perceive itsvalue in both real and abstract terms, with a view to impacting the design and

rollout o Sarvajals water ATM.Water shapes individuals and societies alike. In India, or example the pow-

erul Sabarmati and Yamuna Rivers have nurtured civilizations and kingdomsin Ahmedabad and Delhi. To this day, the importance o water remains unques-tioned, but the degree to which the systems currently in place can meet the growingdemand is ar less certain. In India, as in many nations, this has become particularlyrelevant in urban settings. Over the past ew decades, India has seen a massive eco-nomic migration rom villages to citiesand more people are on their way. Some380 million Indians lived in cities as o 2011. According to the The World Bank,that number will rise to a staggering 600 million people by 2031.

Driven by economic opportunity, many frst settle in slums, squeezingthemselves, and sometimes their amilies, into small rooms on cramped streets,ar rom the lives theyd previously known. They work long, hard days, tryingto earn enough to sustain themselves and perhaps send some money home. Butin most cases, the inrastructure is inadequate to support them, and its becomeclear that unless changes are made, Indias major cities will be overwhelmed bythe waves o new arrivals. Drinking water provides a very stark example: ThePlanning Commission o the Government o India has said the demand or wa-

ter will rise by approximately 50 percent by 2031 unless signifcant changes aremade in the way water is collected and used.

Slum dwellers are already struggling on a daily basis to secure clean waterand the situation looks to become worse. There are ew systems in place, public orprivate, that provide this most basic necessity on a consistent, dependable basis.People are instead let to search out water sourcesin some cases literally chasethemand extract rom them what they can. Someone who goes to work at 8am,or instance, might have to wake up at 4am to get the water he or she needs.

It begs the question: Is there a way to provide water in a more reliable man-ner to people living in these cities, particularly in the slums? And who or whatmight provide this solutionthe government, the people, private enterprise, orsome combination o all three?

The existing options have yet to prove themselves either practical or reli-able, much less both at the same time. The government provides water through


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tankers (similar to petroleum carriers), but service is limited and highly erratic.Some people bypass the established system by drilling their own borewells,but grou ndwater is usual ly o po or qual ity. Pr ivate, ee -based models have hadmixed results, too, though oneSarvajal is now looking to transer its ruralsuccess to an urban marketplace

Any potential solution, as we shall see, will have to take into account exist-ing social, economic and political dynamics that all spring rom the same simplenotion: water is extremely valuable.

SARvAJAL

Taking its name rom a Sanskrit word mean-

ing water or all, Sarvajal was ounded in2008 by the Piramal Water Private Limitedcompany. It promoted itsel as a reliable,technologically-advanced alternative todrinking water options in several parts orural India. Since then, it ha s provided morethan 200,000,000 liters o clean drinkingwater and built a c ustomer base o more than75,000 people. Though Sarvajal receivesno government subsidies and shoulders allo its operational costs, it has nonethelessmanaged to keep its ees low, selling a litero water or as low as 25 paiseless thanhal o a single US cent, or one-sixteenth the

cost another private water supply company oers.Its process varies somewhat depending on a villages size and needs, but Sar-

vajal generally helps set up a small water fltration plant that can be maintainedby local residents and establishes a series o cloud-connected water ATMs rom

which people can make withdrawals using a prepaid smart card. Employing so-phisticated technology that makes it possible to remotely monitor their distribu-tion network, Sarvajal supplies clean water that is accessible at the customers con-venience. You could say it brings into three dimensions the concept o the Interneto Things, meeting a critical need in the process.

Sarvajal is looking to expand their operations into Delhi, in collaborationwith the Delhi Jal Board, which oversees the provision o water in the city. Thecompany hopes to show that its fltration plants and cloud-connected water ATMscan provide clean and aordable drinking water as dependably in the urban slumsas it has in rural areas.

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WATER TANK: Where unltered water iscollected, usually at a height, so that

there is sufcient pressure when water

passes through ltering equipment.

FiLTERiNG EqUipMENT: Varies acrossinstallations. Includes a Mea Flterto remove color, small and unwanted

microscopic taste particles, a CartridgeFlter to remove microscopic impurities,a Dosing Tankto add chemicals to keep

the lters clean, a Reerse OsmossMembrane to remove microscopic min-

eral impurities, and a Uv Tube to removebacteria and pathogens.

pUMp: Transfers puried water to storage.

STORAGE: The puried water is then storedat a height, making dispensing easy.

ATM: One way Sarvajal dispenses water.

STORES: Measured quantities of water arelled in containers and delivered door-to-

door by some franchises. Consumption is

mostly tracked manually.

ELECTRONiC/SENSOR BACKENd: A basic input/output chipset equipped with LED display, RFID

reader, and a basic telecommunication setup

with a SIM card for each ATM.

USABLE FRONTENd/ATM CARd: Various graphiciterations have been created to explain the stepsinvolved, as well as button mechanisms (such as

push and hold, one time press, toggle). The ATM

card has an RFID.

ANTENNA ANd BATTERY: An antenna is placedaway from the ATM, at a height to connect

to the network. Batteries ensure usage during

power outages.

ENTERpRiSE CLOUd: All the sales information aswell as ATM status are communicated to an

enterprise management system.

SOOChAK: Customers see their balance. Fran-chisee can check ATM status, sales info, give

instructions, and request service.

SARvAJAL FiLTRATiON SYSTEM SARvAJAL ATM COMpONENTS

ABOVE: Sarvajal Water ATM at a gas station franchisee

in Laxmangarh.


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AiMS

This report examines the dynamics that exist around drinking water in India,and more specifcally in one Delhi slum, in order to understand the value o cleandrinking water or people. We also use Sarvajals experiences to raise questionsabout possible alternatives to current distribution practices, along with any advan-tages or obstacles that might arise i someone tried to implement a new system. Itwas asc inating research that gave us a much better understanding o the practices,rituals and politics tied to drinking water. We hope this understanding will sup-port eorts, projects and people trying to fnd more eective ways o providingwater in the slums o India, and even beyond.

ThE ROAd TRip

Our journey o understanding began at the Sarvajal ofce in Ahmedabad, inwestern Indias Gujarat State, where the Sarvajal team told us what theyd learnedrom their work in rural areas and their research in urban slums.

To see what they described frst-hand, the team spent the next three dayscovering some 1,200 kilometers by rail and by road, heading northeast throughRajasthan and Haryana States and then on to Delhi. When we were in transit, weplanned our upcoming itineraries, deciding where and when we wanted to makeour intercepts. But we also made sure to explore just about any chance encounter,unexpected opportunity or new lead we elt would show us something aboutdrinking water.

The journey took us through the cities and towns o Abu, Pushkar and Lax-mangarh. We connected with both water providers and consumers to get a betterpicture o supply and consumption patterns. We also visited a trail o Sarvajal ran-chises in the surrounding rural areas, along with pilot programs the company hadestablished in cities.

We ound that people were happy to discu ss these things, perhaps

becau se they are so central to their lives. With unai ling hospita lity, peopleshared stories with us about their amilies, their homes and their businessesand about how all o them were aected by the access they had, or didnt have,to clean water.

A doctor we met near Abu voiced an opinion that we heard repeatedly inthe days that ollowed: water was available, even abundant in places, but it wasrarely clean and the supply was not dependable. Even people with access to bore-wells and hand pumps had to make do with water tainted by excess uoride orcontaminated by open drains nearby, which rendered it unft (or at least inadvis-able) or consumption.

We met a number o entrepreneurially-minded individuals who hadopened businesses based on the need or clean water. Two o them had investedin Sarvajals technology and were also running petrol pumps. In their eyes, waterand ossil uels were o equal value.

LEFT: Te team lans ntercets an nterews wle on

a tran to Abu.

RIGHT: The team having breakfast with Milind Nagda from

Sarajal after a 4 am st to te urban slums of del.

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JOURNEY OF UNdERSTANdiNG

Ameaba

Abu

Laxmangarh

Uaur

Ajmer

Jaur

del

Neal

Tbet

pakstan

Trael by tran

Trael by roa


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This created a situation wherein several impoverished communities orga-nized around distinct cultural, geographic, religious or other links would now beliving side-by-side. When they arrived at their new homes, however, they oundthat hardly any arrangements had been made or water, sanitation, transportationor electricity. Even housing was in short supply, and many people spent their frstnights sleeping in tents. Furthermore, numerous working men and women had togive up jobs because their commutes had become prohibitively long.

It took sustained pressure rom residents to get the authorities to provide

even a minimal level o services. But rather than unite the various cliques oSavda Ghevra based on common needs, the shortcomings instead served to makethem more insular, convinced that they had to look out or themselves because noone else would.

Today, unemployment remains a problem, particularly or men. Many workas day laborers when they can. Some wile away their days gambling on the mainmarket road. Women most oten work as household help in residential colonies,leaving their own homes early in the morning and returning at night.

There have been improvements in Savda Ghevra since those early days, butresidents still expend a great deal o energy worrying about basic services. Thesanitation system is dysunctional; uncollected garbage and open drains attractmosquitoes and ies, posing a health risk to residents. The water situation iseven more troubling.

Among the wealthier people we met, several believed that clean drinkingwater had helped them recover rom various ailments, that it had actual cura-tive powers. On the other hand, people o lesser means seemed either unawareo or unconcerned with the risks associated with impure water. Some clearlyconsidered clean water a lesser priority than other needsincluding, in aew cases, alcohol.

Our early fndings underscored the gravity o the situation and set the toneor our research in Delhi. There were crucial dierences, however, between urban

and rural settings in terms o population density and the volume o resourcesavailable. This quickly became clear when we arrived in our anchor research loca-tion, Delhis Savda Ghevra slum.

RESEARCh FOCAL pOiNT: SAvdA GhEvRA

We visited a number o slums in Delhi, but our primary ocal p oint wa s Savd aGhevra, a resettled slum in the western reaches o the city. As recently as 2006,the area was still barren scrubland. At the time, however, in preparation or theCommonwealth Games that Delhi was hosting, city authorities demolished sev-eral slums, particularly those around the Yamuna River and Delhis airport. Resi-dents were allotted new parcels o land ar rom the city center, in Savda Ghevraand places like it, and permitted to build new homes.

TOp ROW: Waste water n te street. A woman wt

uorosis, a condition linked to poor drinking water.

BOTTOM ROW: A man who said drinking Sarvajals water

alleviated pain in his leg. Water tank near Abu Road.

ABOvE: A an-crafte ma of Saa Gera on te

wall of a local non-governmental organizations ofce.


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SAvdA GhEvRAS JOURNEY FOR WATER

During Savda Ghevras early days, water tankers came through the area every twoor three days at best. Predictably, chaos ensued when they arrived. People arguedover who should get their water frst, or how much each person should get. Fightsbroke out. P ublic and private property was vandalized. At times, the police werecalled in to restore order.

With the support o local non-governmental org anizations (NGOs) and

legal advocacy groups, members o the community launched a campaign call-ing or regular delivery service. By fling a right-to-inormation (RTI) claim, theylearned what the schedule o deliveries was supposed to be and thus made thoseproviding the water, including the government, somewhat more accountable.

That said, the majority o people in Savda Ghevra still depend on water tank-ers or their drinking watertankers that still do not adhere to set routines. Peoplerarely know when or where a tanker will appear. They know only that they mustbe ready i and when it does, and that they need space in their homes to store largecapacities o waterin case the tanker doesnt return or several more days.

A kind o order does exist amidst the chaos that erupts when a tanker makesa delivery. Theres something o a hierarchy around who gets to fll their contain-ers frst, and all the shouting is a way o enorcing that order, so no one steps outo line. And yet, no matter what the residents have done over the years, the actremains that water is delivered largely at the discretion o the suppliers, and more

CiTY SLUMS vERSUS RESETTLEMENTS

There are two commonly used defnitions or slums in India:

Cty SlumsCity slums are organic and evolve slowlyover many years, usually in the shadow omajor industrial or residential areas. Mostcurrent residents work nearby and haveestablished relationships with others in thearea prior to their arrival. These slums arecharacterized by cramped living conditions,

limited amenities, oten subtle degrees oeconomic stratifcation and a generally stablepopulation. They have a history, their owntraditions and entrenched social networks.They even support small industries such astextiles or scrap metal work.

ResettlementsResettlements are created when authoritiesorce residents to move rom more estab-lished city slums. They are oten located in aremote location on the ringes o the city, arrom the places people customarily work.The streets and blocks are planned out, butboth the conception and construction areoten haphazard and i ll-considered. Unem-ployment and a sense o dislocation prevail;many people relocate back to the city i they

have the opportunity to do so.

ABOVE: Tanker trucks haul water to various neighbor-

oos, but ts ar to rect wen teyll arre.

TOp: houses cramme n next to eac oter n a cty

slum at awn.

BOTTOM: Planned housing and alleys in a resettlement.


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with kids playing out in the open, or just listening as people aired their concerns.On occasion, the team also tagged along with people going about their daily

routinesflling their water jugs early in the morning, riding the bus to or romwork, tidying up their homes and so orth.

interewsDrawing on leads rom about 15 intercepts, we conducted 8 in-depth interviewsin the homes o various people in order to understand how the provision and

acquisition o drinking water in Savda Ghevra impacted their personal lives, theirfnances, their relationships and their work. We also consulted with experts whoexplained to us the legal and fnancial status o existing water networks.

po-U StuoAs we do in many settings, we created a pop-up studio in Delhi, a makeshit livingand working space not ar rom our target population. This helped our researchteam immerse themselves more deeply in the environment they were examining.

specifcally the drivers, who themselves must react to trafc patterns, road prob-lems and other unoreseen obstacles.

The rog team saw this frsthand when we rode in a tanker ostensibly headedto Savda Ghevras B-Block. Nearing the destination, the driver saw that the roadhe planned to take was impeded by construction and that hed have to fnd anotherway in. He decided, without consulting anyone, that he was going to deliver thewater to H-Block instead. This was great news or the people o H-Block (at leastor those who were ready to collect w ater that day). But the B -Block residents whowere expecting the tanker were let in limbo, unaware o what had just happenedor when the tanker might come back.

RESEARCh METhOdOLOGY

intercetsAter identiying key players and locations that were relevant to our project, wespoke to regulatory bodies, local entrepreneurs, local leaders, social workers andNGOs. We targeted amily members who managed the home and made decisionsabout acquiring and storing drinking water. We also conducted numerous spon-taneous intercepts with people etching water rom wells, water tanks or othersources; people carrying or transporting water; people drinking water, boilingit or using it to wash dishes; people hanging around locations somehow relatedto water (storage tanks, posters promoting good hygiene, etc.). Lastly, we inter-viewed people we saw buying goods with things other than cashusing bankcards, or recharging airtime on their mobile phonesas Sarvajals subscribers do.

Mapping the TerrainThere are 12 main blocks in Savda Ghevra; in each, one fnds clusters o peoplewho had lived in the same slums beore they were resettled here, or who sharesome other connection. These micro-communities co-exist, but they are quite dis-tinct rom one another as well, something we had to actor into our research.

Our team was designed to allow us to reach into as many sections o the soci-ety as possible. It was made up o two men and two women. Three members spokeHindi; one also spoke Bengali, another commonly-heard language in Savda Ghevra.

The people o Savda Ghevra were no strangers to researchers, surveyors orjournalists looking or inormation. These various inquisitors all seemed to blendtogether in peoples minds, too; the more important distinction was betweenpeople who were there to get something and people who might be able to oersome help. Our team thereore adopted a NGO-researcher model, making it clearthat we were there frst and oremost to gather inormation. We could not promiseanything, we stated explicitly, but we could say that we believed that our workcould serve a useul purpose at some later date. Being transparent about our goalsseemed to help us with some o the initial skepticism outsiders oten encounter.

Small gestures also helped establish connections, however brie they may havebeen: stopping to have a cup o chai at a roadside stall, or instance, or spending time

TOP ROW: Ride-along with a tanker driver and his

assistant. A neighborhood map.

BOTTOM ROW: A local chai stand, a central gathering

ont for Saa Gera resents. A o-u stuo.


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BiASES

Savda Ghevra is a very dynamic, complex environment. We had to remain cogni-zant o numerous cultural, religious, socio-economic and political nuances at workin the various communities. These included:

Recognizing the Presence of NGOsNGOs and researchers have been coming to Savda Ghevra since its inception. Manyo these organizations have worked in the slum ever since. Some o their eorts hadbecome highly politicized, though. We stayed neutral when asked about any o thisbecause we did not want to interere with existing projects and relationships.

Though diverse and complex, Savda Ghevra is a rather small place. Whenoutsiders arrive, people talk. First impressions are thereore critical to gaining

acceptance, so we made a point o explaining to everyone we met who we wereand what we were doing there.

Gener an houseol dynamcsIndia remains a largely patriarchal society. Despite the sheer number o taskswomen carry out on a daily basis, and the act that they are the primary wage-earn-ers in some amilies, they still tend to have a lower standing in many communities.Those who dont work run their households and are in most cases responsible orgetting drinking water or their amilies. So most o our key interviews were car-ried out with women.

We also had to consider whether or not emale respondents were beingcandid, or i their answers were shaped by the viewpoints o other amily mem-bers, who were around. I the presence o a male, be they a member o the house-hold or one o our researchers, seemed to hinder the interview process, we oundways to subtly remove them rom the room.

TOP: During the day the alleys of Savda Ghevra are

mostly oulate by small clren an te elerly.

BOTTOM: Large water containers, smaller bottles, mugs, and water

hoses are common sights outside houses in Savda Ghevra.


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2524 A person stops at a community tap for a drink of water between providing camel rides to tourists in Udaipur. The tap isguarded by religious symbols in order to keep its surroundings clean.


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GettingWate

r

GettingWate

r

UsingWater

UsingWater

6-6:30 AM: Showering and getting ready. 7-7:30 AM: Preparing breakfast. 8-8:30 AM: Morning chores.11:30 AM -12 pM: Preparing lunch. 1-1:30 pM: Dishes. 2-3:30 pM: Afternoon chores. 5:30-6 pM: Preparingdinner. 7:30-8:30 pM: Evening chores.

27

JOURNEYS FOR WATER

How much time do you spend thinking about getting hold o drinking water, andhow does this impact the way you use water? For illustrative purposes we com-pare two households: an Urban St ay-at-Home Indian parent and an Urban Stay-at-Home American parent.

COMpARiNG dAiLY RELATiONS WiTh WATER

Urban Stay-at-home inan parent

Urban Stay-at-home Amercan parent

4 AM

4 AM

8 AM

8 AM

12 pM

12 pM

4 pM

4 pM

8 pM

8 pM

12 AM

12 AM

6-7:45 AM: Gathering water from borewell. 7:45-10 AM: Morning chores and preparing meals. 10 AM-12:30pM: Gathering water from tanker. 12:30-1:30 pM: Preparing lunch. 2:30-5 pM: Afternoon chores, preparingdinner. 7:30-10 pM: After-dinner chores.


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ABOvE: Guru outse s 2-storeye accommoaton n

Saa Gera.

TOp ROW: An oerea tank stores water ume from

a borewell Guru an s stuents.

BOTTOM ROW: Guru and Komal use a ne cloth to lter

water. Te mcrowae, a rarty n Saa Gera.2928

GURUThE dECiSiON MAKER

Guru, 28, is a teacher and private tutor who recently married his wie, Komal.They have been living in Savda Ghevra or two years and now reside with Gurusmother-in-law in a house she helped them buy.

Guru gives private lessons to primary, secondary and higher secondarystudents in the locality. His wie runs a small beauty parlor in their home. Beore

moving to Savda Ghevra, Guru worked or an IT company, a job that paid signif-cantly more than teaching does, since ew amilies here can aord private tutoring.Lie was better back then, he believes. More income. Less fnancial pressure.

They had come in search o more aordable housing, however. They possessa handul o electrical appliancesa microwave, a w ashing machine, a printer anda water coolerthat they purchased when they lived in their previous home. Asthe primary earner in the household, Guru made the decisions about which appli-ances to buy.

His nostalgia notwithstanding, Guru and Komal had a rather high standardo living relative to most other people in the slum. Still, Guru said he hoped theycould move out o Savda Ghevra and closer to the cit y center beore long.

Gurus Journey for WaterDespite their relatively elevated social status and the act that they both work, Guru

and Komal are just a s dependent on tanker deliveries as the other residents o SavdaGhevra. The actual task o collecting the water alls on Guru, who flls up theirwater jugs when he can, then carries them home. Many times, he told us, tankershad arrived in the middle o his sessions. When this happens, he has no choice butto rush out. Oten, the students come with him and help him fll the containers.

In some instances, Guru says, neighbors help out, flling up jugs or him whenhes unable to do so. His role as a teacher has ingratiated him to the community,he thinks. This has been a huge help when it comes to getting water. Customarily,

he explained, newer arrivals have to wait to fll their vessels until the veteransare fnished with theirs. Soon a ter he and Komal moved to the neighborhood, herecalls, beore anyone helped him fnd a oothold in the process, it was a decidedlyuphill battle. Getting water flled is like winning a war, he remembers thinking.

Now, he usually flls three or our containers each time the tanker arrives. Hedoesnt think the tankers deliver high-quality water, however, so he and Komalflter what they get through a multi-layered cloth when they arrive home to removeany excess residue.

They also draw water rom a submersible pump near the entrance to theirhouse and store it in a water tank on their roo. They use this water or washing,bathing, sanitation (clearing the toilet) and running their air cooler. During our dis-cussion, Komal also noted that she thinks the waters high content o salt and iron ismaking her skin darker.


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MAMATAThE COMMUNiTY iNFLUENCER

Mamata, 56, has lived in a Bengali community in Delhis Laxmi Nagar neighbor-hood beore she and many others were among the frst people resettled in SavdaGhevra. Now, she lives in A-Block in a small, square two-story house with herhusband, the youngest o her three daughters, her son-in-law and her grandson.

Her home in Laxmi Nagar had essentially been her only possession, but it

had been demolished. She managed to sell the plot o land on which it had stood,however, and used the proft to build not only her own home in Savda Ghevra, butalso additional homes or her two older daughters. This helped her eel like herdaughters were looked ater, and that they would be able to look ater her as shegets older.

Though the amily makes decisions together, usually over dinner, Mamata isthe clear leader. She has invested in the bu sinesses her younger and eldest daugh-ters runa cosmetics shop and a general store in the main market, respectivelyand she continues to advise them, providing guidance and knowledge rom herown experiences.

She has earned the lasting respect o the community as well. Mamata hasbeen at the oreront o eorts to bring change to Savda Ghevra, pressuringauthorities to improve the services they provide. The ow o electricity has indeedimproved since those early days. There are now regular buses rom Savda Ghevra

and her grandkids have a school to go. Getting water is still a problem, but she willkeep fghting or that, too.

Mamatas Journey for WaterLike most o her neighbors, Mamata is dependent on tanker water or drinking,bathing and cooking. Her youngest daughter etches the water, running ater tank-ers, flling up two or three big jugs when her turn comes, then hauling them backrom the collection point. I the tankers come when her daughter is not around,

Mamata grabs the jugs and collects the water hersel.Regardless o who actually gets the water, they ollow the same storage and

classifcation routine once they get home. First, they pour w ater rom the big con-tainers into smaller containers. Three are or drinking, one o which stays on theground oor. Four are or bathing; those are kept on the stairs. And three more areput under the kitchen shel and used or cooking.

Mamata fnds the process immensely rustrating, but she nonetheless thinksthey get high-quality water that is fltered at its source and thus does not pose ahealth risk. She does not treat it in any w ay beore giving it to her grandchildren todrink, aside rom adding chlorine tablets i she thinks it t astes bad.

ABOVE: Mamata arranges for the research team to sit and interview her alongside the main street in Savda Ghevra,

which is lined by shops including hers.

TOp ROW: Scenes from nse an outse Mamatas

ouse.

BOTTOM ROW: Mamata in her home, discussing her daily

routnes an er communty aocacy work.


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SAKiNAThE KEEpER OF ThE hOUSE

Sakina, 35, is a housewie who lives in a square two-story home with her secondhusband, her ather-in-law, six sons and a daughter. The amily has its bathing,water storage and kitchen area on the ground oor. The living space is one ight up.

Some o her children are old enough to work; others are still in school. Sakinaspends most o her time on the ground oor, managing the household. She cooks

three meals each day, something shes determined to keep doing because shethinks it is good or her amily. Sakinas husband is prone to illness and cannotwork, so on many days, in addition to her other tasks, she tends to him as well.

Three o her sons run butcher stalls in Savda Ghevras market. They are theprimary earners in the household. Sakina does not know how much money theymake, but she knows that they provide enough or her to buy what she needs orthe amily.

Sakina is not very social and rarely mingles with neighbors. For the most part,she stays inside her home. Relatives occasionally come to visit, but she rarely goesto see them. She also goes to a nearby mosque each Fr iday with her young daughter.Saknas Journey for WaterSakina basically plans her day around the arrival o the water tanker. She carriesabout eight containers, each capable o holding 15 to 20 liters, so at a given fll-

ing, she can collect enough water to last or two days in winter or one in summer.Its quite a load to carryit usually requires several trips back and orthbutSakina thinks many women in the neighborhood bear similar burdens. She alsouses a submersible pump to extract groundwater or washing clothes and clean-ing the house.

Sakina does not think the water is to blame or her husbands requent ill-nesses or any other maladies that aect her amily. She instead points the fnger atthe neighborhoods poor sanitary conditions, particularly open sewage drains.

ABOvE: Sakna settles own n a comfortable starway

corner of er ouse to talk to us.

TOP ROW: Bathing area inside Sakinas house. Submers-

ble um nstalle outse er ouse extracts ar water.

BOTTOM ROW: Water contaners on Saknas starcase. her

famly, excet er, sens most of ter tme ustars.


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WhEN pAThS MERGE: STRATEGiES OF SURvivAL

ThE TANKERChaos is directly proportional to the supplygap. However, there are clear patterns inthe tanker chaos, and a variety o roles.

GURUAs the Decison Maker, Guru decides on where the amilyshould get water, and oten collects the water as well.Techniques for carrying water

SAKiNAAs the Keeper o the House, S akina treks to the tanker toetch water, bring it home and store it.

Places for storing water

Shortest Range

Filling up a largecontainer and

using a smaller

container to get

the water.

Close roxmtyto te tankeront ncreasesroerty alue.

Contanergathering

an watcont

Short Range

Insetting a metal

rod through thehandles of the

container so

two people can

carry it.

Long Range

Kicking and letting

the container roll.

Longest Range

A cycle or van for

people who livefurthest from the

tanker point.

Roles at te Tanker

pe holeran Owner

Crow fromlanes assigned

to ts tanker

ContanerCarrer

drer anAssstant

Crow fromoter lanes

Oerea water tank

Near the cooking area

Uner te be

Tolet

Uner an oer te starcase

Outse te ouse

MAMATAAs the Community Inuencer, Mamata helps to establisha system in which her neighborhood works together togather and distribute tanker water.

Neighborhood dynamics

Those who reside nearest to the tanker point usually nd out when the tankers arrive,

hence they assume the role of a pipe holder. The pipe holders also watch out for their

neighbors water containers as they gather, fetch and bring them to their homes.


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3736 TOP: Chaos ensues as women struggle to maintain theiroston n te ueue for water collecton from te tanker.

BOTTOM: A cow tries to sniff a lled water container. TOP: Dirt oats over water that was freshly collected from

te tanker.

BOTTOM: Water s waste as eole kee away from t

during an early morning in Delhi winters.


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Scene as the water tanker leaves and the remaining people lift their lled water containers to bring them

to ter omes.3938


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41

WhAT WE LEARNEd

WATER AS A STORE OF vALUE

As you would expect or something that meets such a basic need our research under-scored that or the people o Savda Ghevra, water has signifcant store o value. Itstreated akin to a valuable household possession. A store o water is a orm o secu-

rity protecting the amilys health and needs or however long it takes or the tankerto return. The obviousness o this statement is contrasted with the experiences omany readers o this report, or whom water is considered a commodity.

I the tanker does not come or a while, people resort to lobbying the DelhiJal Board to send someone. In certain instances, they c all drivers directly. Eitherway, they know they need to be ready or gaps in service. Many respondents hada dedicated space in their home to store water that was ready or use. For some, itwas a hallway lined with jugs o water. For others, it was a concrete cistern theyhad built themselves. How much they stockpiled depended on how much spacethey could aord to devote to storage and how much water they could access ata given time. Whatever the amount, it had to be protected. Thet is not uncom-monanother indicator o how valuable clean water, and the containers to store itare, and how desperate some people are to acquire it . We saw many storage vesselsthat were locked up with heavy chains.

Water is a store o value in Savda Ghevra in more intangible ways as well.A home address located close to the tanker delivery point is considered a statussymbol and a privilege that increases the value o ones home. The act that peopleare already investing time, energy, and moneyor storage containers, or bore-

wellsin it is another sign o its worth.We saw earlier how some people think clean water has curative powers. Cer-

tain residents also ascribed to it a very specifc ty pe o cosmetic value. One told usthat despite the eort involved, shes willing to haul extra water jugs home or herdaughter and son because bathing in clean water will make their skin lighter incolor, so that they can marry o to better amilies. In her mind, all that toil w as aninvestment in her childrens utures.

ACCESS TO WATER iS pOWER

It quickly became apparent that the water situation in Savda Ghevra is highlypoliticized. Local leaders and other opportunists tried to assert authority over ourproject rom the start, Everything needs to go through me, said one (we didnt


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Another example: The traditional way or men and women to carry buck-ets o water was on their head, supported by hands, transporting heavy payloadsacross slippery lanes and uneven pavement, oten having to make more than oneround-trip to get everything home. Over time, though, people tinkered with theircontainers, looking or a way to make the process easier and saer. They began usingtightly-sealed cylindrical water drums that they could roll along the ground like anoversized wheel. They designed buckets that two people could carry, sharing theload. They added special hooks and braces so containers could be more securely

astened onto bicycles and tricycles.These adaptations saved people time and energy and made it possible to carry

(and thus store) more water home at a given moment. Experiments with fltering mecha-nisms have likewise helped people remove unhealthy particles rom the water, althoughwhether the impurities collected by the flter were regularly cleaned out, is unknown.

Knowing that government and leaders cant or wont solve their problems,people ound their own solutions and integrated them into their routines. Thisinnovation by necessity frst showed, there is a need or alternatives and second,that a bottom-up approach can be eective in some instances. In Savda Ghevra,top-down approaches imposed rom the outside have proven less successul,because, we think, they rob people o agency and they have proven unreliable.

But could an alternative set up by outsiders fnd traction i it gave peopleagencyin this case to access to aordable clean water when they needed it, ratherthan whenever a truck driver made the journey into their neighborhood? Could

oblige). Although the Delhi Jal Board does not charge consumers or the water thattankers deliver, local leaders oten claim ownership o certain water tankers anddemand support or their political party in exchange or access.

This is another example o waters store o value: access to the water, andnot just the water itsel, is something that can be leveraged. I dont really have apolitical stand, said one resident, a ather o three who wakes every day at 4am tocollect water or his amily beore leaving or work at 6am, but joined this partyso that I can etch water rom the nearby water tanker.

Local leaders arent the only ones who exploit their control over the deliverychain. The tanker driver themselves collect hata, or bribes, rom consumers inexchange or water, or rom local profteers, who make themselves middlemen byeectively purchasing control o the tankers cargo and re-selling it to consumers.

Micro-communities in slums oten band together to protect their own inter-

ests, but there are hierarchies o access within communities as well. A persons placein these hierarchies can depend on how long he or she has lived in a community, thetype o work he or she does or the connections he or she has. When my amily frstmoved to Savda Ghevra, I couldnt get any water rom my blocks tanker becausethey see me as an outcast, said Guru. It was only until I established mysel as parto the community, that I could get access to the tanker without begging.

iNNOvATiON BY NECESSiTY

Politicians can score easy points by pledging to address water issues aictinga slum like Savda Ghevra, especially at election time. But rarely do they ollowthrough, so residents are deeply skeptical o anyone claiming they want to changethings or the better. In some cases, this ha s made people passive, thinking them-selves powerless. In others, though, residents have taken action themselves.

Mamata, the respondent who was among the frst groups relocated to SavdaGhevra, spent years lobbying the government to bring electricity to the neighbor-hood. It took patience and steady pressure, but it eventually worked, and electric-

ity is now available around the clock.Members o the community have also devised ingenious tactics and strate-

gies o improving their access to water. There used to be just a single pipe connectedto the tankers, or instance, which meant a long and occasionally violent struggleto get to the ront o the queue. Then a splitter was invented that made it possibleto run fve pipelines rom the tanker at the same time. People were assigned tocertain pipelines based on the street they lived on. They were also responsible orbuying their own pipe and or behaving respectully while awaiting their turn.

This community-driven innovation was a signifcant improvement. It alsogave members o each community a greater role in the process. People spoke oit with pride. The number o fghts decreased, we were told. In some instances,people rom one section went out o their way to help people rom another whomissed the deliverythe type o thing that is more likely to happen when peoplehave aith that theyll eventually get what they need.

ABOvE: Te sltter n acton at a water tanker n

Saa Gera.


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it meld the top-down and bottom-up approach in a way that benefts citizens andoperators alike? This is what Sarv ajal is claiming it can do.

CASE STUdY: MOThER dAiRY

Can Sarvajal work in an urban setting? The company has set up pilot projects inAhmedabad and Delhi, but its too soon to tell what the outcomes will be. We thinkit is more constructive to fnd a similar company with a somewhat similar model, tostudy it to see i there are any lessons to be learned or mistakes to be avoided.

Take Mother Dairy, a well-known purveyor o milk and milk products thatsbeen operating in India or some 35 years. Its combination o retail outlets andmobile units help the company spread its reach ar and wide. There are two Mother

Dairy outlets in Savda Ghevra, in act. Each has ATM-like machines rom whichconsumers can purchase milk at their conveniencemuch like the mobile ATMsSarvajal uses or water.

Te oerator s an emloyeeMother Dairys operators can start selling the product once they pay a deposit oRs. 100,000 (around $1,675 USD) and go through a training program, ater whichthey become salaried employees. They undergo more training later and are postedin dierent locations by the company based on their experience.

Packaged and unpackaged milkMother Dairy sells pre-packaged milk and also distributes milk in varying quanti-ties through ATMs. According to Mother Dairy, the company distributes approxi-mately 3.2 million liters o milk every day in the markets o Delhi, Mumbai, Saura-shtra and Hyderabad, and it ha s a market share o 66 percent in the branded sectorin Delhi, where it sells 2.5 million liters o milk daily. Mother Dairys mobile dis-tribution unitbasically a cooler mounted on the back o a bicyclemakes door-to-door delivery possible, too. The mobile units allow operators to hire people

rom the community as delivery men.The company designs the distribution centers and takes care o regular main-

tenance and any repairs that need to be made. But operators are responsible or theupkeep o their own acilities and equipment, which they basically paid or withtheir initial ees. They are trained to handle any emergencies and to do basic trou-bleshooting, too.

There are similarities to Sarvajals model, especially the licensing arrange-ment and the ATM system. Some o these are encouraging. There are dierences aswell. For one, packaged milk creates a great deal o tra sh; selling water in packetsas opposed to having people bring their own jugs to fllwould add even morewaste, urther stretching a municipal garbage collection system that can barelyhandle the volume it deals with now.

Another, more crucial dierence is that people expect to pay or milk, or the mostpart. They do not necessarily eel, as we will see, that they should have to pay or water.

Te Moter dary setu: A moble mlk carrer, ATM,

dispensing counter, ltering equipment and branding.


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a sense o being overlooked or orgotten. I theres a water shortage, we are the la ston their list, one respondent declared as a matter o act. One time the tanker didnot come or our days.

I the provision o water is viewed as a right thats being denied to certainpopulations, the strie that can arise around the issue is hardly surprising. Lengthydelays in deliveries have led to riots wherein angry residents physically attackedthe drivers, who are, or better or worse, the public ace o the cit ys water services,or lack thereo. These sorts o incidents, however, have made drivers less likely to

deliver water in the days that olloweda punishment o sorts or the outburststhat reinorces the notion that they, or those they work or, are the ones denyingthe peoples right to water.

On a less abstract level, the current system undermines overall productivity.The cumulative amount o time spent waiting in line, wondering when the truckswill come and planning around delays and shortages that are likely to ensue is sig-nifcant, to say the least. I water was not a problem people would be making amore productive use o their time, says Mamata, earning more money perhaps!

The Sarvajal model poses a very intriguing question: As rustrated as resi-dents o Savda Ghevra are, would they be willing to invest in the unknowntechnological model Sarvajal is oering them over the maddening, undependablehuman model they deal with now? Would they be willing to make that change?Could it hurt them i, say, they switched to Sarvajal, or some similar service, andthen ound themselves unable to access an ATM or whatever reason, or unable

WATER iS A hUMAN RiGhT, BAdLY iMpLEMENTEd

When raising the prospect o a commercial venture that provides people water ora ee, the question o the right to water needs to be addressed. Put another way:is water a commodity or a necessity, or both?

Nobody will pay or water, we heard numerous people in Savda Ghevrasay. It should be ree! Water, ater all, is not electricity, or cable television, oreven milk, or which people will (or the most part) pay. Its more oten compared

to sunlight, or the air we breathe, a notion thats been urther enorced by NGOsand local politicians trying to pressure the government to improve water tankeraccess, especially to the slums.

Indeed, several commercial ventures involving water have ailed or gainedlittle traction. Privately-owned tanks selling clean water have been vandalized. Aneort to sell small packets o drinking water or 1 rupee each was embraced pri-marily by thirsty kids on playgrounds but ew others (it also led to a litter problem).The exceptions have been a handul o small-scale door-to-door delivery services,which serve a spec ifc niche (places not served sufciently or at all by governmenttankers, and c ustomers who could not abide by the existing public system).

That said, there are limits to the concept o the right to water when thatright is not being observed or honored. For whatever reason, the Delhi Jal Board isunable to ulfll this right by guaranteeing regular delivery o quality water. This issomething the people o Savda Ghevra experience frst-hand, engendering in them

ThE COST OF WATER

pROS:Bottle reuse

CONS:Waste

$.32 er ltre.5L Bottle

pROS:Robust

CONS:Hard to carry around /

Dispensing water requires

additional apparatus

$.07 er ltre15L Can

pROS:Bottle reuse

CONS:Waste

$.20 er ltre1.5L Bottle

pROS:Just-in-time

CONS:Card needs to be pre-

loaded with cash / Requires

trust in a new technology

$.01 er ltreSarvajal ATM

pROS:Just-in-time

CONS:Cant be stored, risk of

contamination and litter

problem

$.14 er ltre.25L Pouch

pROS:Free /

A known process

*CONS:People pay in terms of time

and effort, and sometimes

bribes to the tanker driver /Unreliable source

Free*Tanker


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to top up their card beore they needed more water? They have ostensibly givenup their spot in line at the water tanker distribution point, so what options wouldthey have?

Theoretically, having direct access to water ATMs, along with a prepaid cardthat opens them up, gives citizens more agency in the process. Furthermore, thedata and analytics collected by Sar vajals technicians bring elements o the smartcity to places like Savda Ghevra, showing how resources can be allocated basedon need and usage, not patronage and opportunism.

But there are other questions as well: Would people in places like SavdaGhevra fnd the prepaid card system user riendly, and how might it or the inter-ace with which its used be designed so that it is? (The recent push or nationalbiometric identity cards could prove inormative here). How much coverage couldit get in a given area correlated to mobile phone use, and how quickly? How scal-

able is the model? And privacy: who gets to see the data that is collected aboutcustomers, and how well is personal inormation protected? Lastly, do peopleneed one more card, or could it somehow be incorporated into an existing card,a shared account o some sort?

Its worth remembering that very ew o the people in Savda Ghevra chose tolive there in the frst place, and that most o the people who come rom the coun-tryside and wind up in the slums o Delhi (or Mumbai, or Kolkata) will not haveany other options. With that in mind, then, will a system like Sarvajals eel likesomething that belongs to them, or something thats being imposed on them?

Water contaners are a recous commoty an unsafe to leae aroun n urban slums, wc are ensely oulate.


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5150 TOp: A Saa Gera resent fonly talks about er famly,and their aspirations, pointing to photographs on the wall.

BOTTOM: Local leaders bank for votes promising to solve

te water ssue, electon after electon.

A businessman serves water in exchange for plastic tokens, which people buy from him on a monthly basis. Their

colour reresents fferent alues for fferent uanttes of water.


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Female students at a government school in Savda Ghevra try to get as much water from dry taps during their 5-minute

break n between stues.5352


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55

CONCLUSiON

Given the accelerated urbanization in India and beyond, it is clear that w ater issueswill become increasingly important in the decades to come.

The majority o the people we met during this study expended a great deal otime and energy every day trying to secure clean water. In this context, the wide-spread belie that water is a right and that it should be ree is moot. In the slum

residents pay or their water in one way or anotherwith time and money, withtheir ability to move and make political choices based on other interests.

As such, they clearly understand the intrinsic value o the w ater they collect,store and use. (And even i they did not know the precise numbers, they would beat least generally aware o the costs a lack o clean drinking water can impose. Forexample: UNICEF estimates that water-borne diseases in India carr y annual costso $600 million in medical bills and lost productivity.) People who have not expe-rienced similar circumstances may not understand it, but many o the people wemet in Savda Ghevra know that i they had better access to clean water, they wouldhave more time and energy to devote to their amily, their work, their childrenseducationsand, ultimately, a better lie.

Designing a solution that scales quicklySo what would a viable solution or the water issues in slums look like? Given thecomplex social dynamics, whether the solution comes top-down or bottom-up,there is probably no one-size-fts-all answer. Our research indicates that a sustain-able water solution must be able to clearly articulate and respond to the cost andvalue o the service. It must give some ownership and control to the residents them-

selves. It must also be sensitive to local orces that might impact peoples access towater and understand how they could impact any eort to implement a new system.

Creating value for the community, by the communitySarvajals eort to bring aordable, clean water into the urban slums o Delhiseems promising in several respects. Its micro-grid system gets local entrepreneursinvolved in the business at a very undamental level. The dierent ranchises canbe adapted to meet the needs o a given locality.

Whats moreand this may be the most important pointSarvajals waterATMs make clean drinking water available 24-hour a d ay. For most slum residents,this would be lie-changing. Yes, they would have to pay or it, but the ees at pres-ent are still very low. The more salient issue would seem to be that their access toclean water would no longer be dependent on tanker deliveries. It would dependon their own schedules, their own needs.


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TOp: A lay mmerses erself n col water for te Cat

puja, wc tey belee s oly an wll was away ter sns.

BOTTOM: Te common ws of te resents of Saa

Ghevra is the well-being and progress of their children.5756

To be sure, there are immense challenges ahead or Sarvajal, or or any watersolution or business directed toward urban slums. The political and social dynam-ics are ex tremely complex, and setting up new ATMs requires signifcant relation-ship- building throughout a given community, and consumer literacy and trust inthis new technological solution. Extensive, targeted outreach is needed in orderto communicate to the community the value o the ser vice being oered, and thereasons someone should pay or something they think should be ree. I the tech-nology Sarvajal employs consistently works, then it comes down to education.Threatening the right?One can argue that clean water is and should be a basic human right. However,because o its intrinsic v alue in the urban slums, various entities try to leveragethat value or proft or inuence. One has to wonder: are businesses and organi-

zations, including Sarvajal, undermining the right to water? Or is that a purelytheoretical question, given the very real value all the players in the delivery pro-cess, including the consumers, ascribe to water?

During the rog teams last day in Savda Ghevra, we witnessed the ChhathPuja, where men and women ast or days, coming together during the sunsethours to wade waist deep into the holy water, to oer prayers to the sun. Theholy water is really just a muddy puddle, which is rigid in the winter, whenthe ritual is observed. Men, women, and children stood shivering in the water orhours, waiting or their prayers to be heard. The more suering, the more likelymy prayers will be heard, one ather said, as he prayed or his son to recover romsickness and his daughter to fnd a good marr iage.

On one hand, this reliance on other entities to provide ones needs suggeststhat people will willingly cede control over certain portions o their lives whenthey eel another orce is somehow more powerul, more magical, than they are.On the other hand, however, the people enduring extremely uncomortable con-ditions or hours on end show how ar people will go when they think somethingor someone oers the chance o a better lie.

We may not have the fnal answers to all the questions we raised above ater

our time in Savda Ghevra, but we do know that these two intertwined instinctsto both cede and seize agency or problem solvingwill inuence the process.Depending on governments and NGOs alone to provide a solution will not yieldone. It would also deprive us o the great wealth o know-how and ingenuitythat emerges bottom-up rom community members themselves when they startmaking necessary changes to their own environment.

The clearest point o all, however, was that anything that made accessingwater easier, saer and less o a disruption than it is now will have an enormousimpact on these peoples lives.


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Cat puja n Saa Gera 5958


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RESEARCh TEAM

Somatya BanerjeeSomaditya is a S enior Interaction Designer at rog. His interests,in the feld o design, are interaction, inormation and visualdesign. At rog, Somaditya is responsible or leading teams andproducing design work across dierent media like web andmobile. He has a degree in commerce and a diploma in visual arts.

Gaura BusanGaurav is an Interaction Designer at rog, who loves to collabo-

rate with teams across cultures and studios on projects that rangerom design research to detailed design. He is a post graduate inInormation Design rom the National Institute o Design, India .Twitter: @bgaurav

Jennfer Lee FuuaJennier is an Assoc iate Program Management Director at rog,ocusing on innovation management, design research, and cre-ative workshop acilitation. Jennier holds a MA in GraphicCommunication rom New York University and a MBA romUCLA Anderson School o Management.Twitter: @yurlee

Ntn GutaNitin Gupta is a Creative Director at rog, responsible or itsdesign practice in India. He is a trained human actors and cogni-tive science proessional specializing in combining research and

design to create experiences or new markets and technologies.Twitter: @niting13

Vaijayanthi IyengarVaijayanthi is an Interaction Designer at rog, designing solu-tions or smart devices, web, platorms and gaming consoles.She has a degree in Inormation and Interaction design rom NIDAhmedabad and Architecture rom Anna University, Chennai.Twitter: @vyju

The puja continues until after sunset, while the rest of Savda Ghevra resume their evening chores.


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6262

Ts stuy was mae ossbleby frog and The Institute for

Money, Technology andFnancal incluson at Unerstyof Calforna, irne.

Field Notes & PhotographySomaditya BanerjeeGaurav BhushanNitin GuptaVaijayanthi IyengarJennier Lee Fuqua

publserEmily Chong

EtorJan Chipchase

Art drectorTom Manning

DesignerVida Riahi

poster ArtBharti Dayalwww.bhartidayal.com

Atonal ResourcesPhotos available at

www.rogdesign.com/waterindia

Te insttute for Money,Technology and Financialinclusonwww.imtf.uci.edu

frogwww.rogdesign.com

With thanks to Anand Shah, AnujSharma and Priyanka Chopra romSarvajal or valued input and directionduring the research planning. Deepthanks to Harish Manwani or helpingus plan the logistics and joining us onthe road trip, Stuti Parasrampuria

or her wealth o contacts in SavdaGhevra and Milind Nagda or givingus a 4 am tour o urban slums inDelhi. Not least, we are grateul toour participants or opening theirhomes, and sharing their thoughts.

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Frog Journeys for Water