Clean drinking water to all: Initiatives and challenges

Clean drinking water to all: Initiatives and challenges

Telangana became the first state in the country to provide tap water connections to 100% households and the achievement was acknowledged by the Centre a few days ago. Other States including Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Haryana and Tamil Nadu reported provision of tap water in all schools and AWCs while Punjab reported provision of piped water supply in all schools.

Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)

The JJM is a flagship program of the Ministry of Jal Shakti that aims to provide clean and safe drinking water to all rural households by 2024. It would get water to each household.

To achieve the goal, the government would work with a set of service providers like state governments, public-private partnerships like small construction contractors, or local entrepreneurs who know about the local water sources and conditions. They will provide piped connections, house connections, or alternative solutions.

It is the basis of food, sanitation, and health that we all deserve. The JJM aims to envisage a supply of 55 liters of water per person per day. Jal Jeevan Mission aims to create a model water supply scheme in the larger interest of the society and to promote sustainable water practices in India.

Other schemes aimed towards providing Drinking water

Swajal Yojana: Swajal Yojana is a community-owned drinking water program for sustained piped drinking water supply powered by solar energy. Swajal Yojana was launched in 115 aspirational districts of India. It aims to strengthen the skill development capacity of people living in rural areas to become entrepreneurs and retailers on their own.

Jal Mani Programme: Jal Mani Programme is one such initiative of JMI, which aims to provide safe drinking water to the people of rural India by providing a standalone purification system at individual schools in rural areas.

Atal Bhujal Yojana: The Atal Bhujal Yojana is a Central Sector Scheme and aims to improve groundwater management through community participation in identified priority areas in seven States. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh are the designated priority states for the improvement of groundwater management through community participation, impacting around 78 districts and 8350-gram panchayats. The duration of the scheme is from 2020 to 2025.

Advantages of providing clean drinking water

Although this may not seem like a big deal to many, it can be of great help in providing healthy water for drinking and other sanitary practices. Some of them are-

1. This would significantly reduce the number of water-borne diseases in India. According to a study, more than 21% of the country’s diseases are water-related. In 2015 alone, India lost over 1 lakh children under the age of five due to diarrheal diseases.
2. Clean water is not always available all the time somewhere in India. It can be quite an ordeal to get clean, safe water especially in the times when it’s needed the most such as during natural disasters, heat waves, landslides, floods, and so on. But there are many ways by which clean drinking water could be provided to every Indian. If implemented carefully by the government of India and its people, SDG 6 (which includes clean drinking water for all) can be achieved.
3. Clean drinking water is the key to living a healthy life. Water is the most essential element to sustain human life. Individuals depend on groundwater as well as surface water systems for human use and other purposes such as agriculture and wildlife. Clean drinking water is a crucial element that gives us the strength to conquer death. This will improve the groundwater table.
4. Successful implementation of the National Skill Development Missionhas created a pool of skilled manpower in plumbing, masonry, fitting, electricity, etc. The JJM implementation will utilize their skills and also provide employment opportunities to the migrant labours returning home.
5. There is no doubt that better drinking water supplies can be provided in rural areas if the government focuses on this aspect. A rural area will not only have better feeding habits but also better health services due to better water supplies and infrastructure facilities. This will equally improve the economy of rural regions.

Challenges associated with providing clean drinking water

Water is a state subject under the Constitution of India. Therefore, it makes it difficult to design a uniform and holistic policy that provides for an integrated approach across states. The absence of such a policy has led to different culturally relevant solutions being practiced by different communities within states.

India is one of the countries where water is more precious than gold due to the increasing population and changing climate conditions. India is the second most populated country in the world. India has 16% of the global population but only 4% of water resources.

The majority of the water supply for the urban areas is taken from surface water sources & groundwater aqueous. The municipal towns and cities in India have seen a tremendous increase in population, and more so in migrants who may not be appearing on the census rolls. Both these factors contribute to an increase in demand for piped water. Thus, while the urban water supply infrastructure was not sufficiently developed or in place at all, the consequences could have been less severe.

Nearly 70% of India’s lakes and rivers are polluted. According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS), more than half of the country’s households get their drinking water from sources that are contaminated with feces or otherwise unsanitary.

The one challenge that is faced by us is the “slippage” problem. That means, the ground where we are creating ponds gets so much water that the mud gets muddy and it stops receiving water again. As a result of that problem, some people do not get sufficient drinking water.

One of the biggest challenges associated with providing clean drinking water is the increasing population. The increasing population has increased the demand for drinking water. In addition, there have been various issues like wars, terrorism, economic turmoil, and corruption which have adversely affected the supply of drinking water.