Rural Water

This report by the Centre for Media Studies, New Delhi presents an assessment of the Jalamani programme of the Department of Drinking Water Supply, Government of India. The centrally sponsored programme commenced in 2008-09 aimed at installing simple Stand Alone Water Purification Systems (SAWPS) in rural schools to enable school children to have access to safe and clean water. The focus was on tackling bacteriological contamination and turbidity in ongoing rural drinking water supply programme.

The assessment study used both qualitative and quantitative techniques such as focus group discussions and in-depth interviews besides structured questionnaire for a variety of stakeholders and research questions. Another important aspect of the quantitative tools was testing of the raw and treated water samples. The study was undertaken in 320 schools spread across 20 districts and six states.

This draft report by the Planning Commission, which presents an approach to the twelfth five year plan among other things outlines some of the challenges related to agriculture, natural resources management and water resources management.

This report published by WaterAid describes the findings of the study conducted in seven poverty pockets in Bhopal to look at patterns of use of communal latrine facilities. Much has been invested in building communal and public toilets and more resources are likely to continue to support this form of sanitation in dense urban areas in India.

However, there is no evidence available that is needed to quantify their potential contribution to reducing open defecation and faecal pollution in these environments, and identify those design features and management factors that encourage the highest usage rates by all household members. Also there is no information available on the impact of age and gender related differences in patterns of use.

This thesis by Christina Tang for the Center of Environmental Studies, Brown University deals with a study of water quality and attempts to ascertain the net benefits or costs from rainwater harvesting under a variety of scenarios for households in various water supply conditions.

Eighty percent of the 7,00,000 citizens of Kuttanad, a region in the coastal State of Kerala have no access to clean water. In Kuttanad, intensive untreated human sewage and agricultural activities have caused severe surface water contaminations. At the same time, other sources of freshwater are unreliable for drinking: groundwater is acidic due to the soil conditions and iron leaching; freshwater from public tap is infrequent; and water supply from private vendors is extremely expensive.

This paper published by the Water for People describes Sanitation as a Business, an innovative approach to operation and maintainance challenges in household sanitation improvements, by describing the case of the implementation of the approach in the context of Malawi, by Water for People. The paper argues that programs that build latrines have consistently struggled to have impact or reach scale, and have often distorted the market environment in ways that have undermined future sanitation development.

The paper emphasises the relevance of this approach in the context of developing countries such as India by stating that the world would not be able to achieve even half of the Millennium Development Goals for sanitation at current rates of installation and consequently is projected to miss the sanitation MDG by more than 700 million people. Among the twenty two percent of those without access to improved sanitation, the greatest challenge remains in Asia and India in particular.

This evaluation study report by the Programme Evaluation Organisation, Planning Commission attempts to document the major achievements in rural water services under Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission. It does so by assessing the extent of coverage and access to improved services in the rural areas.

This article published in the Indian Journal of Public Health highlights the importance of sanitation as hygienic means of dealing with health of populations and presents the history and the definition of sanitation and highlights t

The Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India has developed draft guidelines expanding the scope of works under schedule 1 Para 1 (ix) of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to include access to sanitation facilities. This has been prompted by demands from several States/quarters for ensuring sanitation facilities in rural areas with the main goal of ensuring a clean environment, thereby bringing about an improvement in the general quality of life and strengthening the livelihood base.

This standard operating procedure developed by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation includes all functions pertaining to disaster prevention, institutional mechanism, preparedness, early warning, relief, recovery and rehabilitation. It will apply to RWSS Department/ PHED/ PRED/ Sanitation Departments/ Board dealing with rural water supply and sanitation for natural disasters that the State is prone to. The standard operating procedure will not be applicable to nuclear, biological and chemical disasters.

This handbook for Gram Panchayats has been prepared by the Water and Sanitation Program (World Bank) for the Department of Drinking Water Supply, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India.

The Department of Drinking Water Supply (DDWS) launched the National Rural Drinking Water Program (NRDWP) in April, 2009. The NRDWP builds on experiences gained through past efforts by many stakeholders and brings all existing rural drinking water initiatives under a single program. The focus of the NRDWP is to ensure drinking water security for all rural citizens in India. Drinking water security means providing every rural person with enough safe water for drinking, cooking and other domestic needs at all times and in all situations, including periods of drought and flood and for livestock.