DRINKING WATER SUPPLY IN RURAL INDIA: NEED FOR STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN

Water scenario in India has been now fast changing because of increasing population, rising demand for irrigation to raise high-yielding varieties of crops, rapid urbanization and industrialization, electricity generation, impact of global warming, erratic rainfall, among others. Water for Life Decade [2005-15] and the annual World Water Day being celebrated on March 22 every year has significance to create awareness among all stakeholders that water is finite, scarce, costly, precious and has competing demand. Water should, therefore, be efficiently managed for country’s sustainable socio-economic development. Drinking water in India has been significantly dependent upon the monsoon rains and increased climate variability is expected to impact it. Despite Government’s several initiatives the current drinking water scenario needs strategic action plan to ensure that safe and quality drinking water is delivered in rural India by 2022. It is in this context this article highlights the Government’s initiatives, current scenario and performance under the rural drinking water supply system and suggests strategic action plan for efficient management of rural drinking water supply system.


Introduction
Asian Development Bank in its report on Water Operational Framework 2011-2020" explicitly cautioned that by 2030 water shortages are likely to aggregate 40 per cent in developing Asia and in India demand will exceed supply by 50 per cent. Domestic water usage in India has been predicted to increase from five per cent in 2000  Http://www.granthaalayah.com ©International Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH [157] says "In many countries including India, water use is largely unregulated and often wasteful. Pollution of water is often ignored and unpunished. At least 80 per cent of India's population relies on groundwater for drinking purpose to avoid often unsafe surface water. It urges policymakers and communities to rethink water policies and calls for more conservation and recycling of waste water as is done in Singapore. Countries may also want to consider raising the price for water, as well as searching for ways to make water-intensive sectors more efficient and less polluting."

Government's Initiatives
 Acknowledging the significance of rural drinking water the Union Government has, since the first plan period   Water Program (NRDWP). Union Government in 2005 launched Bharat Nirman, a program to build rural infrastructure. Rural drinking water was one of the six components of Bharat Nirman. The Centrally Sponsored NRDWP aimed at providing adequate and safe drinking water to the rural population was an integral part of creating rural infrastructure. The Bharat Nirman helped in mobilizing significant additional resources and creating an environment for the development of infrastructure and capacities for successful operation of drinking water supply schemes in rural areas.  From 2010-11, States prepare Annual Action Plan, a framework for proper targeting and monitoring the progress under the NRDWP, detailing the activities, financial costs and action points in the rural drinking water sector. This has improved the effectiveness of the NRDWP. The Union Government is establishing "International Centre for Drinking Water Quality" in Kolkata. The objective is to concentrate on identification, mitigation and management of drinking water quality related problems with a focus on arsenic, fluoride and other emerging contaminants. The Centre will focus mainly on research and development activities, assessment of various treatment technologies, training, net-working with all related organizations, among others. This will facilitate to consider policy initiatives under the NRDWP in particular and in the drinking water sector in general.  Government has, also, identified institutions/ organizations having domain knowledge and expertise in water and selected them as National Key Resource Centres which are engaged Http://www.granthaalayah.com ©International Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH [158] in capacity building, reorientation of different stakeholders, dissemination of knowledge and information, documentation of best practices in order to achieve the goal of drinking water security in rural areas. At present there are 56 Key Resource Centres out of which 38 are in the area of drinking water, eight exclusively in sanitation and 10 for both drinking water and sanitation.

Current Scenario
 According to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, the use of improved sanitation coverage in rural India increased to only 21 per cent in 2008, number of "no source" villages still 65,000 and estimated 200 million people accessed unhygienic water.  Not only many villages are without dependable source of drinking water but several villages have been experiencing impact of hazardous chemicals in the aquifers of groundwater. A high proportion of the rural population in India obtain their drinking water supplies from shallow and private bore holes, which suffer considerably from the impact of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and other elements injurious to health viz. fluoride, nitrate, chloride, arsenic, sulphide, iron, zinc, chromium and salinity.  Government and other agencies have identified as under 185 locations/districts throughout the country where theses pollutants cause harmful effects.  Focus is on piped water supply rather than on hand pumps in order to reduce the pressure on ground water extraction and ensure quality of water; Enhancing the services for rural water supply from the norm of 40 to 55 litres /capita/day for 24 hours and seven days. Waste water Http://www.granthaalayah.com ©International Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH [160] treatment and recycling to be an integral part of every water supply plan or project bringing the concept of Renovation and Modernization into the planning process;

Strategic Action Plan
The European Union's vision in its 2000 Water Framework Directive with the goal of achieving sustainable management of water states in its preamble, 'Water is not a commercial product like any other but, rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such'. Some voluntary organizations perceive that Water is an endowment of nature to mankind and is not a property of the State or any individual and is never a private asset. India should, therefore, consider guaranteeing all households and livestock easy and reliable access to safe and adequate drinking water as the basic constitutional right.
The Government has an ambitious plan to achieve specific goals by the end of 2022 and assist the States in meeting the rising expectations of the rural people for better service delivery standards in rural drinking water supply, viz. Progress must be monitored on a quarterly/half yearly/annual basis at block/district/state and national level and publicized in print and electronic media and Ministry's website for public and academic consumption.  Though provision of safe and adequate drinking water in rural areas primarily falls within the jurisdiction of the State Governments PRIs must be trained and fully involved in the day-to-day management of rural drinking water supply system since it is included in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution among the subjects that may be entrusted to Panchayats by the States. For this PRIs, must be trained for their capacity building and exposure visits organized to share experiences and learn best practices adopted by others.  Adequate care has to be exercised to ensure that habitations already covered do not get slipped back in any case. If so, immediately it must be remedied.  All cautions and precautions need to be exercised to ensure that sources of drinking water along with its supply system in any case does not get contaminated  Based on worldwide experiences it should be the endeavours to improve the water use efficiency through innovative management approaches, water conservation and watershed management initiatives.  Sustainability of drinking water sources and systems should be the concern to ensure that habitations once provided with drinking water supply do not slip back and face drinking water problem.  Conjunctive use of water i.e. judicious use of rainwater, surface water and groundwater should be encouraged in order to achieve drinking water security at village/ habitation level.  To invest adequately in research and development that can identify and develop new sources of potable water and augment water availability.  Water should be responsibly delivered to all without discrimination, prioritizing vulnerable groups, such as weaker sections and low income groups.  Affordable price, delivery with dignity, convenience, reliability, flexibility and continuity determine the quality of services.  All out efforts and scientific/judicious management techniques can help eliminate wastage and bring down the cost of delivery.

Conclusion
Over the years, there has been a manifested lack of attention to water legislation, water conservation, water use efficiency, water harvesting and recycling. Studies reveal that the country at the aggregate level receives fairly a good rainfall at about 1170 mm [46.8 inches] per annum and almost 50 per cent of it is received in a span of 15 days and 90 per cent of the rainwater is lost due to run-off in just four months. Thus, water through adoption of scientific techniques must be properly stored and efficiently used and in any case not wasted to sustainably meet the growing demand of drinking water.