WATSAN Imp Study

1
INDIA
A S S E S S M E N T 2 0 0 2
water supply
& sanitation
A WHO-UNICEF SPONSORED STUDY
Planning Commission
Government of India
www.planningcommission.nic.in
2 INDIA : ASSESSMENT 2002 WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION
Copyright © Planning Commission, Government of India
Photo Credits: Child’s Environment Section, UNICEF India Country Of fice
Designed by:
Spectra VisualWord Pvt. Ltd.
[email protected]
Printed in India
CONTENTS 3
Contents
FOREWORD ........................................................ 5 HEALTH, EQUITY, AND ECONOMICS............. 45
HEALTH..................................................................... 45
AUTHOR’S PREFACE ......................................... 6 EQUITY....................................................................... 48
ECONOMICS ................................................................ 49
ACRONYMS ........................................................ 7
SECTORAL PLANS AND STRATEGIES............ 51
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................... 8 PLAN INVESTMENTS – PAST AND CURRENT ..................... 51
INVESTMENTS – THE FUTURE SCENARIO......................... 53
INTRODUCTION.................................................. 13 STRATEGIES................................................................ 54
A BOUT THIS REPORT.................................................... 13 Rural water supply and sanitation........................ 54
T HE ASSESSMENT PROCESS........................................... 13 Urban water supply and sanitation....................... 56
INDIA OVERVIEW......................................................... 14
H UMAN DEVELOPMENT................................................ 14 STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES..................... 59
W ATER AND SANITATION IN INDIA’S DEVELOPMENT CRITICAL FACTORS...................................................... 59
CONTEXT .................................................................... 15 Water resources................................................... 59
W ATER RESOURCES – QUANTITY, QUALITY, AND Rural water supply and sanitation....................... 59
MANAGEMENT............................................................. 16 Urban water supply and sanitation...................... 61
E VOLUTION OF WATER AND SANITATION SECT OR Health................................................................. 62
PROGRAMMES .............................................................. 19 (POTENTIAL) STRENGTHS............................................. 62
O VERVIEW OF NATIONAL STRATEGIES ............................. 20 Water resources................................................... 62
Rural water supply and sanitation....................... 62
INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE ........................ 23 Urban water supply and sanitation...................... 63
ROLE OF GOVERNMENT OF INDIA................................... 23 Health................................................................. 63
ROLE OF THE STATE..................................................... 26
SECTOR A GENCIES OUTSIDE OF GOVERNMENT................. 26 SECTOR PROSPECTS......................................... 65
WATER RESOURCES..................................................... 65
SITUATION ANALYSIS....................................... 29 RURAL WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION......................... 66
W ATER RESOURCES..................................................... 29 URBAN W ATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION......................... 66
Declining availability.......................................... 29 HEALTH..................................................................... 67
Increasing demand.............................................. 29 RECOMMENDATIONS COMMON TO
Resource degradation.......................................... 29 WATER RESOURCES, RWSS AND UWSS....................... 68
D RINKING WATER ....................................................... 30
Rural and urban coverage................................... 30 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................... 69
Water quality....................................................... 33
Sectoral issues..................................................... 34 REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY............... 70
SANITATION ............................................................... 35
Rural and urban coverage................................... 35
Sectoral issues..................................................... 38
SECT OR APPROACHES .................................................. 38
Water resources................................................... 38
Rural water supply and sanitation....................... 39
Urban water supply and sanitation...................... 41
List of Tables, Figures, Maps, and Boxes

TABLES MAPS
T ABLE 1: INCREASING URBANISATION ............................ 16 POLITICAL MAP OF INDIA.............................................. 14
T ABLE 2: GROWTH OF M ETRO CITIES............................. 16 GROUNDWATER DEPLETION ............................................ 15
T ABLE 3: WHO-UNICEF JMP W ATER SUPPLY DATA.... 32 FLUORIDE AFFECTED AREAS IN INDIA............................. 33
T ABLE 4: WHO-UNICEF JMP SANITATION DATA .......... 36 ARSENIC AFFECTED AREAS OF WEST BENGAL................. 33
T ABLE 5: UTILISATION OF FUNDS UNDER SECTOR SECTOR REFORMS AND TSC COVERAGE IN INDIA............. 40
REFORMS AND TSC..................................................... 41
BOXES
FIGURES
INTER-STATE VARIATIONS IN HDI.................................. 14
FIGURE 1: WATER USAGE BY SECTOR –
A B IRD’S EYE VIEW .................................................... 15 DEPLETING WATER A VAILABILITY................................... 17
FIGURE 2: WATER SUPPLY COVERAGE AND USE............... 31 INCREASING EMPHASIS ON BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE ............. 21
FIGURE 3: SANITATION COVERAGE.................................. 35 URBAN WATS AN DEVOLUTION....................................... 26
FIGURE 4: INFANT MORTALITY RATES BY SEX LEVELS OF E XTERNAL DONOR A SSISTANCE...................... 27

– ALL INDIA............................................................... 45
MIXED URBAN REVENUE RECOVERY............................... 34
FIGURE 5: CHILD MORTALITY RATE................................ 45
THE MIDNAPORE MODEL.............................................. 40
FIGURE 6: REPOR TED MORBIDITY ON S ELECT
W ATER BORNE D ISEASES.............................................. 46 INCREASING EMPHASIS ON WATER CONSERVATION AND
SUSTAINABILITY........................................................... 42
FIGURE 7: INCREASING P LAN INVESTMENTS IN
W ATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION.................................... 51 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH S UCCESSES IN SURAT................ 43
FIGURE 8: INCREASING SECTOR INVESTMENTS.................. 52 SUCCESS! I NDIA ERADICATES GUINEAWORM DISEASE........ 47
FIGURE 9: SHIFTINF P LAN INVESTMENTS IN A REMINDER FOR PERSPECTIVE ..................................... 68

UWSS AND RWSS..................................................... 52
FIGURE 10: PLAN O UTLAYS BY SUB-SECTOR.................... 53

FOREWORD 5
Foreword
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K. C. PANT ;ks t Ukk vk;ks x
Hkkjr
DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
PLANNING COMMISSION
INDIA
October 23, 2002
T he recently concluded World Summit for Sustainable Development held at Johannesburg and the earlier Millennium
Declaration of the United Nations have both laid stress on the global goal of halving by 2015 A.D. the population
without access to water supply and sanitation. In India, due to committed and concerted action by the State Governments
and the Government of India, considerable success has been achieved in providing safe drinking water to rural and urban
populations. Sanitation coverage in urban areas has been improving while in rural areas, a lot is still to be done.
At the same time, the issue of sustainability and maintenance of the quality of water supplied is an area of concern.
The entire water supply and sanitation programme has hitherto been operated as Government-managed, without the
active participation of the beneficiaries. It is estimated that by 2025, more than fifty per cent of the country’s population
will live in cities and towns and thus the likely demand for infrastructural facilities is expected to rise sharply posing a
challenge to urban planners and policy makers.
It is unlikely that, in the future, Government alone would be in a position to mobilise all the projected demand of funds
by the sector, especially in view of resource constraint and competing demands on even the available resources. In this
context, Government of India has taken significant steps to introduce reforms initiatives in the water supply and
sanitation sectors aimed at better involvement of the users, both in cost sharing as also in operation and maintenance.
The WHO-UNICEF sponsored Assessment Report of Water Supply & Sanitation in the country is thus most timely and
will give a fillip to the current reform processes, promote cross-sectoral coordination and planning and also stimulate
investment. The report highlights what we have so far achieved, what is still to be done and the areas meriting focussed
attention. Improved inter-sectoral coordination among various agencies involved directly or indirectly with water supply
and sanitation has been rightly flagged as an important issue.
I commend the efforts put in by the National Consultant, Mr. Sunder Subramanian, in finalising the Report in a very
short time. I also acknowledge the cooperation extended to the Consultant and the Planning Commission by the
Department of Drinking Water Supply, Ministry of Urban Development and other Ministries/Departments in preparation
of the Report.
K. C. PANT
Preface
Working on this report at the Planning Commission of various household level user surveys conducted by
India has been an invigorating experience. At the same different agencies and not from service providers. Thus,
time, all through its writing, there were dilemmas of official coverage figures may be somewhat higher.
various kinds. It is important, at the outset, to outline at
least some of these. The size of this report was essentially Terminology also has its problems. For example,
governed by the guidelines by WHO and UNICEF for the a habitation, which is ‘fully covered’, will not stay that
country assessments. The guidelines essentially were way for very long, owing to natural increases in
meant to ensure a degree of standardisation across population and other natural and man-made factors.
country reports. Considering the size and diversity of For example, in 1972, surveys revealed that out of
India and the multiplicity of institutions involved in water 580,000 revenue villages there were 150,000 drinking
and sanitation interventions across the length and breadth water ‘problem villages’ in India. By 1980, some 94,000
of India, one significant and obvious dilemma was that it villages were covered by Government and 56,000 were
was impossible to acknowledge each one of them. The left uncovered. However, the 1980 survey put the number
fact that some institutions and some interventions have of problem villages actually at 231,000, and not merely
been referred to in this report does not in any way mean 56,000. By 1985, all but 39,000 villages were covered
that the others are in any way less important or but the new survey showed 161,722 problem villages.
significant. This is particularly true of NGOs and their Again, by 1994, they were all covered leaving only
interventions and of the roles of the various external 70 uncovered villages. By this time, the inadequacy of the
support agencies, which have in many instances, made ‘village’ as a unit for measuring coverage was recognised,
invaluable contributions to the sector. and the ‘habitation’ was chosen as the unit. The 1994
survey revealed 140,975 problem habitations. This time
A note about ‘coverage’ data used in the report – while the number included both 440 revenue villages as well as
some of the overall stated coverage figures are rural hamlets (the total of which is about 1.42 million,
impressive, the data also should be approached with some henceforth called habitations).
caution as they do not take into account infrastructure or
schemes that have become permanently defunct in the Finally, a note on the order of chapters in this report.
interim. The figures also do not reflect seasonality of While the guidelines of country assessment reports had
supply, adequacy of storage and treatment or financial prescribed the report structure in detail, some changes
viability of systems. Another problem with ‘coverage’ have made in this report. The ‘Introduction’ and
data is that it does not take into account water quality ‘Background’ chapters have been merged to form a single
issues. For example, an area may be considered officially larger “introduction’ chapter.
‘covered’ – but if the created source has high iron
content, the taste of the water would invariably force
users to turn to alternative unprotected sources. This of
course means that there can be significant differences
between ‘access’ to a given service or resource and actual Sunder Subramanian
‘use’ of the service/resource. As in the Global Water and Consultant
Sanitation Assessment 2000 Report, water supply and
sanitation coverage data used in this report are from
FOREWORD 7
Acronyms
AIIH &PH All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health MoUD Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty
ARWSP Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme Alleviation, Government of India
AUWSP Centrally Sponsored Accelerated Urban Water MoWR Ministry of Water Resources, Government of
Supply Programme for Small Towns India
BCM Billion Cubic Metres MSW Municipal Solid Waste
BoD Biological Oxygen Demand NC Not Covered
CBHI Central Bureau of Health Intelligence NEERI National Environmental Engineering Research
CGWB Central Ground Water Board Institute, Nagpur, India
CPCB Central Pollution Control Board NFHS National Family Health Surveys
CPHEEO Central Public Health and Environmental NGOs Non-Governmental Organisation
Engineering Organisation NHRDP National Human Resource Development
CRSP Centrally Sponsored Rural Sanitation Programme
Programme NICD National Institute of Communicable Diseases
CWC Central Water Commission NLCP National Lake Conservation Plan
DFID Department for International Development, NRAP National River Action Plan
Government of the UK and Northern Ireland NRCD National Rivers Control Department
DJB Delhi Jal Board NSS National Sample Surveys
DPR Detailed Project Reports O&M Operation and Maintenance
FC Fully Covered OECF Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund,
GAP Ganga Action Plan Government of Japan
GDP Gross Domestic Product PC Partially Covered
GEMS Global Environmental Monitoring Systems PEO Programme Evaluation Organisation, Planning
GIS Geographic Information Systems Commission of India
GoI Government of India PRIs Panchayati Raj Institutions
HDI Human Development Index RCRSP Restructured Central Rural Sanitation
HIS Hydrological Information System Programme
HRD Human Resource Development RGNDWM Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission
HUDCO Housing and Urban Development Corporation RWSS Rural Water Supply and Sanitation
IEC Information, Education and Communication SDP State Domestic Product
ITN Indian Training Network SIDA Swedish International Development Agency
JMP Joint Monitoring Programme TERI Tata Energy Research Institute
LIC Life Insurance Corporation of India TSC Total Sanitation Campaign
MINARS Monitoring of Indian National Aquatic ULBs Urban local bodies
Resources UNDP United Nations Development Program
MoA Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
MoEF Ministry of Environment and Forests, UWSS Urban Water Supply and Sanitation
Government of India VAMBY Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana
MoF Ministry of Finance, Government of India WHO World Health Organization
MoHFW Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, WSP-SA Water and Sanitation Program South Asia
Government of India WSSBs Water Supply and Sewerage Boards
MoRD Ministry of Rural Development, Government of YAP Yamuna Action Plan
India
Executive Summary
With a landmass of 3.29 million square kilometres and Governments, and, more specifically, the local bodies in
a population of just over a billion, India is a mosaic of the urban areas. The Centre allocates funds and also
pluralistic diversity. Endowed with enormous natural ensures that funds are provided in State budgets, and
resources, it also has the second largest pool of technical progressively larger allocations have been made for water
and scientific personnel in the world. The Indian economy supply and sanitation in the various Five Year Plans.
has grown steadily, and economic liberalisation has National policy guiding India’s approach to water supply
unleashed the vast potential of the private sector, which and sanitation in the Eighth, Ninth and now the Tenth
today accounts for nearly 75 per cent of GDP. Human Plan broadly follow the guiding principles of the New
development has improved significantly, by nearly 26 per Delhi declaration, adopted by the United Nations General
cent in the ’80s and by another 24 per cent during the Assembly in December 1990. While the nodal agencies
’90s. However, significant HDI disparities exist between for rural and urban water supply and sanitation are the
various states and between rural and urban India. In the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission and the
five decades since independence, India has witnessed Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation
phenomenal development of water resources and self- respectively, a variety of other institutions play direct or
sufficiency in food grains, rapid expansion in the urban, indirect roles. These include various ministries and
energy and industrial sectors, and drinking water departments, financial institutions, external support
infrastructure for about 85 per cent of India’s urban and agencies, NGOs, and the private sector.
rural population. However , this achievement has been at
the cost of groundwater depletion, water logging, water The agriculture sector accounts for between 90 to 95 per
quality degradation and pollution and increasing salinity cent of surface and ground water in India, while industry
levels af fecting large areas. Sectoral demands for water and the domestic sector account for the remaining. Wide
are growing rapidly in line with urbanisation (estimates regional disparities in water availability also exist.
suggest that by 2025, more than 50 per cent of the Between 69 to 74 per cent of India’s rural population take
country’s population will live in cities and towns), their drinking water from protected sources, leaving an
population increases, rising incomes and industrial unserved population of 26 to 31 per cent. Between 91 to
growth, and urban India is fast emerging as centres of 93 per cent of India’s urban population take their drinking
demand growth. As a result, per capita water availability water from protected sources, leaving an unserved
has been falling. population of between seven to nine per cent. Water
quality problems include Fluoride (66 million people
Water supply and sanitation were added to the national across 17 states are estimated to be at risk), excess
agenda during the first five-year planning period Arsenic in ground water (nearly 13.8 million people in 75
(1951-1956), and increasing investments have been made blocks are reported at risk), varying iron levels, presence
in subsequent plans. A new National Water Policy was of nitrates and heavy metals, bacteriological
adopted in 2002, according primacy to drinking water, contamination and salinity.
as in the earlier policy. Some states such as Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu Analysis of sanitation coverage data from various sources
have already drafted state policies based on the new shows that despite the acceleration of coverage under the
national policy. Eighth Plan, only between 18 to 19 per cent of all rural
households have a toilet. However, there has been
The primary responsibility for providing drinking water increase in coverage, from around 10 per cent in 1990.
and sanitation facilities in the country rests with the State At the same time, between 75 to 81 per cent of all urban
EXECUTIVE SUMMAR Y 9
households in India have toilets, an increase from the controlled, and supply driven approaches need to be
1990 figures of around 64 per cent. As in the case of changed to more decentralised, people centric and demand
water supply, disparities across states exist. responsive approaches has led to the revamping of the
ARWSP, and the inception of the Sector Reforms
On the urban front, while access to household toilets in programme. This major paradigm shift in thinking and
urban India is relatively high, sanitation beyond home policy, launched in 1999, incorporates the principles of
toilets is a different story. Out of 300 Class-1 cities, about (a) adoption of demand responsive approaches based on
70 have partial sewerage systems and sewage treatment empowerment, to ensure full participation in decision
facilities. Of the total wastewater generated in the making, control, and management by communities,
metropolitan cities, barely 30 per cent is treated before (b) shifting the role of governments from direct service
disposal. Thus, untreated water finds its way into water delivery to that of planning, policy formulation,
systems such as rivers, lakes, groundwater and coastal monitoring and evaluation, and partial financial support,
waters, causing serious water pollution. There has also and (c) partial capital cost sharing, in either cash or kind
been a significant increase in MSW generation in India in or both, and 100 per cent responsibility of O & M by
the last few decades. This is largely because of rapid users. Sector Reforms are currently being undertaken in
population growth and economic development in the 67 districts across the country, and is likely to increase
country, and solid waste management has become a major to 75 soon. Likewise, keeping in view the relatively poor
environmental issue in India. sanitation coverage and the past experiences of the central
government, the RCRSP that came into being from 1st
At the same time, several important measures are being April 1999 advocates shift from a high subsidy to a low
taken to deal with the above issues. On the water subsidy regime, advocates a greater household
resources management front, the National Water Policy, involvement and demand responsiveness, provides for the
2002 recognises the need for well-developed information promotion of a range of toilet options to promote increased
systems at the national and state levels, places strong affordability, has strong emphasis on IEC and social
emphasis on non-conventional methods for utilisation marketing, provides for stronger back up systems such as
such as inter-basin transfers, artificial recharge, trained masons and building materials through rural
desalination of brackish or sea water, as well as sanitary marts and production centres and includes a
traditional water conservation practices such as rainwater thrust on school sanitation as an entry point for
harvesting, etc to increase utilisable water resources. encouraging wider acceptance of sanitation by rural
It also advocates watershed management through masses. The TSC also provides assistance for construction
extensive soil conservation, catchment area treatment, of individual household toilets, sanitary complexes for
preservation of forests and increasing forest cover and the women, school sanitation, construction of drains and
construction of check dams. The policy also recognises the garbage pits and alternative delivery systems such as
potential need to reorganise and reorient institutional rural sanitary marts. The TSC is being carried out in
arrangements for the sector and emphasises the need to 27 states/UTs. In addition, recognising that water and
maintain existing infrastructure. Under the NRAP, certain sanitation in schools are critical to the formation of proper
stretches of major rivers with high or intermediate levels attitudes and habits for hygiene, sanitation and safe water
of pollution have been identified by the Central Pollution use and that schools are powerful channels for
Control Board, and action is underway to reduce the communicating hygiene messages to households and
pollution load. Many other similar measures are communities, school sanitation programmes are being
underway. given high priority in the Tenth Plan. Likewise, important
measures are being undertaken to enhance HRD,
In line with the 73rd Constitutional Amendment and to mitigate water quality problems, and to raise
increasing recognition that centralised, government awareness levels and improve hygiene behaviour.
Recognising the rapid rate of urbanisation and the poor flushing, reducing leakages and unaccounted for water,
conditions of urban water supply and sanitation systems, reuse and recycling of sewage, rainwater harvesting, etc.
as well as the vicious circle of low tariff, poor recovery
rates and therefore poor quality of services, the UWSS Centrally sponsored low cost sanitation schemes continue
sector is also taking major policy reform steps. In this to remain a key component of urban sanitation in the Tenth
direction, the Tenth Plan has put forward several fiscal Plan and will continue to be propagated as not just a
incentive measures to promote reforms such as the City programme for urban poor or slum populations, but also as
Challenge Fund and the Pooled Finance Development an appropriate intervention wherever the costly option of
Fund to encourage reform measures and prompt ULBs underground drainage is not feasible. A new scheme for
to become viable, credit-worthy entities to access market community pay-and-use toilet complexes, and the
funds. The Plan also proposes the Urban Reforms VAMBY – housing for slum development with 20 per cent
Incentive Fund to encourage ULBs to take up financial fund component for sanitation – is also proposed.
strengthening and reforms and better enforcement of user
charges, taxes, etc. Improving efficiency of existing The Tenth Plan identifies MSW as a key area for action,
systems/schemes is being advocated by conducting especially the need for concerted action to improve flow of
diagnostic studies of operational status, reviews of resources and the building up of systems. Priority action
practices in management and finance, assessments of areas being advocated in the plan include compulsory
investment needs in terms of restoration, renovation and production of compost from urban solid waste,
augmentation. Once implementation of efficiency identification of less capital intensive and intermediate
enhancement measures is underway and viability is technologies, provision of fiscal concessions and
established, innovative schemes such as those mentioned subsidies, and strict implementation of rules pertaining to
above could be availed of, to further enhance efficiency bio-medical, municipal and hazardous wastes. There is
and credit-worthiness. The Tenth Plan also calls for states also increasing emphasis on solid waste management, and
to have benchmark rates for per capita expenditure and legislation has been enacted by notifying the Municipal
for proposed UWSS projects to be compared against the Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000
benchmark. The Plan also calls for any project to take with detailed guidelines and timeframes to be adopted.
into account the urban poor and marginalised. Once
established or improved to become viable, the plan The reform measures are already beginning to take effect.
advocates for projects to be run along commercial lines. Significantly, improved performance in UWSS can be seen
The reforms agenda also calls for substantial institutional in cities such as Hyderabad, Chennai, Nasik, Surat, etc.
development linked to support for improved services and ULBs in Bangalore have adopted new technologies
covering measures such as decentralising, such as GIS for planning. In many cities such as Mumbai,
commercialising or corporatising of institutions, freshwater is no longer supplied to industry – instead,
enhancement of technical and managerial capacity, recycled and treated municipal wastewater is provided.
unbundling/rebundling of functions, appropriate forms of Replicability of interventions, appropriate institutional
public-private partnerships, use of information technology, arrangements for implementation and O & M of UWSS
and improved private sector participation, to achieve schemes are being considered. The Government of India is
sustainability. Detailed guidelines for these have also also planning to establish a Water and Sanitation Mission
been prepared by the MoUD. for urban areas to support the reform process with
technical, managerial and financial assistance.
Water conservation in urban areas forms a major thrust
area in the Tenth Plan, and several measures are proposed, The first five Plan periods were characterised by relatively
including tariffs at appropriate levels to discourage negligible investments in water supply and sanitation.
excessive use, mandatory water efficient systems for Since the beginning of the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1980-85)
EXECUTIVE SUMMAR Y 11
and the launch of the International Drinking Water influencing their performance. Considering the sheer
Supply and Sanitation Decade, India has substantially scale of the country’s sectoral demands, it is important to
increased its commitment to the water supply and recognise these, enhance the strengths, and work on the
sanitation sector, and remarkable progress has been critical factors.
achieved on many fronts. However, the future numbers
are daunting, and to achieve stated national and global If India’s aspirations for continued economic growth and
goals for water supply and sanitation, many more improved social and environmental conditions are to be
millions have to be reached by the years 2015 and 2025. met, fundamental changes in how water is allocated,
planned and managed must occur. The currently on-going
While massive inputs have been made by the reform processes in the RWSS and UWSS sectors and the
Government to supply potable water in urban as well as new National Water and Health Policies are important
rural areas, sanitation, coverage, especially in rural areas steps in the right direction. These should be sustained,
is relatively low. Morbidity and mortality due to water- and where necessary, augmented by further reform
borne diseases have not declined commensurate with measures. It is also important to continue to build the
increase in availability of potable water supply. More capacities of states to better appreciate and better
importantly, young children bear a huge part of the implement the reform programmes and the devolution of
burden of disease resulting from the lack of hygiene. powers, including financial to PRIs in line with the 73rd
India still loses between 0.4 to 0.5 million children under and 74th Constitutional Amendments.
five years due to diarrhoea. While infant mortality and
under five mortality rates have declined over the years It is important to reiterate the need for RWSS and UWSS
for the country as a whole, in many states, these have agencies to operate hand-in-hand with their health and
stagnated in recent years. One of the reasons is the failure education counterparts to jointly monitor indicators of
to make significant headway in improving personal and RWSS, UWSS, health, education, poverty, and equity in
home hygiene, especially in the care of young children order to make significant headway in the respective
and the conditions surrounding birth. At the same time, sectors. Existing health promotion and education
with concerted efforts by sector agencies, India has been programmes should be made more effective and geared
able to eradicate guineaworm disease. towards achieving behaviour changes needed to improve
hygiene. With the new policy agendas in these sectors,
While today, there is virtually no point of institutional such intersectoral collaboration is now possible, more
interface between the departments dealing with water than ever before.
supply and sanitation and the Departments of Health and
Family Welfare, the new National Health Policy 2002 In sum, considering the sheer size of the country, the
advocates some steps towards developing such linkages. sheer numbers in terms of population, and the complex
nature of its plural society and regional variations, India
While no comprehensive study on equity issues relating has made significant strides in the water and sanitation
to water supply, sanitation, and health has been arena. While the task is far from complete, and much
conducted for the country as a whole, common equity needs to be done, India is taking the right steps in the
issues that plague the sector in most developing countries right direction.
also hold true for India. In addition, comprehensive
studies on the economic value of the water and sanitation
sector in India also do not exist.
The water resources, RWSS, UWSS and health sectors

have several strengths but also several critical factors
INTRODUCTION 13
Introduction
About This Report The Assessment Process
This report on the The assessment was done using both primary and
assessment of secondary sources of information. Primary information
drinking water supply collection was done by a series of discussions held with
and sanitation in India personnel from various government institutions including
is the result of a the Planning Commission, the Rajiv Gandhi National
collaborative exercise Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM), and the Ministry
between the Planning of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation (MoUD).
Commission of India, A significant amount of information for the assessment
the World Health came from a variety of secondary sources. Governmental
Or ganization (WHO), sources included data and documents from the Planning
and the United Commission, RGNDWM, MoUD, Ministry of Rural
Nations Children’s Development (MoRD), and the Department of Statistics.
Fund (UNICEF) The websites of these and other governmental
as part of a joint organisations such as the Central Pollution Control Board
monitoring programme (JMP) for the sector. This (CPCB) proved invaluable. Non-governmental sources
country-level report in India comes in the wake of the for secondary information included various reports and
four global assessments (reports published in 1991, 1993, documents from UNICEF, WHO, the World Bank, the
1996, and 2000) completed through the JMP process. Water and Sanitation Program South Asia (WSP-SA),
United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the
The report seeks to (a) analyse the data and information Department for International Development (DFID).
collected at the national level for the global assessment Detailed references and bibliography are presented at the
report in order to review priorities, analyse problems and end of this report.
make recommendations that support the development
objectives of the country (b) to clarify any ambiguities The report went through iterative processes of soliciting
that may exist in the data and information collected at inputs. A first draft was generated and circulated to
country level and to provide information on any relevant sector agencies and key personnel in late August 2002,
national issue that may not have been covered by the and a meeting was held at the Planning Commission on
global assessment report; and (c) to support ongoing 6th September 2002 to receive feedback. This was
policy reform initiatives, to guide technical assistance followed by the regional meeting at Sri Lanka between
programmes, and to stimulate investment in the sector. 18th -19th September, and another meeting at New Delhi
In addition, in a regional meeting held at Colombo, on 23rd September to appraise various sector agencies and
Sir Lanka, between 18th to 19th September 2002 to take personnel about the meeting in Sri Lanka. The inputs
stock of the assessment process of sector progress in from these various meetings as well as inputs received
India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, it was agreed that from other sources were incorporated to create a
each country report, once completed, would be used as a penultimate draft, which was circulated to select sector
broad base document, to monitor and assess progress of agencies for comment. The comments received were
the sector in the years to come. incorporated to form the final report.
POLITICAL MAP OF INDIA stimulated domestic and foreign investment. This

liberalization programme has unleashed the vast potential
of the Indian economy. The private sector is the backbone
Jam m u & K ash mir of the economy, accounting for 75 per cent of Gross
Hima cha l Pra desh Domestic Product (GDP). The opening up of the economy
Pu n jab
Utt aran chal
together with the increasingly global focus of Indian
Har yan a
Sikkim Aru n ach al Pr adesh
industry has resulted in the dynamic growth and
R ajasth an Utt ar P radesh
Assam Naga a
l nd
B hi ar Megh alaya increased competitiveness of Indian firms.
Man ipu r
Jh arkh an d Tripu ra
Gua
j rat Madh ya Pra desh West B en gal Mizoram
C h attisgarh
Orissa
Human Development
Dadr a &
Naga r Hav eli Mah arash tr a
An dh ra P radesh
Overall, human development as reflected in the Human
Goa
Development Index (HDI) has improved significantly
K arn ataka
between 1980 and 2001. At the national level, during the
Pon dich erry
Tamil N adu eighties the index has improved by nearly 26 per cent and
K erala An dam an & Nicobar Islan ds
Lakswa dee p U.T. by another 24 per cent during the nineties. There has been
an improvement both in rural, as well as in urban areas.
Though the rural-urban gap in the level of human
India Overview development continues to be significant, it has declined
during the period. Inequalities across States on the HDI
India is the world’s largest democracy. The seventh are less than the income inequality as reflected in the per
largest country in the world with a landmass of 3.29 capita State Domestic Product (SDP).
million square kilometres (slightly larger than a third of
the United States) and a population of just over a billion At the State level, there are wide disparities in the level
(during the last decade, India’s population has grown by of human development. In the early eighties, States like
over 21 per cent), India is a mosaic of pluralistic diversity Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and
in terms of culture, religion and language.
The country is endowed with enormous natural and INTER-STATE VARIATIONS IN HDI
mineral resources (including the fourth-largest reserves
In general, HDI is better in smaller States and
of coal in the world, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum Union Territories. The economically less developed
and limestone) as well as the second largest pool of States are also the States with low HDI. Similarly,
technical and scientific personnel in the world. India’s the economically better off States are also the ones
climate varies from tropical in the south to temperate in with relatively better performance on HDI. However,
the northern reaches. The enormous variations in the relation between the HDI and the level of
altitudinal and agro-climatic zones also mean that India development does not show any correspondence
is a mega-biodiversity country. among the middle -income States in the country.
In this category of States, some States like Kerala
The Indian economy has grown at an average of 4.5 to have high attainments on HDI, at the same time,
5 per cent each year for the past 10 years. A series of there are States like Andhra Pradesh or even West
economic reforms have deregulated the economy and Bengal where HDI values are not as high.
INTRODUCTION 15
Orissa had HDI close to just half that of Kerala’s. The GROUNDWATER DEPLETION
situation has improved since then. Besides Kerala, among
the major States, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and
Haryana have done well on the HDI.
Water and Sanitation in Indias

Development Context
Historically, civilisations in India, as around the world,

have largely evolved and developed around water bodies
as most human activities, including agriculture and
industry depend on water. In the five decades since
independence, India has witnessed phenomenal
development of water resources and has largely
successfully met the demand of water for many of the
diverse uses in the country. Consequently, the country has
achieved self-sufficiency in food grains. Investments made
during the last fifty years in water related infrastructure in
the country have resulted in rapid expansion in the urban, The blocks shown in red are areas where, due to extraction of
groundwater, especially for irrigation, the groundwater levels
energy and industrial sectors. Infrastructure for safe
have fallen by more than 4 metres (@ > 20 cm/year) during
drinking water has been provided to about 85 per cent of 1981-2000.
India’s urban and rural population. However, there remain
Source: CGWB
significant challenges in providing sustainable services,
especially for the poorest and hard to reach.
India’s irrigated agriculture sector has been fundamental
FIG 1: WATER USAGE BY SECTOR A BIRDS EYE VIEW in its economic development and poverty alleviation.
The rapid expansion of irrigation and drainage
Surface Water Withdrawals infrastructure has been one of India’s major achievements.
From 1951 to 1997, gross irrigated areas expanded four-
AG RICULTU RE IND USTRIAL
89 % 2% DOMESTIC fold, from 23 million ha to over 90 million ha and
9% irrigation continues to be the single largest use of
freshwater in India.
However, this achievement has been at the cost of

Ground Water Withdrawals groundwater depletion, water logging and increasing
salinity levels affecting large areas.
AG RICU LTURE IND USTRIAL
92 % 5% DOMESTIC
3% India’s finite and fragile water resources are stressed and
depleting, while sectoral demands (including drinking
water, industry, agriculture, and others) are growing
rapidly in line with urbanisation, population increases,
Source: Earth Trends 2001, World Resources Institute.
rising incomes and industrial growth. At the same time,
TABLE 1 More importantly, the first areas likely to be adversely

INCREASING URBANISATION
affected in terms of water availability are the rural areas
1951 1991 2001 2021 around major centres of urban growth. All this has
(projected) resulted in declining per capita water availability and
deteriorating quality. Intersectoral allocations, planning
No. of Urban
Agglomerations/ and management of increasingly fragile water resources
Towns 2795 3768 4378 have thus emerged as a major challenge before the nation.
Urban Population
(In million) 62.0 217.0 285.00 550 Low levels of basic literacy and awareness combined with
economic deprivation and hunger are closely related and
As Percentage of
contribute to infant mortality, under-5 mortality, high
Total Population 17.3% 25.72% 27.8% 41%
fertility rate and low life expectancy. Within this context,
Source: CPHEEO water, and more importantly, sanitation and improved
hygiene behaviour are crucial to overall public health.
Water-borne diseases are caused by viral or
bacteriological contamination of water – contamination
TABLE 2
GROWTH OF METRO CITIES either at source owing to unsanitary conditions or in
homes when it is not stored and used properly. The risk of
1981 1991 2001 water contamination resulting in water-borne diseases is
No. of Metro Cities higher when there is inadequate availability of water, poor
(Population: quality of water at source, poorly maintained water and
1 million +) 12 23 35 sewer lines, high degree of open-air defecation, lack of
Population adequate means of disposal of human, animal and
(million) 42 70 108 household wastes, and in general, lack of awareness of
good sanitation and personal hygiene practices.
% of Urban
Population 26 32 37.8
Water Resources Quantity, Quality,
Source: CPHEEO
and Management
India receives an average annual rainfall equivalent of

urban India is in the midst of transformation. In an era of about 4,000 billion cubic metres (BCM). This source of
economic reform, liberalisation and globalisation, cities water is unevenly distributed both spatially as well as
and towns are fast emerging as centres of growth. In fact, temporally. Most of the rainfall is confined to the monsoon
estimates reveal that Urban India contributes more than season, from June to September, and levels of precipitation
50 per cent of the country’s GDP at present, although it vary from 100 mm a year in western Rajasthan to over
accounts for less than one-third of its population. It is 9,000 mm a year in the northeastern state of Meghalaya.
estimated that by 2025, more than 50 per cent of the With 3,000 BCM of rainfall concentrated over the four
country’s population will live in cities and towns. monsoon months and the other 1,000 BCM spread over
the remaining eight months, India’s rivers carry 90 per
These figures are indicative of the likely demand cent of the water during the period from June-November.
for infrastructural facilities, notably water supply and Thus, only 10 per cent of the river flow is available during
sanitation that could arise due to urbanisation. the other six months.
INTRODUCTION 17
National level statistics for water

availability mask huge disparities from
basin-to-basin and region to region.
Spatially, the utilisable resource
availability in the country varies from
18,417 cubic meters in the Brahmaputra
valley to as low as 180 cubic metres in the
Sabarmati basin. Rajasthan, for instance,
with 8 per cent of the country’s population
has only 1 per cent of the country’s water
resources while Bihar with 10 per cent of
population has just 5 per cent of the water
resources. Thus, while India is considered
rich in terms of annual rainfall and total
water resources, its uneven geographical
distribution causes severe regional and
temporal shortages.
DEPLETING WATER AVAILABILITY
Of 4,000 BCM of available water from precipitation, the mean flow in the country s rivers is about 1,900
BCM. Out of this, only 690 BCM is utilisable. W ith 177 BCM of live storage created by the existing major and
medium projects and another 75 BCM of storage from projects under construction, there is still a gap of 440
BCM of water.
Assessments of replenishable ground water resources have been made at 431.9 BCM by the Central Ground
Water Board through a large volume of hydrologic and related data. This is the sum total of potential due to
natural recharge from rainfall and due to recharge contributions from canal irrigation. The utilisable ground
water resources have been assessed at 395.6 BCM (70.0 BCM for domestic and industrial uses and 325.6
BCM for irrigation). The CGWB has also assessed the quantum of static ground water resources (one time
available) at 10,812 BCM.
Water availability from other sources and through desalinisation of sea and ground waters is considered
negligible in view of the high cost. The assessed gross available and utilisable water resources of the country,
based on conventional technology, are therefore 2,384 BCM (billion cubic metres) and 1,086 BCM,
respectively. With an estimated population of just over one billion, the available and utilisable water resources
per capita per year are 2,384 m3 and 1,086 m3 respectively against an estimated availability of 6008 m3 in
1947. This itself, gives a broad indication of the growing resource scarcity in India in the fifty three years since
independence.
India faces an increasingly urgent situation; its finite and rise to compounded Arsenic and Fluoride contamination
fragile water resources are stressed and depleting while and Saline Ingress. Where intensive agriculture is
different sectoral demands are growing rapidly. This practised, Nitric levels in ground water are high.
situation has developed incrementally, but is nevertheless
dramatic. At Independence, India’s population was less In the past, water has been developed rather than
that 400 million and per capita water availability over managed. Comprehensive management-on a river basin
5,000 cubic meters per year. Today, fifty years later, basis, multi-sectorally, conjunctively for both surface and
population has grown to over a billion and per capita groundwater, incorporating both quality and quantity
water availability has fallen to hardly more than 2,000 aspects of water is largely lacking. Cooperation between
cubic metres per year and the actual usable quantity is states sharing river basins has been limited and sometimes
around 1,122 cubic metres per year. highly contentious. Management of water has been
through a top-down approach and has become virtually a
Environmental problems include water quality government monopoly. A ‘supply-side’ approach –
degradation from agro-chemicals, industrial and domestic exploiting additional water resources – has been
pollution, groundwater depletion, water logging, soil predominantly used. This approach has resulted in major
salinisation, siltation, degradation of wetlands, ecosystem economic, social and environmental costs. In recent years,
impacts, and various health-related problems. however, there has been realisation regarding the need to
Environmental and health-related issues are less evident address these problems.
than the more visible quantity related problems, but
remain critically important to social welfare and resource At the same time, India has major achievements in the
sustainability. High extraction of ground water has given water sector to its credit. A major spurt in development of
water infrastructure since Independence allowed
India to harness much of the country’s water
resources. These investments have made a vital
contribution to India’s food security, taking India
from a situation of frequent famines and social
vulnerability in the 1950s and 1960s to a self-
sufficient and even exporting country.
Water infrastructure investments have also enabled

the rapid expansion of the urban and industrial
sectors and the increased availability of safe drinking
water in rural villages. Further, a variety of policies,
legislation and institutional initiatives have been
taken by India to better manage its water resources
as resource constraints have become increasingly
apparent. In comparison to most other developing
countries, it could be said that India’s water
resources management initiatives are generally more
comprehensive than found elsewhere. The problem,
however , is that almost in every country there is need
for significant improvement. India’s needs are
INTRODUCTION 19
particularly severe because of its rapidly developing water

constraints, environmental problems, huge population,
regional inequalities in water availability,
the federal administrative structure, and rapid
demographic and economic growth.
Evolution of Water and

Sanitation Sector Programmes
Water supply and sanitation were added to the national

agenda during the first five-year planning period (1951-
1956). In 1954, the first national water supply programme
was launched as part of the government’s health plan
(while sanitation is mentioned in the First Plan, it simply
forms part of the section on water supply). Central and
state administrations provided equal funding mainly for
rural piped water supply schemes, with limited provision
for point sources such as wells and boreholes. During the
initial years, the programme realised only limited
achievements mainly because the states lacked qualified recently revised and the National Water Policy 2002 has
work forces to plan and execute projects, and materials now been adopted, once again according primacy to
were in short supply. During each of the subsequent five- drinking water. While states have been asked to formulate
year plans, funding was allocated for the development and state water polices based on this within the next two
strengthening of state public health engineering years, some states such as Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,
departments. In recognition of the progress made, states Orissa, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu have already drafted
were granted financial authority in 1968 to sanction rural state policies based on the new national policy.
water supply schemes (subject to defined limits). During The national policy guiding the water and sanitation sector
this fifteen-year period, the programme sought to support in India today is contained in the Eighth Five-Year Plan
local community development and improve the welfare of (1992-97), which states: “Safe drinking water and basic
the backward classes. sanitation are vital human needs for health and efficiency
[given that] death and disease, particularly of children,…
The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) drafted a and the drudgery of women are directly attributable to the
National Water Policy in 1987 to guide the planning and lack of these essentials.” High priority was given to
development of water resources throughout the country. serving villages that did not have adequate sources of safe
The policy included several recommendations, which water and to improving the level of service for villages
were subsequently adopted by the states. The classified as only partially covered. The Eighth Five-Year
recommendations focussed on the need for introducing Plan also identified several points of emphasis including
(i) water resource management and according domestic management of water as a commodity, delivery of water
water supply the highest priority (ii) design standards for services based on principles of effective demand,
groundwater structures to protect groundwater sources standards of service corresponding to the level that users
(iii) water quality monitoring and mapping, and (iv) data are willing to maintain, etc. The Ninth and Tenth Plan
management and valuation. The 1987 policy has been broadly follow the directions set by the Eighth Plan.
Overview of National Strategies comprehensive development of water resources, with the

village as the focal unit.
The primary responsibility for providing drinking water
and sanitation facilities in the country rests with the State Coverage remains an important agenda, and highest
Governments, and, more specifically, the local bodies in priority is being accorded to remaining ‘not covered’
the urban areas. The Centre provides allocates funds and and ‘partially covered’ habitations having a supply level
also ensures that funds are provided in State budgets, and of less than 10 litres per capita per day (lpcd) as also
progressively larger allocations have been made for water those affected severely with water quality problems.
supply and sanitation in the various Five Year Plans. The Tenth Plan also advocates according highest priority
National policy guiding India’s approach to water supply to school sanitation, which is critical to the formation of
and sanitation in the Eighth, Ninth and now the Tenth proper habits for hygiene, sanitation and safe water use.
Plan broadly follow the guiding principles of the New Schools are being seen also as a powerful channel of
Delhi declaration, adopted by the United Nations General communicating hygiene messages to homes and
Assembly in December 1990. These include (a) protection communities, and as critical to girls’ education.
of the environment and safeguarding of health through the
integrated management of water resources and liquid and Effective interface and high degree of functional
solid waste; (b) organisation of reforms, promoting an coordination between the development policy making and
integrated approach including changes in procedures, planning and implementation institutions is increasingly
attitudes, and behaviour, and the full participation of being stressed and intersectoral convergent programming
women at all levels; (c) community management of is being advocated. Partnerships that go beyond traditional
services, backed by measures to strengthen local boundaries are increasingly being looked upon as an
institutions in implementing and sustaining water and effective means of outreach. Thus, civil society groups
sanitation programmes; and (d) sound financial practices, such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), other
achieved by better management of existing assets and social organisations, women self-help groups, cooperative
extensive use of appropriate technologies. societies, civil societies, educational institutions, private
institutions etc. are being increasingly involved.
The Tenth Plan envisages 100 per cent coverage of rural
and urban population with safe drinking water as per the The rural sector has a strong water supply Sector Reform
stipulated norms and standards (40 lpcd of safe drinking agenda, based on a paradigm shift towards
water within a walking distance of 1.6 Kms or elevation decentralisation, demand responsiveness and people
difference of 100 metres in hilly areas, to be relaxed as centred approach, increasingly taking the government
per field conditions; at least one hand pump/spot source from a direct service provider to a facilitator. Likewise,
for every 250 persons). The Plan also envisages the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) approach of the
establishment of a nationwide quality monitoring and Restructured Centrally Sponsored Rural Sanitation
surveillance system, evolution of cost effective and Programme (RCRSP – w.e.f.1.4.1999), which is based on
socially acceptable operation and maintenance (O & M) the successful model of Midnapur (West Bengal), is also
strategies, and reorienting the structure and functioning of being adopted in other districts of the country with
rural water supply planning and implementing agencies to appropriate changes to suit the local conditions and
ensure sustainability. The Tenth Plan advocates perceptions.
management of water as an economic asset rather than a
free commodity and places responsibility for source The Tenth Plan places significant emphasis on Urban
regeneration on all user agencies. The Plan also advocates Water Supply and Sanitation (UWSS) as opposed to
INTRODUCTION 21
previous Plans and emphasises strong reform agendas.

As in the earlier plans, the objectives of universal INCREASING EMPHASIS ON
coverage, adequacy in terms of minimum per capita
BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE
consumption norms, regularity of supply, avoidance of
excessive withdrawal leading to depletion and Realisation that individual and group hygiene
inaccessibility of water sources, and the need to conserve behavioural change is central to achieving success in
and make conjunctive use of water resources are
the sanitation arena has meant that there is now
highlighted. The Plan recognises that unsatisfactory
strong emphasis on strategic planning in information,
service standards has lead to low tariff structures, which
education and communication (IEC). Initiatives to
in turn results in poor resource positions, maintenance
and service – a vicious circle – and that while surveys inculcate safe hygiene behaviour in the formative
show consumer willingness to pay higher tariffs, such years such as School Sanitation are being accorded
increases in tariff structures would have to be the highest priority.
accompanied by substantial improvements in service
quality. The Plan also recognises that given the above
vicious circle, the main problem in financing of UWSS is the state share of project costs. Keeping in mind that
the (un)sustainability of the current model, which is innovative cost recovery mechanisms are exceptions
heavily dependent on state governments’ willingness to rather than the rule, the Plan proposes several fiscal
provide guarantees for institutional finance and meeting instruments.
INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE 23
Institutional Structure
Role of Government of India Minister and the Chief Ministers of the States, meeting in
committee. The Finance Commissions under the ministry’s
Water supply and sanitation is a Department of Expenditure also provides funds for various
State responsibility under the activities to support the upgradation of standards of
Constitution of India and administration and special problems of States (In line with
following the 73rd and 74th the national agenda for devolution of powers to local
Constitutional Amendments, bodies, many states have set up State Finance
the States may give the Commissions to make recommendations on resource
responsibility and powers to the allocations to PRIs).
Panchayati Raj institutions
(PRIs) and Urban Local Bodies A variety of central institutions are involved with water
(ULBs). At present, States generally plan, design and supply and sanitation, either directly or indirectly.
execute water supply schemes (and often continue to The Central Water Commission (CWC) in the MoWR
operate) through their State Public Health Engineering has responsibilities for regulating the use of surface water
Departments (or as in the case of some states, Panchayati for irrigation, industry and drinking water purposes.
Raj Engineering Departments or Rural Development The CWC also mediates in inter-state water allocation
Engineering Departments) and Water Boards. However, disputes. The Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) of the
the Centre has seen the need over many years for same Ministry has an overseeing responsibility for the
coordination and harmonisation of standards. It has also monitoring of groundwater levels and rates of depletion, as
been responsible, through the Five Year Plans, for well as production of water resource inventories and maps.
guiding much of the investment in the sector as well as The Government of India (GoI) has circulated a
establishing other organisations to lend to the States. comprehensive model bill for groundwater regulations.
Similarly, it has taken a lead in recommending styles of
water supply and sanitation organisations, in promoting The National Rivers Conservation Directorate (NRCD)
the needs for training and research, and most recently in under the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF)
promoting water quality monitoring and human resources oversees the implementation of Action Plans to improve
development programmes. In addition, a variety of the quality of the nation’s rivers (previously their activities
different government institutions at the Centre have a role were confined to the Ganga Action Plan, but now extends
in the management of drinking water supply as to the polluted stretches of 27 major rivers with works
government strives to fulfil its responsibilities for water spread over 149 towns in 16 states). The Central Pollution
resources coordination, pollution control and financing of Control Board (CPCB) was set up in the Ministry to
infrastructure development. promote basin-wide pollution control strategies. The
CPCB liaises with State Water Pollution Control Boards
India has had a series of Five Year Plans (with occasional and lays down standards for treatment of sewage and
variations) since 1951, reflecting the belief in central effluents. The Board is also responsible for action in the
planning of a command economy. Preparation of the plans case on non-compliance.
has been the responsibility of the Planning Commission,
working under the Ministry of Finance (MoF) but Other government agencies involved either directly or
agreement to the plans is the responsibility of the Prime indirectly with water supply and sanitation in India include
the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), which is involved in is the technical wing of the MoUD, which advises the
planning, formulation, monitoring and reviewing of Ministry in all technical matters and collaborates with
various watershed based developmental project activities. the State Agencies about water supply and sanitation
activities. CPHEEO plays a critical role in agreeing
At national level, the RGNDWM (under the Department (giving technical sanction to) externally funded and
of Drinking Water Supply, MoRD) formulates guiding special programmes and those parts funded by the Life
policy, sets standards, and provides funds and technical Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). CPHEEO also
assistance to the states for rural water supply and plays a central role in setting design standards and norm
sanitation (RWSS). It allocates funds under the Centrally setting for urban water supply and sanitation.
Sponsored Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme
(ARWSP) and supervises the RCRSP. The RGNDWM The Ministry also supports the States by sponsoring
has also a National Human Resource Development research relevant to the sector, largely through NEERI,
Programme (NHRDP – launched in 1994), which aims at the National Environmental Engineering Research
training at least one grass root level worker in a village Institute in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Areas of research
through district level trainers who in turn may be trained include compost plants, urban water treatment plant
at selected institutions forming the Indian Training evaluations, urban water supply tariffs, water distribution
Network (ITN). system performance evaluation, low cost methods of
flocculation, optimisation of water treatment, drinking
The HRD programme also aims at empowerment of PRIs/ water in urban slums, leak detection equipment etc.
Local Bodies with the objective of enabling them to take MoUD launched the Accelerated Urban Water Supply
up operation and maintenance activities related to rural Programme (AUWSP) in 1993/94 to implement water
water supply systems. It also aims at capacity building of supply schemes in towns with population below 20,000
local communities by giving requisite training to (as per 1991 census). Under this programme, 50 per cent
mechanics/ health motivators/ masons etc. especially of the estimated cost of the schemes is provided by the
women to operate and maintain hand-pumps and the Ministry as a grant based on detailed project report and
components of other water supply systems as well as to the remaining 50 per cent provided by the State
generate demand for adequate sanitation facilities. Under government including a 5 per cent beneficiary/town
the NHRDP, several states have set up State level HRD contribution. In special cases, 100 per cent finance is
cells for planning, designing, implementing, monitoring available as the central share. The AUWSP is being
and evaluating an appropriate and need based HRD administered through the CPHEEO at the Centre.
programme.
Another major area of Central Government assistance to
The MoUD is the nodal Ministry for policy formulation the States is in human resources development. Concern
and guidance for the UWSS sector. The Ministry’s with human resources development led to the Public
responsibilities include broad policy formulation, Health Engineering (PHE) Training Programme starting
institutional and legal frameworks, setting standards and in 1956. The programme is training 108 in-service
norms, monitoring, promotion of new strategies, engineers every year through 11 postgraduate courses in
coordination and support to State Programmes through engineering. By 1996, a total of 1,950 had been trained
institutional expertise and finance. The Ministry is also on postgraduate courses. In addition, the CPHEEO
responsible for managing international sources of finance. arranges Short Term Courses. The Ministry has also
The Central Public Health and Environmental jointly sponsored a Management Programme for Senior
Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO), created in 1953, Public Health Officials with DFID funding for the past
five years. In addition to the countrywide Human and continue to play important health related roles in
Resources Development programmes, the Ministry is also India. The new National Health Policy 2002 adopted by
supporting the establishment of HRD & Training Cells the Ministry recognises that water supply and sanitation is
for the water sector in each State with a one-third part of an inter-connected set of factors that need to be
grant for capital costs where proposals are approved. addressed holistically and in coordination between various
There has also been a centrally supported water quality institutions. The All India Institute of Hygiene and Public
monitoring programme again with substantial funding Health (AIIH & PH), Kolkata, under the Ministry
for water quality laboratories and monitoring staff in continues to be a leader in pursuit of its mandate for HRD
each state. in the field of public health and research, support services
in urban (slum) and rural areas; and support and guide
LIC (owned by the Government of India) has, as part of various programmes at the National level. Some of the
its statutory requirements, to invest 25 per cent of net important Research projects undertaken by this Institute
accretion from its controlled funds in socially oriented include water toxicity-bioassay tests, water quality
schemes such as housing, education, water supply and surveillance programmes in five districts in different states
road transportation. It has been advancing loans to local in India, and a comprehensive, capacity building, training
bodies and state level water supply and sewerage boards and awareness generation programme to tackle the arsenic
within the amount allocated by the Planning Commission problem in West Bengal.
for each state every year. The loans are advanced at
concessional rates of interest on the security of the The Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) is the
concerned state government guarantee. Health Intelligence Wing of the Directorate General of
Health Services. At the national level, it is the sole
HUDCO, the Housing and Urban Development organisation, which deals with the collection, compilation,
Corporation is also very active in supporting the sector. analysis and dissemination of the information on health
It was set up by the GoI in a Bill passed in the Indian conditions in the country covering various aspects of
Parliament in 1970 with a mandate to assist the various health including health status, health resources, utilisation
government and semi-government organisations in of the health facilities etc. It also conducts the training
implementing housing and urban development programmes for various categories of statistical personnel
programmes in the country. In Orissa, for example, dealing with health and medical records and arranges
HUDCO finance is available to any organisation related training for overseas fellows in the country on health
with water supply and sanitation, either public or private, statistics. The National Institute of Communicable Disease
with a definite mandate for providing clean water and (NICD), under the Directorate General of Health Services
sanitation facilities. Realizing the importance of water provides training, services and operational research in the
supply needs HUDCO has accorded topmost priority to field of communicable diseases. The Institute acts as a
financing water supply schemes, especially in small and centre for excellence in providing multi disciplinary and
medium towns. As much as 37 per cent of the cumulative integrated expertise in the control of communicable
loan sanction for urban infrastructure schemes by disease.
HUDCO has gone to the water sector – for augmentation,
rehabilitation extension as well as new schemes with Although not part of the formal management of the sector,
development of sources for unserved areas. the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court of India, have
become involved (largely owing to public interest
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), litigations) and have ordered the introduction of treatment
and the Department of Health and Family Welfare have schemes in a number of cases.
Role of the State block levels, and operations and maintenance activities to
district and, in many cases, gram panchayat levels.
With the exception of some of the northeastern states and Andhra Pradesh is the only state in which water supply
union territories, which have either public works and sanitation is the exclusive responsibility of the
departments or irrigation departments handling rural Panchayat Raj Engineering Department. At the local
water supply, most states have separate public health levels, gram panchayats are the lowest tier in the local
engineering departments char ged with planning, administrative framework and may be responsible for one
investigation and design. In some states (such as Gujarat, or more villages or habitations. The block is the
Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu) the WSS Boards intermediate tier in the local administration framework,
have been constituted to handle urban and rural water serving, in the vast majority of states, a population
(and one state, Uttar Pradesh, formed a corporation), ranging between 100,000 and 150,000. The district is the
following the Third Five-Year Plan recommendation to top tier of local government. Hygiene education is largely
form statutory water and sewerage boards. delivered via the Education Departments and the school
sanitation programme, and via RGNDWM’s programmes
With the recent move toward decentralisation, a mix of on IEC, especially in the TSC areas.
agencies have evolved, including state public health
engineering departments, state boards and district Sector Agencies Outside of
engineering agencies. In some states, such as Government
Maharashtra, the organisational matrix is complicated.
The Groundwater Survey and Development Agency is NGOs (both national and international) have played a
responsible for hand pump programmes, the Maharashtra significant role in the sector in India over the past three
Water Supply and Sanitation Board is responsible for decades. They have exhibited comparative advantages
piped water supply, the district is responsible for that other organisations lack. These include the capacity
operating and maintaining all drinking water installations to: (i) reach the rural poor and remote areas (ii) promote
and the Irrigation Department is responsible for drinking local participation (iii) operate at low costs, and
water sources downstream of command areas. Despite (iv) adapt and be innovative when needed. The initial
the apparent organisational complexity, the national trend involvement of NGOs in the sector came in the sixties
is to decentralise capital investment responsibilities to with the famines in Bihar (1964) and Maharashtra
Zilla Parishad engineering departments at district and (1969). In this early period, NGOs functioned as drilling
URBAN WATSAN DEVOLUTION
Following the 74th Constitutional Amendment, states may give the responsibility and powers for UWSS to ULBs.
This has resulted in a multiplicity of institutional arrangements, varying from state to state. Such institutions may be
state level specialist agencies with various jurisdictions varying from entire states (Kerala for example), small cities,
or large cities. Others include metropolitan level specialist agencies such as in Bangalore, Chennai and
Hyderabad, specialist municipal undertakings (such as in New Delhi), public health engineering departments with
various jurisdictions (entire state in Rajasthan, small cities in Andhra Pradesh), and municipal departments. In many
cases, responsibilities for capital works and O & M are split between two agencies.
contractors to state governments and donor-financed

programmes. The efforts of these NGOs convinced the LEVELS OF EXTERNAL DONOR
donor community and the government to invest in hand ASSISTANCE
pump programmes for drinking water, especially in the
chronically drought-prone areas of the country. More External donor assistance accelerated at the
recently, NGOs have operated successfully within donor-
beginning of the International Drinking Water and
assisted projects where the institutional context is
Sanitation Decade, and during that period donor
conducive, such as the World Bank funded project in
Karnataka and the World Bank-assisted Uttar Pradesh assistance accounted for almost 6 per cent of total
RWSS project. In these projects, NGOs have been used sector investment. Today development assistance
mostly as an intermediary between the community and constitutes roughly only half that level.
the water agency, facilitating project activities related to
community mobilisation, cost sharing, health education,
and other non-technical activities. Other noteworthy been involved in groundwater development, and a huge
activities are in the area of watershed development, network of private drilling contractors has been meeting
where NGOs have taken a holistic approach to water the large demand for irrigation tube wells. Local private
resources development in areas as far-flung as the contractors are a viable O & M alternative to the public
Gangetic delta of West Bengal and the Himalayan agencies and already have a presence in rural areas. Local
foothills. Other success stories include for example, those private mechanics for instance, provide maintenance and
in Gujarat and West Bengal (in Safai Vidyalay, repair services for farmers’ irrigation tube wells.
Ahmedabad, and in Midnapur, under the Ramakrishna
mission), SPARC in Pune, and Sulabh International Several external multilateral and bilateral agencies
across many urban cities and towns, and various projects provide assistance to the sector in India. Some of the
funded by Water Aid in southern India. external support agencies (ESAs) include the bilateral
agencies of Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States,
Private initiatives continue to drive the construction and Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, etc
maintenance of traditional open wells and household and multilaterals such as the World Bank, WHO,
toilets. Nationwide, the number of privately constructed UNICEF, Water and Sanitation Program – South Asia,
toilets is almost twice the number constructed through UNDP, and the European Union.
government programmes. The private sector is involved
in the supply of materials and construction and, to a While in percentage terms the levels of external donor
minor extent, maintenance. Private consulting firms (and assistance in relation to government investments have
NGOs) are also engaged on a very limited basis by state been falling, ESAs have made invaluable contributions
sector agencies. Although operations are performed to the sector in terms of supporting demonstration and
almost exclusively by government agencies, private experimentation at the project level, research,
sector involvement in construction under government introduction of technological innovations, etc.
contracts constitutes a substantial part of capital More recently, ESAs have supported reform agendas –
investments. Procurement of materials and construction most recent donor assisted projects have emphasised
services from private firms amounts to more than two- innovative features as conditions for lending, such as user
thirds of annual investment in the sector. Bore well participation, cost sharing and cost recovery. They have
drilling and hand pump installation has been dominated also adopted an integrated demand oriented approach to
by state water agencies. However, the private sector has sector operations.
SITUA TION OF DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION SERVICES 29
Situation Analysis
Water Resources Increasing demand
The demand for fresh water has been identified, as the
Since freshwater is essential for quantity of water required to be supplied for specific use
water supply and sanitation, an and includes consumptive as well as necessary non-
examination of the freshwater consumptive water requirements for the user sector.
situation in India is required. The total water withdrawal/utilisation for all uses in 1990
As mentioned in the introduction, was about 518 BCM or 609 BCM per capita per year.
freshwater availability is uneven The country’s total water requirement by the year 2050
across India, and huge disparities will become 1,422 BCM, which will be much in excess
exist, from basin to basin, region to region, state to state, of the total utilisable average water resources of 1,086
and in many cases, even within states. BCM. At the national level, it would be a very difficult
task to increase the availability of water for use from the
Declining availability 1990 level of approximately 520 BCM to the desired
In terms of surface water, of 4,000 BCM of available level of 1,422 BCM by the year 2050 as most of the
water from precipitation, the mean flow in the country’s undeveloped utilisable water resources are concentrated
rivers is about 1,900 BCM. Out of this, only 690 BCM is in a few river basins such as the Brahmaputra, Ganga,
utilisable. Assessments of replenishable ground water Godavari, and Mahanadi.
resources have been made at 431.9 BCM by the CGWB
through a large volume of hydrologic and related data. Resource degradation
This is the sum total of potential due to natural recharge There is enough evidence to indicate that the available
from rainfall and due to recharge contributions from canal freshwater resource base is degrading rapidly. The major
irrigation. The utilisable ground water resources have rivers of the country have generally retained pristine water
been assessed at 395.6 BCM (70.0 BCM for domestic quality in the less densely populated upper stretches where
and industrial uses and 325.6 BCM for irrigation). the likelihood of getting affected by man’s interference is
The CGWB has also assessed the quantum of static minimal. As the rivers enter the plains, these start getting
ground water resources at 10,812 BCM. exploited for irrigation and receiving pollution discharges
due to human activities such as intensive agriculture, use
Water availability from other sources and through of fertilisers and insecticides, domestic sewage, industrial
desalinisation of sea and ground waters is considered effluents etc. Thus in the middle stretches, the rivers are
negligible in view of the high cost. The assessed gross most affected both due to increased water requirement for
available and utilisable water resources of the country, various consumptive and non-consumptive uses, and
based on conventional technology, are therefore 2,384 degraded water quality. This makes the situation grave
BCM (billion cubic metres) and 1,086 BCM, respectively. especially during the lean flow season when the amount
With an estimated population of one billion in 2000, the of dilution water available is less.
available and utilisable water resources per capita per year
are 2,384 BCM and 1,086 BCM respectively against an The CPCB has been monitoring water quality of national
estimated availability of 6,008 BCM in 1947. This itself, aquatic resources in collaboration with concerned State
gives a broad indication of the growing resource scarcity Pollution Control Boards at 507 locations, of which 430
in India in the fifty-five years since independence. stations are under MINARS (Monitoring of Indian
National Aquatic Resources), 50 stations are under many cases anomalously high concentrations of nitrates,
GEMS (Global Environmental Monitoring Systems) and potassium and even phosphates are present in contrast to
27 stations under the YAP (Yamuna Action Plan). The their virtual absence or low concentration (nitrate and
water quality monitoring results obtained during 1998 potassium < 10 mg/l) in semi-confined and confined
indicate that organic and bacterial contamination continue aquifers. The unsystematic use of synthetic fertilisers
to be critical sources of pollution in Indian aquatic coupled with improper water management has affected
resources. The Yamuna River is the most polluted in the the groundwater quality in many parts of the country.
country having high biological oxygen demand (BOD) The state-wide brief account of the incidence of
and coliform in the stretch between Delhi and Etawah. groundwater pollution also reflects the occurrence of high
Other severely polluted rivers are the Sabarmati at concentrations of heavy/toxic metals, fluoride and nitrates
Ahmedabad, Gomti at Lucknow, Kali, Adyar, Cooum at different locations around the country. The presence of
(entire stretches), Vaigai at Madurai, and Musi of zinc in shallow aquifers of Delhi is reported at places
Hyderabad. located close to areas of intensive agricultural practices
coupled with extensive use of chemical fertilisers.
CPCB has also carried out limited water quality
monitoring of the wells in different states and calculated Even with strong legislative provisions such as the Water
percent violations over the desired levels of water quality (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and the
in terms of pH, dissolved oxygen, BOD and total coliform. Environment Protection Act, since 1974 and 1986
Certain locations in these states reported 100 per cent respectively, 851 defaulting industries were located along
violation over the desired levels for dissolved oxygen and the rivers and lakes in 1997. The Water Cess Act, 1977
total coliform. CGWB’s studies on chemical composition has also failed to act as a market-based instrument in
of groundwater in phreatic zones have revealed that in reducing the quantity of polluted discharges.
Drinking Water
Rural and urban coverage

Analysis of data from a variety of sources shows that
between 69 to 74 per cent of India’s rural population take
their drinking water from protected sources, leaving an
unserved population of 26 to 31 per cent (see figure 2).
The same chart also shows that between 91 to 93 per cent

of India’s urban population take their drinking water from
protected sources, leaving an unserved population of
between seven to nine per cent. Data compiled by the
WHO-UNICEF JMP process roughly coincide with these
findings (primarily because many of the data sources are
the same – see table 3).
Data available with the Department of Drinking Water

Supply shows that of the 1.42 million rural habitations
in the country, 1.27 million are fully covered (FC),
FIG 2: WATER SUPPLY COVERAGE AND USE

Households taking their drinking water from protected sources India
100
92 93 93
89 89
90 88
91
80
81 72 72 72 74
75
70 63
61 69
60
PERCENT
55
56
50
40
30
27
20
10
0
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
YEAR
Census (R) NSSO (R) NFHS (R) NCAER (R) MICS (R) Rural Trend
Census (U) NSSO (U) NFHS (U) MICS (U) Urban Trend
Information regarding the quantity of water per capita per day is not reflected in the graph. Water sources considered protected are:
Handpump and piped water. However, even these sources can at times be bacteriologically polluted.
Source: Census 1981, 1991; National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) 44R, 49R, 52R, 54R, NFHS I, II;
National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) 1994; Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2000.
0.13 million are partially covered and 15,917 are not towns of the country, there is a huge disparity in quantity
covered. While it is impossible to present state level data of water supplied. Of the 393 class I cities, only around
here owing to constraints of space, it is important to note 77 cities have cent percent water supply coverage.
that coverage is also not uniform across the country and The per capita water supply also ranges from as low as
varies widely from state to state. For example, of the 35 9 litres per capita per day (lpcd) in Tuticorin to as high as
states in India, only seven have achieved full coverage of 584 lpcd in Triuvannamalai. Similarly, around 203 of the
rural habitations (Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, 401 class II towns have low per capita supplies of less
Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Daman & Diu, Delhi, than 100 lpcd. Besides an inequitable distribution of
Lakshadweep, and Chandigarh) and the others to varying water in a given city, the supplies are erratic with water
degrees. On the urban front, in class I cities and class II quality degrading continuously over time.
TABLE 3:
WHO-UNICEF JMP WATER SUPPLY DATA
DRINKING WATER
URBAN RURAL
Source Code Year data used other data used other

for estimates data for estimates data
The International Drinking Water Supply and

Sanitation Decade. Review of National Baseline
Data (as at December 1980). WHO 1984 WHO80 1980 77 31
Census 1981(No breakdown available) CEN81 1981 75 27

Sanitation Decade. Review of National Progress
(as at December 1983). WHO 1986. WHO83 1983 80 47

National Sample Survey 1989

(No breakdown available) NSS89 1989 89 55

Sanitation Decade. End of Decade Review
(as at December 1990). WHO1992. WHO90 1990 86 69
Water Supply and Sanitation Sector

Monitoring Report 1993
(Sector Status as of 31 December 1991) JMP93 1991 87 85
Census 1991 (No breakdown available) CEN91 1991 81 56
India Demographic & Health Survey - 1992/93 DHS93 1993 89 64
India National Sample Survey 1993 NSS93 1993 90 67

Monitoring Report 1996. (Sector Status as
of 31 December 1994). WHO/UNICEF 1996. JMP96 1994 85 79
Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Water

and Sanitation Baseline Survey, 1997 IIMC97 1997 72
India, National Family Health Survey,

1998-1999, Special tabulation DHS99 1999 94 75
Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment

2000. Water Supply and Sanitation Sector
Questionnaire 1999. (Form 6 sent to WHO) JMP99 1999 90
Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2000 MICS00 2000 94 80
Estimates based on linear regression of the above data 1990 88 61

points 2000 95 79
Water quality Zinc, Copper, and Manganese (especially around

High fluoride concentration in ground water, beyond the industrial towns – however, extensive surveys have yet to
permissible limit of 1.5 ppm, has come to stay as a major be carried out), nitrates, and bacteriological
issue affecting a large segment of rural population to the contamination (widespread owing to reasons including
tune of 25 million spread in over more than 200 districts poorly maintained or non-existent hand pump platforms,
in 17 states in the country. The population at risk is inadequate or no drainage, and poor hygiene around
estimated at around 66 million. drinking water sources).
FLUORIDE AFFECTED AREAS IN INDIA ARSENIC AFFECTED AREAS OF WEST BENGAL
75 blocks in West 13.8 million

Bengal affected people at risk
Sixteen 66 million Source: WHO
States affected people at risk
Severly affected Moderately affected

Affected: Severity Data not available or Hand pump attached defluoridation and iron removal
not well known not affected plants have failed due to inappropriate technology,
Source: WHO
unsuited to community perceptions and community
involvement. Desalination plants have been a costly
The presence of excess Arsenic in ground water has been failure mainly due to lapses at different levels such as
reported from West Bengal. Nearly 13.8 million people in poor planning and implementation, inappropriate
75 blocks are reported at risk. It is also reported that technology to the rural setting and high costs of O & M.
around 0.2 million people in West Bengal have arsenic
related skin manifestations. Over the last decade industrial waste and the municipal
solid waste (MSW) have emerged as the leading causes
Other water quality problems in India include varying iron of the pollution of surface and groundwater. In urban
levels in groundwater (which restricts water utility owing regions, river water is, to a large extent, treated before it
to colour, turbidity and taste), especially in northeastern is supplied by the municipal authorities to the people for
India, heavy metals such as Chromium, Lead, Nickel, drinking and other domestic purposes. However, most
Indian rivers today fall short of CPCB’s standards, due to In 21 per cent cases Panchayats looked after O & M, in 9
excessive pollution by untreated sewage, and domestic per cent cases Panchayats supervised and regulated water
and industrial waste. supply, only in 3 out of 87 villages water committees were
formed. Some states have not been able to get the full
Sectoral issues release of allocated fund of Central assistance under the
The National Agenda for Governance seeks to provide ARWSP particularly due to non-provisioning of matching
safe drinking water to all rural habitations within five State Plan funds and thus have lost quite a substantial
years i.e., by March 2004. A large number of surveys amount of Central assistance during the Eighth Plan and
have been done since 1996 to check the validity of during first three years of the Ninth Plan. The biggest
government figures as also to measure the level of public loser has been Bihar, which has lost about Rs.4000
satisfaction. In 1996-97, the Programme Evaluation million of Central assistance during the last five years.
Organisation (PEO – an independent or ganisation under
the Planning Commission) studied 87 villages in 29 On the urban water supply front, transmission and
districts of 16 States. Although in the selected villages, distribution networks are largely of very poor quality,
the number of people who had access to drinking water in addition to being outdated and badly maintained,
from government sources had increased from 69 per cent resulting in higher operating costs. Physical losses are
to 81 per cent between 1986 and 1996, PEO came across typically high, ranging from 25 to over 50 per cent. Low
serious problems even though the definition of pressures and intermittent supplies lead to back siphoning,
‘providing’ water was very liberal: source need to be resulting in contamination in the distribution network.
within 1.6 km, one hand pump would suffice for 250 Water is generally available for only two to eight hours a
persons and 40 litres a day per adult in a habitation day in most Indian cities. As mentioned in the
would be taken as fully covered (FC). Of the 29 districts introduction, unsatisfactory service standards has led to
studied, 19 reported the problem of frequent water low tariff structures, which in turn has resulted in poor
scarcity. Of the 87 villages 40 per cent complained of
shortage during summer months and 30 per cent people
reported that water supply was not dependable. There MIXED URBAN REVENUE RECOVERY
was frequent breakdown of power in case of piped water
Areas of concern in operation and maintenance of
supply and damage in pipelines led to leakages and
water supply include paucity of funds, non-
contamination; for hand pumps, quality of construction
availability of adequate trained work force and
was not satisfactory in 47 per cent cases and there was
over-centralisation and poor revenue recovery
frequent mechanical failure.
rates. Percentage of revenue generation to O & M
Testing and maintenance of hand pumps, etc are cost in cities of Kolkata, Nagpur, Pune, Ludhiana,
responsibilities of different departments; only in 27.6 per Lucknow and Kanpur (in March 1998) was 14, 48,
cent cases routine maintenance activity of oiling etc. were 49, 40, 50 and 78 respectively. Even in Delhi, the
undertaken. About 87 per cent of the districts reported national capital city, the revenue generation was
breakdowns during the year, out of which only in 43 per only about 26 per cent of the production cost in
cent cases repairs were undertaken. Often spares were 1997-98, though this has improved to 43 per cent
not available and funds were inadequate. Local in 1999-2000. At the same time, there are also
communities participated only in 20 out of 87 villages, good examples where revenue generation is more
mostly in identifying suitable sites and contributing their than 100 per cent, e.g. Hyderabad (230), Mumbai
labour, involvement in O & M was hardly observed. (268), and Chennai (184).
resource positions of ULBs, poor maintenance and between various local bodies and institutions leading to
service – a vicious circle. The problem is compounded by absence of or inadequate functional and financial powers,
the rapid growth of urban centres and corresponding inefficient billing and collection practices.
growth in the demand for services.
Sanitation
Persons employed per 1,000 connections rate from 17 to
33, indicating overstaffing compared to international best Rural and urban coverage
practices. While this is so, most personnel lack adequate Analysis of coverage data from various sources
training. Other major issues in the sector are the lack of (see figure 3) shows that despite the acceleration of
adequate information/data, lack of performance coverage under the Eighth Plan, only between 18 to 19
evaluation and regular monitoring, overlap of functions per cent of all rural households have a toilet. However,
FIG 3: SANITATION COVERAGE

Households having a toilet India
100
90
80 76
81
69 77 75
70
69
60 58 64
PERCENT
50
40
30
19
20 16
11 14
18
10 15
13
10
0
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
YEAR
Census (R) NSSO (R) NFHS (R) NCAER (R) Rural Trend
Census (U) NSSO (U) NFHS (U) Urban Trend
Information regarding the type of latrine available to the household is not reflected in the graph.
Source: Census 1981, 1991; National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) 44R, 49R, 52R, 54R, NFHS I, II;
National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) 1994; Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2000.
TABLE 4:
WHO-UNICEF JMP SANITATION DATA
SANITATION
URBAN RURAL
Source Code Year data used other data used other

for estimates data for estimates data

Sanitation Decade. Review of National Baseline
Data (as at December 1980). WHO 1984 WHO80 1980 27 1
Census 1981(No breakdown available) CEN81 1981 58


National Sample Survey 1989

(No breakdown available) NSS89 1989 69 11

Sanitation Decade. End of Decade Review
(as at December 1990). WHO1992. WHO90 1990 44 3

Monitoring Report 1993
(Sector Status as of 31 December 1991) JMP93 1991 53 2
Census 1991 (No breakdown available) CEN91 1991 64 10
India Demographic & Health Survey 1992/93 DHS93 1993 57 11
India National Sample Survey - 1993 NSS93 1993 43

Monitoring Report 1996. (Sector Status as
of 31 December 1994). WHO/UNICEF 1996. JMP96 1994 70 14
Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Water

and Sanitation Baseline Survey, 1997 IIMC97 1997 17
India, National Family Health Survey,

1998-1999, Special tabulation DHS99 1999 61 17
Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment

2000. Water Supply and Sanitation Sector
Questionnaire 1999. (Form 6 sent to WHO) JMP99 1999 49
Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2000 MICS00 2000 76 18
Estimates based on linear regression of the above data 1990 44 6

points 2000 61 15
the trend line shows that there has been increase in MLD. Twenty-three metro cities generate over 9,000
coverage, from around 10 per cent in 1990. MLD of sewage, of which about 60 per cent is generated
in the four mega cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and
At the same time, between 75 to 81 per cent of all urban Chennai) alone. Of the total wastewater generated in the
households in India have toilets, an increase from the four metros, barely 30 per cent is treated before disposal.
1990 figures of around 64 per cent. Once again, Thus, the untreated and partially treated wastewater
data compiled by the WHO-UNICEF JMP process eventually finds its way into freshwater resources such as
(see table 4) roughly coincides with these findings. rivers, lakes, and groundwater.
The higher percentages for urban sanitation have largely There has been a significant increase in MSW generation
been due to private initiatives at the household level and in India in the last few decades. This is largely because of
due to high concentrations of household toilets in the rapid population growth and economic development in
larger urban metropolitan cities. Coverage performance the country, and solid waste management has become a
at the rural levels has obviously not been as successful. major environmental issue in India. The per capita of
This has been due to a multiplicity of factors including MSW generated daily, in India ranges from about 100 g
low awareness of the potential health benefits in small towns to 500 g in large towns. Although, there is
(and therefore, economic benefits) of better hygiene no national level data for MSW generation, collection and
practices, perception of the costs of having a household disposal, and increase in solid waste generation over the
toilet as being very high and in most cases unaffordable, years, some estimates can be made. For example, the
the sheer convenience (at least for men) of open population of Mumbai grew from around 8.2 million in
defecation (vis-à-vis an enclosed space), high subsidies, 1981 to 12.3 million in 1991, registering a growth of
and inadequate promotion of awareness. around 49 per cent. On the other hand, MSW generated
in the city increased from 3,200 tonnes per day to 5,355
As in the case of water supply, disparities across states tonnes per day in the same period registering a growth of
exist. National Family Health Survey (NFHS-II) data on around 67 per cent. This clearly indicates that the growth
toilet facilities shows that the proportion of households in MSW in our urban centres has outpaced the population
having access to toilet facilities in larger, more populated growth in recent years. This trend can be ascribed to
and poorer States was much lower than the national changing lifestyles, food habits, and change in living
average. These include Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya standards. MSW in cities is collected by respective
Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar municipalities and transported to designated disposal
Pradesh. Among the smaller States, only Himachal sites, which are normally low-lying areas on the outskirts
Pradesh followed this pattern. In case of Kerala, the of the city. The limited revenues earmarked for the
proportion of households with access to household toilet municipalities make them ill equipped to provide for high
facilities at 85 per cent was much above the national costs involved in the collection, storage, treatment, and
average of 36 per cent. proper disposal of MSW. As a result, a substantial part of
the MSW generated remains unattended and grows in the
The coverage in terms of organised sewerage systems heaps at poorly maintained collection centres and landfill
ranged from 35 per cent in class IV cities, to 75 per cent sites. The poorly maintained landfill sites are prone to
in class I cities. Studies conducted by the CPCB during groundwater contamination because of leachate
1994-95 showed that the total wastewater generated in production. Open dumping of garbage facilitates the
300 class I cities is around 15,800 million litres a day breeding for disease vectors such as flies, mosquitoes,
(MLD), while the treatment capacity is hardly 3,750 cockroaches, rats, and other pests. Landfill sites also
generate gas emissions that are 50 to 60 per cent methane, Sector Approaches
which is a greenhouse gas contributing to global warming.
Water resources
Sectoral issues The National Water Policy, 2002, formulated by the
Some of the issues that have stood in the way of effective GoI incorporates several changes from the 1987 Policy.
implementation of rural sanitation programmes include It recognises the need for well-developed information
very low priority accorded to sanitation by the state systems at the national and state level, comprising of
governments and the people at lar ge, lower emphasis on standardised networks of data banks and databases as a
IEC, promotion of a single model i.e., twin-pit pour-flush prerequisite for resource planning. The policy places
toilets (which were costly to build, and therefore out of strong emphasis on non-conventional methods for
reach of many rural households), heavy reliance on utilisation such as inter-basin transfers, artificial
subsidy, lack of motivation efforts, poor disposal of waste recharge, desalination of brackish or sea water, as well as
water from water points (creating un-hygienic conditions), traditional water conservation practices such as rainwater
sanitation services not corresponding to the local culture harvesting, etc to increase utilisable water resources.
and habits, scarcity of water, and lack of community It also advocates watershed management through
participation and NGO/Private Sector involvement. extensive soil conservation, catchment area treatment,
preservation of forests and increasing forest cover and the
Field studies show poor utilisation of existing sanitary construction of check dams. The policy also recognises
toilets, largely due to lack of awareness, scarcity of water, the potential need to reorganise and reorient institutional
poor construction standard, emphasis on standardised arrangements for the sector and emphasises the need to
designs without attention to local specificities and general maintain existing infrastructure. As in the 1987 policy,
absence of involvement on the part of the beneficiaries. the new policy accords top priority to drinking water
The Indira Awas Yojana also has a component of toilet, supply, followed by irrigation, hydropower, navigation
but the facility is often used as an extra room. A number and industrial and other uses. The policy also addresses
of field studies, village level studies, evaluation reports issues such as planning of water resource development
and donor agency status papers have drawn attention to projects, maximising water availability, water pricing,
the serious problems in the programme design and water quality, water zoning for proper management of
implementation. Conversely, there is very strong evidence resources and other issues.
that in States where Centrally Sponsored Rural Sanitation
Programme (CRSP) has not picked up to any significant Under the National River Action Plan (NRAP), certain
extent, the gap has been to some extent filled by private stretches of major rivers with high or intermediate levels
initiative. of pollution have been identified by the CPCB. Sewage
collection and treatment works being created to reduce
On the urban front, while access to household toilets in the pollution load to these rivers include schemes for
urban India is relatively high, sanitation beyond home better sewage interception and diversion, construction of
toilets is a different story. Out of 300 Class-1 cities, about sewage treatment plants, provisions for low cost
70 have partial sewerage systems and sewage treatment sanitation and other schemes. In the first phase, in the
facilities. GAP (Ganga Action Plan), 29 towns were selected along
the river and 261 schemes of pollution abatement
Thus, untreated water finds its way into water systems sanctioned. At present, 156 towns are being considered
such as rivers, lakes, groundwater and coastal waters, under the NRAP, out of which about 74 towns are
causing serious water pollution. located on the river Ganga, 21 on the river Yamuna,
12 on the Damodar, 6 on the Godavari, 9 on the Cauvery, decentralised, people centric and demand responsive
4 each on Tungbhadra and Satlej, 3 each on the approaches has led to the revamping of the ARWSP, and
Subarnarekha, Betwa, Wainganga, Brahmini, Chambal, the inception of the Sector Reforms programme. This
Gomti, 2 on the Krishna and one each on the Sabarmati, major paradigm shift in thinking and policy, launched in
Khan, Kshipra, Narmada, and Mahanadi. 1999, incorporates the following three principles:
To focus on urban lakes subjected to anthropogenic • Adoption of demand responsive approaches based on
pressures, the National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP), empowerment, to ensure full participation in decision
1993 was prepared. Bhoj Lake of Madhya Pradesh is making, control, and management by communities
already getting assistance under funds provided by the • Shifting the role of governments from direct service
Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF), Japan. delivery to that of planning, policy formulation,
Under the World Bank aided Industrial Pollution Control monitoring and evaluation, and partial financial
project there is a provision of loan and grant assistance to support to facilitate community action and planning
proposals of construction of common effluent treatment • Partial capital cost sharing, in either cash or kind or
plants for the treatment of effluents from a cluster of both, and 100 per cent responsibility of O & M by
industries particularly of small scale. users.
The National Hydrology Project is being undertaken by Sector Reforms are currently being undertaken in
the MoWR to set up and improve the Hydrological 67 districts across the country, and is likely to increase
Information System (HIS) in nine peninsular states in to 75 soon.
India (Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka,
Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, and Likewise, keeping in view the relatively poor sanitation
Chhatisgarh). The HIS will contain detailed, reliable and coverage and the past experiences of the central
complete data on all water resources in these states and government, the RCRSP that came into being from
st
will enable the Central and State governments, industries 1 April 1999 advocates a shift from a high subsidy to a
and farmers to know the availability, to plan and to low subsidy regime, advocates a greater household
manage the water resources better and improve the involvement and demand responsiveness, provides for the
hydraulic infrastructure to avoid disasters such as floods promotion of a range of
and droughts in peninsular India. toilet options to promote
increased affordability,
Rural water supply and sanitation has strong emphasis on
As per information available, there are over 3.5 million IEC and social
hand pumps and over 0.1 million piped water supply marketing, provides for
schemes in India, installed under the rural water supply stronger back up systems
programme. The estimated costs for O & M of these at such as trained masons
current prices would be around Rs. 20 billion (about US$ and building materials
0.4 billion) per year. At present, the available funds for through rural sanitary
O & M are around Rs. 2.3 billion (about US$ 0.05 marts and production
billion). Hence, a very large gap exists. Combined with centres and includes a
the 73 rd Constitutional amendment and increasing thrust on school
recognition that centralised, government controlled, and sanitation as an entry
supply driven approaches need to be changed to more point for encouraging
THE MIDNAPUR MODEL
In West Bengal, the successful Midnapur Model has become one of the most sustainable alternate delivery
systems for sanitation. At its heart is a network of private production centres and retail outlets for sanitation
products, coupled with extensive publicity and social marketing. The strategy is a major step towards shifting away
from a subsidised government programme. The approach is to have the private sector create retail-marketing
outlets that offer a wide range of sanitation products, including a package for the promotion of personal hygiene
practices. The Midnapur project is based on the following key underlying assumptions: (i) resources for construction
have to come from the users themselves (ii) the emphasis is placed on advocacy to create demand for services
(iii) a focal point per village to serve as a s responsive repository of information and liaison, and (iv) substantial
resources are to invested in training. Both technical and organisational training were envisaged, focusing on
orientation for youth clubs, panchayat members, and village elders. Training was also provided to village masons,
drilling mistries, and women caretakers of handpumps. The Midnapur experience successfully demonstrated that
with sufficient promotion, even the poor can finance their own toilets and adopt better hygiene practices.
wider acceptance of sanitation by rural masses. The TSC also increasing understood and accepted that school
also provides assistance for construction of individual WatSan is critical to girls’ education. The task is however
household toilets, sanitary complexes for women, school huge. Estimates suggest that there are at least 0.3 million
sanitation, construction of drains and garbage pits and rural primary and upper primary schools which do not
alternative delivery systems such as rural sanitary marts. have any drinking water supply or sanitation facilities.
The Total Sanitation Campaign is being carried out in 27
states/UTs. So far, under the TSC, 0.74 million household SECTOR REFORMS AND TSC CO VERAGE IN INDIA
toilets, 542 sanitary complexes for women, 14,003 toilets
for schools, 817 anganwadis/balwadies, and 85 rural
sanitary marts/production centres have been set up.
Of the Rs. 5.7 billion that has been released to states

(lar gely in 2000) under the Sector Reforms initiative,
approximately Rs. 1.2 billion (around 24 per cent) has
been utilised so far by the states. Likewise, of the
Rs. 3.5 billion released under the TSC, about Rs. 0.8
billion (around 23 per cent) has been utilised so far.
Recognising that water and sanitation in schools are
critical to the formation of proper attitudes and habits for Sector Reforms
hygiene, sanitation and safe water use and that schools Sector Reforms & TSC
TSC
are powerful channels for communicating hygiene
messages to households and communities, school
sanitation programmes are being given high priority in Source: RGNDWM
the Tenth Plan and in RGNDWM’s agenda. It is now
TABLE 5: for fluorosis mitigation. Several research studies have also

been conducted on fluoride and fluorosis mitigation.
UTILISATION OF FUNDS
UNDER SECTOR REFORMS AND TSC
To accelerate the arsenic mitigation efforts, the
Programme Funds Released Expenditure RGNDWM has established an arsenic mitigation centre in
(Rs. Billions) (Rs. Billions) Kolkata. Several measures for testing and marking of
water sources are underway in the arsenic affected areas.
Sector R eforms 5.7 1.2
Development of alternative sources of drinking water such
TSC 3.5 0.8 as piped water schemes, deep bore wells, domestic arsenic
removal filters, rainwater harvesting, and exploitation of
Source: RGNDWM potential surface water sources are also underway.
External agencies have been actively involved in a variety
The NHRDP Programme has been launched by the of activities and support programmes including research
RGNDWM from 1994, based on the HRD policy studies, support to pilot projects, technical training,
document evolved jointly by the centre and state development and dissemination of IEC materials on
governments. Under the NHRDP, many states have set up arsenic, arsenic toxicity, etc.
state level HRD cells for planning, designing,
implementing, monitoring and evaluating need based Mitigation measures for bacteriological contamination
HRD programmes. The NHRD Programme aims at include regular testing and use of simple test kits such as
empowering PRIs and local bodies, enabling them to take the H2S vials, and chlorination. ESAs have been providing
up RWSS programme activities. equipment support and training to government water
testing laboratories around the country in order to build up
The RGNDWM also has an IEC programme for the rural a network of water quality surveillance centres.
sector. During the Ninth Plan, 100 per cent financial
assistance was provided to selected districts in the states, On requests from the states, the RGNDWM has taken up
aimed at generating mass awareness regarding the need a national level management information system
for safe drinking water, health issues, etc. The programme for effective planning, monitoring and
programme also focussed on the need for communities to implementation of various activities in the RWSS sector.
participate in the decision-making processes. Computerisation and connectivity of the sector, up to the
level of the Division/Executive Engineer has been taken
The Department of Drinking Water Supply has up, and the centre provides assistance to states to take up
constituted a Central Task Force to facilitate in setting up computerisation to plan, monitor and implement various
of a Centre of Excellence for Fluorosis Mitigation. activities.
Responses towards mitigation vary across the country.
While community based drinking water defluoridation Urban water supply and sanitation
schemes exist, these have largely not been successful. Recognising the rapid rate of urbanisation and the poor
As such, the use of activated alumina based domestic conditions of UWSS as well as the vicious circle of low
defluoridation units is increasing. ESAs have been tariff, poor recovery rates and therefore poor quality of
providing extensive support to India’s fluorosis mitigation services, the UWSS sector is taking major policy reform
programme by providing test kits, sophisticated steps. In this direction, the Tenth Plan has put forward
instrumentation such as ion meters and training on their several fiscal incentive measures to promote reforms such
usage, as well as support for establishing pilot projects as the City Challenge Fund and the Pooled Finance
Development Fund to encourage reform measures and institutions, enhancement of technical and managerial
prompt ULBs to become viable, credit-worthy entities to capacity, unbundling/rebundling of functions, appropriate
access market funds. The Plan also proposes the Urban forms of public-private partnerships, use of information
Reforms Incentive Fund to encourage ULBs to take up technology, and improved private sector participation,
financial strengthening and reforms and better to achieve sustainability. Detailed guidelines for these
enforcement of user charges, taxes, etc. Improving have also been prepared by the MoUD.
ef ficiency of existing systems/schemes is being advocated
by conducting diagnostic studies of operational status, Water conservation in urban areas also forms a major
reviews of practices in management and finance, thrust area in the Tenth Plan, and several measures are
assessments of investment needs in terms of restoration, proposed, including tariffs at appropriate levels to
renovation and augmentation. Once implementation of discourage excessive use, mandatory water efficient
ef ficiency enhancement measures is underway and systems for flushing, reducing leakages and unaccounted
viability is established, innovative schemes such as those for water, reuse and recycling of sewage, rainwater
mentioned above could be availed of, to further enhance harvesting, etc.
ef ficiency and credit-worthiness.
Centrally sponsored low cost sanitation schemes continue
The Plan also calls for states to have benchmark rates for to remain a key component of urban sanitation in the
per capita expenditure and for proposed UWSS projects Tenth Plan and will continue to be propagated as not just
to be compared against the benchmark. The Plan also a programme for urban poor or slum populations, but also
calls for any project to take into account the urban poor as an appropriate intervention wherever the costly option
and marginalised. Once established or improved to of underground drainage is not feasible. In order to
become viable, the Plan advocates for projects to be run improve the programme, the Plan exhorts states to set up
along commercial lines. The reforms agenda also calls for State Sanitation Councils to have supervisory roles.
substantial institutional development linked to support for The Tenth Plan identifies urban MSW as a key area for
improved services covering measures such as action, especially the need for concerted action to
decentralising, commercialising or corporatising of improve flow of resources and the building up of systems.
INCREASING EMPHASIS ON WATER CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
There is increasing emphasis on water conservation, rainwater harvesting and ground water recharge. Water supply
links with watershed development programmes are also being advocated as critical to source sustainability, as are
identification and strengthening of traditional water sources such as village tanks, etc. and recycling of wastewater.
There is significant and increasing emphasis on sustainability of existing systems (there are more than three and half
million hand pumps and over a hundred thousand piped water supply schemes installed in the country under the
Rural Water Supply Programme) through decentralised operation and maintenance. There is also a significant thrust
on the use of Central/State funding as a critical incentive to drive sector reform process at both the state and local
government levels and at the same time, there is a significant emphasis on moving away from subsidies.
Water conservation in urban areas also forms a major thrust area in the Tenth Plan, and several measures are
proposed, including tariffs at appropriate levels to discourage excessive use, mandatory water efficient systems for
flushing, reducing leakages and unaccounted for water, reuse and recycling of sewage, rainwater harvesting, etc.
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SUCCESSES IN SURAT
Environmental health problems in Surat, the oldest municipality in India, were at their worst in the early 1990s. This city
of 2.2 million was incurring nearly half of all diarrheal cases in Gujarat, even though it represented only 5 percent of
the states population. Then, in 1994, it had an outbreak of the plague making international headlines and costing
the city both lives and an estimated $1.5 billion in disrupted commerce and trade. Considered one of the dirtiest cities
in India, it was mobilised into action despite the tight fiscal constraints common to all Indian municipalities. By 1997,
Surat was voted the second cleanest city in India. As a result of prudent actions over four years, water supply and
sanitation coverage improved considerably, and the incidence of diarrheal disease dropped to only 10 percent of the
state total. The plague disappeared. Incidents of malaria correlated with stagnant surface water and poor drainage-
dropped significantly. These health gains were achieved largely through decentralisation, improving efficiency,
enhancing infrastructure performance standards, and strengthening health services.
In addition, sanitation and drainage infrastructure in the city has been extended: 217 of the previously 253 unserviced
slum communities have been provided with proper sanitation (including toilets) and drainage facilities. The city has
upgraded two sewage treatment plants, which now meet discharge standards. Solid waste management has dramatically
improved, to a collection efficiency of nearly 98 percent, and has been partly contracted out in order to make it
financially viable. The city also operates a controlled landfill. To combat air pollution, traffic management has been
streamlined with the intention of reducing congestion and hence vehicular emissions, but reductions in ambient levels
are yet to be recorded. Unleaded gasoline will be introduced shortly.
The municipal corporation collects 85 percent of its property tax-the highest rate for any city in India and has earned
an investment grade credit rating. Its infrastructure policies and investment planning have met its urgent environmental
needs in a way that is consistent with sound urban fiscal management. To continue making progress in badly needed
infrastructure, the city has made ambitious plans to reach full coverage in the provision of piped water supply, expand
the sewerage system to cover half the citys population, and introduce buses fuelled by natural gas.
Priority action areas being advocated in the plan include seen in cities such as Hyderabad, Chennai, Nasik, Surat,
compulsory production of compost from urban solid etc. and ULBs in Bangalore have adopted new
waste, identification of less capital intensive and technologies such as geographic information systems
intermediate technologies, provision of fiscal concessions (GIS) for planning. In many cities such as Mumbai,
and subsidies, and strict implementation of rules freshwater is no longer supplied to industry – instead,
pertaining to bio-medical, municipal and hazardous recycled and treated municipal wastewater is provided.
wastes. The MoEF has also recently enacted legislation
on solid waste management by notifying the Municipal Replicability of interventions, appropriate institutional
Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 arrangements for implementation and O & M of UWSS
with detailed guidelines and timeframes to be adopted. schemes are being considered. The GoI is also planning
to establish a Water and Sanitation Mission for urban
The reform measures are already beginning to take effect. areas to support the reform process with technical,
Significantly, improved performance in UWSS can be managerial and financial assistance.
HEAL TH, EQUITY AND ECONOMICS 45
Health, Equity and Economics

Health
FIG 4
INFANT MORTALITY RATES BY SEX ALL INDIA
Water-borne diseases are caused
by contamination of water with 113
1980 115
virus (viral hepatitis, 114
poliomyelitis), bacteria (cholera, 96
1985 98
typhoid fever, bacillary dysentery 97
78
etc), parasites (amoebiasis, 1990 81
80
giardiasis, worm infestation, 81
1991 80
guinea worm etc.), or chemicals. Water gets contaminated 80
either at source or while passing through water pipes 79
1992 80
which are poorly laid and maintained, or in the homes 79
73
when it is not stored properly. The risk of water 1993 75
74
contamination resulting in water-borne diseases is higher 75
1994 73
under the following conditions: inadequate availability of 74
water, poor quality of water at source, ill-maintained 73
1995 76
water pipelines and sewer lines, open air defecation is 74
71
rampant, lack of disposal of human, animal and household 1996 73
72
wastes, and lack of awareness of good sanitation and 70
1997 72
personal hygienic practices. 71
70
1998 73
72
Water-borne diseases are of immense public health
importance in India because of (i) high morbidity and 1999 70
mortality (ii) potential for causing large and explosive 0 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
epidemics (for example, cholera) which create panic in
Male Female All
the community (iii) non-availability of specific treatment
for some viral diseases such as Viral Hepatitis E, and
(iv) increasingly difficult treatment due to anti-microbial FIG 5
drug resistance in bacterial diseases such as typhoid fever CHILD MORTALITY RATE
and bacillary dysentery.
1984 42.2
1989 29.9
More importantly, young children bear a huge part of the 1993 23.7
burden of disease resulting from the lack of hygiene. India 1994 23.9
still loses between 0.4 to 0.5 million children under five 1995 24.2
years due to diarrhoea. While infant mortality and under 1996 23.9
five mortality rates have declined over the years for the 1997 23.1
country as a whole, in many states, these have stagnated 1998 22.5
in recent years. One of the reasons is the failure to make 0 10 20 30 40 50
significant headway in improving personal and home Source: SRS, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
hygiene, especially in the care of young children and the Disease burden due to water-borne diseases is enormous.
conditions surrounding birth. Drinking water is but one of The data grossly underestimates the true burden of water-
the several routes for transmission of diseases. Others borne diseases. For example, based on the reported data
such as poor hygiene behaviour, contaminated food and the incidence of viral hepatitis is around 12 per 100,000
unclean toilets are equally important, yet receive far less population. In contrast, community studies from two
attention. Hand washing practices are as important from a urban communities have revealed that the incidence may
disease reduction perspective as are the use of toilets or be around 100 per 100,000 population. On the other
drinking safe water or the use of hygienic toilets. hand, community studies indicate that every child below
5 years of age has 2-3 episodes of diarrhoea every year.
While massive inputs have been made by the Government It means many hundred millions cases of diarrhoea occur
to supply potable water in urban as well as rural areas every year, and only a small percentage of diarrhoeal
and to promote sanitation, coverage, especially for RWSS diseases are reported every year through routine
is relatively low. Morbidity and mortality due to water- surveillance systems.
borne diseases have not declined commensurate with
increase in availability of potable water supply, largely Therefore, the availability of potable water alone may not
owing to the fact that quality of water is not maintained at result in significant decline in water-borne diseases,
consumer point and that safe water may become especially diarrhoea, unless the quality of water is also
contaminated during storage due to poor handling ensured at consumer point, and significant improvements
practices and poor personal hygiene. in hygiene behaviour take place, which is not likely to
FIG 6: REPORTED MORBIDITY ON SELECT WATER BORNE DISEASES
9579738 9634787
10000000 9528037 9380215
9130608
9000000
9288242 9280945 9215353
8000000
8065688
5000000
7262753
1000000
500000
400000 321694 370863 354143 352980 357452 340484 329499 318510
279438 269455
300000
200000
100000 133594
134948 124531 117789 110138 110012 131808 113527
50000 98047
93497
10000
5000 6911 9437 8661
7088
5044 3554
1000 3704 4958 4425
3173
0
1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
Diarrhoea Enteric Fever V. Hepatitis Cholera
Source: Central Bureau of Health Intelligence

Today, there is virtually no point of institutional interface

SUCCESS! INDIA ERADICATES between the departments dealing with water supply and
GUINEAWORM DISEASE sanitation and the Departments of Health and Family
Welfare. However, the new National Health Policy 2002
Guineaworm disease is one of the oldest parasitic takes some steps towards developing such linkages.
infections known. In the early eighties, the disease The policy document recognises that: “…it is to be
was endemic in seven states in India and the acknowledged that public health indicators/disease-
burden statistics are the outcome of several
population at risk was estimated to be almost six
complementary initiatives under the wider umbrella of
million. With concerted efforts by several agencies,
the developmental sector, covering Rural Development,
India eliminated the disease in 1997 and
Agriculture, Food Production, Sanitation, Drinking Water
achieved international certification in 2000. Supply, Education, etc.”
The policy also acknowledges that despite the impressive

happen unless the (currently poor) sanitation coverage public health gains, morbidity and mortality levels in the
improves dramatically. As such, interventions such as the country are still unacceptably high and that these
TSC and school sanitation are vitally important to the unsatisfactory health indices are, in turn, an indication of
water supply and sanitation programme in India. the limited success of the public health system in meeting
the preventive and curative requirements of the general
One major, well-documented health related success of the population. The policy also recognises that the common
water supply and sanitation programme in India has been water-borne infections – Gastroenteritis, Cholera, and
the eradication of guineaworm. some forms of Hepatitis – continue to contribute to a high
level of morbidity in the population, even though the
The rather extensive presence of fluoride of varying mortality rate may have been somewhat moderated.
concentrations in drinking water in India is of concern.
Ill effects of ingestion of fluoride via drinking water range The policy also recognises the need for inter-sectoral
from skeletal fluorosis (bones and teeth) to dental coordination by stating: “the ambient environmental
fluorosis, depending upon concentration levels and period conditions are a significant determinant of the health risks
of exposure. The somewhat lower levels of distribution of to which a community is exposed. Unsafe drinking water,
arsenic in drinking water in terms of geographic area are unhygienic sanitation and air pollution significantly
of no less concern. Severe health effects have been contribute to the burden of disease, particularly in urban
observed in populations drinking arsenic-rich water over settings. The initiatives in respect of these environmental
long periods, including cancer of the skin, lungs, urinary factors are conventionally undertaken by the participants,
bladder, and kidney, as well as other skin changes such as whether private or public, in the other development
pigmentation changes and thickening (hyperkeratosis). sectors. In this backdrop, the Policy initiatives, and the
Absorption of arsenic through the skin is minimal and efficient implementation of the linked programmes in the
thus hand-washing, bathing, laundry, etc. with water health sector, would succeed only to the extent that they
containing arsenic do not pose human health risk. are complemented by appropriate policies and
programmes in the other environment-related sectors”
While water supply and sanitation programmes in India and that “it is well recognized that the overall well-being
began under the aegis of the health sector, starting with of the citizenry depends on the synergistic functioning of
the First Five Year Plan, this subsequently changed. the various sectors in the socio-economy. The health
areas of the social sectors – like improved drinking water

supply, basic sanitation, minimum nutrition, etc.
– to ensure that the exposure of the populace to health
risks is minimized.”
The report of the Working Group on Communicable

Diseases for the Tenth Five Year Plan also suggests that
the Ministry of Health should take up a national
programme of prevention and control of water borne
diseases with the appropriate nodal agency which will
establish a formal mechanism of collaboration with
ministries in-charge of rural and UWSS with specific
responsibilities for each being worked out during the
Tenth Plan period. Thus, in policy terms, the stage is set
for renewed inter-sectoral cooperation between health
authorities and the water and sanitation sector.
Equity
No comprehensive study on equity issues relating to

water supply, sanitation, and health has been conducted.
However, common equity issues that plague the sector in
most developing countries also hold true for India. Some
of these issues are outlined below.
As elsewhere in the developing world, millions of India’s

poorest people are affected by preventable diseases
caused by inadequate water supply and sanitation
services. Many of them die due to the diseases and many
status of the citizenry would, inter alia, be dependent on more suffer from regular bouts of diarrhoea or parasitic
adequate nutrition, safe drinking water, basic sanitation, worm infections. Of course, women and children are the
a clean environment and primary education, especially for main victims – burdened by the need (owing to traditional
the girl child. The policies and the mode of functioning in social structures and hierarchies) to carry water
these independent areas would necessarily overlap each containers long distances every day, they must also
other to contribute to the health status of the community. endure the indignity, shame, and sickness that result from
From the policy perspective, it is therefore imperative a lack of hygienic sanitation. Improved water supply and
that the independent policies of each of these inter- sanitation provides particular benefits for women and
connected sectors, be in tandem, and that the interface girls. Not only do they do the bulk of the carrying of
between the policies of the two connected sectors, be water, they also often suffer harassment on the way to
smooth.” In addition, “the attainment of improved health and from community defecation areas and water sources.
levels would be significantly dependent on population School sanitation facilities have a major effect on the
stabilisation, as also on complementary efforts from other enrolment and attendance of teenage girls. In addition,
with their responsibilities for family health, women are Although improvements to water supply and sanitation
often the strongest advocates in the community for are important for everybody, children are the most
change and improved facilities. vulnerable to the preventable diseases, which result
from lack of water, dirty water, and lack of sanitation.
Social and economic discrimination – especially the caste As mentioned earlier, in India 0.4 to 0.5 million children
system – is practised in many parts of India, restricting die every year from diarrhoeal disease and dehydration,
access to resources such as water stand posts and wells and millions more experience more than fifteen attacks of
for lower castes. serious diarrhoea before the age of five. A lack of water
also means that children cannot wash often enough and
Again, as elsewhere, the impact of deficient water and so suffer from eye infections and skin diseases such as
sanitation services falls primarily on the poor. Unreached scabies.
by public services, people in rural and peri-urban areas of
developing countries make their own inadequate Economics
arrangements or pay excessively high prices to water
vendors for meagre water supplies. Their poverty is No comprehensive studies, organised data sources, or
aggravated and their productivity impaired, while their even literature surveys exist on the economic value of the
sickness puts severe strains on health services and water and sanitation sector in India. As such, there was
hospitals. In rural areas, poor people have to work hard no readily usable data on values of existing
for their water, often fetching it from far-off sources and infrastructure, generation of employment, exchange of
using it carefully and sparsely. The time spent collecting goods and services, development of small industries, etc.
water is a double burden, as it means less time is
available for the productive activities on which
subsistence economies depend. In cities, the urban poor
suffer the indignities of inadequate sanitation and
frequently have to purchase water from private vendors.
Many cities and towns receive only a few hours of water

supply each day. Frequent breakdowns, power cuts, etc
compound the problem. Slum and squatter settlements
often do not have direct connections to a piped water
system and many depend solely on purchasing water from
vendors at high prices, when at the same time, middle
areas neighbourhoods connected to organised piped water
systems pay extremely low user charges for water.
In India too, poor slums and informal settlements are
commonly found on low-lying, flood-prone, or low-
infiltration-capacity land with a high water table, leading
to poor drainage and sanitation problems. Many poor
people rely for bathing, laundering, and defecation on
drainage channels, canals, and rivers, which become
clogged by garbage and flood when solid waste
management is inadequate.
ANALYSIS OF PLANS AND STRATEGIES FOR THE SECTOR 51
Sectoral Plans and Strategies

Plan Investments shift in the ratio of UWSS to RWSS. Up to the Fifth Plan
Past and Current (1974-1979), investments in UWSS were relatively
higher. This changed since the Annual Plan of 1979-80,
The first five Plan periods were and the RWSS sector was the focus of increasing
characterised by relatively investments. However, during the Ninth Plan, the gap has
negligible investments in water narrowed.
supply and sanitation. Since the
beginning of the Sixth Five-Year Examination of Central Plan investments by sub-sector
Plan (1980-85) and the launch of shows that Central Plan outlays for rural water supply far
the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation exceed those for rural sanitation, urban water supply and
Decade, India has substantially increased its commitment urban sanitation.
to the water supply and sanitation sector.
While this is compensated for to a large extent by
The Ninth Plan provides for Rs.395 billion (about US$ relatively higher state outlays, state outlay data
8 billion) as outlay for the Water Supply and Sanitation disaggregated by sub-sector is not readily available,
Sector, which works out to about 4.6 per cent of the especially for UWSS. This is primarily due to issues
Ninth Plan Public Sector Outlay and is an all time high. relating to collection of information from the states, etc.
Over the various Plan periods, there has however been a India has witnessed rapid demographic changes in the
FIG 7: INCREASING PLAN INVESTMENTS IN WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION
395380
500000
167110
Total WatSan Outlay (Rs. Millions)
100000
65224
40470 44272
50000
10306
10000
4370 4302
5000
1057 1064
1000
720
490
500
0
1st Plan 2nd Plan 3rd Plan Ann. Plan 4th Plan 5th Plan Ann. Plan 6t Plan 7th Plan Ann. Plan 8th Plan 9th Plan
1951-56 1956-61 1961-66 1966-69 1969-74 1974-79 1979-80 1980-85 1985-90 1990-92 1992-97 1997-2000
Source: Planning Commission

Note: Outlays shown are Central plus State investments at current prices.
FIG 8: INCREASING SECTOR INVESTMENTS (AS PERCENTAGES OF TOTAL PLAN OUTLAY)
4.60
5
4.15
Per cent WatSan Outlay
3.85
4
3.43 3.62
3.23
2.75 2.62
3
2
1.46 1.60
1.23
1.07
1
0
1951-56 1956-61 1961-66 1966-69 1969-74 1974-79 1979-80 1980-85 1985-90 1990-92 1992-97 1997-2000

FIG 9: SHIFTING PLAN INVESTMENTS IN UWSS AND RWSS
209140
2.47
186240
107287.9
2.43
3.0
2.34
2.17
1.98
1.97
500000
1.85
1.81
1.77
1.65
1.58
1.40
2.0
1.28
1.38
59822.8
1.04
1.22
1.26
Total WatSan Outlay (Rs. Millions)
27059.2
0.98
100000
35567.2
22803.2
29657.5
1.0
0.65
17213.7
17666.8
50000
0.42
0.50
5494.4
10000
4812.4
0.40
2322.9
2820
1979.3
5000
1550
897.7
0.30
0.18
0.18
0.19
1000
0.18
430
60
0.20
430
440
163.3
280
500
60
0.10
0
1951-56 1956-61 1961-66 1966-69 1969-74 1974-79 1979-80 1980-85 1985-90 1990-92 1992-97 1997-2000
Urban WatSan Outlay Per cent Urban Rural WatSan Outlay Per cent Rural
(Rs. Millioms) Outlay (Rs. Millioms) (Rs. Millioms) Outlay (Rs. Millioms)
Investments the Future Scenario

FIG 10: PLAN OUTLAYS (CENTRAL SECT OR)
BY SUB-SECTOR EIGHTH AND NINTH PLANS
India’s population over the coming years, based on
projections (and taking into account the rapid urbanisation
81500
rate will be as follows:
100000
51000
India aims to reach 100 per cent coverage in terms of rural

50000 water supply by 2004, consolidation by 2007, and
augmentation by 2015. If it is assumed that India will
10000
maintain 100 per cent coverage from 2004 onwards,
6440
Sub Sector
projections based on current level of coverage and

5000
3800
3380
estimated population growth trends, this will mean that:

2200
5000
1500
• by 2004, India will need to reach an additional (from

1000 the current level) 232 million people, a further 19
million people by 2007 (from the 2004 level) to
500 maintain 100 per cent coverage, another 33 million
(from the 2007 level) people by 2015. By 2025, rural
0
populations would have stabilised (partially due to
9th Plan (Central)
falling birth rates, and partially due to the increasing
8th Plan (Central)
Rs. Millions Rs. Millions urbanisation), and it will be enough to maintain rural
water supply coverage at the 2015 levels. If the
Rural water supply Rural sanitation
Millennium and Johannesburg summit goals of
Urban water supply Urban sanitation halving uncovered populations by 2015 have to be
Source: Planning Commission met, the figure will be approximately 142 million
additional people (from the current levels). If the
Note: Outlays shown are Central investments at
current prices. global goal of water supply for all by 2025 has to be
achieved, this will mean covering an additional 75
million people from the 2015 levels.
last decade. While the population grew by over 21 per
cent, plan allocations to the water supply and sanitation India plans to achieve 35 per cent coverage by 2007 in
sector during the same period increased by barely one rural sanitation, and 50 per cent by 2015. This will mean:
and half per cent. This of course, shows the operational
reality of resource constraints. • reaching 133 million additional additional people
by 2007 (from the current level) and another 133
As in the earlier plans, coverage is one of the basic million by 2015 (from the 2007 level). If the
factors for allocation. This brings to the forefront a basic Millennium and Johannesburg goal of covering at
dilemma. If coverage is used as a basis for planning, then least half the unserved populations by 2015 has to be
the planning is target driven. At the same time, the Eighth met, India will have to reach an additional 335 million
Five Year Plan and subsequent plans strongly advocate people (from the current levels). If the global goal of
demand responsive approaches, which seek to move sanitation for all by 2025 has to be met, 269 million
away from earlier top down, target driven approaches. people will have to be covered (from the 2015 levels).
Likewise, India aims to achieve 100 per cent coverage in Extrapolation (keeping in mind current coverage levels)
urban water supply by 2007, and 75 per cent coverage in of the above show that estimated investments to the tune
urban sanitation by the same year (under low cost of Rs. 380 billion and Rs. 200 billion respectively will be
sanitation and sewerage). This means that: needed for rural water supply by 2015 and 2025
to meet millennium/Johannesburg and international goals.
• approximately 43 million additional (from the current For rural sanitation, the figures will be Rs. 676 billion by
level) urban people will have to be covered by water 2015 and Rs. 503 billion by 2025. Likewise, the
supply and an additional (from the current level) 31 investments necessary for urban water supply by 2015
million people with sanitation by 2007. In order to and 2025 will be Rs. 96 billion and Rs. 258 billion
meet the Millennium and Johannesburg summit respectively and for urban sanitation, the figures will be
goals, the figures will be approximately 88.5 million Rs. 208 billion and Rs. 539 billion by 2015 and 2025
and 92.5 million additional (from the current levels) respectively.
people for urban water supply and sanitation
respectively. For the global 2025 goals to be met, the Strategies
figures will be approximately 236.5 and 240 million
people respectively (from the 2015 levels). Rural water supply and sanitation
The National Agenda for Governance envisages provision
of safe drinking water to all rural habitations by 2004.
The RGNDWM’s strategy to achieve this revolves
around (a) accelerating coverage of remaining NC and
PC habitations with improved drinking water systems
(b) tackling the problems of water quality in affected
habitations and to institutionalise water quality
monitoring and surveillance systems, and (c) to promote
sustainability, both of systems and sources to ensure
continued supply of safe drinking water. To ensure
coverage, a Comprehensive Action Plan has been
prepared based on information furnished by the states.
As has been observed in the past, new non-covered

habitation often emerge in “covered” areas or covered
habitations cease to be so due to various factors.
To address this, the 2004-2007 period is expected to be
Projections of investment needs made by the RGNDWM used for re-survey of all habitations and consolidation
for the Tenth Plan period for rural water supply and rural work, thereby dealing with slippage and covering new
sanitation are Rs. 621 billion and Rs. 248 billion habitations.
respectively (including state and central plan funds).
Similar projections made by the MoUD for the Tenth For addressing water quality issues, exclusive Sub-
Plan period for urban water supply and urban sanitation Missions have been constituted for initiating preventive
(including drainage, sewerage, and solid waste and remedial measures. Current sub-mission programmes
management) are Rs. 283 billion and Rs. 494 billion include those on Arsenic, Fluoride, Brackishness, Iron,
respectively. and another on sustainability.
In terms of sustainability, one strategic development has rainwater harvesting, artificial recharge of aquifers,
been the recognition and acknowledgement that the conjunct use of surface and groundwater, revival of
government alone will not be able provide necessary traditional water harvesting and management systems
expansion of services to a growing population and that a such as ponds and tanks, johads, checkdams, etc.
shift of government role, from that of a service provider to
that of a facilitator and that local communities need to be A HRD programme is also in operation to support the
empowered to act as agents of social change. Coupled reforms process, in terms of empowerment of PRIs and
with the fact that while drinking water is a fundamental local bodies for O & M, capacity building of local
social right, exercising this right needs to be done keeping communities including training to mechanics, masons,
in mind that water is an economic good and the adoption health workers, motivators, etc. Comprehensive IEC
of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, the Sector programmes for building awareness and motivation,
Reforms Programme for rural drinking water supply was setting up of MIS systems, data collection, and
initiated, adopting a demand responsive and adaptable continuous monitoring and evaluation are also being
approach. The reforms strategy aims to ensure full adopted.
participation of villagers by empowering them to make
decisions in the choice of scheme design, control of Likewise, strategic reforms are underway in the rural
finances and management, and by ensuring partial capital sanitation sector. The TSC under the RCRSP represents a
cost sharing and shifting responsibility of O & M shift from a high subsidy, low community involvement,
completely to end-users. Strategies being adopted/ supply driven programme to a low/zero subsidy, high
advocated for sustainability of water sources include community involvement, demand responsive approach.
The key strategic features of the TSC include lower Urban water supply and sanitation
subsidies, greater household involvement, range of The primary objectives of the UWSS sector continue to
technology choices, options for sanitary complexes for include universal coverage, adequacy of water supply,
women, rural drainage systems, stress on IEC and regularity of supply, avoidance of excess drawal leading
awareness building, involvement of NGOs and local to depletion, and the need to conserve and make
groups, availability of institutional finance, HRD, and conjunctive use of water resources remain unchanged.
most importantly, emphasis on school sanitation. At the same time, keeping in mind the 74th Constitutional
Amendment, the growing urban population and the rate of
The Tenth Plan emphasis on UWSS and reforms in the urbanisation, and the current status of urban water supply
sector are a step in the right direction, as the sector faces and sanitation services, several reform processes are
deep systemic problems. Rapid growth in population underway. Broadly, these reform strategies include
combined with rapid growth of urbanisation has meant (a) decentralisation (b) commercialisation or
that most urban environments in India are highly stressed corporatisation of existing institutions (c) enhancement of
and deteriorating rapidly. Plan outlays for the urban technical and managerial capabilities (d) unbundling or
sector have been grossly inadequate compared to the rebundling of functions if ULBs (e) institutional
basic requirements of basic urban infrastructure. Most restructuring (f) changing role of government from
local governments, responsible for urban governance and service provider to regulator and facilitator (g)
management lack the required capacity for planning and appropriate forms of private participation and public-
managing local development initiatives, capabilities for private partnerships, (h) benchmarking for performance
appropriate decision making and shoring up and (i) evolution of a sound sector policy, and (j) emphasis on
managing financial resources. low cost sanitation and solid waste management.
Reform strategies envisage shifting of responsibility for management contracts, leases and concessions, SOT/
UWSS to municipal governments, which in turn could BOO/BOOT, etc and divestiture are also being
undertake the responsibity via a variety of arrangements increasingly facilitated. Several water conservation
including municipal department or enterprise, contracts measures are being advocated, such as leak detection and
with reformed state utilities or with private providers. rectification works, rainwater harvesting (in some cities,
Decentralisation strategies are also accompanied by mandatory for certain categories of buildings and
reforms that include development of good practices in projects), reuse and recycling of treated wastewater, and
municipalities, especially in the areas of accounting, recharging of aquifers.
auditing and procurement, the professionalising of
municipal management, removal of monopolies to state Solid waste management is also increasingly seen as an
owned providers to encourage competetion, important area in UWSS. Legislation on municipal waste
corporatisation of dis-aggregated entities (privatisation in handling and management has been passed in October
some cases), full autonomy to ULBs, and adoption of 2000. Some strategies on solid waste management
institutional capacity building. Financial reform strategies include preparation of town-wise master plans, training of
will now increasingly include direct market access to municipal staff, IEC and awareness generation,
service providers, better access to capital markets, credit involvement of community based and non-governmental
enhancement facilities, and utilisation of public funds to organisations, setting up and operation of compost plants
further reform initiatives (thereby enabling ULBs to via NGOs and the private sector, enhancement of the
leverage market funds). Tariff reform strategies include capacities of some state structures such as State Compost
rational water pricing on volumetric basis to encourage Development Corporations with emphasis on commercial
conservation and planned achievements of cost recovery operations and private sector involvement.
via rationalised pricing (thereby generating internal funds
for infrastructure improvements and enhancements).
Improved accounting based on double entry based accrual
systems are also being advocated.
Increasing emphasis on use of information technology

applications in urban governance and management to
ensure quick access to information, planning and decision
support systems (such as GIS), public domain access to all
relevant information (many ULBs are beginning to make
extensive and effective use of the internet – some such as
the Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation, the Delhi Jal
Board, the Kolkata Metropolitan Authority, Hyderabad
Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, and
many others have comprehensive websites providing
extensive access to information on services, tariffs,
infrastructure, management, contracts, government orders,
etc) is also being advocated.
Several options for private sector participation and public

private partnerships such as service contracts,
STRATEGIES AND CRITICAL ASPECTS OF THE SECT OR 59
Strengths and Challenges

Critical Factors sanitation sector the primary concern may be about
rapidly falling ground water levels and pollution of
Water resources aquifers and surface water, the problems go way beyond
The major bottleneck in an mere excess withdrawal of groundwater for agriculture.
effective policy formulation and For example, one of the reasons for excess withdrawal of
implementation is the current ground water is the extreme subsidisation of energy for
institutional set-up involving irrigation pump sets. Other reasons that directly affect
various government agencies. water balance include an alarming rate of deforestation
Further, there is a separation and loss of tree cover, loss of common lands, and
of responsibilities based on water quality and quantity. complete disregard for traditional management systems
As many as eight agencies are involved in collecting data such as tanks in southern India. This is but a small part of
on the following water-related parameters: quality of a large list.
surface water, ground water quality, monitoring of
drinking water quality, sanitation and drinking water Market-based instruments to encourage resource
supply. Such a fragmentary approach, both at the central conservation mainly in the agriculture and domestic
and state levels, results in duplication and ambiguity of sector have not been really tried. This accompanied with
functions and discourages unitary analysis of this scarce the subsidy regime in these sectors has resulted in poor
resource. For instance, the CPCB monitors the water resource usage efficiency.
quality at 507 locations and the CWC separately
measures water quality at another 300 locations. Knowledge/information/data gaps also plague the sector.
However, co-ordination between the two agencies in Published data is not readily available. Though
fixing the monitoring locations and defining monitoring groundwater availability maps have been prepared for
protocols is missing. certain locations, extraction rates have not been defined.
Information gaps on water consumption and effluent
Water being a state subject, the states are empowered to discharge patterns for industries also exist.
enact laws or frame policies related to water. Even then,
only some of the states have set up organisations for Other critical factors include water pollution,
planning and allocating water for various purposes. intersectoral imbalances, groundwater depletion, very
Though water policy for the country has been prepared inadequate price incentives for water conservation and
by the MoWR, only few of the states have their own efficient allocation between sectors (and conversely, not
respective state water policies. much disincentives for inefficiency, waste, etc).
A proper legal framework for regulating withdrawals of Rural water supply and sanitation
groundwater is not in place. Though efforts have been One of the most critical factors and the reason for the
made to check the overexploitation of groundwater centre to adopt sectoral reforms is the overwhelming
through licensing, credit or electricity restrictions, these perception that water supply and sanitation is the
restrictions are directed only at the creation of wells. responsibility of government, not of communities,
Even the licenses do not monitor or regulate the quantum households, and individuals. This holds true for the
of water extracted. While in the water supply and population at large, and also for most of the leadership in
Social and economic inequities have been briefly covered

in an earlier section, and these will continue to remain
major factors hindering effective and equitous
implementation of programmes.
While the ongoing Sector Reform programme places the

responsibility of O & M on local institutions and
communities, the pace of change has been slow in state
government agencies. This is also reflected in the
relatively low levels of expenditure under Sector Reforms
and the TSC by states. More importantly, the reform
initiatives need to be seen as a means of encouraging state
governments to move ahead with decentralization to PRIs
in line with the 73rd Constitutional amendment.
While the current approaches of Sector Reforms and TSC

and the ARWSP and RCRSP draw on the inherent
strength of community management, it must also be
recognised that community management also has inherent
weaknesses and these need to catered for. Community
management requires significant capacity building which
the state agencies responsible for RWSS. Another highly requires substantial human resources. This is particularly
critical issue is that water and sanitation programmes so where technology is complex or the size of ‘project’ is
operate in isolation from programmes in health and large. Communities also need regular support. As projects
education. This is a reflection of the fact that water and grow, new institutional inputs will be needed based on the
sanitation is not pursued with the aim of reducing changing scenario. How can that be put in place and who
disease, improving hygiene, improving educational levels finances it? NGOs or local government? Community
or reducing poverty. management is highly reliant on external facilitation and
support, both during and after implementation. Community
The rapidly growing population in India is a major area management is vulnerable to local and external events and
of concern. The increasing numbers mean available shocks and needs a strong supportive policy environment.
resources will be that much more stretched, and continue It is therefore the role of the government to provide
to do so if current trends continue. The deteriorating policies, regulations and a legal framework in which the
ground water situation is of critical importance to the water supply and sanitation sector, private sector, training
sector, as much of RWS is ground water dependent. sector, etc. can operate and which regulates the relations
Water quality problems, especially fluoride and arsenic between the owners, implementers and financiers.
too are critical issues. Low levels of literacy and
awareness of the health benefits of improved hygiene Community management is heavily reliant on a supportive
behaviour are a potential hindrance to the success of the framework. Many communities lack the capacity to
restructured programming. Sustained professional provide necessary support for technical design and
advocacy, IEC and social marketing inputs are definitely supervision, facilitation and management, long-term
needed to begin to turn the tide. training, legal issues, auditing, monitoring and evaluation.
Communities also largely do not have the capacity to reflect the fact that water and sanitation is not pursued
manage an increased amount of capital (for major repairs, with the aim of reducing disease, improving hygiene,
replacement, or extension) over a long period. They need improving educational levels or reducing poverty.
capacity building and support on managing of financial
resources. A number of ‘internal’ community dynamics The rapid pace of urbanisation is another critical issues
can threaten community management; e.g. conflicts, poor for UWSS. The bulk of already low sector investments go
leadership, lack of transparency, equity issues, theft. to the 4 mega-cities – Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and
Countering this threat again often calls for the presence of Kolkata. The pace of urbanisation also means that
external support. A number of threats to community increasing numbers of urban poor will lack access to
management, and in particular to scaling up community water and sanitation services or will have to pay high
management, have been identified around donor and prices to commercial vendors for water.
NGOs perceptions of government and the tendency to
create unsustainable parallel structures in the name of The lack of substantial new investments mean that
‘efficiency’. Donors in particular can pose a significant existing infrastructure is outdated, inefficient and highly
threat to long-term sustainability due to their largely stresses, leading to high degrees of unaccounted for
short-term project focus and need to ‘spend’ programme water. Limited metering and efficiency incentives,
funds. unviable pricing (does not even cover O & M costs), poor
revenue recovery rates, high unfulfilled investment needs
Urban water supply and sanitation lead to inadequate service coverage; unreliable and poor
As in the case of RWSS, one of the most critical issues in quality service provision. Commercially unviable urban
UWSS is that water and sanitation programmes operate in local bodies mean that fresh investments by external
isolation from programmes in health and education and agencies and the private sector will not be forthcoming.
The lack of reliable and dependable information on UWS Water Policy 2002 complements this potential by
and databases at local, state, and central level mean that advocating strongly for institutional restructuring and
there is very little actual basis for planning improvements. inter-sectoral planning and implementation.
For each major city in the developing world, there is the Rural water supply and sanitation
city ‘proper ’ where roads, piped water, and electricity are One of the greatest strengths of the RWSS sector has
relatively accessible. But either on its fringes or in slums been the will to implement sweeping changes in terms of
and tenements at its centre, informal settlements spring up, the Sector Reforms and TSC initiatives. The current
populated mostly by migrants. Peri-urban incomes are approaches of Sector Reforms and TSC and the ARWSP
usually low, because of the lack of job opportunities and and RCRSP, though slow to take off are a vital step in the
the low skills of many rural migrants. The haphazard right direction and draw on the inherent strength of
build-up of the settlements, the lack of funding for community management. This is primarily because of the
infrastructure, and high population densities combine following reasons:
to make these places water-stressed and unsanitary.
In addition, traditional community-oriented solutions • Community management is often small scale and
are difficult among recent migrants who are not a therefore facilitates transparency.
‘community’. And because peri-urban sector services are • Community management is flexible and can easily be
a relatively new area of concern, municipal water agencies adapted to the local circumstances including poverty.
are often particularly unaware of how to implement and Equally, it can adapt to local supporting mechanisms
how to finance decentralized solutions in these areas. and make best use of potential capacity of all
stakeholders.
Health • Local concerns drive the local agendas, leading to
Available data tells us that morbidity and mortality due to greater demand responsiveness.
water borne diseases have not declined commensurate • Community management allows for self-monitoring
with increase in availability of potable water supply. and self-regulation, which leads to improved
However, accurate data is simply not available owing to accountability and quicker feedback and learning.
inadequate surveillance mechanisms. • Community management has the potential to be more
sustainable in part due to improved revenue
The limited collaboration between health authorities and collection and hence cost recovery. It also has the
the water and sanitation sector only accentuates this potential to be more cost ef fective (although there is
situation. not yet much strong evidence)
• Community management also has several
(Potential) Strengths opportunities which can be tapped:
• Communities can take decisions on strategic issues,
Water resources like service level and tariff system and level, based
The institutions that are primarily responsible for water on local knowledge.
resources management such as the MoWR (and its • Communities can make strategic decisions about the
constituents such as the CWC, CGWB) and the MoEF system. They can manage local conflict and deal with
(and its constituents such as the NRCD and CPCB) have equity issues.
substantial resources in terms of trained personnel, • Communities can more effectively mobilise resources
information, data, research capability, etc. Pooled together, to pay for operation and maintenance costs, and
they have the potential to influence change. The National possibly for capital investments.
Another significant potential strength the sector has is the

relatively strong and vibrant non-governmental sector and
civil society. While more recently this group’s potential
and phenomenal outreach to communities and user groups
has been recognised and is beginning to be tapped in the
delivery of government programmes, there is much scope
to do more in this direction. Existing NGO and civil
society networks can be tapped and the formation of
sector-dedicated networks supported.
Urban water supply and sanitation

As in the case of RWSS, the urban sector too has taken
the vital decisions to bring in change in terms of reforms
agendas. This shift, when seen with the vibrant private
sector in India too is a strength, with potential (along
with NGOs and civil society groups) for increased
involvement in supply of water and sanitation goods and
services, potential for substantially increased (and much
needed) investments, increased involvement in planning,
implementation and O & M, potential for institutional
strengthening and training support, etc.
Signs of change are already evident in few cases such as

Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, etc. With the initiatives
under the Tenth Plan to make the sector more viable and
credit worthy, more and more urban centres are likely to
adopt similar reform initiatives.
Health
With the primary responsibility of protecting human
health, the health sector, with its strong health
infrastructure is uniquely positioned to support the water
and sanitation sector by integrating efforts to reduce the
burden of disease related to water, sanitation and
hygiene. As discussed in an earlier section, the National
Health Policy 2002 too echoes this potential.
FUTURE PROSPECTS 65
Sector Prospects
Water Resources Obviously a major effort in public education and training
of local people to impart the basic understanding and
If India’s aspirations for skills necessary for eliciting such participation is
continued economic growth and imperative. The government should also consider
improved social and providing technical and financial support for harvesting
environmental conditions are to rainwater, especially in the rural areas.
be met, fundamental changes in
how water is allocated, planned Water being a state subject, pricing is done by the state
and managed must occur. governments and water prices vary from state to state.
With water demand in the agricultural sector as high as
With water being a subject under the state list, the 95 per cent of total demand and no proportions between
present approach to water-related matters restricts the the water rates and consumption patterns, water usage
issue only to political boundaries, involving a number of efficiency is only 30-35 per cent. Such poorly targeted
agencies and ministries with overlapping responsibilities. subsidies send the wrong signals to users causing a
Instead a river basin or sub-basin-based approach to wasteful use of resources and suboptimal choices by
water management is called for. This would ensure that consumers. An appropriate tariff structure for water
aspects such as water allocation, pollution control, services will encourage wise usage of the resource and
protection of water resources, and mobilisation of generate additional support for the fund-starved service
financial resources are not dealt in isolation and decisions providers as well.
on the overall development process and land-use planning
flow from this. The administrative mechanisms necessary Together with the measures towards pollution abatement
to do this need to be defined and operationalised in it is imperative to further intensify efforts for
coordination with relevant state government departments, conservation of water to prevent overexploitation of
the central government, and representatives from the existing resources and reduce the quantity of wastewater
community, ensuring that the delegation of authority from generated. As water tariffs are very low, the consumer
the existing departments is consistent and avoids any has little incentive to conserve water. As such, systems of
overlapping. This could perhaps be done by an apex level incentives and disincentives will have to be worked, tried,
body operating under the MoWR. revised, and strengthened.
Groundwater legislation aiming at equity and In order to enhance effective treatment of wastewater,
sustainability in access to groundwater and its there is a need for better collection and interception of
development needs to be enacted in all states. sewage. The existing large number of scattered sources of
pollution from high-density low-income communities
The concept of watershed development has also to be need to be converted into concentrated point sources that
adopted more rigorously, which will effectively are easier to monitor and intercept for any further
contribute to the revival of local level traditional water treatment. Many low cost and effective technologies for
control works. Micro-watershed development provides a waste water treatment, e.g., duckweed ponds, and
medium for revival and integration of traditional water horizontal filters have been developed in other parts of
control measures. the world but are applied to a limited extent in India.
There is a need to explore the associated advantages in Terminology such as NC, PC and FC need to re-examined
terms of the negligible amount of energy required, and redefined to take into account the issues discussed in
beneficial uses of by-products (sludge as manure and earlier sections as also the rapid demographic changes
biogas), lower operation and maintenance costs, etc. that we are witnessing. Use of other ‘norms’ such as
‘poverty line’ also needs to be seriously re-examined.
Rural Water Supply and Sanitation These are more often than not rather flawed, one sided,
and do not reflect reality. There needs to be a rethinking
The currently on-going reform processes in the RWSS of poverty norms based on access to and control of
sector are important policy steps in the right direction. resources.
These should be sustained, and where necessary,
augmented by more reform measures. It is also important The high degrees of systemic and non-economic inequities
to continue to build the capacities of states to better that exist in India present a problem to widespread and
appreciate and better implement the reform programmes sharing of benefits from many changes that the current
and the devolution of powers, including financial to PRIs approaches may bring. Careful consideration and
in line with the 73rd Constitutional Amendment. incorporating these concerns into planning must be done
to ensure equitous distribution of benefits. Considering
the increasing importance to water quality, there is a need
to invest in modernising the network of government water
testing laboratories at all levels and by providing
additional support in terms of training and capacity
building in order to establish an effective water quality
surveillance network. Along with the reforms agenda, it is
important to start developing and using frameworks for
minimum standards and benchmarking for all levels of
RWSS work.
Urban Water Supply and Sanitation
As in the case of RWSS, the UWSS sector has begun

to take important measures towards sectoral reforms.
These need to strengthened and sustained so that ULBs
become efficient and viable entities and in turn are able
While the importance of and need for intersectoral to offer better levels of services. In addition to the transfer
collaboration has already been stressed upon in earlier of powers to ULBs under the 74th Constitutional
sections, it is important to reiterate the need for RWSS Amendment, there is a need to undertake substantial
agencies to operate hand-in-hand with their health and training of personnel to implement and sustain reform
education counterparts to jointly monitor indicators of agendas.
RWSS, health, education, poverty, and equity in order to
make significant headway in the respective sectors. There is an urgent need for a comprehensive, reliable,
With the new policy agendas in these sectors, such cross-sectoral, continually updated system for collection
intersectoral collaboration is now possible, more than and analysis of water supply and sanitation metadata,
ever before. including on financial information. Such a metadata
FUTURE PROSPECTS 67
system should be complemented by use of dedicated GIS prevalence without also improving practices. Existing
based planning tools and decision support systems. health promotion and education programmes should be
There is an urgent need to increase investments into the made more effective and geared towards achieving
UWSS sector. While fiscal reforms in the sector are behaviour changes needed to improve hygiene. To do this,
underway, the disparity in terms of plan allocations for health promotion and education programmes will need to
sanitation also needs to be corrected. There also needs to be strengthened to achieve behaviour changes needed to
be increased investments in civic awareness generation improve hygiene practices. Water supply and sanitation
and social marketing, such as the need to reduce the authorities need to make significant investments over
quantum of solid waste generated, separation of organic several decades to correct deficiencies in coverage and
and inorganic wastes, etc. Such programmes can be meet the needs of growing populations. Meanwhile,
complemented by ULBs by reinforcing their available families and communities can protect their health through
infrastructure for efficient MSW management and ensuring simple, affordable measures. These include rainwater
the scientific disposal of MSW by generating enough harvesting and household level water treatment. Health
revenues either from the generators or by identifying authorities should play a leading role in promoting
activities that generate resources from waste management measures to alleviate morbidity and mortality. This can
(composting, recycling, energy generation, etc). Promotion
of private sector participation and public – private
partnerships in UWSS to augment the reform initiatives
should also be encouraged.
There is a need for a better understanding of water supply

and sanitation needs and systems of peri-urban areas. This
is especially important, as peri-urban areas are populated
by large numbers of migrants from rural areas, community
approaches are unlikely to work.
Health
Successful advocacy depends on strong evidence.

To advocate the development of water supply and
sanitation infrastructure and increased efficiency within
the sector, health authorities will need to improve their
information base. Health authorities’ capacity as be achieved by strengthening the capacity of health
advocates of improved water supply and sanitation authorities to promote simple, affordable water supply
services and increased sector efficiency can be and sanitation technologies at community level. In
strengthened by linking disease surveillance with addition to employing strategies of advocacy and
environmental surveillance programmes, by strengthening partnerships, health authorities in particular must take
research capacities on epidemiology of water related action to ensure inter-programme collaboration, where
disease and economic analyses, and by improving water supply and sanitation concerns intersect with
information management and communications capabilities. programmes for disease prevention and control, primary
Improving access to water supply and sanitation services health care and healthy settings, infants’ and children’s
is necessary, but not sufficient to reduce disease health, and women’s health and gender equity.
Recommendations Common to Water bring together these experiences and document best
Resources, RWSS and UWSS practices and what works and what does not, to use this
as a planning and implementation tool, and also to
There is a wealth of experience in the country in the promote cross-sectoral learning.
areas of water resources management, RWSS, UWSS,
and health. This experience, spanning decades, is It will be extremely useful to set-up a state-of-art
however ‘scattered’ both geographically and between centralised resource centre for collection, compiling, and
diverse institutions including government ministries and disseminating information on water resources, RWSS,
departments and other bodies, development aid agencies, UWSS and health. Such a centre could become an
private sector, and civil society groups such as NGOs. important hub promoting inter-sectoral coordination and
The institutional experience is also diverse, ranging from dialogue. The centre could also form a hub to promote
policy to grassroots implementation. Recognizing the networking among the sector agencies (and especially
connectedness of these sectors, there is ample scope to including the vibrant NGO/INGO and private sectors).
A REMINDER FOR PERSPECTIVE
India aims to reach 100 per cent coverage in terms of rural water supply by 2004, consolidation by 2007, and
augmentation by 2015. If it is assumed that India will maintain 100 per cent coverage from 2004 onwards,
projections based on current level of coverage and estimated population growth trends, this will mean that by
2004, India will need to reach an additional (from the current level) 232 million people, a further 19 million
people by 2007 (from the 2004 level) to maintain 100 per cent coverage, another 33 million (from the 2007
level) people by 2015. By 2025, rural populations would have stabilised (partially due to falling birth rates,
and partially due to the increasing urbanisation), and it will be enough to maintain rural water supply coverage
at the 2015 levels. If the Millennium and Johannesburg summit goals of halving uncovered populations by
2015 have to be met, the figure will be approximately 142 million additional people (from the current levels).
If the global goal of water supply for all by 2025 has to be achieved, this will mean covering an additional 75
million people from the 2015 levels.
India plans to achieve 35 per cent coverage by 2007 in rural sanitation, and 50 per cent by 2015. This will
mean reaching 133 million additional additional people by 2007 (from the current level) and another 133
million by 2015 (from the 2007 level). If the Millennium and Johannesburg goal of covering at least half the
unserved populations by 2015 has to be met, India will have to reach an additional 335 million people (from
the current levels). If the global goal of sanitation for all by 2025 has to be met, 269 million people will have
to be covered (from the 2015 levels). Likewise, India aims to achieve 100 per cent coverage in urban water
supply by 2007, and 75 per cent coverage in urban sanitation by the same year (under low cost sanitation and
sewerage). This means that approximately 43 million additional (from the current level) urban people will have
to be covered by water supply and an additional (from the current level) 31 million people with sanitation by
2007. In order to meet the Millennium and Johannesburg summit goals, the figures will be approximately 88.5
million and 92.5 million additional (from the current levels) people for urban water supply and sanitation
respectively. For the global 2025 goals to be met, the figures will be approximately 236.5 and 240 million
people respectively (from the 2015 levels).
A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS FUTURE PROSPECTS FUTURE PROSPECTS 69
Acknowledgements
The working team that primarily assisted the consultant in This report could not have been generated without the
the generation of this report consisted of Mr. A. Sekhar, support of WHO and UNICEF, who funded the
Advisor, Water Resources, at the Planning Commission assessment process. The role of Dr. Robert J. Kim Farley,
and Mr. K. P. Katailiha, Deputy Advisor, Water Supply, WHO Representative to India, Mr. Terence Thompson,
Planning Commission. They were the primary source of Advisor, Water, Sanitation and Health at WHO-SEARO,
information at the Planning Commission, assisted Mr. M. M. Dutta, National Project Officer at the Office
extensively with data, sector reports, and various of the National Representative to India, WHO, and
documents, and have been a major source of support and Mr. Henk van Norden, Chief, Child’s Environment
encouragement during the preparation of this report. Section, UNICEF India Country Office, towards this are
gratefully acknowledged. They provided several
Several others played significant roles in terms of constructive suggestions at various stages of preparation
providing data, reports, and documents that helped of the report. Mr. Jose Hueb of WHO-Geneva also gave
generate this report. Of these, special acknowledgements valuable inputs.
are due to Dr. Ramesh Chandra Panda, Joint Secretary
and Mission Director, RGNDWM, Department of Others who have contributed and helped by way of
Drinking Water Supply and Mr. V. B. Ramprasad, discussions and interviews were Mr. R. Sethuraman,
Advisor (PHEE), CPHEEO, Department of Urban Deputy Advisor, (PHEE), CPHEEO, Mr. Kumar Alok,
Development and Poverty Alleviation. Without the Deputy Secretary, and Mrs. P. V. Valsala Kutty,
patience, understanding, and incalculable support Director, Department of Drinking Water Supply,
accorded by Dr. Panda and Mr. Ramprasad, this report and Mr. K. Mazumdar, Consultant, UNICEF.
(attempting to capture the highly complex and diverse
issues of the sector in the space of 72 pages) could not
have been generated.
References and Bibliography

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Copyright © Planning Commission, Government of India

Photo Credits: Child’s Environment Section, UNICEF India Country Of fice

List of Tables, Figures, Maps, and Boxes

T ABLE 1: INCREASING URBANISATION ............................ 16 POLITICAL MAP OF INDIA.............................................. 14

T ABLE 2: GROWTH OF M ETRO CITIES............................. 16 GROUNDWATER DEPLETION ............................................ 15

FIGURE 3: SANITATION COVERAGE.................................. 35 URBAN WATS AN DEVOLUTION....................................... 26

FIGURE 4: INFANT MORTALITY RATES BY SEX LEVELS OF E XTERNAL DONOR A SSISTANCE...................... 27

FIGURE 8: INCREASING SECTOR INVESTMENTS.................. 52 SUCCESS! I NDIA ERADICATES GUINEAWORM DISEASE........ 47

FIGURE 9: SHIFTINF P LAN INVESTMENTS IN A REMINDER FOR PERSPECTIVE ..................................... 68

FIGURE 10: PLAN O UTLAYS BY SUB-SECTOR.................... 53

October 23, 2002

The water resources, RWSS, UWSS and health sectors

POLITICAL MAP OF INDIA stimulated domestic and foreign investment. This

Water and Sanitation in Indias

Historically, civilisations in India, as around the world,

However, this achievement has been at the cost of

TABLE 1 More importantly, the first areas likely to be adversely

India receives an average annual rainfall equivalent of

National level statistics for water

DEPLETING WATER AVAILABILITY

Water infrastructure investments have also enabled

particularly severe because of its rapidly developing water

Evolution of Water and

Water supply and sanitation were added to the national

Overview of National Strategies comprehensive development of water resources, with the

previous Plans and emphasises strong reform agendas.

URBAN WATSAN DEVOLUTION

contractors to state governments and donor-financed

Rural and urban coverage

The same chart also shows that between 91 to 93 per cent

Data available with the Department of Drinking Water

FIG 2: WATER SUPPLY COVERAGE AND USE

WHO-UNICEF JMP WATER SUPPLY DATA

Source Code Year data used other data used other

The International Drinking Water Supply and

Census 1981(No breakdown available) CEN81 1981 75 27

The International Drinking Water Supply and

The International Drinking Water Supply and

National Sample Survey 1989

The International Drinking Water Supply and

Water Supply and Sanitation Sector

Census 1991 (No breakdown available) CEN91 1991 81 56

India  Demographic & Health Survey - 1992/93 DHS93 1993 89 64

India  National Sample Survey  1993 NSS93 1993 90 67

Water Supply and Sanitation Sector

India  National Sample Survey  1996 NSS96 1996 93 75

Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Water

India, National Family Health Survey,

Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment

Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2000 MICS00 2000 94 80

Estimates based on linear regression of the above data 1990 88 61

Water quality Zinc, Copper, and Manganese (especially around

FLUORIDE AFFECTED AREAS IN INDIA ARSENIC AFFECTED AREAS OF WEST BENGAL

75 blocks in West 13.8 million

Severly affected Moderately affected

FIG 3: SANITATION COVERAGE

Census (U) NSSO (U) NFHS (U) Urban Trend

WHO-UNICEF JMP SANITATION DATA

Source Code Year data used other data used other

Water and Sanitation in Indias

India Demographic & Health Survey - 1992/93 DHS93 1993 89 64

India National Sample Survey 1993 NSS93 1993 90 67

India National Sample Survey 1996 NSS96 1996 93 75

India Demographic & Health Survey 1992/93 DHS93 1993 57 11

India National Sample Survey - 1993 NSS93 1993 43

India National Sample Survey 1996 NSS96 1996 50 6

Investments the Future Scenario