Canal Rejuvenation by Participatory Sanitation Planning

Alappuzha town of Kerala has an intricate network of canals originally constructed for inland water transportation. The canals over a period of time has turned into sewers owing to indiscriminate dumping of solid and liquid wastes. From 2012, the town became an example of effective decentralised solid waste management and received recognition from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2017. The state of liquid waste management however remains deplorable with the canals eutrophied by excess entry of nutrients.

To explore a practical and sustainable solution the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) and Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) started working in Alleppey from December, 2017. Starting with a Winter School to train engineering students on open access data collection and mapping tools, the team developed a methodology for assessing physical and socio-economic characteristics of the canal system.

Inspired by the success of Winter School-2017, IIT Bombay and KILA conducted a Summer School in May, 2018 in Alappuzha in partnership with Cochin University College of Engineering, Kuttanad (CUCEK), Consortium for DEWATS Dissemination Society (CDD), Bengaluru and the Inspiration Kochi to explore the technology solutions with more than 300 students from all over India.

The   recommendations   from   Winter   and   Summer   Schools   led   to   the development of a socio-technical plan, which was finalised after a multistage vetting process. The plan as a pilot being implemented in one canal is nearing completion. This  pilot project will help  in  understanding the  strengths and weaknesses in the design and execution of planned interventions before scaling up to other canals.

A broader youth-led institution by the name of CANALPY (Can Alleppey?) has helped train hundreds of local volunteers on surveys using smart mobile applications that facilitated analysis and action on issues related to solid/ liquid waste management, relief/rehabilitation during floods in 2018 and post disaster studies of  disease  monitoring, flood  mapping and participatory biodiversity

conservation. It has also opened up a line of communication and cooperation between various public and private institutions.

It is at this point in time that we embark upon Winter School-2018 to provide a platform to participating students to interact with and learn from the experts, peers, practitioners and local people in order to understand the complexities of water and sanitation issues in managing the urban water bodies. The school, structured as a week-long course, will focus on class room lectures on fundamentals of wastewater and solid waste management; key policy/regulatory constraints; training on tools and techniques for data collection, survey/analysis and hands-on integrated sanitation planning with fieldwork.

The Winter School-2018 will be a rare opportunity for young graduates (future practitioners)  to  become  part  of  the  policy  making  and  implementation processes and will conducted from 15-Dec-2018 to 23-Dec-2018 in Alappuzha.

Application and Selection Criteria

We invite graduates/final year students of Planning, Architecture, Environmental/Civil Engineering and post graduates of social sciences to be part of this event. You can register directly through our website http://kila.ac.in/winterschool . The primary selection criterion will be the participant’s commitment to this programme. Candidates are required to compose a 200- word statement describing why they wish to participate in this programme and uploaded in the registration form before DECEMBER 7, 2018. We are not asking for any registration fee. So kindly avoid casual applications since we have only limited seats. Before application, please make sure that you be fully available and can stay in Alleppey from December 15 afternoon to December

23 afternoon. Boarding, lodging and local travel will be provided by the organisers. Travel to and fro from the venue should be borne by the participant.

We  look  forward to  having  you at  the  Winter School-2018 in  Alappuzha, Kerala.