"Arghyam prepares Water Quality Management (WQM) framework for rural areas" - Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation releases its first e-newsletter on water and sanitation in India (December 2012)

The newsletter refers to the nationwide campaign carried out by Arghyam, with the aim of creating awareness on water quality issues with a specific focus on fluoride contamination in groundwater sources, by engaging students from across the country in a water quality testing, analysis, and reporting.

In the newsletter, the spotlight is turned on:

- States that are lagging behind in many service parameters in the National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (NRDWP) programme

- Shirguppi, a village in Karnataka, for sustaining 100 percent total sanitation and community managed water supply

- Vadakkencherry, Kerala, for transformation of a filth point into a beautiful pond and garden, with an attached sanitary complex

It the highlights the story of the tribal village of Chaphyachapada in Nashik district, Maharashtra, as an example of total transformation through good participatory practices. Implementation of an innovative scheme by the Ministry, in which a solar energy-based submersible pump is installed on a high yielding borewell to tackle drinking water problems of remote and small hamlets/habitations is included. Towards the end, a capacity building programme and its success story for establishing Block Resource Centers (BRCs) across Maharashtra, is detailed.

In the NGO corner, water quality management (WQM) framework for rural areas, prepared by Arghyam, is focused upon. The framework lays out a phased and process-driven approach to WQM and is based on the work by prominent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working on water quality (WQ) from across the country.