Topic: Water Security in Rural Area Q. What is State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM)/ DWSM?

As a step towards achieving coordination and convergence among State Departments dealing with Rural Drin ing Water Suppl!" Rural Sanitation" School #ducation" $ealth" Women and %hild Development" Water Resources" Agriculture" etc. a State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) has &een set up at the State/ '( level. )t is a registered societ! under the aegis o* the Department/ +oard/,igam/ Authorit!/ Agenc!" implementing the rural water suppl! programme in the State. )t provides operational *le-i&ilit! to the States/ '(s" so that the desired thrust is there *or an integrated implementation o* and institutionalising communit! participation under the ,RDW. and (otal Sanitation %ampaign ((S%). (he SWSM is headed &! the %hie* Secretar!/Additional %hie* Secretar!/ Development %ommissioner with Secretaries o* other concerned Departments as mem&ers. #-perts in the *ield o* $!drolog!" )#%" $RD" M)S" Media" ,/0s" etc. co1opt as mem&ers. All States have set up a Water and Sanitation Support 0rganisation (WSS0) under State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM)" to provide so*tware support to districts and &loc s in the areas o* Water Qualit! Monitoring 2 Surveillance (i.e. Drin ing Water (esting 3a&s) %omputerisation pro4ects" Monitoring 2#valuation and )#% 2 $RD activities" Research 2Development activities" etc. (hese are activities *or which 5667 *unds are provided (as Support 8unds) &! the /overnment. District Water and Sanitation Missions (DWSM) constituted at the district level" *unctions under the supervision" control and guidance o* 9illa .ancha!ats/.arishads. States which do not have a proper .R) set up in place" as in case o* :th Schedule Areas and desire to supervise the wor ing o* the DWSM through alternative mechanism" put in place a suita&le &od!. (he DWSM supervises the preparation o* the District Water Securit! .lan and its implementation. All the village water securit! plans are consolidated and anal!sed at the district level &! the DWSM. At the district level" convergence o* all the other related programmes and *unding is ensured &! the DWSM with some o* the ma4or development programmes li e the M,R#/S" )ntegrated Watershed Management .rogramme pro4ects o* Dept. o* 3and Resources" %entral and State 8inance %ommission *unds " ,R$M" various Watershed and )rrigation schemes o* the Ministr! o* Agriculture" various schemes o* the Ministr! o* Water Resources etc. Q. +loc Resource %entres (+R%s)? )n ;656 it was decided to put in place a support structure at the +loc level to ena&le sustaina&ilit! o* drin ing water suppl! s!stems" &! supporting the esta&lishment o* +loc Resource %enters (+R%s). (hese centers at the +loc level are manned &! coordinators with e-perience in the *ield o* development communication" institution &uilding" training and rural development to give support and continuous handholding to the /ram .ancha!ats and <illage communities to achieve the goal o* a sustaina&le water s!stem maintained &! .R)s. Q. What is ,ational =e! Resource %enter? (he Department a*ter due e-amination has identi*ied a&out ;> institutions/ organi?ations having domain nowledge and e-pertise in the drin ing water and sanitation sector as ,ational =e! Resource %enters (=R%s). (he ,ational =R%s provide training" orientation and capacit! development o* engineers" .R) representatives and master trainers at State and District levels. (hese centers also e-tend technical guidance to State %ommunication and %apacit! Development 'nits (%%D') *or )#% and $RD activities.