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Report 3 of 5: The Drain Gang
- Pakistan
Introduction
In Karachi, the capital of Pakistan, treatment plants only process one sixth of the sewage generated by the city’s population of ten million. However, in one neighbourhood, known as Orangi, a group of citizens have been tackling the problem of sewage and sanitation systems themselves.
Orangi is a low income, unplanned settlement on the periphery of Western Karachi. It is a large township consisting mostly of katchi abadis which are squatter settlements. It has a population of about one million people and, unlike most of the city, it has clean streets.
Problems with sanitation and drainage
Twenty years ago the streets were full of filth because there was no disposal for the waste. In 1980, there were a few water lines in Orangi that had been provided by official agencies. Bucket latrines or soak pits were the main means of disposing of human excreta and open sewers were used for the disposal of waste water. The result was poor health with typhoid, malaria, diarrhoea and dysentery being commonly borne by the local population. Furthermore, poor drainage resulted in water logging and reduced property values.
Although the residents were aware of the sanitation and drainage problems, and knew of the consequences for their health and property, they took no action. In response to the sewage crisis, a local foundation set up the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) – its success depended upon mobilising the local population to support the project. Once the householders realised that they could address both the health problems and damage to property for only a small amount of money, OPP had to persuade them to invest in the sanitation scheme.
Orangi Pilot Project (OPP)
OPP has been working in Orangi since April 1980. During this time, it has developed programmes in areas such as sanitation, health, housing technology, education support services, credit and income generation etc. OPP considers itself to be a research institute whose objective is to analyse outstanding problems and discover viable solutions. In recognition of the fact that NGOs cannot solve problems on the scale required, OPP does not construct sewage lines or set up clinics itself. Instead, its strategy is to promote community organisation and self-management. By providing social and technical guidance, it encourages the mobilisation of local managerial and financial resources and the practice of co-operative action.
Low cost sanitation
Four levels of infrastructure were identified in relation to the sanitation problem in the Orangi district of Karachi. The house owners were willing to take responsibility for the infrastructure inside the house, in the lane and for the secondary or collector drains but they were not prepared to be responsible for the main drains and treatment plant.
As a result, OPP developed a low cost sanitation programme in the Orangi district. It enables low income households to construct and maintain modern sanitation, such as pour flush latrines in their own homes and underground sewerage pipelines in the lanes, with their own funds and under their own management.
OPP simplified sanitation designs to make them affordable and technically viable so that they could be implemented locally. The project also involved training in community organisation and technical details, and further guidance and supervision.
Working with communities
OPP employed technicians to help survey the lanes and prepare the plans and estimates for each lane. Some organisers worked at the level of the lane to show how they needed to work together to ensure that the lane investment was effective. The OPP staff had to organise people in the local community, working lane by lane, to ensure that all the householders were involved in the project to keep the costs down.
Within each lane, a manager needed to be identified to take charge of collecting individual contributions, resolving disputes and supervising the building work. From the outset, whilst OPP staff could assist in technical advice and support social organisation, only those living in the lane could be responsible for managing the finances and overseeing the work on the lane sanitation.
Cost of the sanitation scheme
Through simplifying the design and developing steel moulds for sanitary latrines and manholes, the cost was reduced to one-quarter of the contractor rates. The elimination of the contractors’ profits reduced labour costs by a further quarter. The final cost for the proposed system was about Rs.1,000 (approximately US$31) of which half was for the investment inside the house and the remainder was for the lane sanitation, for example, laying or renovating sewage pipes.
Between July 1981 and November 1993, the local residents invested approximately US$2.2 million on improved sanitation and drainage systems. This has provided 88,000 houses – about 90% of the Orangi residents - with good toilets.
Benefits of the low cost sanitation scheme
The Orangi project has been a great success because the sanitation system now reaches more than 90% of the residents in Orangi. It is an underground sanitation system financed and laid by the people, whilst they managed the money to fund the project themselves.
The intensive training in the technology of sanitary engineering and the widespread training of lane managers have resulted in an increased level of skill and a reduced dependence on OPP for social and technical guidance. Residents have been increasingly willing to take on the costs and organisational challenge of secondary drains. Moreover, research has shown that lane residents are carrying out frequent maintenance and repair work on their investments.
The future of OPP
OPP has become one of the best known NGO projects in the provision of sanitation. In the twenty years since its inception, OPP has either directly, or indirectly, assisted about one million people to improve their sanitation systems. From the beginning, OPP have sought to minimise external support in order to assist households to achieve their objectives for local development. The Research and Training Institute (RTI) of OPP is currently assisting both government and non-government initiatives in a number of other cities in Pakistan that are seeking to replicate the Orangi sanitation programme. The Orangi project has already been successfully transferred to 42 settlements in Karachi.
For further information, please contact:
Perween Rahman,
Orangi Pilot Project Research and Training Institute (OPP RTI),
Plot No ST 4 Sector 5A,
Qasba Colony,
Manghopir Road,
Karachi 75800,
Pakistan.
Tel: +92 21 6658628/6652297 |
Arif Hasan
37d Mohammed Ali Society
Karachi 75350
Pakistan |
Intermediate Technology Development Group would like to thank the Orangi Pilot Project Research and Training Institute (OPP RTI) and Arif Hasan for providing the original material on the low cost sanitation programme in Orangi.
This document is an output from a project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the DFID.
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