Issues Regarding Safe WASH Infrastructure and Services in Flood Prone Areas of Eastern and North-Eastern States of India

Overview

Quantitatively, the southwest monsoon seasonal rainfall over the country as a whole is likely to be 106% of the long period average (LPA) with a model error of ± 4%. Many areas of Northeast India and eastern parts of Central India and adjoining areas of East India are likely to receive normal to below normal monsoon rainfall. (India Meteorological Department (May 27, 2024); Press Release; New Delhi).

Most of Nepal will likely experience above-normal monsoon rains, according to a statement by the 28th Session of the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum released on April 29, 2024 (Prasain. S., (May 4, 2024); Nepal Braces for Above-normal Monsoon This Year; The Kathmandu Post, Kathmandu).

The National Centre for Hydrology and Meteorology has released its precipitation outlook for the upcoming southwest summer monsoon season, spanning from June to September 2024. According to the forecast, Bhutan is expected to experience slightly above normal rainfall and temperatures during this period. The summer rainfall for Bhutan during the monsoon season (June-September) is expected to be slightly above the average recorded from 1996 to 2023. (Rai. M., (2024); National Centre for Hydrology and Meteorology Says Above Normal Monsoon in 2024; The Bhutanese; Thimpu).

As per the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum (SASCOF-28) #Bangladesh, #Bhutan, #India, #Nepal and #Pakistan are all expected to receive higher rainfall. (Tuladhar. R., (May 16, 2024); Southwest Monsoon Outlook 2024: With Region Set for Rising Temperatures and Above Normal Rain Early Warning an Urgent Priority in Hugely Exposed Region; Media Advisory; The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development; Kathmandu).

With the onset of normal or below normal monsoon, people living in flood-prone areas of Eastern and North-Eastern India begin to fear the inevitable destruction in the form of floods. Before the flood strikes, many people go into flood preparation mode by developing mechanisms to protect family members, livestock, food grains, household assets, and home. The typology of flood and the scale of devastation determine the magnitude of the impact on the community and their efforts to keep themselves safe.

Repeated efforts made on an annual basis to develop a plan or set of strategies for protecting the entire household assets highlight the basic fact that the assets are developed or purchased keeping in mind the local impact of annual floods. However, affected communities feel challenged when it comes to individual or community assets that have been developed without considering annual flooding and its long-term impact on infrastructure and services.

WASH Services in Flood-Prone Areas

One such integral constituent of their everyday life are the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services. The WASH services does not begin and end with the mere construction of infrastructure. Rather, it is part of a system, or chain, of multiple steps and processes that ensure access without disruption throughout the year, especially when it is needed most. Unfortunately, the status of WASH services in most flood prone areas is abysmal requiring a focus on local considerations and proportionate interventions.

To address the WASH-related challenges in all earnest present in the flood prone areas of Eastern and North-Eastern states of India, it is crucial to delve into the following issues.

• What are the potential barriers, challenges, and risks in safely managing WASH infrastructure and services in the wake of the upcoming monsoon and disruptive typologies of floods in the East and North-East India?
• What efforts are being made to ensure that WASH infrastructure and services are flood resilient in East and North-East India?
• What progress has been made in terms of innovation and financing for safe, ecologically sustainable and flood resilient WASH infrastructure and services in rural areas of the Eastern and North-Eastern states?
• How have the risks associated with flood-related WASH hazards on women, adolescent girls, persons with disabilities, senior citizens and other vulnerable groups of people been addressed in the states of East and North-East India? Have the necessary non-negotiable policy benchmarks to make all WASH infrastructure and services flood resilient for Eastern and North-Eastern India have been outlined and administered?
• ?Is there a focus on generating data and evidence to monitor flood risks and impacts frequently encountered by rural communities for future adaptation of WASH infrastructure and services in Eastern and North-Eastern India?

Flood events of various types, both natural and human induced, are regularly observed in the Eastern and North-Eastern states of India. Some of these settlements exist with compromised WASH services on an ongoing basis, desperately needing local intervention to access safe, stable and steady WASH services. The choice of processes, systems and technologies that have the potential to address and overcome WASH vulnerabilities in diverse flood scenarios is the need of the hour.

Future Course of Action

Developing local flood-resilient WASH infrastructure and service solutions will help protect water-related ecosystems, and ensure local communities contribute to ensuring access to flood-sensitive infrastructure and services during disasters. In addition, it will enhanced resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters, integrated climate change measures into strategies and planning for such challenges areas. This will improve the awareness and sensitivity of all those involved in the development of flood-resilient WASH infrastructure and services, as well as their institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation and impact reduction. Therefore, delaying this further is not an option we can exercise.

Sunita Narain | UNICEF India | WaterAid India | Arghyam | Vishwanath S | Depinder Kapur | Bishwadeep Ghose | Biswanath Sinha | Nidhi Jamwal | Bonani Roychoudhury | Asad Umar | Vanita Suneja | Aditi Kapoor, PhD | Mitul Baruah | Namrata S | Rizwan Uz Zaman | Partha Jyoti Das | Partha Pratim Das | Sunderrajan Krishnan | Siddharth Patil | Manu Srivastava | Nirmalya Choudhury

#Tripura #Mizoram #Manipur #Nagaland #ArunachalPradesh #Assam #Meghalay #Sikkim #WestBengal #Bihar #UttarPradesh #NorthEastIndia #Floods #sanitation #drinkingwater #water #groundwater