| Sustainability Capital | Achievements | Learnings |
| Natural Capital | • Perennial source of Water (Noolpuzha river, a tributary of east-flowing Kabini river.
• Pumping was not disrupted for want of water at source in 15 years. • Water Treatment Plant introduced to address turbidity of water. • Water Quality Testing Lab established to monitor quality of water. |
• Improving visual appeal of water was a critical factor in the scaling up of HSCs. |
| Physical Capital & Operations | • Remarkable regularity of pumping operations with 98.61 % efficiency in 15 years.
• 7-fold increase in House Service Connections; 727 HSCs in 2007 to 4981 in 2023. • NRWSS is the only community managed RWSS in Kerala that retains and operates Public Stand Posts on behalf of the Grama Panchayat. • 1.5 MLD Water Treatment Plant implemented and operational. • NRWSS cover 18 of 23 GP wards 44% of Households of Nenmeni GP • All HSCs are metered and volumetric pricing, following Incremental Block Tariff in place. |
• Credibility of the Scheme is very important in attracting more households to opt for HSCs; operations become viable at scale.
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| Finance Capital | • From low level equilibrium trap, Nenmeni RWSS is on sustainability pathway: a lesson for all similar KWA run RWSS in Kerala.
• Evolved into a consumer responsible system of tariff payment and collection mechanism. • NSJVS. NSJVS has taken strong action against issues such as illegal connections/ theft, willful destruction of assets of the scheme etc. • Strong example for inclusion of different socio-economic strata of families into HSC ownership |
• Developing a community behavior with regard to regular payment of water tariff is key financial sustainability.
• NSJVS created a goodwill whereby it was able to attract funds to upgrade its infrastructure from various sources since commissioning of NRWSS. Sources of funding included Government of Kerala, Government of India (JJM), Sulthan Bathery Block Panchayat and Nenmeni Grama Panchayat. • Proactive and pro-poor, inclusive and humane face after the takeover and rehabilitation of the scheme is critical to sustainability. |
| Human Capital | • Stable and committed team of staff and scheme leadership.
• Developing capacity to overcome crises – technical, managerial, political and social. |
• Stable community leadership- champions is key to success.
• Community professionalism and continuous innovations is the key to sustainability. |
| Social, Institutional &Governance Capital | • Regular meetings of the GB and GC are good tools of transparency, democracy and act as a forum for sharing information.
• Efficient and sound Grievance Redressal System; software based registration of complaints, and monitoring of complaint redressal • |
• Inclusiveness: The greatest hallmark of NSJVS is the way in which it provided an inclusive space for new HSCs. By offering affordable low connection fees, NSJVS introduced differential connection fees for SC/ST, BPL and APL category of households. Enrollment fees was socially and economically sensitive. Loan support is also provided for prospective HSC applicants, which was recovered in 10 EMIs
• NRWSS is a strong live-lab case of rehabilitating a KWA water supply scheme: moving from KWA ownership to community ownership and management. • Developed a methodology for rehabilitation |
