Water and the Mobilizer;
When the Community Chooses Clean Drinking Water
by
Phil Bartle, PhD

Module Introduction

Documents Included in this Water Module:
 . Considering Water, issues for the community mobilizer;
 . Water, Health and the Empowerment of Communities, PHC principles for
   strength;
 . Water as a Community Investment, clean water and a decrease in
   poverty;
 . Politicians and Water, wary allies or dangerous adversaries;
 . Water and Public Awareness, community participation in a campaign;
 . Sources of Drinking Water, alternatives for community decision
   making;
 . Water Technology for the Mobilizer, getting water to the people;
 . Consider the Rope Pump; why not use only locally available parts?
 . Repair and Maintenance, water management for communities; and
 . Cost Recovery, obtaining resources to manage a water supply.

 Do not take water issues for granted

Issues for the Mobilizer and Community:

 While most of the training modules on this site are concentrated on
 how to organize and train a community by encouraging it to unify and
 choose a priority action, this module has a focus on one sector, the 
 provision of potable (drinkable) water, which may or may not be a
 priority of any particular community. The same methods of animation
 apply. What here in this module are some of the considerations that
 you the mobilizer -- and the community -- should make when choosing
 this sector.

 See Considering Water.

 The provision of water is a factor in the health of a community,
 when combined with a few other essential elements, and is therefor
 ammunition in reducing poverty, disease being an important factor of
 poverty. It is important for you -- and the community -- to know
 the principles of primary health care (PHC) and the role that water
 may play in it.

 See Water, Health and the Empowerment of Communities.

 The provision of water, as an act of empowerment of a poor
 community, is not the provision of a good for consuming, but is as
 an investment. How it is an investment, and what kind of an
 investment is important.

 See Water as a Community Investment.

 There are many potential sources of water, and each community
 usually has a range of them. What is important, therefore, is not a
 rigid insistence on only one kind of water source, but the
 management of water resources by the community.

 See Sources of Drinking Water.

 Similarly, there is a range of different technologies, not to
 mention variations in output and cost, for each potential source of
 water. The community must manage its supply of water in the light of
 considering these variations.

 See Water Technology for the Mobilizer.

 Does water technology always have to be imported? See Consider the
 Rope Pump.

 A community water supply system (or water point) suffers wear and
 tear and it may require regular inputs such as fuel and
 lubrication. A community must determine who is responsible for
 maintenance, who is responsible for repair, and how it is to be
 managed.

 See Repair and Maintenance.

 Running a water supply point, or water supply system, requires
 resources. As part of its management of its water supply, a
 community must consider alternatives for cost recovery, or what
 methods it will use to pay for the regular maintenance and repair of
 its water supply system.

 See Cost Recovery.

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See http://www.thewaterpage.com/religion.htm.

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Updated: 2003 April 13