Water Act 2010: Whose benifit counts

Md. Firoj Alam

Land, air, water and sun are the most essential elements for life. In absence of one of these elements life is just impossible on the earth. All other living entities in this planet gratefully enjoy this gift of the nature. But, we the human being want to grab it for personal interest. Grabbing something absolutely for self interest we often cause deprivation for others. By this time individuals’ ownership has got established on land. Now, the major part of the land in every country is in the hands of a small number of people. What is next to grab? It is water. Conflict over water is not new at all. May be later the air and the sun will also go to the personal possession and the common will have to purchase it for their existence as we need to buy now a piece of land in an inflated price from the rich land-owners to have a shelter for living. Money has created an inequitable world. Anything with which money is involved always goes under the control of rich people. The poor can still take their breath, can have a bath in the river, and can warm their body in the sun because in some extent it is still out of the monetary system.
Now- a- days water is often treated as an item of goods. With a positive intention, I guess, to make people understand about the value of water, it is compared to the goods and price has been imposed on it. The good intention is now turning into a bad practice. Evaluating the life-essential things with money and intention of regulating these types of things by imposing price is just dangerous. In such case there is every possibility to go these kind of life essential elements to the wrong hands. Greed spines round the money.

Recently, WARPO (Water Resource Planning Organization), an attached department of Ministry of Water Resources has drafted a set of laws to regulate water resources in this country. It is known as Water act 2010. It is in draft form now and presented to the Minister for Water Resources on the last week of May with a claim that it is a good law and prepared after reviewing the good existing laws and policies within the country and across the globe. To make it a law, within 15 days started from 22nd May 2011, this document will be reviewed by different committees and will be sent to the cabinet for approval to pass it in the parliament.
I have gone through the document and what I have found is dangerous. The worries with what I have started my article are all there. To protect water, licensing is coming as an obligation for the users in the laws. We all know who are the people in our society can have the license? The water bodies in the North Eastern part of the country have gone to the rich and powerful people of the country because of the leasing system. The fisher folk who grew up by swimming in those water bodies, whose ancestors lived in it hundreds of years, who share their umbilical cord with it, now prohibited to enter into these water bodies. Same is happening in the forest areas in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Sunder bans and Modhupur and other forest areas. The forest people have no access in the forest. The “permit” holders are now reigning over the forest and having all the benefits. Same thing will happen if this law comes into force. Even to fish in the river or in the see a license will be required? These licensing systems in the name of protection of water resources, the gift of the nature on which the common people are depending for their living and livelihood will be made restricted? I think it will jeopardize all our efforts to ensure food security even.

Reading the Water Act 2010 (draft) I got an impression that these acts are to protect misuse of our water. However, it has ignored the actual purpose - - the issue of right. For example, the purpose of water distribution ( Page 14) as it is mentioned there; is to use it in the household, municipality, fish farming, wildlife, irrigation, power generation, etc. The list has been extended long and gone up to the item called re-creation. It has missed the spirit of keeping the human being above all of everything. To ensure the equitable distribution of water for each and every citizen for their living and livelihood should be the purpose of the water distribution, not merely the water related activities as mentioned. I think living and livelihood cover all the aspects mentioned in the document and it keeps the equity issue in the center to protect it by law.
In a chapter, it is mentioned that the ownership of all water lies with the state. This statement is absolutely fine for the advanced states where state is equivocally meant for the people. But, for the country like ours’ do not mean that. Here sate means the people in power. I think we are yet to be in such ideal situation. It should rather be replaced directly by the word “people”, means the owners of the water (and other resources) is its people. This sprit should be established by the law. We all know who gets benefit from the state- owned resources and properties. I am sure; it is not the poor and powerless section of the population.

In the name of “good faith” an opportunity to exploit water resources has been kept for the water dealing organizations. In Page 38, it is mentioned that on any installations on good faith this type of organizations can continue their ownership by paying compensation. Imagine now whose purpose is going to be served by these types of law.
It seems that these laws are going to be framed to protect the companies/ organizations. For violation of the water laws, punishment is heavier for the individuals than the companies/ organization. For an individual it is maximum five years jail and Tk 500,000 in fines or both for misusing water, while an organization can violate water law by facing only financial penalty. To me it is like having the right to violate law by paying money!

We feel that government has not made these kind of mistakes innocently. There is every reason for doubt that a cunning interested group is hidden behind this with a motive to appear little later and take control over the water resources of the country as soon as it is approved as law.

We have heard that it is still with the review committees of which DG, WARPO is the head. I think it should be stopped there right now. To prepare such types of law arrange for a public hearing, listen to the people and expert and then do something. We should keep it in mind that it is water which we are going to deal with the laws. It is no less than life. This law should not be framed such a way that it protects the interest only of the rich who are just a small portion of the population of this country.


It is also available in the link: http://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=189961

Adolescent girls, the unaccounted force for WASH, emerging as the hope for the sustainability of the services

Md. Firoj Alam

The DFID funded GOB-UNICEF Sanitation, Hygiene and Water supply project in Bangladesh is now at the end of its time duration.  The  60  million dollar  funded project started  in 2007  to support 30  million population  of whose  1.3  million live in the low-income communities in  18 municipalities  in Bangladesh.

In every sense, the water, sanitation and hygiene situation is worse in the urban slums.  Despite a lot of effort from the donors, NGOs and government there is a little evidences of improvement of the slums conditions in Bangladesh.  The major reasons of not getting the slums improved are inadequate support, project based short term services, absence of right on the land, eviction threat etc.  At the same time these are also the causes of not sustaining the result of different projects.

Amid this situation the DFID supported project started in 18 Pourashavas. The packages of the services are common:  water, sanitation and hygiene. The implementation approach is not also uncommon. It is implementing the hardware through Pourashava based on the demand created in the community, and providing the software for maintenance of the hardware and hygiene practice through the NGOs staff at the community. What came almost unnoticed and perhaps an uncommon approach for WASH is the creation of enormous workforce through development of the adolescent girls within the community. Over last five years these work forces have  become matured and now almost ready to take-over the project activities from the CHP (community Hygiene Promoters), the paid frontline staff of the NGOs of the project. Adolescent groups take no financial benefit from the project. 

The rural component of the same project has a concern of the continuation of the hygiene promotion activities after departure of the NGOs.  In the urban areas the vacuum of the CHPs going to be created after departure of the NGOs can be fulfilled by these enthusiastic adolescent girls. The urban component of the GOB-UNICEF project works with 118164 households in 18 Municipalities. By this time, a total of 11800 adolescent girls from these pourashavas joined voluntarily to the program activities, means 1 adolescent girl is working for 10 households in her communities. One CHP is responsible for around 500 households in the slums.





 It is not that they are strong only by number. They are strong also in their capacity. These adolescent groups have been trained on three major issues: sanitation, safe water and menstrual hygiene management.

Traditionally, the support comes to   the slums regarding WASH from outside is merely latrine and water technology. When it is a very sensitive project, the hygiene education gets included in the project. The issue of menstrual hygiene which is an issue of water, sanitation and hygiene at a time hardly gets an attention of the service providers.

The revolutionary works that these adolescent groups are doing is deliberation of messages related to menstrual hygiene management.  They are not serving the menstruating women only with the words, I mean messages, but they are making also the facilities available to the hands of the menstruating women and girls.  They have established shops in the community called “SANIMART” where they sell sanitary pad and other cleaning agents and tools like soap, detergents toilet brush, tooth brush, sandals etc. Cosmetics items are also available there. More interestingly, entrepreneurship quality has developed among the girls who are running these SANIMARTS. The trained adolescent girls are making sanitary pads, selling it in their own shop and keeping the books of accounts quite efficiently.

A SANIMART run by a group of 11 adolescent girls in Sirajgonj sells product of USD 100- 200 each month, 10% -20% of which they earn as profit.  The calculation of last six month shows a progressive trend of sell and profit. Being involved to this productive process the satisfaction that these marginalised girls are getting is unaccountable in cash. Eyes of none can scape it who visits these SANIMARTs. 

In the mind of anybody a question may arise.  Why these adolescent girls are so interested to work voluntarily for the program? Naturally in the adolescent stage of life human beings are full of life energy. Energy moves. This life energy moves to find an outlet. If this energy is channelled through the creative outlet, it turns into creativity.  If it does not find creative out let. It is destructive, which we define usually as distracted youth force. Normally, the human being is afraid to be distracted and always finds the opportunity to utilize this energy in positive way.  The advantaged class in our society has enormous opportunity to channelize the youth energy positively, while the disadvantaged class just misses it. And, in the whole life they can’t cover it up.  Life ends with the pain of failure, despair and dissatisfaction.  This feeling is common in most of the slum dwellers.

Here, the case of involvement of so many adolescent girls enthusiastically with this project is not a surprising   phenomenon. In the small towns in Bangladesh, the adolescent girls, especially the girl in the low-income communities have no meaningful thing to do. They have to spend the valuable life energy apparently in non-productive purpose like helping mother in cooking, washing dishes or taking care of younger brothers and sisters. However, the inner urge to be involved to the bigger things always lurks inside the human mind. It is also lurking in the mind of these girls though they missed education because of the poverty.  The GOB-UNICEF project came as an opportunity for these girls to get involved with the bigger things. It could have happened for any other project which is acceptable to the community.

The WASH activities are very popular in the communities because of many reasons like (i) it is essential for life (II) it is related to dignity to life and (III) it saves the life.  It has the immediate and tangible output and finally it has a huge demand in the community especially in the deprived urban slums.  Getting involved to such issues, these adolescent girls find themselves important and honoured which are the motivating factors as well that worked as the cause of their involvement and keeping it continued.

Another synergy will happen in future.  These adolescent girls are the potential mothers also. In Bangladesh, 100,000 children under the age of 5 years die each year from diarrhoeal diseases. The unawareness of the mothers and the caregivers is the main cause of this unexpected death. The project is spending a lot of time, energy and money to raise the awareness among the mother and caregivers of the U5 children. Apart from their present role that they play, i,e educating their family and neighbours on hygiene , they will be able to take care of their  own babies appropriately  when they will become mother. Again, leadership, entrepreneurship and empowerment in other words are the important qualities of the life that these adolescent girls are achieving.  It is contributing to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals-3 directly for Bangladesh, i,e promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women.

 ( Md. Firoj Alam is a program officer of UNICEF Bangladesh