Health and sanitation
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there is the Uniform Plumbing Code of India, but there is no
government mandate as such that, ‘OK, you need to follow
particular guidelines.’ There isn’t something like that in India,
and that’s where it’s affecting the whole industry. IAPMO
India’s programmes continue to address this issue and use
the Uniform Plumbing Code as a reference in an attempt to
standardise the process as much as possible in these rural
regions and across India as a whole.”
In Kerala, where many of the skill development centres are
remotely located, it is common to find plumbers who have taken
up plumbing as their career from ancestors and/or have learned
by just working with local construction people. As a result,
standard installation procedures are not prevalent, Saralaya said.
“That is the main aim of IAPMO India and the Indian plumbing
industry: bringing quality plumbers to the construction
industry,” she said.
IWSH managing director Megan Lehtonen said the organisation
is committed to training community members and setting up
the infrastructure to ensure that the training continues and the
projects are maintained and replicated throughout the region.
“IWSH continues to focus on supply chain solutions to build
the necessary conduit between the great work being done
to enhance WASH facilities throughout India and the trained
manpower to maintain it by upskilling the local workforce to
provide the labour needed to ensure the projects can be locally
maintained,” she said. “This will also allow us to continue
this important work in other communities.”Saralaya said
IAPMO India saw an opportunity to get involved following the
Community Plumbing Challenge 2015 in Nashik. The schools
were having a difficult time finding enough internships for
students, due in large part to how remote many of the skill
development centres are, she said, and even when they would
find a construction site, there frequently would be no plumbing
installation work occurring when the internship was required.
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Saralaya said they approached the government of Kerala and
the ASAP team about building/improving sanitation facilities
at schools in India, much as the teams did for the CPC2015
in Nashik.
The Community Plumbing Challenge was conducted in a
government school similar to the one in Kerala. Saralaya said
that IAPMO international project managers Grant Stewart and
Sean Kearney visited 25–30 schools in India to determine the
site of the CPC, and found conditions similar to that of the
Kerala school.
“In India, the government schools’ toilet facilities are so
inefficient,” Saralaya said. “Either they are completely non-
utilised (not used at all), or they have issues like being clogged
or blocked, and there is no person to maintain it. When we
surveyed some of the schools, we came to know that these are
the places where we can utilise our students to carry on the
installations to do the corrections required to maintain them, or
renew the facilities available there.”
Saralaya said the student involvement in the project has
multiple benefits. “It gives a good experience for the student
and it’s something to be proud of,” she said. “For the student
who is working somewhere in the old centre, at an old school,
it becomes a matter of pride to him that he’s innovating and
helping his own school build a new toilet and maintain it.”
Government agencies and private organisations that are
interested in supporting ASAP projects, such as upgrading
toilet facilities at skill development centres, are encouraged
to do so by contributing towards the cost of materials.
Upgrading toilet facilities at skill development centres would
not only address the need for additional internships, but it
would be a significant contribution towards the government’s
Swacch Bharat Abhiyan campaign goal of eliminating open
defecation in the country, providing a model that may be
replicated across India. IWSH has also proposed a half-day
programme designed towards educating schoolchildren about
the importance of sanitation and hygiene. PA
July 2017 Volume 23 I Number 5