Drinking Water Supply

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Drinking water, also known as potable water or improved drinking water is water safe enough for drinking and food preparation. Globally, in 2012, 89% of people had access to water suitable for drinking

Infected drinking water can result in infectious diseases such as diarrhea, cholera and typhoid among others.

Parameters for drinking water quality typically fall under three categories:

·         physical

·         chemical

·         microbiological

Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes.

A clean water supply - in particular water that is not polluted with fecal matter from lack of sanitation - is the single most important determinant of public health.

Drinking water Supply: Steps

1.     Water supply systems get water from a variety of locations after appropriate treatment, including groundwater (aquifers), surface water (lakes and rivers), and the sea through desalination.

2.     The water treatment steps include, in most cases, purification, disinfection through chlorination and sometimes fluoridation.

3.     Treated water then either flows by gravity or is pumped to reservoirs, which can be elevated such as water towers or on the ground.

4.     Once water is used, wastewater is typically discharged in a sewer system and treated in a sewage treatment plant before being discharged into a river, lake or the sea or reused for landscaping, irrigation or industrial use.

Problem:

Depleting ground water table and deteriorating ground water quality are threatening the sustainability of both urban and rural water supply in many parts of India. The supply of cities that depend on surface water is threatened by pollution, increasing water scarcity and conflicts among users.

Who is responsible for water supply?

·        Water supply and sanitation is a State responsibility under the Indian Constitution.

·        States may give the responsibility to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) in rural areas or municipalities in urban areas, called Urban Local Bodies (ULB).

·        At present, states generally plan, design and execute water supply schemes through their State Departments (of Public Health Engineering or Rural Development Engineering) or State Water Boards.

Who is responsible for policy and regulation?

The responsibility for water supply and sanitation at the central and state level is shared by various Ministries.

At the central level three Ministries have responsibilities in the sector:

·        Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation is responsible for rural water supply and sanitation;

·        Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and

·        Ministry of Urban Development

share the responsibility for urban water supply and sanitation. Except for the National Capital Territory of Delhi and other Union Territories, the central Ministries only have an advisory capacity and a limited role in funding. Sector policy thus is a prerogative of state governments.

Innovative approaches adopted to attain 100% water supply:

Total Sanitation Campaign:

The main goal of Total Sanitation Campaign is to eradicate the practice of open defecation by 2017. This will eliminate the problem of impure drinking water. This will lead to reduced pollution of water sources.

Swach Bharat Abhiyaan

A new sanitation campaign was launched as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) in October 2014.

Swajaldhara:

·        Since 2002 the Government of India has rolled out at the national level a program to change the way in which water and sanitation services are supported in rural areas.

·        The program, called Swajaldhara, decentralises service delivery responsibility to rural local governments and user groups.

·        Under the new approach communities are being consulted and trained, and users agree up-front to pay a tariff that is set at a level sufficiently high to cover operation and maintenance costs. It also includes measures to promote sanitation and to improve hygiene behaviour.

Indian Drinking Water Statistics:

·        Access to improved source of water: 92%

·        Urban: 96%

·        Rural: 89%