At the very outset, it is essential to understand that for the successful implementation of Aakash Ganga at any location, remember to ensure:

• Community participation
• Involvement of local culture, traditions, and societal norms
• Deployment local technologies and locally available materials
• Suitability to local environment: soil condition, extreme temperatures, and rainfall patterns
• Scalability to all new areas in the same village
• Minimal maintenance requirement, and
• Revenues from water distribution or other usage of harvested rainwater

More details of implementation road map are as shown below:

1 Social Enterprise

Aakash Ganga is envisioned to be a social enterprise (SE), a philanthropic venture and public trust, consisting of numerous social entrepreneurs. A social entrepreneur, like a Chief Executive Officer, will spearhead a local organization responsible for day-to-day operation. Through an advisory body, the local community will set the social policy for the organization. This arrangement will ensure socially equitable access to safe drinking water for all people. The details of the advisory body will be firmed in consultation with legal people and based on field experience.

The social enterprise (SE) will ensure flow of capital, management, and technology to the village-level social entrepreneurs. It will act as a public trust of, for example, rainwater harvesting rights acquired from householders, land that may be allocated by the government, infrastructure for water storage, and central data repository.  The SE is expected to advance the collective interests of the social entrepreneurs in, for example, obtaining government subsidies, negotiating with commercial enterprises, protecting intellectual property, and disseminating information.

2 Economic Viability

Aakash Ganga should ensure its own long-term economic viability - recovery of infrastructural investment (capital investment) and operational expenses. Build the economic models that are likely to be acceptable to the communities. For example, the traditions for support of community properties could be modernized for scalability. During the pilot phase test the various economic models for their viability, revenue generation, and acceptance by local communities. At the minimum test the following three models:

a. Rights Acquisition: In this model Aakash Ganga would acquire rights to harvest rooftop rainwater from individual home owners for a fee. The harvested rainwater will be filtered and stored at one or more central underground reservoirs (Called Gram Tanka). It will be supplied back to the people at a socially equitable per unit charge.  This model assures participation by almost 100% homes and lowers the per-family capital investment.
b. Micro-financing: In this model small underground storage tanks (called Griha Tanka) are built on home-owner’s property. Aakash Ganga secures overflow rights and access rights. The overflow is collected at a central location. The access rights allow Aakash Ganga to monitor water quality and upkeep. The homeowner obtains a micro-loan to pay for 50%+ of the storage-tank cost.  
c. Hybrid Model: In this model, beneficiary family pays x% of the system cost upfront and a monthly fee. It is equivalent to a perpetual “lease” of the Griha tanka to the home owner.  Each home or a cluster of homes has a storage tank. The overflow is channeled to one or more Gram Tankas.  

The overall model should also include socio-economic factors like:
a. Conversion of annual government expenditure into infrastructural investment.
b. Government subsidizes the water supplied to urban areas by a factor of 6 – 10 compared to villages.
c. Compare Aakash Ganga with a utility that supplies power to meet peak demand.
d. Societal impact: Girls spend a better part of morning fetching water for home.
e. Costs as function of population, rainfall, roof area, socially equitable distribution

The rainwater harvesting should be viewed as “collecting” and “redistributing” of rainwater.  That is, an SE is acquiring rights from each household to collect rainwater during the rainy season and “supplying” it back during the dry season. This concept has been termed as “water exchange”. This concept should be refined based on the experience of other water-supply schemes such as Apani Yojana, water tankers, ground water, or river water.

The models should provide cost estimates, say, $x - $y per village with a population of, say, z people spread over certain acres.

3 Capacity

Aakash Ganga should have capacity to capture and store sufficient rainwater to meet the drinking water needs for 6 – 18 months. That is, with average annual rainfall, the village should have adequate quantity of water for drinking. Other factors that would influence system capacity are:
a. It should have large enough storage capacity to store x percent of average annual rainfall in a local geographic area. It is understood that “x” would depend on the project cost. The design should provide a simple relationship to estimate the cost and to trade the cost with storage capacity. 
b. Another measure of capacity is the availability of drinking water to the local people during a drought year that is preceded by “average” rainfall year. The system should have sufficient capacity to meet “x” percent drinking water needs of the geographical area during the drought year.  
c. Yet another measure of capacity would be the economical viability of the scheme. The financial model will correlate capacity and economic viability.
d. The channels should have ample capacity to harness rainfalls of “x” cm per hour during the rainy season or monsoon season that lasts for 60 – 75 days.
e. The Griha tanka should have adequate capacity to meet the drinking water needs of a family assuming adequate rooftop square footage. 

If the number of rainy days is as low as 10 to 15 per year, alternative designs should be explored. Could there be temporary or removable channels?  Overflow: The scheme should provide a mechanism for the overflow to be directed to the Samooh, Sanjha, and Gram Tanka.

4 Implementation Time

From the get-go date the replication should take x months, approximately. This period does not include any preparatory work that may have to be done, for example, survey and on-paper design. Create a project implementation schedule.

5 Scalable

It should be easy to adapt or tailor the scheme to suit the requirements of a small rural community, rural towns, and urban areas with diverse socio-economic mix, varying local terrains, and differing annual rainfall.

The design should be flexible for scaling the project and be adaptable to the economic model. It should be documented in detail for easy replication from village to village. Design manual should be self-sufficient, reference other relevant complementary documents, and provide a few ready-made or cookie-cutter designs. It should be easy to tailor the scheme for each village or Dhani.

6 Design Automation
As far as possible Aakash Ganga’s planning and design should be computerized and automated. For example, use satellite images to affix the locations of the storage tanks. It should be possible to, modify, change, and expand the plans and designs to suit specific requirements of a particular village or colony. The scheme should be designed using such techniques as:  
a. Ground survey using GPS for terrain modeling and topographic features, to pinpoint depressions, and to locate the storage units. The design methodology should be such as to minimize the time and cost.
b. Use GIS Software to fix optimal tank locations and the pipeline network. Generate a database with the details of population, houses, area, rainfall, water table, type of soil, water source, literacy rate, caste, professions, transportation, cattle, crops, income, etc.

7 Upkeep, Maintenance and Monitoring

The scheme should require low upkeep and maintenance. It should be possible to train local people for maintenance, operation, and management. The individuals should not require more than 2 weeks of training for the first level of maintenance. Layout plan of storage units and pipe network should be made available to the maintenance staff. The staff should be capable of reading layouts, identifying maintenance needs, spotting emergency repairs, and notifying project engineer. 

Guidelines:
a. The maintenance cost should not exceed 5 - 10 % of the one-time construction cost over stipulated life span of structures. 
b. It should be possible to clean the storage units speedily.  Provide a drainage outlet at the floor. (Providing the drainage at the floor level may be difficult to implement when structures are constructed within the house premises and providing drainage at 10-12 feet may harm the stability of the houses due to loose sand.)
c. Repair or replacement of damage pipes and leakage detection and monitoring should be accomplished in less than 1 day.
d. Facility to clean the tank by providing slope, drainage outlet. Over period, a tank may collect silt or there could be a mishap. These events would necessitate emptying the tank, to remove the silt, or to perform other maintenance. Provision of built-in ladder, that does not contaminate water, should be incorporated in the tanks. (The silt may be removed manually as the manual labor is readily available. The design should make it relatively easy to drain water, say, by a solar-powered pump. The gradient is necessary.)  
e. We can provide built-in stone steps; provide slope; provide long handled scrappers may be 10-15 in a village; to drain out 2-5 pumps (solar/ electrical) can be provided. This is just the reaction; better ideas/ design can be thought off.

Provision for the safeguards against drowning, contamination, defecating, etc. should be there. Well-designed water filters at outlets of rooftop should be used. The storage units should have provision for built-in censors to measure water quality (biological, chemical, WHO-specified), to identify a unit, and to report leakage. Water treatment unit at village level should be proposed. Provision of water filter at the outlet of the rooftop will be adopted in the project. The built-in sensor may help in future projects. The water quality will be monitored by a local entity. The data should be maintained at the knowledge management center.

Water filters can also be near the roof top of tank. Use of alum is common. Pipelines will also help in collecting water at one place if we go for water treatment. We have to maintain the water quality. Villagers should use charcoal filters for drinking purpose.

8 Cost Considerations

The requirements of “replication and sustainability” dictate that the economic viability is of paramount importance. To ensure economic viability, the scheme should deploy ingenious “bullock cart” technologies, local materials, improvised construction methodology, and local skills as far as possible.

The cost reduction may be achieved through:

a. Material substitution: fly ash, ferro-cement, polymer tanks, pre-cast tanks, other pipes, etc. However, under no circumstances should the substitute material contaminate the water supply.
b. Using abandoned or existing infrastructure
c, Minimum wall thickness: half brick (Brick measurements are 9”x4.5”x3.”)
d. Labor reduction: beneficiary contribution, usage of m/c, work for water, famine relief grants.
e. Operational cost for construction: sophisticated equipment (drilling m/c, cutting m/c, etc.), prefabricated filter
f. Use of local material and resources such as locally baked bricks.
g. Tanks will have a slab or dome to avoid contamination, accidents.
h. Scheme without pipelines
i. Use of kaccha tanks in areas where soil strata is compact.
j. Use of low cost pipes

9 Community Motivation and Mobilization

Being a community-based project, Aakash Ganga’s success is inexorably tied to the community acceptance. Therefore, design programs to brief the community on the big picture: setting up a social enterprise (not-for-profit entity), revenue generation, lasting scheme, take charge of their own destiny, legal access rights, etc.

It is deemed essential that the villagers’ or beneficiaries participate in the project right from its inception. Such participation can take the form of benefits review, decision-making, labor contribution, supply of materials, and other financial contributions.

Select the social entrepreneur from the local area.

10 Legal Rights

The Griha tankas are attached to individual houses or adjoined houses.  They are likely to be located on private property. Therefore, acquire the access rights for maintenance, monitoring, and other purposes. The Sanjha and Gram Tanka may be located, most likely, on public land including a school, temple, or dharmshala. Permission should be taken in advance for construction from competent authority such as Panchayat or Municipality or Tehsildar. The social enterprise and project management staff should have legal rights for access. They should not be liable for any injuries, damages, or any other consequences.
a. The storage tanks will be accessible at all times. The property owners will give 24 x 7 “right of passage” to the project management staff, for example, for repair, directing rainwater, constructing channels, water quality checks, etc. 
b. PMS shall have access to collect water samples at its discretion. The private property owner shall not deny access.

11 Schedule

Project duration in a village should not exceed the reasonable duration depending on the quantum of work to be done like number of structures to be created, fund flow and technical expertise available etc.

12 Inscriptions or Epigraphs

Each storage unit will have a “name plate” bearing donor’s name, year of construction, and identification number. Donor’s logo should be inscribed conspicuously at a prominent space on every tank. The inscription should not fade with time. At the minimum the inscription would be:
a. Project Name: Aakash Ganga
b. Donor’s Name: allow for multiple sponsors.
c. Logo: Sponsoring organization’s logo
d. Date: Construction Completion (Comments: The logos and name of all the stakeholders should be placed.)
e. Identification Number: Each tank will bear a unique identification number.
f. Gram Tanka: will have a plaque with important details of the project such as storage capacity, project cost, and names of sponsors.
g. The Gram Tanka should have promotional space. The SE should have sole right to decide on the usage of this space.  The financial gains, if any, will be used to mitigate the project costs.
h. Numbering Plan: The unique identification number should be assigned systematically using a numbering plan that makes it easy to locate each tanka physically, in a database, and on map. The absence of street names requires ingenuity in developing a numbering plan.

13 Technical
It is estimated that materials account for a large percentage, as much as 65 – 70 percent, of the project costs. These costs should be reduced by, for example, using local materials, improving construction methodology, or automating operations. RANA is working with BITS to develop technologies in the area of:

• Sensors for measuring water quality including biological and chemical pollutants
• Development of plant species for horticulture suitable for arid zone such as “anwala”, “alorva”, “kair” and “bare”
• Design automation
• Construction materials
• Construction methodology, and
• Efficient utilization of water such as drip irrigation

Employ suitable local materials and resources to increase collection of rainwater as far as possible. For example, use polythene sheets for conversion of a “kaccha” roof into “pakka” roof.  Use environmentally friendly materials to increase the catchment area. 
Provide facility to draw the water through motor pump, hand pump, pulley mechanisms. Since electricity supply could be erratic, it would be desirable to use devices or pumps that are not dependent on electricity, for example, solar pumps. The use of pump may necessitate a suction well, floor gradient, etc. Provide safeguards for water conservation and against water wastage.

A remotely located operations center should collect data, monitor the network, measure the quality of water, and alert for potential infections and pollutants.

For design automation, acquire the satellite imagery for Rajasthan (resolution 10-20cm). Identify any other automation tools that are critical to the success of the project. Justify the procurement of these tools, economically.

14 Knowledge Management Center

The knowledge center is a facility to collect, validate, store, and disseminate knowledge pertaining to rainwater harvesting. The center should be a repository of:
a. Satellite images for the region
b. Demographic information (names, addresses, family size, animal count, roof size, unique location identifiers, etc.)
c. Design information including sample designs of pipe network, cost estimation, requirements document, rainfall, soil type, etc.
d. Water Quality measurements including biological, chemical, and mineral pollutants.
e. Best practices and innovative solutions

The knowledge center will be the central nerve system. It will maintain a database essential for operation, maintenance, and expansion.

Water Quality: It should be possible to measure the water quality in each tanka on a periodic basis. The water quality should be compared on a periodic basis with accepted standards of, for example, World Health Organization or Government of India.  Provide treatment plan for contaminations. The treatment plan should be simple, easily understandable, and specify right amount of chemicals to be used. 

15 Public Policy

After gaining field experience and completing the economic model, RANA will submit a white paper to the government for it to formulate its policy for widespread adoption of rainwater harvesting. (Govt. of Rajasthan is already in the process to develop its policy guidelines). Such policy should support sustainable service delivery as distinct from capital intensive works.

The field experience will lead to systematic urban policy reform and emergence of water management institutions.

16 Regulatory or Governmental

What are the regulatory, government, and local body requirements? Secure permission of village Panchayat or Municipality or Tehsildar for construction of tankas to avoid future complications. Information should always be sent to the Public Health Engineering Department, Collector, Vikas Adhikari of Panchayat Samiti and RSEB now DISCOM.

17 Societal Requirements

The rainwater-harvesting scheme should be an extension of the social and cultural fabric of the village. For example, villages have traditions of kuan poojan (well worship) and community donations at auspicious occasion. Responsiveness to village traditions may lead to mass acceptance of the scheme by the villages. For example, the mother may be presented flower bouquet and hari doob (green grass).

Perhaps, a parcel of land, adjacent to the Gram Tanka, may be used to cultivate and supply flowers for local festivals or places of worship. Water may be supplied for weddings and for a “donation” consistent with local customs.

The scheme should allow equitable access to water regardless of social and economic status.

18 Environmental

All construction material, construction technology and the outcomes of the same must ensure that they are “green”. They should not bring any adverse effect to the people, flora & fauna, soil quality and water level and quality of that area.

19 Construction Methodology

The civil work should ensure that the building facade and appearance is not comprised. It should be possible to connect the rooftop to the Griha tanka in a short period, as short as 30 minutes. All fittings should be standardized.