Institutionalizing an Impact Assessment Framework for Drink from Tap Mission in Odisha

Resource Partners: Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO)

Partners: Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO) , ULBs , Ms Pratihari & Associates

Duration: February 2024 - February 2025

About

The Government of Odisha has been proactively enhancing water supply and sanitation in the state, by operationalizing schemes such as BASUDHA (Buxi Jagabandhu Assured Drinking Water to all Habitation). In August 2019, the state launched its “Drink from Tap” (DFT) Mission that aimed to provide 24X7 drink-from-tap quality water to every household in urban Odisha so that water accessed from household taps was safe to drink and cook with without additional filtration or boiling. In 2021, NIUA was engaged by the Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO), Department of Housing and Urban Development to evaluate the efficacy of its ‘Drink from Tap’ mission. WATCO has since undertaken this work across 24 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Odisha. NIUA’s role now is to institutionalize an impact assessment framework, using an indicator-based approach to evaluate system efficiency, operations, maintenance, and consumer satisfaction. These efforts include training WATCO officials, applying an easy-to-use impact assessment tool across 24 ULBs, and developing a baseline framework for non-DFT areas to measure the comparative impact and progress of future implementations. Unique features include a blend of qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, rigorous field visits, comparison with Service Level Benchmarks (SLBs), and the creation of a digital dashboard to support macro and micro-level analysis of DFT.

21

ULBs of Odisha are currently applying the Impact Assessment Tool developed under the project to understand the DFT impact.

1600+

household surveys across 21 cities have been conducted to understand the consumer’s perception of, and reaction to, Odisha’s DFT mission.

Events

Workshop for Institutionalizing an Impact Assessment Framework for Drink from Tap (DFT) Mission in Odisha

Workshop for Institutionalising an Impact Assessment Framework for Drink from Tap (DFT) Mission in Odisha

Bhubaneswar, Odisha calendar icon

November 2024 - November 2024

The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and the Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO), Housing and Urban Development Department, have been working on a project to assess the efficacy of the ‘Drink from Tap’ (DFT) schemes in 24 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across Odisha. In line with the objectives of the project, NIUA has developed a ‘Rapid Impact Assessment Tool’ for WATCO to make a quick and reliable evaluation of the DFT projects. The Tool comprises thirty-six indicators across three themes: 1. Technical Efficiency (quantitative indicators) 2. Operations and Maintenance (both qualitative and quantitative indicators) 3. Consumer Perception (qualitative indicators) While NIUA will be using the Rapid Impact Assessment Tool to evaluate ongoing DFT projects in 24 ULBs, it is important that WATCO officials are familiar with the Tool so that they can carry out regular annual assessments in the future. To address this need, a workshop was organized by NIUA on 8th November 2024 at Unnati Bhawan inviting the managers and general managers of the 24 ULBs as participants. The primary objective of the workshop was to present the Rapid Impact Assessment Tool developed by NIUA and to gather essential feedback and suggestions from the participating WATCO officers to strengthen it. Additionally, the workshop aimed at building the capacities of participants in the use and application of the Tool and to discuss its utility on the ground. The underlying objective was also to gather an understanding of the experience of running the DFT scheme in each city from the WATCO officials. A total of 10 officers representing 15 cities participated in the Workshop.

I congratulate CEEW on bringing out this document (Ripples: India’s Sustainable Water Management Story) and hope that the experiences and benefits india has gained through our programme will hep other countries too.