India Urban Lab- Ranchi 2022

India Urban Lab Ranchi 2022

India Urban Lab Ranchi 2022 Outcome Report https://www.indiaurbanlab.in/

India Urban Lab Ranchi 2022

Ranchi 2022

Water Resilience Fostering integrated approaches at the region, city, and settlement scales https://www.indiaurbanlab.in/

Content

01

About ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

India Urban Lab Previous Labs Ranchi Urban Lab 2022 The Ranchi Challenge Conceptual Anchor

02

The Process

04

03

Pre-Lab Work

05

▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

04 05

Background Research Framing the Lab Agenda Site Selection Participant Selection

Ranchi Urban Lab ▪ ▪ ▪

https://www.indiaurbanlab.in/

01

08

Findings Outcomes Public Event

Way Forward

17

India Urban Lab Ranchi 2022

01 About The India Urban Lab (IUL) is an endeavor of Integrated Design (INDÉ) that aims to initiate positive change across geographies through collaboration.

IUL’s genesis is premised on the principles of co-production with and collaboration between communities, institutions, organizations, individuals, and government to debate, discuss and arrive at solutions addressing “wicked” nature of urbanization, especially in the rapidly urbanizing geographies of the global South.

Cities of the global South while often cited as engines of growth are also sites showcasing chaos, decay, and conflict at several scales. There is a need to evolve innovative redressal mechanisms if not solutions to address the decay and conflict. The IUL is premised on the belief that these mechanisms/solutions require multi-stakeholder collaboration, one that brings the strengths of several stakeholders and multiple lenses.

Previous Labs

Bangalore Lab 2015

Natural Urbanity: Water, Space and the Fast-Growing City Organised by INDÉ in collaboration with International Federation of Housing and Planning, (IFHP), Denmark

Goa Lab 2018

Sustainable Tourism, Water Resilience and Commons Organised by INDÉ in collaboration with International Federation of Housing and Planning, (IFHP), Denmark and KOKUM, Goa

01

India Urban Lab Ranchi 2022

Ranchi Urban Lab

2022

The India Urban Lab at Ranchi was curated along with Gujarat Mahila Housing SEWA Trust (MHT). MHT’s primary goal is in improving urban built environments in poor communities through collective action. MHT started its operation in Ranchi in 2016 with support from the Oak Foundation to ensure universal access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, and appropriate habitat for slum dwellers.

Some of MHT’s interventions in the city include reviving traditional water sources, skill upgradation of women construction workers, climate change mitigation, and facilitating access to legal water and electricity connections. MHT is currently working in 80 slums across 53 wards of Ranchi and has 750 grass-root leaders serving as amplifiers of community voices. MHT has also been engaged in capacity building of poor women for participatory governance to improve their habitat conditions and working environment. It was also appointed as a nodal agency under Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), as a project monitoring committee (PMC) by Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) under Rajiv Awaas Yojana (RAY), and as a nodal agency for Community Mobilization and Rehabilitation of beneficiaries in Birsa Munda Smriti Park.

INDÉ has been working in the city of Ranchi along with MHT since 2018. The focus of the engagement has and continues to be on exploring the potential of naturebased solutions to provision the city in general and the urban poor in particular. As a part of this engagement, INDÉ has undertaken action research at various scalescity-region, city and settlement, focusing on water resilience, assessing and mapping climate change and urbanisation induced vulnerabilities (heat, water scarcity, water logging, vector borne diseases amongst others), and, leveraging co-production to script decentralized, pro-poor, bottom-up planning process towards urban poverty alleviation. The Ranchi Urban Lab 2022 drew upon this extended engagement of INDÉ and MHT in Ranchi.

The Ranchi Lab was conducted over a period of 4 days between 19th – 22nd of July 2022. It included expert sessions, group activities and site visits. The final day culminated in a public event where the findings of the Lab were discussed and presented by the participants. .

20 May 2022 Call for applications 19 June 2022 Deadline for applications 27 June 2022 Notification to selected applicants 03 July 2022 Deadline for applicant acceptance 19-22 July 2022 India Urban Lab, Ranchi 2022 02

India Urban Lab Ranchi 2022

The Ranchi Challenge The city of Ranchi is an emerging industrial metropolis of 1.07 million (2011, estimated 1.52 milion in 2021). Following its designation as capital of the newly formed state of Jharkhand in 2000, the city experienced unprecedented urbanisation. While Ranchi’s economy remains industrially propelled with a significant presence of mining and engineering industries, the city lacks basic services and stands environmentally compromised. The urban explosion is accompanied by conversion of agricultural land, shrinkage of surface water bodies, groundwater depletion, and water pollution. The frequency of droughts has also increased over the last two decades putting the city under immense water stress.

As a result, clashes where citizens try to gain access to water tankers is becoming a common spectacle. While only 33 % of the city have access to piped water supply, it is the low income and minority communities, especially the vulnerable amongst these that are consistently at the receiving end of rapid urbanisation and associated environmental hazards.

As the city continues to urbanise, water stress is likely to further aggravate, necessitating the need to ensure sustainable and efficient use of the available resources now and in the future. This goal becomes particularly critical in a context characterised by the intersection of unprecedented urbanisation and climate change and the ensuing impacts on the urban poor. There is an urgent need to look at water as a system and move towards an integrated management of water across various scales.

Conceptual Anchor Ranchi Lab Integrated Water Resources Management, IWRM Integrated Urban Water Management, IUWM The Ranchi Urban Lab anchored itself on the concepts of IWRM and IUWM to promote water resilience at the regional, city-settlement, and settlement scales. The Lab became a platform for participants from diverse backgrounds to co-produce water resilient approaches and solutions that combined traditional knowledge and lived experiences at the grass root level with policy and technical knowledge.

Integrated Water Resources Management or IWRM is a much-touted conceptual solution to the complex challenges of water management, elements of which emerged as early as the 1970s. IWRM, which reflects the fundamentally interconnected nature of hydrological resources is emerging as an accepted alternative to the sector-by-sector, top-down management style that has dominated in the past. The diagram on the bottom left illustrates the emergence of the concept globally, and the policies (global and Indian) that reflected its tenets over the years. Critically, the IWRM focuses on the river basin as the planning unit.

The operationlisation of IWRM at the urban scale saw the emergence of the Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) concept, that brings together fresh water, wastewater, storm water, and solid waste, in an urban area and fosters better management of the urban water system. IUWM calls for aligning urban development with river basin management to ensure sustainable economic, social, and environmental relations along the urban-rural continuum. In other words, close interaction, and communication between IWRM and IUWM planning processes is critical if each is to be successfully implemented. However, ambiguities in institutional responsibilities and issues of centre-state-city dynamics have made the implementation of IWRM/IUWM approaches rather difficult.

In taking the India Urban Lab pedagogy further, the Ranchi Lab was conceived as a platform for participants from diverse backgrounds to co-produce water resilient approaches and solutions. While Ranchi’s water stresses and its disproportionate manifestation on its urban poor necessitated the thematic engagement around water, INDÉ’s core competencies intersecting the thematic of water, natural landscapes and embedded resources, urbanisation and development served as an added validation.

Snippets of the Water Crisis

03

India Urban Lab Ranchi 2022

02 The Process Phase I Pre-Lab Work

Background Research The previous work of INDÉ (undertaken in collaboration with MHT) provided the groundwork for the Lab. Crafting the Lab Agenda The background work and expert consultation during the engagement helped in narrowing down the need to work around the theme of water resilience.

Pre-Lab Meeting and Site Selection Meetings were carried out with MHT and relevant stakeholders to further refine the thematic focus, intent, and expected Lab outputs and outcomes.

Participant Selection The Call for participation targeted candidates from diverse backgrounds to apply for the urban lab.

Phase II Ranchi Urban Lab

The Ranchi Urban Lab 2022 The Lab was conducted over a period of 4 days. Each day of the Lab was divided into two sessions. In the morning sessions, expert lectures on the Lab theme were organized. In the afternoon sessions, participants (who were divided into groups) carried out assignments leading towards the outputs at the three scales. Site visits to selected urban poor settlements were also facilitated on one of Lab days.

Public Event The final day culminated in a public event where findings of the Lab were discussed and presented by the participants.

Phase III Way Forward

Documentation The findings of the Lab were collated into the present report. The report will act a reference for organisations like MHT to direct intervention efforts.

Way Forward Selecting potential solutions, policy and programme directions for protectisation and advocacy.

04

03 Pre-Lab Work Phase I

Background Research

This section briefly describes the insights that emerged from INDE’s and MHT’s engagement in Ranchi. Tracing the spatial, cultural, and social evolution of the city revealed remnants of traditional water (and related) systems which evidence self-sufficiency facilitated through a decentralised mode of collective living and managing. Historically, communities relied heavily on eco-system services while stewarding nature. For example, land occupation in the region responded to the topography – with habitations located in the highlands (or tanr), and adjoining lowlands (or dons) used for a variety of agricultural activities that catered to the food requirements.

Water was sourced through community wells, talabs (ponds or tanks) Dadi’s and the river. Kitchen gardens or Baari’s, nourished by greywater from households provided food security. Similarly, housing typology responded to the agrarian lifestyle of the communities and the local climate. Traditional spaces in the settlements like playground (maidans), places of worship (Sarna Sthal), congregation spaces (Akhra), and burial ground (Masna Sthal), evolved in line with their traditional beliefs and ways of living.

Evolution from Tribal hamlet to Capital City

As the city region urbanised, the contemporary top-down urban planning approaches fragmented the hamlets, their eco-systems and everyday social and cultural living. The tribal city of Ranchi has witnessed large scale conversion of agricultural land, degradation of surface water bodies and groundwater depletion. The impact of this transformation is felt most by informal settlements that bear the brunt of externalized environmental costs with the loss of traditional ecological relationships detrimentally impacting livelihoods and quality of life.

Evolution of traditional systems in Ranchi

05

Policy Ecosystem The Jharkhand State Water Policy brought out in 2011, envisions to adopt an integrated and multi-sectoral approach to the water resources planning, development, and management on a sustainable basis, taking river basin/subbasin as a unit and treating surface and sub-surface water with unitary approach.

Some of the other policies that the state has brought out w.r.t the water ecosystem are the Jharkhand Wastewater Policy in 2017 which mandates the preparation of a City Wastewater Reuse Plan; and the Jharkhand Water User Charge Policy in 2016.

Apart from these, various national level schemes and programmes mandates the preparation various plans pertaining to different facets of the water cycle (as shown in the adjacent diagram). While the diagram shows the necessary integration/nesting between these plans and policies, these are often conceived and prepared in siloes in effect moving away from the ‘integrated and multisectoral approach’ envisioned in the State Water Policy.

The agencies dealing with water management at various scales are shown in the diagram on the bottom right. The different facets of water management that each deal with is also indicated here.

Plan and Policy Ecosystem

Institutional Structure

06

Framing the Lab Agenda Given Ranchi’s water stress and its disproportionate manifestation on its urban poor, the Ranchi Urban Lab was conceived to work around the thematic of water resilience. The goal of the Lab was to foster solutions that combined traditional knowledge and lived experiences at the grass root level with policy and technical knowledge. Through the 4 days of engagement, the Lab focused on three nested scales.

Regional scale The focus here was to map water systems in the region (river basin) and attendant institutional and organisational structures and mechanisms. The objective was to review (and propose) existing policy and strategy (institutions and organisational structure/ policies/ strategies) towards water resilience as well as to evolve programmes and strategies that can address the issues of climate change at the regional scale.

Site Selection Two settlement clusters, Hatia and Namkum, were selected based on their geographical location along the Subranarekha and its tributaries, as well as the varied degree of development the two clusters have undergone.

MHT’s engagement was also a criterion that was considered in selecting these clusters.

Hatia Cluster, emerged as an industrial and commercial cluster spawned by the HECL. Settlements in the cluster are Harijan Basti, Adivasi Mohalla, and Jojo basa.

Harijan Basti

HEC

City-settlement scale

Adivasi Mohalla

Within the city-region mapping, the city-scale focused on the challenges of water provisioning and access. This scale focused on developing city level solutions anchored and embedded within the regional-scale policy and strategy – that aim water security and resilience while foregrounding the larger goals of health and livelihoods.

Settlement scale This scale focused on deriving specific interventions for settlements to achieve water resilience and attendant co-benefits (related to health, gender, livelihoods, etc.). The emphasis at this scale was to evolve grounded solutions derived from existing knowledge system, and community needs, and aspirations. In addition, evolution of pathways to give agency to the communities to own and manage these solutions emerged an objective.

Jojo Basa

Namkum Cluster, located on the periphery, the cluster showcases a strong tribal footprint that is fast disappearing given the rapid expansion of the city. Settlements in the cluster-Namkum, Mahua Toli, and Bada Ghaghra.

Namkum

Mahua Toli

Bada Ghagra

In the two clusters, Adivasi Mohalla (Hatia Cluster) and Bada Ghagra (Namkum Cluster) were selected for detailed exploration during the Lab. Adivasi Mohalla: • Community: Tribal settlement with 112 households and is 60-70 years old.

• Livelihood: Construction labourers and domestic workers.

• Water Source: Private and public borewells.

Bada Ghagra • Community: Tribal settlement with 865 households and is 80 years old • Livelihood: Agriculture and industrial labourers • Water Source: Public borewell, Private wells, Daadi

Participant Selection The call for participants was circulated in social media platforms and targeted professionals, researchers, students, and government officials coming from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. Participants were selected from applications received in response to this call.

The final RUL cohort included architects, planners, sociologists, and public policy, and governance specialists, with experience and interest in a diverse range of thematics including water resilience, climate change, poverty and inequality, urbanism, and participatory water governance, among others. The process was mindful to select participants across a range of experience levels – from young professionals, students, and research scholars to senior professionals, professors, and sector experts. This diversity ensured innovative and multi-disciplinary perspectives to emerge during the four days of the Ranchi Urban Lab.

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04 Ranchi Urban Lab Phase II

Day 1 Expert Session :

The four-day lab was structured along expert sessions and site visits both of which underpinned the three days plan - policy and design charette.

Expert Sessions

Dr Nitish Priyadarshi Geologist

Site Visit to Bada Ghagra and Adivasi Mohalla

Invited experts from varying backgrounds shared knowledge on the a) development trajectory of the city and the resultant transitions in the hydrological landscape of Ranchi (Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi); b) urban ecology and geography for decentralised wastewater management (Dr. Pavan Tiwary); c) governance and people centered planning of cities (Mr. Sudhir Pal).

Touching upon the traditional governance system of the tribal hamles (and the challenges posed in practicing these in the current context of the city) Mr. Pal emphasised the Municipal Extension to Scheduled Areas (MESA) bill and its significance in Ranchi;

Day 2 Expert Session :

Dr Pawan Tiwari Kumar Urban Water & Sanitation Specialist, BIT Mesra

Participant groups discuss and deliberate on issues, challenges, & planning

d) Mr. Kumar Premchand from UNICEF provided a governance perspective.

Using case studies, he showed how multi donor agencies and government schemes were converged through projects and programmes that aimed to enhance the quality of life of the poor and the marginalised. He also presented some of the business development ideas and proposals which were successful and others that failed. e) A final expert session was taken by Dr. Anjali Karol Mohan who presented INDE’s work in Ranchi (funded by the Nudge Research Innovation Grant).

The Research emphasised the concept of co-production of the muchneeded bottom-up planning frameworks relying on traditional knowledge and lived experiences of the communities.

Site Visits

Policy & Planning Charette

Field engagement in the selected clusters composed of transect walks, informal interviews, and focus group discussions. These engagement tools helped the participants to gain a firsthand understanding of the spatial, ecological, social, and cultural fabric of these settlements. Focus group discussions helped in gaining insights on their lived experiences, and challenges around water access and quality among others.

Participants were divided into two groups, each focusing on one of the selected two clusters – Hatia and Namkum. Field visits, literature review, and expert sessions helped the two groups to better understand the settlements’ challenges, concerns, and potentials. These are collated in the following section of the report.

Day 3 Expert Session : (top)

Mr Kumar Premchand Water & Sanitation Specialist, UNICEF, Jharkhand

(bottom) Mr Sudhir Pal Governance Expert, Founder Manthan Yuva Sansthan

Participant groups share preliminary findings and potential way forward

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Findings

2

Changing relationship with the river

3

Issues in Water Access

1 Unsustainable Urbanisation

City of Ranchi has been experiencing rapid growth. The built-up area in Ranchi Urban Agglomeration increased from 44.5 sq. km to 124.64 sq.km (1975-2010). This trend is true for Hatia and Namkum as well, as can be seen in the image below (which compares the satellite images from 2004 and 2022 of the two settlements).

Unsustainable urbanisation over the recent years have thwarted traditional wisdom and way of life (like demarcation of land into tanr and dons, and traditional systems like baaris) which had till now ensured the sustainable use of land and water systems.

The Ranchi Master Plan proposes residential development in what was previously agricultural land. At the city level, development /concretization close to the river edge is leading to loss of permeable spaces that help in ground water recharge and act as flood buffers. In the study settlements, agriculture areas and traditional spaces with religious, cultural, and recreational connotations are quickly being lost to new construction.

4

Engagement with communities revealed how their lives and livelihoods were intrinsically connected to the river and its ecology which have over the years sustained their social and cultural beliefs, values, and ways of life. As a source for drinking water, domestic needs, irrigation, recreation, and worship, the river played (and still plays) a very important role in the communities’ lives.

Rampant urbanisation over the recent years has led to development/construction unmindful of this intrinsic relation leading to degraded and eroded riverbanks, loss of biodiversity and ecological edge, pollution, increased surface run-offs and reduced groundwater recharge. These factors have affected the communities in myriad ways. Dependency for drinking and domestic needs has shifted from the river and community wells to piped water supply, tankers and borewells.

As mentioned above, the usage of river water has reduced considerably because of pollution. At the same time, other traditional water sources like community wells and ponds are also being disused due to pollution from sewage and solid waste. With these issues, the communities now rely mainly on borewells and at times resort to buying water from tankers for their water needs.

While the infrastructure for piped water supply is laid in most areas of the two settlements, water availability through the same remains an issue.

Pollution and Health Impacts Untreated effluents from industries and residential areas is polluting the river making it unusable for communities like Bara Ghagra and Adivasi Mohalla which are located along the river edge. The communities also complained of groundwater being contaminated due to poor solid waste and landfill management. Using the polluted river edge for grazing and agriculture is also inadvertently leading to health impacts on the communities.

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Outcomes The site-city-regional level comprehensions derived through site visits, expert sessions, and group discussions helped the participants in crafting policy, programme, and project level solutions to foster water resilience at different scales. Following the integrated water resources management approach in letter and spirit, the solutions that emerged from the Lab were mindful of the interconnected nature of water challenges and its causal relationship with land and its attendant governance systems. The solutions responded to this entwined nature of water challenges by being multi-pronged, in effect ensuring cascading impacts. The solutions (be it policy recommendations, programmes, or projects) would address not just one, but multiple interrelated challenges described in the previous section.

The recommended policies, programmes and projects at different scales are organised into (1)those related to inclusive and integrated water and land resource management and (2) governance.

The following page lists down the recommendations that emerged during the Lab and illustrates the interconnections between these. Some of the proposals which can be immediately taken up for projectisation and implementation are detailed further.

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INCLUSIVE LAND & WATER MANAGEEMNT

POLICIES

PROGRAMMES

PROJECTS

Guideline for multi-department coordination for land and water management (Drinking water and sanitation department, Urban Development, Ranchi Heritage Department, Local bodies, Pollution Control, etc.)

1 2 3 4

Watershed Plans to be developed through multi sectoral integration (components: floodplain limits, buffer zones, demarcation of riverine systems, identification and protection against encroachments)

1 2 3 4

Strict laws on flood plain management that define buffer zones for rivers, lakes and drains.

2 3 4

Monitoring sewage and waste disposal in the rivers at various points of discharge and promoting decentralized system of sewage treatment.

4

Development of Sewage Treatment Plants and fecal sludge treatment plants with O&M by SHGs.

4

2 3 4

Guidelines for community level water management incorporating traditional indigenous practices

Guidelines for urban development to reduce urban heat island effect and improve water resilience (e.g., incentives for rainwater harvesting, increasing permeable areas, green cover etc.)

1 2 3 4

Programme to generate awareness on water resilience (through campaigns/ awareness drives/workshops etc.)

2 3 4

Capacity Development Programme for community level water management.

2 3 4

Capacity Development Programme (at ULB level and community level) for assess climate change vulnerability (including water quality monitoring, heat stress mapping, ground water depletion, etc.)

2 3 4

Community level asset mapping (wells, handpumps, haats, baaris, community spaces, ponds, different types of lands like pastoral, residential etc.) to identify multiple water sources.

Community level water management using nature-based solutions. Components would include • solutions for ground water recharge, • community level rainwater harvesting, • surface runoff retention, • treating contaminated water through phytoremediation, • water quality monitoring, etc.

Water quality monitoring as citizen science activity with government approved kits which can be uploaded/updated on an open data portal.

Scientific management of landfills to curtail aquifer pollution.

Integrated Vulnerability Assessment to plan for resilience.

Urban policy to promote decentralised urban growth in the State (distribute growth to satellite towns).

1

Urban policy to regulate Pahan lands as commons.

1

Guidelines for housing design (including indigenous techniques) for increasing climate resilience.

1

Scale of Solution

Region

City

Settlement

Land Pooling Programme (1 year for vegetables, 3 years for dairy, 5 years for fruit orchards, 10 years for rental housing, 20 years for commercial development)

1

Capacity building and skill development programme to promote diversification of income sources.

1

Skill development programme on climate resilient construction methods.

Challenge addressed

1

Unsustainable Urbanisation

2 3

2 3 4

4

4

2 3 4

1

2

Relationship with River

3

Water Access

4

Water Pollution

Details provided

GOVERNANCE

POLICIES

PROGRAMMES

Ranchi Regional Development Authority (RRDA) to align with Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas), PESA outside Corporation area.

1

Revisit amendments to Forests Rights Act to ensure that it does not pose threats to tribal aspirations.

1

Push for Municipalities (Extension to Scheduled Areas) MESA Bill to be passed.

1

Activate Ward Committees and ensure adequate tribal representation in ward committees.

1

Transition of existing functional gram sabha systems into ward committees to ensure integration into formal governance systems.

Promote engagement of communities with Municipal Corporation Budget.

Scale of Solution

Region

City

Capacity Development (at ULB level) for open data management

Capacity development programme on planning vocabulary to empower communities to vouch for their needs.

PROJECTS

1

1

1

Build governance data relevant to all aspects of tribal life. This can feed/contest government data.

1

Co-production of local area plans (supported by NGOs and the local government) which reflect their vision and aspirations.

1

Monitoring efficacy of service delivery by ward committees.

1

1

Settlement

Challenge addressed

1 Unsustainable Urbanisation

2 Relationship with River

3 Water Access

4 Water Pollution

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PROJECT

RATIONALE

DETAILS

Community level asset mapping

Data, including spatial data, on urban poor communities are currently grossly inadequate. Using a participatory approach to map their assets (like wells, handpumps, haats, baaris, community spaces, ponds, different types of lands like pastoral, residential etc.) would help communities and decision makers in foregrounding challenges and issues on the ground, identifying potentials, and thus aid better planning for resilience. The data will also empower for better claims-making.

•

Awareness campaigns on the need for community level asset mapping.

•

Train community members, particularly youth in various engagement tools like FGDs, HH surveys, Interviews, etc. and mapping techniques.

Outputs: Community maps and associated data accessible to all members.

Example Case: Collated information on water related assets (like vulnerability, availability, usage) could help the community plan for using different water sources for different uses leading to better water resilience. The mapping could also help them identify assets that can be revived by the community themselves/ with external support.

Outcomes: Empowered and Aware Community.

Using citizen science for water quality monitoring

Observing water quality trends over time can help avoid major health problems or readily identify reasons when they occur. Currently the data on water quality is grossly inadequate at the local/ community scale and this where citizen science can play a key role by monitoring water quality in rivers, lakes, streams, in their locality and identify potential sources of pollution in their local and regional watersheds.

This information when read together with regional data (on water quality and health) can help in identifying the nexus between water quality and other related factors (like landuse/industries/etc.)

Training programmes at the city and community levels for water quality testing.

Distribution of water quality testing kits by the government to communities.

Development of user-friendly apps where citizens can upload water quality information.

Water quality from citizens and other scientific sources at the city and regional scales collated in an open data platform. This will help in identifying correlations and aid in targeted actions.

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PROJECT

RATIONALE

DETAILS

Community level water management using nature-based solutions.

The solutions listed would aid in improving ground water recharge, improve water quality, and address water scarcity.

Different components of water management approach using nature-based solutions at a community level could include : Solutions for ground water recharge, manage surface run-off, and improving water quality: •

Bioswales: Vegetated, shallow, depressions designed to capture, treat, and infiltrate stormwater runoff as it moves downstream.

Bioswale

•

Check dams: Located on swales/drains these are small, sometimes temporary structures built to counteract erosion and induce water infiltration.

Swale

Check dam

•

Retention ponds: Ponds landscaped with a variety of grasses, shrubs, and/or wetland plants to provide bank stability. The aquatic vegetation in retention ponds helps remove pollutants from neighborhoods that wash into the ponds and helps in groundwater recharge. The vegetation blocks trash from getting into rivers and streams. Plants, gravel, and sand also helps filter out pollutants from entering waterways.

Retention Pond Overflow structure

Groundwater recharge

The vegetation in bioswales and retention ponds will aid in phytoremediation which refers to the use of plants and associated soil microbes to reduce the concentrations of pollutants in the environment.

The process is widely accepted as a cost-effective environmental restoration technology.

Community level rainwater harvesting •

Community level open spaces can be used to construct rainwater harvesting structures. Since ground water recharge in Ranchi is a challenge owing to its geology, rainwater harvesting at the community level becomes critical.

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Public Event Day 4 The Lab ended with a public presentation, where participants presented their findings and recommendations. The two groups showcased potential solutions at the policy, programme and project levels at various scales.

The public event saw an active participation of relevant stakeholders like Deputy Mayor of Ranchi (Shri Sanjeev Vijaywargiya), Ex-Mayor (Shri Rama Khalko), community members, representatives of academia, NGOs and experts.

The recommendations focused on the integration of solutions across scales – settlement, ward, city, region, by leveraging the existing policies, programmes, and projects to strengthen the community’s resilience and enhance their living conditions.

Experts like Dr Nitish Priyadarshi and Mr. Kumar Premchand commented upon and gave valuable suggestions to participants and key stakeholders on the potential way forward. With active participation from the community, the public event also became a platform for voicing their concerns, issues, and challenges to key stakeholders like the government, CBOs, NGOs, and other agencies.

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“Going forward we will try to implement some of the suggestions put forward as a part of these presentations. We need to develop implementation plans for these.”

Shri Sanjeev Vijaywargiya Deputy Mayor, Ranchi

“Local issues can best be understood and solved at the local levels…Mohalla Sabhas and Ward Committees become extremely critical for this.

People need to be made aware of its importance as well…many of the solutions showcased in the presentations (by lab participants) can be realized through these Mohalla Sabhas and Ward Committees…”

“We will work together (the government, people, and NGOs) to improve the conditions in Ranchi.

Community water harvesting initiatives are also something that can be promoted.”

Shri Rama Khalko Ex-Mayor, Ranchi

“The conditions in Ranchi have changed drastically over the past 25 years- water resources have decreased over the years .

Community level water management is key to solve most of the water issues in Ranchi. Mohalla and Ward committees having a good team of people who are aware of the issues become very important for this.

Public meetings like these which bring together government, community, NGOs etc. are very important to bring out ideas and suggestions and improve the city…”

“Earlier we used to use river water for drinking, bathing, and all other needs in Bada Ghagra..now its not possible because of the pollution... This is because dirty water is directly flowing into the river….if the Nagar Nigam can take initiatives to stop this it would be very helpful.”

“Initiatives to ensure cleanliness and usability of river water were planned, though some of them have been put on hold due to various issues. This will be taken up on priority . At the same time, it becomes necessary at the community level to generate awareness and play a role in keeping the river water clean. This awareness programmes could be carried out by sahiyas…”

Subarnarekha used to be clean in the earlier days, but now we cannot use the river water due to waste from rice mill factories and HEC.

“Water quality is an important aspect that needs to be included in the solutions. Water pipes and drainage pipes are very close in many areas leading to water quality issues. etc. Community awareness is necessary on water issues like safe handling of water – how they handle and store water . Decentralised waste and wastewater management is necessary.

Kuwari Sahiya, Vikasini, Bada Ghagra

Rashmi Stella Minz Vikasini, Adivasi Mohalla

While Mohalla Sabhas and Ward Committees become important for decentralised planning, there would be a need for awareness generation and training of its members- UNICEF will be more than happy to develop materials and carry out the same.

We need more manpower to carry out planning and implementation at the ward levels. Ward level ‘sahiyas’ should be leveraged for this- so that local issues on water will be quicky reported.”

Mr Kumar Premchand Water & Sanitation Specialist, UNICEF Jharkhand

“For solving issues on water quality and related health impacts, community awareness play a key role.”

Bharathiya Lok Kalyan Sansthan

“It is very important to collate and share the findings of this study that all of you have carried out with a larger audience as a booklet.

Issues of water and sanitation are very critical in Ranchi. Surface water harvesting would be the best option for Ranchi as per even historical studies. Dug wells are quickly getting disused, and people are moving to borewells…….. “…..The Lab participants should communicate with each other to take the insights and information forward.”

Dr Nitish Priyadarshi Geologist

05 Way Forward Phase III

Actionable Strategies at the Community Level The proposals suggested during the Ranchi Urban Lab will be further evolved and developed as site level interventions and city level strategies.

The team at Integrated Design and Mahila Housing SEWA Trust will work with the community and government actors to implement the same.

Testing the Urban Lab Pedagogy in Other Arenas The India Urban Lab pedagogy, which fosters collaboration and coproduces innovative solutions to challenges, will be tested in other areas like policy formulation and advocacy. The Lab process, especially with its culmination in a public event where all stakeholders get an opportunity to discuss and debate on the findings and solutions, has great potential to be tried and tested in other geographies, challenging sites, and policy formulation and advocacy.

Policy Advocacy What emerged in the Ranchi Urban Lab, both from the expert sessions, lab findings, and from government stakeholders, is the need to advocate for passing of the ‘Municipal (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Bill’ MESA bill.

Currently there is a vacuum in the local self-governance institutional framework in the Scheduled Areas (areas in India with a preponderance of tribal population) for the urban areas. This leads to exploitation of the tribal population, often dismantling their socio-cultural relationships with land and water resources. The legal backing of MESA could provide a foundation to build grass root water resilience in the settlements. Going forward, the Ranchi Urban Lab findings could feed into advocacy materials for passing the MESA bill.

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The Team From Left to Right (Back Row)

Bikash Kishore Saikia, Kunal Nath Shahdeo, Akshay Poudel, K. Nandhnee, Sridhar Pabbisetty, Himanshu Baranwal, Kunth Shah, Rohit Kumar (MHT)

From Left to Right (Middle Row)

Rashmi Stella Minz (Community member- Adivasi Mohalla), Rashmi Devi (Community Member- Adivasi Mohalla), Kuwari (Community Member-Bada Ghagra), Rani Mahli (Community member- Bada Ghagra ), Nidhi Mishra (MHT), Soni Toppo(MHT)

From Left to Right (Front Row)

Sreya Ajay, Ashali Bhandari, Maithily Velangi, Anushri Tiwari (INDÉ), Gayathri Muraleedharan (INDÉ), Rahul Paul (INDÉ)

Online Participants (Inset from top)

Dr Anjali Karol Mohan (INDÉ), Dr Sumetee Pahwa Gajjar, Ekta Rakholiya, Dr Rachel Nisbet