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WATSAN

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Vision

The vision for the Water and Sanitation Sector is to improve the quality of life of people of the earthquake affected areas by reducing risks to the public health through provision of equitable, sustainable and reliable supply of sufficient quantity of safe water and appropriate sanitation services.

Objectives

The specific objectives are:

To rehabilitate and reconstruct all public and community-owned drinking water supply, sanitation and solid waste management systems damaged or destroyed as a result of the earthquake of 08 October 2005;
To expand, improve and upgrade the affected water supply and sanitation systems for increased disaster preparedness and enhanced service delivery in line with the National Drinking Water and Sanitation Policy, Pakistan Poverty Reduction Strategy and United Nations Millennium Development Goals;
To restore, build and strengthen the capacity of relevant government departments, agencies and institutions, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community-based organizations (CBOs) and other partners; and
To bring about behavioral changes in favor of safe hygiene practices.

Scope

All public and community-owned schemes damaged or destroyed by the earthquake of 08 October 2005 and will be rehabilitated/ reconstructed/upgraded on the basis of the following priority criteria

Population served by the scheme
Extent of damages
Schemes serving, inter-alia, schools and hospitals
Accessibility
Level of involvement of community in implementation
Degree of mechanization
Availability of water source

Any affected scheme which may have been left out due to error or omission or lack of information will be rehabilitated or reconstructed subject to intimation of such scheme to ERRA/SERRA and approval thereof. Additional development schemes will not be allowed from the funds made available for implementation of the Strategy. “Replacement schemes”, however, will be constructed for relocated settlements or in lieu of the destroyed schemes.
In order to ensure that only qualified schemes are taken up for rehabilitation or reconstruction and to ascertain the extent of damages and refine cost estimates and design parameters, schemes included in Appendices A and B will be assessed in-depth by the Line Departments, District Reconstruction Unit (DRU) or Development Partners and Sponsors prior to initiation of rehabilitation and reconstruction work.

Guiding Principles

The following guiding principles will be used to realize water and sanitation sector objectives:Improved disaster preparedness and service delivery: Water and sanitation facilities will be built better and duly upgraded for disaster preparedness and mitigation. This will be achieved through the following measures:

Partially damaged structures and buildings would be retrofitted to ensure seismic resistance;
Water and sanitation facilities will be located away from hazard prone sites;
Structures will be designed to comply with the revised/interim design codes;
Pipes will be laid underground unless it is not technically or financially feasible to do so;
Earthquake resistant materials (such as HDPE (PE 80) and Galvanized iron pipes, RCC water tanks, submersible pumps, steel borehole casing of standard specifications) and construction techniques (such as flexible pipe joints) will be used where appropriate;
Partly damaged schemes will be upgraded keeping in view the needs of un-served or under-served population;
Replacement schemes will be properly sited and designed with due consideration, among others, to the current and anticipated future needs. A minimum service level of 45 and 120 liter per person per day shall be used for rural and urban schemes, respectively, subject to availability of water;
Efforts will be made to avoid, and remove, existing inequities in provision of water and sanitation services; and
Cost-effective and appropriate technological options to suit local conditions and social and cultural practices will be used. Operation and maintenance and sustainability will also be given consideration in the selection of the technological options.

Community participation

Target communities, especially women, will be involved in site selection, planning, design, implementation, monitoring and management of the schemes to promote community ownership and empowerment as well as sustainability. Active involvement of CBOs and user groups will be promoted in design and implementation of the community operated schemes.

Inter-sectoral approach

Water and sanitation will be integrated in related sectoral strategies of SERRA, especially Housing, Education, Health and Environment. To this end:

Sanitary latrines will be promoted as an integral component in all individual housing units to be constructed/supported under the "Housing Sector Strategy";
Training on sanitary latrine construction will be imparted to masons, technicians, labor, communities and engineers as part of the ongoing “Training Program on Construction of Earthquake Resistant Houses”;
All public buildings and facilities to be reconstructed in the affected areas under the “Governance Sector Strategy” will be provided with adequate water and sanitation facilities with due regard for gender. These buildings will also have special latrine facilities for the disabled;
Adequate services for drinking water supply and sanitation as well as proper collection, treatment and disposal of solid and liquid wastes will be provided in the relocated/new settlements and towns;
Every health care facility and educational institution to be rehabilitated or reconstructed in the earthquake affected areas will be provided with adequate water and sanitation facilities. Health care facilities will also have proper waste management system. Provision to this affect has been made in the Health and Education Sector Strategies;
Protection, integrated and sustainable management of water resources, management of debris and hospital, hazardous and industrial wastes will be addressed under in the “Environment Sector Strategy”; and
Disaster Preparedness Strategy for water and sanitation sector will be prepared under the “Disaster Risk and Reduction Strategy”.