Operation And Maintenance Guideline for Water Supply and Sanitation-Rural Areas

The purpose of this operation and maintenance (O&M) guideline is to regularize the ways and means for effective operation and maintenance (O&M) of water supply and sanitation facilities to keep them functional at the desired state. It will also help to achieve the quality targets for the systems, thereby ensuring public health safety and environmental protection.

The purview of the guideline includes public community based WSS services, WSS facilities in all the educational institutes, and community latrines primarily in rural areas. However, this guideline will also be applicable for the community managed water supply and sanitation options in urban/semi-urban or peri-urban areas and any settings similar to rural water sanitation options. Following this guideline, separate SOPs need to be developed or the existing SOPs need to be updated for the O&M of the technologies discussed here.