Pure Drinking Water Availability in India

11 December, 2018

Pure drinking water and its availability is a major question in the country, studies have shown that most of the deaths in India are caused due to water. In India, government has adopted a number of decentralised policies to provide access to clean and safe drinking water. The government also promotes the locally owned and managed drinking water security plans at the community level by various projects.

In India, 63 million people living in the rural areas do not have any access to clean water. The United Nations declared access to safe drinking water as a human right so that people and communities of all states can understand its importance and start its conservation.

Though the state and the government is working to provide clean and safe drinking water to the rural areas but the problem is still a challenge in the urban areas because of:

• Depleting underground water.

• Lack of proper rain water harvesting.

• Rising contamination of underground water.

• Deforestation.

• Delay in monsoons.

The World Water Survey mentioned in their reports that 31% people in India at a time were in a situation where they were forced to drink unsafe water because they had no other choice due to which they had to suffer from various water borne diseases such as diarrhoea and gastroenteritis etc.

Other than this The World Water Institute carried out a survey on 632 districts and checked the underground water quality and found that only 59 districts had safe drinking water and the others had severe contamination.

The problem received attention in the year 2014 when PM Modi assumed his office, he highlighted the access, and availability to safe and clean drinking water, hygiene and sanitation by launching the Swacch Bharat Mission.

After this initiative, many people around 71% of them developed a view that safe drinking water and its access had improved around the country and enough is done by the state and the local communities to support the access to safe drinking water.

While a lot remains undiscovered and lot has to be done to make drinking water an ease for those who are living in the remote areas especially the desert ones.

The public and the private sectors has to make lots of effort to make safe water available to people in a consistent manner and at low costs, on the other hand, people should also understand the importance of water and start its conservation before it gets too late.