Drinking Water Facility for Villages
Five crore people living in over one lakh habitations
in villages in our country do not have access to safe drinking water even
today. According to official figures twenty two per cent rural families have to
walk for at least half a kilometer or more to fetch water
(mostly it is the women who have to bear the burden). The percentage of such
families is the maximum in Manipur, Tripura, Odisha, Meghalaya, Jharkhand
and Madhya Pradesh. Fifteen per cent of households in villages depend on
uncovered wells and other unimproved sources like rivers, springs, ponds for
drinking water. Also eighty five per cent of all
drinking water resources in villages are based on underground sources of water
and in many of these areas water is contaminated. Only 30.80 percent of the
rural population has access to tap water. In fact there are only
four states which have been able to bring fifty per
cent or more of the rural areas under piped water supply. Many of
the states are yet to fully comply with the Supreme Court order on supply of
potable water in government schools. The latest available data shows that less
than the 44 per cent government schools in villages have drinking water
facility.
During the national consultation in Delhi held recently
on the progress of national rural drinking water programmers and related issues
, it was revealed that in spite of this unsatisfactory
scenario with regard potable water availability in
villages many of the states have failed to
fully utilize the funds allocated by the centre under
the various heads of NRDWP.
To achieve the objective of providing drinking water facilities to
all the villages, the Government is bringing about a
major paradigm shift in the National Rural Drinking Water Programme in
the XIIth Five Year plan period. In the backdrop of over
extraction of ground water in most parts of the country, the emphasis is to
shift away from ground water to surface water. The focus would be on piped
water supply and minimizing the use of hand pumps. The target is to ensure individual
household connections to at least 35 per cent of the population in villages by
2017 against only 13 per cent today.
In order to encourage the villagers to take water connections, the
Government is roping in Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA). A recent
order said the ASHAs will get an incentive of 75 rupees for motivating each of
the families in villages to take individual household tap
connection. The states can use the money from the support funds allocated to
states under the NRDWP.
The norm of 40 litres of water per capita per day( LPCD)
in villages was set way back in 1972 but now under
the 12th five year plan , it is being
increased from 40 to 55 litres .In the 12th plan
the target is to cover at least half of the population to
get 55 LPCD water within in their house hold premises or
within 100 meter radius. Once the states
are able to increase the per capita availability of drinking water, it will
help in bridging the gap to some extent between urban areas and rural areas. Under
NRDWP, States have the flexibility to fix their own supply norms. The Drinking
Water and Sanitation Minister Bharatsinh Solanki has urged
the states to aim at 55 LPCD , this he says will enable
higher level of household connections and reduce the burden on
women and girls in fetching water from hand pumps and public taps as
well as reducing risk of contamination.
Quality of drinking water availability is a major concern in
villages many parts of the country are affected by contamination of arsenic and
fluoride, which are considered the most hazardous in terms of their effect on
health. In the budget proposals for 2013-14 Rs 1,400 crore will
be provided for the setting-up water purification plants as there are still
2,000 arsenic and 12,000 fluoride affected rural habitations in the country.
Then there are contaminants like iron, salinity uranium and pesticides. The
centre is assisting States affected with Chemical contamination of drinking
water, and those States which have cases of Japanese and Acute Encephalitis
Syndrome through a provision under the NRDWP by allocating 5% of
the NRDWP funds for Improving the quality of drinking water
Given the growing importance of water quality issues, under the 12th plan
dedicated funding will be provided to States with quality affected habitations,
over and above the normal NRDWP allocation to the State. Highest priority will
be given to arsenic and fluoride affected habitations. Part of the funding
would also be made available to tackle bacteriological contamination in the
priority districts with high incidence of Japanese and Acute Encephalitis
Syndrome as identified by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Unfortunately many of the states like Chhattisgarh, Gujarat,
Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, and Uttarakhand &
Tripura are yet to submit proposals to get the benefit from 5% Water Quality
earmarked fund.
World over lack
of drinking water and sanitation facilities account for over nine per cent of
the diseases and more than six per cent of deaths. In our country where more
than half the population resorts to open defecation, the situation is
worse.
It is in this scenario that major emphasis
in the 12th plan is strengthening convergence between
rural drinking water supply and rural sanitation by
taking up villages covered with piped water supply to get Open
Defecation Free status priority and vice versa.
The 12th plan draft document says that
all government schools andanganwadis in government or
community buildings will be provided with water supply
for drinking and for toilets as per relevant quality
norms by convergence of NRDWP for existing schools and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and for
new schools set up under SSA. For private schools this will be enforced the
right to education provisions. All community toilets built with public
funds and maintained for public use will be provided with running water supply
under NRDWP. Care will be taken to ensure that minimum distance is
maintained between the toilet systems and water sources, to alleviate the
problem of nitrate contamination.
A part of NRDWP outlay will be set aside for integrated Habitat
Improvement Projects to provide housing, water and sanitation facilities in
rural areas at par with urban areas.
Participation of the beneficiaries especially women in drink water
supply schemes is also proposed.
In another initiative Solar powered pumps will be provided for
implementation in remote, small habitations and those with irregular power supply by converging
subsidy available under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
Waste water treatment and recycling will also be an integral part
of every water supply plan or project.
India is fast becoming a water stressed country and over and above
everything else there is need to generate awareness about protecting drinking
water sources from contamination, regular testing of drinking water sources,
conserving rainwater in tanks and ponds, water recharge and water saving
devices so that everyone in the country is able to get the basic facility of
drinking water.
World Water Day is observed on 22 March.
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