Integration of capacity factors analysis risk methodology and Ostrom´s social ecological system assessment framework to assess and improve domestic water infrastructure in Nalgonda District, Andhra Pradesh, India

Over the past 50 years, both financing and socio-economic considerations in South India have shifted heavily towards improving urban infrastructure, causing rural services to be left behind. A recent report released by WHO and UNICEF states that over 884 million people, 84% of whom live in rural areas, use “unimproved water sources” for domestic purposes. This paper considers the case study of Nalgonda, a district to the east of Hyderabad, India. Nalgonda struggles with three main issues concerning domestic water: high fluoride levels in groundwater have caused thousands of cases of dental and skeletal fluorosis; second, over two-thirds of Nalgonda does not meet the WHO-requirement of 40 liters per capita daily of domestic water supply; third, poor management and maintenance have increased the risk of failure of existing water infrastructure. The state has been pursuing these issues in conjunction with a multi-district irrigation project that taps the regional Nagarjuna Sagar Dam. Centralized water supply, treatment, and distribution services are appropriate for high population density areas; however, geographical expanse and sparse populations lead to onerous access to improved water sources and inhibit the success of a similar centralized framework in rural areas. This is compounded by a lack of ownership at the habitation and socio-cultural levels. Further, the current water network and its problems - including inconsistent service, corruption, and general distrust of the treated Sagar water - have emboldened wealthier citizens to build private, unregulated groundwater defluoridation plants and commercialize small-scale water businesses. Inequitable services and uncertainty of shared water resources have caused a “tragedy of the commons,” leading to growing disparity and a severely receding water table. This research proposes the Louis-Ostrom Comprehensive Capacity Assessment (LOCCA) tool - an integration of the quantitative Capaci- - ty Factors Analysis risk methodology and the qualitative Ostrom´s framework for assessing socio-ecological systems (SESs). The new framework is used to provide a sample assessment of the Vaillapally habitation in Narayanpur Mandal, Nalgonda. Preliminary results indicate that the institutional, technical, and socio-cultural capacity factors must progress to meet the policymakers´ current projects technical capacity. Alternatively, decentralized systems, such as rainwater harvesting technology, better serve rural areas with low capacity and demand, while increasing collective investment in village-scale systems.