Arghyam has published a document titled “A Framework for Rural Drinking Water Quality Management (WQM): Collating Experiences from the Voluntary Sector”. This document is the second in a series developed by Arghyam following “Step by Step – Achieving Sustainable Sanitation”. The objective of such frameworks is to extract patterns and lessons from successful projects of grassroots non-government organisations (NGOs) and develop them into a set of guidelines for similar efforts. This document synthesises experiences of 12 prominent NGOs on small-scale WQM models across the country, some supported by Arghyam and some from outside its network.

The framework explains the process of WQM as a progression through five distinct phases from the baseline assessment phase to the final operations and maintenance phase. Each phase spells out the activities to be carried out, with a range of resources (time, human and financial) that would be required. Quality checks are also listed out for each phase to help the practitioner avoid common pitfalls.

Different organisations should find this document helpful to understand the WQM best practices and incorporate them into their interventions and water safety plans. Arghyam can provide knowledge and technical support to organisations interested in implementing this framework.

Far from being the last word on the subject, this document presents an opportunity for further discussions and debates around the framework approach. We are hopeful that the wider water community will enrich the framework by sharing their experiences.

Please click here to download the document.