RF_COM_H_41_SUDHA.pdf

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extracted text
/Saviours in saris for Bundelkhand pump set;
^Jndettered by male jibes, women of Manikpur blockin water-starved Bundelkhand have ushered in a handpump revolution. Kai Friese repo
X THE parched hamlets of

I Manikpur block in BundelkI hand, the spectacle of a
A gang of women disem­

bowelling the local handpump
still draws bemused looks. But
never a murmur of protest
except to ask why they didn't
come sooner. The women for
their part have little time for
their onlookers' queries as they
press to the task: "Baara inch
wrench. Vice kasso. Arre yaar.
jor se" Its the post-mahua off­
season. and veteran hand­
pump mechanics of Mahila
Samakhya (MS) are training a
fresh
batch
of
women
volunteers.
With 17 "master mechanics"
at hand and a further 15 new
recruits, this community hand­
pump project has taken on res­
ponsibility for the maintenance
of350ofthe 500-odd handpum­
ps in Manikpur block. After one
and a half years in operation
the
impact
on
water­
availability has already been
marked. According to project
coordinator Madhavi Kuckraja. the onset of summer last
tear found almost half the
hand-pumps in their area ino­
perative. whereas this year
or.iy 10-12 are out of order.
The project is one of a small
handful of-Similar initiatives in
community handpump mainte­
nance across the country. But
while many of these have a
'women's
component.'
the
Manikpur program is some­
what unique in being 'manned'
almost exclusively by women.
who take on the task without
..quuuy .-mrrarxabie per­
haps. is the fact that the project
involves two government agen­
cies (MS and the UP Jal Nigam)
and an international organisa­
tion. (UNICEF) working toge­
ther. MS has solid base among
women, particularly of the Koi
community who are the backbone
of
the
project's
acr.i.wements.
MS's v. jrk in Manikpur block
of Banda district was started as
a programme of the Depart­
ment of Education in April
1989 with the brief to enhance
women's access to information
and education. And education
was defined as "the question­
ing of traditional norms, sys­
tems. beliefs and discrimina­
tion on the grounds of caste
class and gender." In the event.
what might have been a formu­
la for vagueness was interpret­
ed instead as .a mandate , for

active

involvement

in

local

struggles.
The programme developed a
strong base of women's groups
(Sanghas' in villages of the Koi
and Harijaz communities as
well as a cadre of tillage level
representatives (5akhis) and
fulltime workers known as
Sahayoginis. An office in Karvi
town acted as a resource cen­
tre, and coordinating point for
the activities. But often, issues

sion of handpumps in the area. would tell us to teach them to
subsequent maintenance was fix handpumps." What began
handled with lassitude. Some as fanciful speculation soon
pumps lay in disrepair for became a serious topic of dis­
years, and 50 per cent of those cussion among Sahayoginis,
in the villages where MS was until finally resource persons
active, lay broken for a: least at the Karvi office were prevail­
six months at a stretch.
ed upon to contact UNICEF,
Efforts by vat ious Sak'nis and which has been involved in a
Sahayoginis to elicit some offici­ number of community hand­
al action on this front inve-le-- pump projects as a funding and
ly ran into brick wails of technical support agency. Dis­
bureaucracy. Shashi, a Sahayt- cussions with UNICEF led to

en their worth in helping to
repair 21 handpumps, and
things have not been quite the
same since.
Today the batchmates of
1991 are trainers themselves.
acknowledged as equals by the
fitters and as "Masterains" by
their communities. “People
know us now" says Sutnitra, a
mechanic, "Men from distant
villages recognise us as 'hand­
pump meheriyan and greet

committees that MS has cultiva­
ted. parallel to its Sakhis ar.d
Sanghas. Motivating the train­
ing people to take on these posi­
tions (with responsibility for
the day-to-day maintenance of
water sources) has been a con­
siderable task, which MS took
up at UNICEF's urging.
But the committees have pro­
ved an invaluable support to
the women mechanics. "No
one makes fun of the women

ies where they have hand
work.
On the other hand, the
still an enjoyable edge t
women's appropriation
technology from which
are excluded and the h.
castes
exclude themse
Chamela. a mechanic, likrecount the tale of the Bral
pradhan of Bhaori village ■
with obvious condescen
dismissed the visiting me
nics as "Kols and charm
Once they had fixed the vil
handpump. Chamela turne
the incredulous pradhan
said, "We might be Kols
Chamars. but look how ft
you keep your handpump p
form. And you are Brahmins
Similarly, suggestions
men that it might be more pr
tical to instruct them in ha
pump repair are also de
handled, with the argunr
that women are the prim;
users of the pumps, while n:
are often not around when
problem occurs. After all. m
are so busy Spontaneous son
at the end of a day of traini:
also warn men not to medti
with the pump.
Despite this defiant spir
the women still face consider:
ble odds. Their families an
communities are often ambiva
ent about their new role an
lions as well as new resent
ments bubble to the surfac-

Women in Manikpur: Breaking barriers
taken up Itca'Jy would bo
gini, recalls that on we
::
the Block Development Officer
resoh.ed
,:ca_y.
Struggles
against landlords, tendu patta
(BDO) the illiterate women me:
contractors, cr small-time lum­ with the taunt. “Do you know
what a complaint is?
pens involved in cases of sexual
harassment, were taken up by write one." Rising tn the chal­
various Sanghas and their Sak­ lenge. they procured writ;—.
his and Sahayoginis.
applications but evoked 110 r'5'
But one
persistent and
ponse for their pains.
widespread problem which MS
It was in this come'1 I"“;
confronted with little success
women in MS began 1° l—'
was that of water. Banda is a
about training local won^n tv
drought prone district which
repair their handpuntpS'
faces grave scarcity during suggestion came from u-.e
summer. Although in the' 1970s women," says a Sakhi.
and 19SOs there was a profu- we had village meeting5 1 •

i.-.cturaging contacts w ith the
Jal Nigam. and before the year
w as out a training session was
being planned for MS's first
raw recruits.
When it took place in October
1991 many of the trainees'
families took a dim view saying
was a man’s job. The Jal
Nigam's experienced fitters
were dubious saying these
women are suited to working
with bread and cow dung
aione. The women, understan­
dable, were.far.
3t"

us." And there are perks like
tea in whichever village they
happen to be in.
Some other attitudes have
also changed in the process.
Mushtaq, a Jal Nigam fitter
working with the programme
recalls that "until MS joined
the maintenance work no one
used to lift a finger to help us in
the villages." The fact that villa­
gers are now more inclined to
assist in the repair of their
handpumps has much to. do
tLrilh a nnii-' ctru?tnra ,.xf

any more." says Kuchreja.
"there is that basic support."
Yet the new responsibilities
and relationships entailed have
also wrought some changes
which the women have mixed
feelings about. There is little
time these days for many of the
issues which once preoccupied
them, or' the confrontations
with authority at which they
had become so adept. Rajeshwari, a Sahayogini. acknow­
ledges without enthusiasm that
kic. i.oc. been mending fences

munit-

■■r-’r "tr::.
■■n -i.re.
travelling tn trucks with the ja
Nig'.;:: men. is a popular sub­
ject of innuendo. The long
hours of unpaid strenuous
labour can also be a serious
burden on the women, whose
domestic work load is conside­
rable. Such adversities have
contributed to a high initial
drop-out rate among handc mp trainees—approaching
t'J percent.
But those who have stayed
with the programme are not
coy about suggesting that some
renumeration for their work
would make things easier.
Rajeshwari thinks that each
mechanic should receive a
maintenance fee of Rs 150. MS
is in fact inv estigating the possi­
bility of setting up an agency or
cooperative
of
women
mechanics.
/
And Mushtaq of the Jal
Nigam thinks this is an excell­
ent idea. The onlyxrfoblem is.
he wants to join.

information's documentation
YU^t_40_INSTITOTIONAi_£KEA/ SOUTH GF I.I.T.

NAME OF TH" NEWSPAPER
ECONOMIC TIMES
?;.r----------financial express

NEW DELHI-110016

DATE

(D2I-HI) (DELHI)
(Delhi)

By Nishi Sinha

fS^OR the last five to ten years
JJ2 Tamil Nadu has been facing
croueht of various magnitudes.
with the result that the saying
•"water water everywhere but not
a drop to drink" is really applicj Sto the State. In the present
* circumstances, the Tamil Nadu
"
has .for the fin: time
’", .’:,i come out with wtr.e: .?.”••
which have been framed by some
c: the most well qualified people.

The first step towards t’.tii has
been the formulation of the Tamil
Nadu Water Resources Act. The
Act provides for Government
control on all water, which in­
cludes surface,
underground.
atmosphere and drainage w.ter.
For making it effective, the provi­
sion requires an amendment of
the Land .Acquisition Act to eli­
minate the alternative of '.e--y or
, penalty for encroachment and
. also a provision that the encroacher is evicted within a
reasonable time.
The Act says that in allocating
•Aater resources the first priority
x shall be given to domestic and
a municipal purpose. After this re* quirement is fulfilled, allocation
and regulation of water will be
done according to the following
• order of preference. Agriculture
will get the second, power and
energy ihi J. water for i
and commercial uses fourth and
the rest of the users will get the
last preference.
Three types of licences are in­
tended to be issued. Perennial
- licences for base run off stream.
annual allocation from the Gov­

ernment constructed storage pro­
ject. safe yield of aquifer and
seasonal licence for water over
and above base run off stream and
conditional licence for water with­
in the jurisdiction of Government
projects under planning. The fai­
lure to use water under a valid
licence for a period of five con‘Vv'-’.vec.’-’ wit-h•?••-■’• dire C2.’JS?

w:., .
. r.’w.-a:u ■ ■ the licence.
This, however, does not pre­
vent PWD from a temporary
niicc.stion of w--.’vr curing drought
or water shortage as determined
in the public interest. Provision
will also be made for maintaining
a current register of licensed wa­
ter users and lane benefited by
the use of water.
The issue of compensation for
easement and right of way is not
taken care of. but must be consi­
dered in the light of the existing
laws of rhe State Compensation
for taking of water rights under
licence is provided, except where
temporary diversion, reduction or
anti-capacity closure is necessary
due to emergency drought or wa­
ter shortage period.
Application for licence to divert
and use water for any other pur­
pose allowed in the Act except
Government construction and
irrigation projects and production
of hydro-power will be submitted
to the Execiri^u 'ir.g.necr. PWD.
in the district. Lpon a favourable
recommendation the Executive
Engineer will issue a licence to the
applicant.
How tricky can this be will be
known in due course. Though
most of the Government depart­

surface water should be done in
such a way as to maximise the
beneficial uses of water. PWD will
approve private and public sector
projects for artificial recharge of
ground water. The proposal for
recharge will contain source of
recharge and determination of
adverse eftects on existing water
users.

ments take a lot of time to act,
PWD in every State is known for
its delaying tactics due to rampant
corruption in the Department.
For the development of ground
water, the Government will con­
duct detailed investigation di
potent’?.! resources ■ throughout
the State. Rules and regulations
w’ll- £■•;.;adopted for the develoor.'.rm -■ J evr!o:'c:::-n bi •.-.v’tinu
water. No person w;ii be .mowed
to drill without firs: obtaining a
permit from PWD. Registration
of well Griders and pump installa­
tion contractors will be done by
PWD. Tne Government is ex­
pected to develop proper stan­
dards for adequate protection of
ground water quality, This is
being done as in several areas of
Tamil Nadu ground water, essen­
tial for municipal water supplies.
is being extracted for irrigation.
industrial and other purposes.
The potential danger of con­
tamination of aquifer from sea
water intrusion is also very likely.
To safeguard against this the de­
signation of certain aquifer for
protection and management is
also essential. As also the culling
of wells and installation of rumps
should be undertaken by qualified
parties. A permit shou.d be
obtained before drilling is under­
taken Standards for ground wa­
ter de'e:. pment and utm-ctim:
should be set io ensure maximum
protection and efficient utilisation
of this xaluable resource.
Conjtmctixe use of water
should be encouraged. For this
the use of ground water alongwirh
springs, lakes, streams and other

very complex and sensitive due to
the various Acts under which
charges levied. It.is proposed that
more uniform, systematic and
equitable norms and process for
cost recovery and cost sharing be
adopted.
In the long run what happens is
that the influential people at the
district level manage things and
iit-.

drought may tiuud diversion c:
licensed water to priority areas as
declared by the Government to
ensure equitable distribu;.. ?. <:
water leased according to necessi­
ty during drought or shortage
period.
The Government would deter­
mine revenue in the form of wj:er
charges for the construction of
new projects and maintenance of
the existing projects to be asses­
sed against the land beneired
according to the type of use and
the benefit derived out of it. This
will be treated as public revenue.
The building and produce of the
land w ill be considered first secur­
ity pax mem of water charges.
Many of the oid water cess Acts
have been incorporated into this
nexx Act to make water charge
effective. From a brief examina­
tion of rates ot cess method of
calculation and assessment in \arious areas of (he State one tines
th a’ there is little uniform::;
amongst d.strict re.e>.uc o’.ices.
Very often rates levied are not
collected. There is very little col­
lection of operation and mainte­
nance cost, specially from ire
agricultural sector.
The issue of water charges is

AVater.resources '
management?.*
• •

.*37

*

•

Continued from previous "page
sist of a president, a manager and
a treasurer.
The association may request tne
Collector, to earmark land to be

used by :t for ccrnm* r .H’.iicu.t -rai
purposes like spc..:.il lorextry.
grazing ground, weiis .mil tam.x
under tne nrovisiwn ”1 i"e L-nu
.Acquisition Act
Already there ate •.ntnit^a..,
examples of formal and informal
water users associations in fami!
Nadu. I( is necessary to gran:

T^'riD.!! :c<-

ha .e excess amount oi dues to be
paid since they connive with the
powers that be. On the other
h„nd..:he poor villagers might not
have the money to pay water
charges on a regular basis. At the
State headquarters things arc
more streamlined. At the district
luxe! it is easy to make laxvs but
difficult to execute them unless
the person dealing with it is a man
of courage of conviction and a
good administrator.
Tne owner of low-lying land
xx;i! be entitled to make drainage
channel. But it should be made in
such a manner so as to minimise
damage to land owners of loxvIxmg areas. At the same lime, it
should not prejudice the interest
of other users
The Government should be
able to declare flood control areas
and construct necessary flood
control structures. Land within
the declared flood control area
wii! nor be cultivated or occupied
H const xxork withu'i*
prior permission from the River
Basin Authority.
PW D will be expected to estab­
lish a hydrological and water use
data bank for the purpose of
pitinnine. allocation, distribution

and management of the States’
water resources.
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Con­
trol Board should prepare a Tamil
Nadu water quality plan. An im­
portant programme to ensure
compliance with the water quality
plan will include a system of
penalty sufficient to encourage
required compliance.
The .forma r.,zm
water court
nas oeen envb_;-... ■fpa: ?. ptirt.
can appeal to thewater court. No
water court or civil court shall
grant a stay or t—'ut-ction on any
matter or dispute arising out of
the administrative decision. Stay
may be granted in matters related
to acquisition of land, designation
of right of way. refusal of licence
or ex’iction of encroachment from
public property and any other
matter provided by the rules
The Tamil Nadu Water Re­
source Council and Institute for
Water Resource would be noti­
fied by the Government. The
Council will be manned by senior
bureaucrats and the Chief Secret­
ary would be tne head of the
Council.
Tamil Nadu is a water scarce
State. The scarcity is more acute
now because cf below-normal
rainfall during the last few years.
resulting in drought condition and
rationing of water for municipal
and domestic use. Needless to say
that less water .s avsiiab’.c ter
agricultural ana industrial pur­
poses.
One of the main hurdles in
improving the water management
in the State is the present status of
water laws. There are presently

eight Central Acts and 20 State
Acts related to water matters
which are carried out by depart­
ments xvith numerous boards and
committees. There is a lack of
cohesive set of water policies to
direct the agencies carrying out
their duties.
At present there are several
standing committees at the Cen­
tral. State and district levels, in
w'h’’.; ’ t.:
:v.concerned focus on co-ordinating
these activities and establishing
procedure to carry out their va­
rious programmes. But they are
often limited in their authority
and responsibility. Hence the
need for a council for water re­
sources
Tr.ere is aho a proposal for the
creation of a river basin authority
which would develop and manage
hydrological boundaries of the
basin. Experience of many other
countries clearly indicate that the
basin management approach is
highly desirable and successful.
In Tamil Nadu general control
of x».ater is at the district level
which is an artificial administra­
tion boundary as far as the hydrological characteristic of water re­
source is concerned. The author­
ity’s relationship with other au­
thorities and agencies and the
membership structure of the au­
thority will improve. Its main
work \x.‘;e data collection and
resource management through a
basin master plan also and co­
ordination of multiple uses in the
basin.
The Government will encour-.
age xvater users associations. Any

group of farmers, numbering not
Tess than ten, receiving water from
a common source of supply, be it
a canal, well tank or otherw'ise.
may form water users association.
Such an association will be reg­
istered. The primary purpose of
the association ’•'•ill be operation.
maintenance, development and
imr.'oxement of water supply.
equitable distribution, drainage.
me.”.

water utilisation.

pur­

ser c-.n be a member only if he L
either a land owner or lessee or a
guaraian of a minor wno

is

a

lessee or land owner.
Trough the qualifications for
becoming a member have been
clean> spelt o>it. it is to be seen to
wra: extent tne Government wi:!
suck to this. In the end all power­
ful persons wfii become members.
leav-rg the poor and needy high
Members of the association
wcu.'d constitute genera: assembi\. A meeting of the general
assembly will be conxened ever.
year The members .sill elect
memrers of the governing comrr.:-:re Tne committee wili he
responsible for carrying out the
general objective of the Act.
byelaws and rules, and manage
the activities or the association in
deibery and distribution of water.
It will also serve as the commun:;a': m Ii?.k with g . er’fuer.-

depar.ments in dissemination r.:
information and all other matters
related to the well-being of the
farmers The committee will cor.Contd. on page 6

Pnotc GURINDER OSAN

Waste water
for aquifiers
byUsha Rai ■ .
WITH groundwater
being overexploited
in 630 blocks of the
country and water
shortage
acquiring
diabolical
dimen­
sions in metros like
Delhi and Chandi­
garh as well as rural
areas, the Central Ground Water Board
(CGWB) has worked out a scheme for
replenishing sub-surface water with,
treated urban waste water.
Treated waste water will actually be
purchased from the civic bodies for
recharging aquifiers in the next three.
four years. S.C. Sharma, director and
secretary of the CGWB said the details
w ere being worked out. Tne technology
exists and pilot projects have been pro­
posed for Delhi and Chandigarh.
With ground.water accounting for 50
per cent of the irrigation in the country
and. in the worst affected areas, ground
water droppingby seven metres in 15
years, several methods of recharging the

caste waterisjustoneofthem. though a
ether unconventional one for a country

-f ctem’ and 'm-.tle.an'. Hawe-.ei. u is aisa a telling comment on tne
acute water shortage in the country.
For j ears newspapers has e written on
the woes of rural women trudging miles
for amcrka of water. More recently there
has been heightened awareness about
inequity in water distribution — the
classic case being of the sugar barons of
Maharashtra, who with their enormous

In Al Paso. Mexico, where six to eight
million gallons of w aste water is treated
every day.people refused to drink and
use for domestic purposes the treated
water. They said it should only be used
for watering the golf courses. At great
cost, it then had to be injected back into
the earth. After i: was cleansed by nature
in the bow els of the earth the objection to
is use melted away. In India, too. there
could well be a storm of protest. But in
all major cities there is so much waste
water that it seems a shame not to tap it
after proper treatment to remove the
solids, the residual detergents and other
harmful contaminants.
The CGWB has divided the country
into blocks c: dark grey and white —
dark grey denoting resource utilisation
of 60 per cent and above. Punjab.
Haryana. Ar.dhra Pradesh. Gujarat.
Tamil
Xad_.
Maharashtra
and
Rajasthan falls tn this category. Despite
all the imga:.:". canals and big dams
constructed s r.ce Independence. 40
million hectares is irrigated by ground
water today as against five million
hectares in 1951. Eighty per cent of the
Ground water is used fur irrigation.
Whoeverhxs Rs 22,000 to Rs 24.000.
prefers to have a personal tubewell with
which rise
hectares of land can
he irrigated. Sc rar'here,has been no law
to prever.' ccr.strucuon'of personal
wells. A source directly under one’s
control is preferred to a sarkari pro­
gramme to deliver the manna. Ground
water development is. therefore, largely
a peoples’ pregramme. As against 8.5
million privately owned and. therefore.
better maintained tube wells, there are
just 80.000 scricritube wells.

WC..,th and political cle.t m.-.e been
belly to suck out water for sugarcane.
while fanners on the periphery of their
fields, who cannot afford to sink their
own tubcwells. do not have water for
drinking — forget irrigation.
Alarm bells are sounded when
ground water declines steadily over
years at the rate of 10 to 5'j cms a year.
Even a steady 10 cms fail in ground
water is cause for concern.
In the US. Israel and several European
countries replenishment cf ground
water with waste water ha_- become an
accepted way of life. In Israel which his
perfected the an of water management,
2‘Nper cent of the ground water is

neglected and new ones are not coming
up. But now there is a growing aware­
ness for w ater conservation.
The CGWB has identified 125blocks
of the country where the state of devel­
opment exceeds the assessed replenish­
able resource, in Punjab where every
farmer has his own tube well and the
cropping pattern tschanging from wheat
to water-intensive nee. there has been a
seven metres fail in ground water over
15 years in certain pockets like Sangrur.
Other badly affected areas are Patiala
and Kapunhaia. There has been a two to
fou r me tres drop in grou nd water over 15
years — in Kurukshetra— Haryana;
Gauri bnranur ra.J Koiat blocks — Kar-

Handpumps or
decorations?
ONTRARY to earlier reports.
the 1991-92 survey-cumevaluation of -the status of
drinking water supply in rural
habitations indicates that the number of
ullages without a source of water may
be closer30.Q00 than rhe estimated
?•. Ever, as more water sources are
being provided some of the earlier ones
haxe gone dry .
As satellite televisions beam down
information from the remotest comers
of the world and we talk glibly about the
marvels of science and technology, an
estimated 1.50 lakh households have no
water to quench their thirst—no hand­
rump within the mandatory 1.6 kms
radius of their village.
This thought less deprivation of a
c-.'ic resource is no: limited to those
three village* with 120 families perched
cr. a hill nearTehri Dam where it would
the gc-‘ eminent Rs S’X'O') per capita
rtim? ur •• Jer.
The national drinking water mission.
that no proper provision has been
n ude for maintenance of handpumps
i n d: u b e w e: j x. I n p? c k e: s o f B i h a r a b o u t

C

Elusive Bill to check inequity
> Concerned about the grow tr.g inequity in ground water use culminating
in further impoverishment o:t.-e poor and marginalised, the Centre has been
trying to Regulate and Con.ro. the Development of Ground w ater tr rough a
model Bill, the final legislation vests with the states, from 1 970.
| > t he Bill seeks to cr ag cr_:. its purview ail urounJ vva;e:.. .a- |
sanction ot persory wens only by small and"marginal t.-i.v s iraraJi
passed in Gujarat, ri.h farm.rs of North Gujarat brought pressure and the
administration lias not been able to implement it.

>- MP has promulgated the ^ijalfdrinking water) Adhiniyam. Tamil Nadu
has introduced the Madras Metro Water Act to regulate use cf ground water.
na:.aka. Chinglepul and Thirunebeli —
Tamil'Nadu; OsmarubaJ. Ahr.ednagar. Lature. Bced, Amras ?.:i and Jalgaon
in Maharashtra.
Economically
viable
anificial
reehnrge of ground vmter should be
taken up in the 630 seriously attectcd
blocks and the necessary funds pro­
vided. Waler basins will be identified
c^. '.-J uii study oi ti.e >vil texturc and

structure, percolation and ch-.-mical
component of the inherent v.ater and
hydrogeology of the area. The sc heme if
properly supervised for mixing c*t nonhomogeneous waters could accelerate
evaporation and cau^e blockage of the
‘pore’ space with salts.
Trapped in the basin or pond, the
water percolates slow ly reaching depths
20 and 30 metres m iuur ;u six

•?r. a barren landscape or play things for
..-. j'en. S.?meti:nes the hand pump is
.... — ...«.i tl.C.U •> .. v.
.yx.UnlC
h-d*.e ran dc-.-y m?.: have :-b•*. suc■ . •-.•? draw c et th; required quantity of
water. In eastern UP. 10 to 20 per cent of
the famous Mark 11 handpumps don't
work. All over the country rube wells
that have outlived their life span of eight
to 10 years need to be replaced.
While the mission, now named after
Rajiv Gandhi, has been focussing on
providing a source of drinking water

kind of money is never provided. Gov­
ernment schemes are invariably paper
dreams.
Ten per cent of the money from Plan
funds is mean: for maintenance and the
rest is supposed to come from non-Plan
funds. However, whatever is provided
undci the Minimum Needs Programme
is di verted to drilling more wells instead
of maintaining the existing ones.
Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, how­
ever. have laker, on the maintenance
responsibility seriously. In Tamil Nadu.
every day a har.dpump is repaired. \ illagers are g:\en postcards with
addresses on mem When a handpump
breaks down tney write down the num­
ber of the pump and a mechanic arrises.
Like the CPWD programme for house
repairs, there is a full-hedged hand
pump repair establishment. The nusir.
gets a salary of FL 1.200 a month. Bu: in
most
stale w?,ere unemployed.

uniraimd yc:./ ?_■ .■ been ."gaged a;mistries. they cc?.eci their salaries w ithout doing a jo: of repair work.
With the ir.zrcduction of panchayati
raj. maintenance of handpumps. wells
etc v.jj cm:c :o the r^iwhu)
What is needed, however, is a peoples'
programme
handpumo maintcn.iuce. i .ie w,..mecLmiv> >ki^n.c

ha.-.bc•?". rri-Mfew nre zs Put.wh
s'v:.\e<s.
Si-.. 2fa block.
dis­

y. jicco na.' i-jt got tne same priority.
The annual wear and tear cost of a hand
pump is about Rs 400 a year. For a piped
water suppl) scheme about five to 7.5
per cent of the value of the scheme is
required for its maintenance. But this

trict of Bihar, -hen the handpump in a
scheduled caste habitation stopped
drawing water, villagers made personal
contributions of Rs -00 and moved the
handpump close to an assured supply.
But such examples of people's enter­
prise are rare.
In the remaining years of ihe F.igh'h
Pian. me Misri; r. .■ Si like the t\\ tw •
sh i 11 to mainiei.e - th me C cm: e p: viding 25 percent of the money required.
With Rs 10.000 crores budgeted for
water supply in the current Plan can we
hope to end the water famine in our
thirsty villages'?
B

months.Waste water recharge will be
done in a similar manner but after ensur­
ing that the impurities are removed.
Sub-sunace dykes or dams, each ot
which would cost of Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 lakhs.
and can irrigate up to 10 hectares on a
sustainable basis, are also proposed.
These underground dykes are proposed
i n se lec t. s mil I catch ment s of t wo' o fj ve
sqkins. Fj veto six metres deep channels

are dug up agams: the flow' of water
Constructed w ,;r br.cks and mortal.•
with a polythene lining the dykes are a
boon in areas perennially short of water.
Under a proposed centrally-spcnsored Rs S1 cro.'es scheme, aqu:tiers are
to be recharged ir.CVO critical blocks in
the Eighth Plan. Despite a fall in ground
water it is the 6n’v sustainable source
available all oxer th^/country.
&

- Jazenance and care o: the water

„.AnvH

DATE

nzme OF THE_NEWSPZPER
ECONOMIC TIMES^

age 6

D

4 0 IN311’TUTION ZL» ARI:
— — - • -— ------ — ■--------------

SUBJECT

.(DELHI)

Financial Express, New Delhi, Monday, July 17, 1989

f ENVIRONMENT: Swimming against the tide

By T. S. Vishwanath. M. Srinivas and A. Srinivas

V VI
By B. B. Vohra
“T;'J"T would be convenient to completed, 181 are still under around 17 mh which, although it which are being incurred by ter represents a source of irriga­ able land for submergence as in this country will belong in­ made capable of carrying out
Scientific investigations into the
iri| consider the problems of construction. This js not a happy. 'has been "utilised" in the parl­ irrigation projects. These losses tion which is completely under well as for distribution systems. creasingly to ground water. .
It is however necessary to note extent and nature of acquifers
■ water manacement under state of affirs.' We need some ance of irrigation departments, is are already of the order of Rs the farmers' own control and Big projects also suffer from
rszrfox?'Jces:. ;-rvf.»r..’e:--A*"sere■■.
art
. those •definite threiris from rite proheett • in fart.-erossl'.'.izttde.’iu.’liJiscd-nsir ■2 ,OGS crores nzr snmm.
land exactly when and to the poration anc seepage during obvious to mention — the “big so that they may be abie to
whicn can and should be that we started after 1970. evident from the-fact that the steadily mounting.
(e) Our costly and ir:;oiace- extent it is required by the crop. storage and :: .asport — on an dam" locoy is still extremely monitor their behaviour ar.d
....l.y existing State Irriga­ Perhaps we can safely say that p:oju;:.'..:y of these lands is no
tion and ground water organisa­ almost no benefit has come to the more than around one-third of able reservoirs, which represent Iris this last circumstance, which average less than 50 per cent.of powerful and well-entrenched. sound warning bells in time.
Co) State ground water orga­
water the impounded waters reach far­ This is apparent from the manner
tions. with such revamping and people from these proj'ects. For what can be achieved through not only valuable irrigation explains why ground
,e-o:.dilution as may be found 16 years, we have poured money improved arrangements for the potential but very often nydel irrigation has been found to be mers' fields. Such projects also in which it has been able to nisations should also be equipped
necessary, and those which by out. The people have got nothing distribution and application of and flood control potential also, twice as productive as canal create grave problems of water­ obtain clearance for the Narma­ to give competent technical
logging in areas which are not da Project in the teeth of opposi­ advice to farmers regarding the
their very nature are beyond back, no irrigation, no water, no water. This means that command must be saved from the threat of irrigation.
by
errviommentalists kind of tubewells and pump-sets
There are today well over 10 naturally well-drained. Further, tion
their capacity to handle. Such a increase in production, no help in area development programmes premature siitation. This, h.-wcvthey should.instal in their hold­
review will yield the startling their daily life. By pouring must receive much higher prior­ er, is a task which demands million electric or diesel-driven they are not easy to operate throughout the country.
Be that as it may, it is clear ings so that’there is wastage of
r.r. elation that the most pressing money out to a few contractors ity than is being accorded to effective afforestation ar.a soil pumpsets in the country. At the efficiently and require large addi­
problems of water management, or a few thekedars and labourers them. However, in the Seventh conservation measures in the end of the Sixth Plan, ground tional investments by way of that the country's ground water either scarce materials or even
namely
the
abatement
of to build canals and may be Public Plan, out of a total provision of catchment areas of reservoirs and- water already served a gross area command area development resources should not be taken for scarcer energy resources:
(c) State governments must
droughts and floods, the saving Works Departments to contract Rs 13.227crores for big irrigation is therefore beyond the capacity of 26.1 mh as against 25.3 mh programmes in order to ensure granted just because they repre­
or reservoirs from premature the dam, we are not really doing projects, as many as Rs 11.556 of rrigation departments to irrigated
by
“major
and that water is put to good use. Big sent a gift of nature and should empower themselves to impose.
siitation and the replenishment our people a favour. The favour crores or over 87 per cent stand handle.
medium" projects. However, if projects also pose the most diffi­ be given much greater attention wherever necessary, restrictions
of ground water resources, be­ comes when the benefits of the earmarked for the creation of
However, the biggest single the higher productivity of ground cult problems of rehabilitation of than they have received so far. on pumping by individual far­
from The neglect which ground water mers in the larger interests of.
long to the second category and project start flowing".
additional potential and only Rs reform that is required m our water is taken into account, the communities displaced
can be tackled only by carrying
This is a very serious indict­ 1671 crores for command area irrigation departments is their area served by it in 1985 was lands which get submerged by has suffered is apparent from the agr.cultural production, and the
out far-reaching reforms inthe ment indeed and needs to be development
programmes. re-orientation with regard to equivalent to around 52 mh of reservoirs. Finally, they are fact that the Seventh Plan docu­ farming community as a whole as
entire field of land management. taken to heart by all those in­ Irrigation
departments
must ground water which is still looked canal irrigated lands. There is weighed down by large bureauc­ ment contains no separate sec­ well as of the health of the
afforestation and rural develop- terested in belter water manage­ overcome their fatal fascination up a source of "minor irrigation" :hus no room for doubt that racies which have become noto­ tion on this subject, nor any resource on which so much dement. The following concrete for new projects till such time as and not considered to be any­ ground water is no longer a rious for their corruption and discussion of the projects it faces.
(d) State governments shold
It is time that the most serious
The problems which it is possi­ issues require to be tackled with existing installed capacity has where nearly as important as "minor" but the major and most inefficiency.
ble and necessary for existing the.utmost expedition in order to been put to proper use.
what is called "major and productive source of irrigation in
Thanks to these inherent dis­ notice is taken of the steep falls ensure that installed pumping
irrigations organisations to hand­ improve the working of this
(c) The menace of water-log­ medium irrigation". The fact the country. It may be mentioned advantages. plus the haphazard in water-tables which have occur­ capacities are not under-utilised
le are fairly well-known even sector:
ging (and consequent salihisa- must be faced that, thanks to the in this connection that while the manner in which many big sur­ red in many parts of the country for lack of either electricity or
.hough ft:; various historical
(a) The met urgent action tior.l er the soil which has already natuial advantages it enjoys, total storage created by big pro­ face irriga'ie7’ projec.s have been as a result of c-er-putnping on diesel:
(c; State governments should
reasons, there :s a great reluct­ must be taken to close me large affected at least 8 mh of good ground water nas developed ex­ jects upto the end of the Sixth taken up in recent years — with­ the one hand, and on the other,
ance to face them squarely. The gap between the gross irrigation agricultural lands, and threatens tremely rapidly as a source of Plan was around 17 million hec­ out full investigations and sur­ decreasing' rates of replenish­ take up time-bound programmes
storage and distribution of sur­ potential of around 23 mh which many more, must no longer be irrigation in the private sector in tare metres (mhm), the country’s veys and without making adequ­ ment caused by increasing de­ for the consolidation of holdings
face water through the construc­ has been created since 1951 and ignored but tackled in right ear­ recent years. Unlike surface wa­ ground water resources have an ate provision for the funds re­ forestation and denudation in because this is one of the surest
tion of big dams and canal net­ the potential of around 17 mh nest. It must be clearly under­ ter which lies at the mercy of annual utilisable potential of quired to complete, them in our water-^Seds. In certain areas ways of encouraging ground wa­
works are our biggest achieve­ which has been actually “util­ stood that we cannot, under any irrigation departments for its de­ nearly 42 mhm, of which only reasonable time — the cost of such as the coast of Sourashtra, ter development on sound lines;
’Tee most important task in the
ment in the field of water man­ ised”. The creation of an addi­ circumstances, permit the bles­ velopment and is even then avail­ around 10 mhm have been util­ creating irrigation potential per excessive pumping has led to the
agement so far. We have spent tional capacity of 6 mh - which sings of canal irrigation to be able only to areas lucky enough ised upto now. In the world as a gross hectare of land through the intrusion of sea water into sweet field of ground water manage­
something like Rs 25.000 crores represents the size of the gap and turned into a curse and allow our to be situated in the command whole, fully 98.4 per cent of all "major and medium" route has water acquifers and has turned ment, however, is to ensure that
between 1951 and 1989 to actual­ is equivalent to around 25 per renewable resources of water to areas of projects, ground water is liquid fresh water resources are shot up from about Rs 1.200 in once blooming agriculture and the replenishment of this- invalu­
ly irrigate a net area of something cent of the total potential created damage our non-r?newable re­ available, to a greater or lesser represented by soil moisture and the First Plan penod to around fruit-growing areas into waste­ able resource is increased to the
maxrnum
possible
extent.
like 16 million- hectares through during the 38 years in question - sources of land. It is, however,. extent, in most parts of the coun­ ground water and only 1.6 per Rs 40,000 in the current Plan. lands- .
.
'
It is necessary that such de­ However, this is a task which,
big projects. The sorry state in would today require an invest­ surprising that no separate provi­ try at faily accessible depths and eent by water in streams, lakes However, if the costs of com­
like
the
prevention
of
floods
and
velopments
should
be
anticipated
which this sector finds itself to­ ment of over Rs 24,000 crores. It sion has been made in the can be Easily tapped by the far­ and swamps.
mand area development and
day is however best described in would obviously make better Seventh Plan for drainage and mer with the assistance., where
It is time for irrigation estab­ drainage are also taken into and avoided in all sensitive areas droughts and the premature siltathe words used by the Prime economic sense to make use of anti-watedogging activities - necessary, of nothing more than lishments to appreciate the account, the cost of creating uti­ so that ground water develop- ttori of reservoirs lies beyond the
.Minister .while addressing the available idle capacity than to apparently these are meant to be a short-term loan. The installa­ reasons why irrigation from big lisable" irrigation potennal in ment does not become its own purview of irrigation organisa- ■
State Irrigation Ministers’ Con- create additional capacity at a financed, if at all, as part of tion of a tube'well can be com­ surface projects has to necessari­ one gross hecatare of land will, worst enemy. The following con­ does and belongs to the field of
fered in July 1986:
time when we are desperately command area development pleted within weeks if not actual­ ly yield pride of place to ground on an average, be found to be crete suggestions need to be con­ watershed management and soil
and water conservation.
ly days and since it begins to yield water. Big projects require huge well above Rs 50,OCX) per hec­ sidered:
"The situation today “is that short of resources;
programmes:
The reduction of run-off and
(a) State ground . water orga­
since 1951.246 big surface'irriga­
(d) Ways and means, must be returns within a single season, it Public investments, take years tare. This is an exorbitantly high
(b) High priority must also be
tion projects have been initiated. given to the task of making fuller, found to put an early end to the represents a most attractive in­ ^rid often decades to complete, figure bv any standards and indi­ nisations should be suitably soil losses through a greater
Continued oa page 11
Ohly 65 out of these have been use of the post-1951 potential of very serioes financial losses vestment. Above all. groundwa­ an<J/demand large ares of valu­ cates why the future of irrigation strengthened and equipped and

—-----------------.----------------- i_

S PATESMAN
PIKES OF INDIA
■J.WBHTIMES
TELEGRAPH
THE HINDU

(DELHI)
(DELHI)
(DELHI)
(CALCUTTA)
(MADRAS)

AGALAND and Mizor­
am in north-east India,
provide an example of
where traditional and
modem methods of water con­
servation exist; often in conflict.
Tribal societies here, that have
retained their traditional culture,
have a unique understanding of
the link between environment and
their survival. Their methods of
conservation.’and of.sharing, areaspects that the rest of India could
learn from.

families, dirty linen and utensils,
and trooped to the river for a
good scrub.
*
The situation has however
cased, recently, since the commis­
sioning in part of the Mokok­
chung Town
Water Supply
Scheme, that pumps water from
the Dikhu River. Since work
started in 1980, the scheme, which
ables while cooking. The; leafy
wards their traditional water
and all schemes require-pumping.
created considerable controversy cornigated. iron sheets. The rain
greens retain their fresh <colour
sources, the' nearby township of
then pours into a pipe connected
Meanwhile availability of ground
over misuse of funds, is way be­
and natural sweetness of taste.
Mao
Gate,
hard
pressed
for
wawater sources, though believed to
hind schedule. The original esti­ to the tank.
Evidence of this was tasted at the
be low, have yet to. be assessed. . ter, has worked towards conserv­
mated cost of* Rs 3.8 crores has
. An innovative method of rain
ing’available sources. Mao Gate . simple and clean Mao Naga
now crossed Rs 10 crores.
water collection by utilising the
The advent of government tap
Hotel, that presented the local
i-.cs a ’arger population, hwng
f.-... :: .
genius. .'d building
force of gravity was noticed in one
Coliection
of water from
water has in many in>tancas Ld to
alongside the' Kchima-Imphal
cuisine of boiled rice, boned mus­
upon inis unique system, the Gov­ springs and streams is the main
household. Here rain water that
the neglect of the traditional wa­
tard leaves, curried chkken and
highway, who run hotels and res­
ernment of India is pouring crores traditional method of domestic
splattered onto the flat roof,
ter sources. During a visit to
chilly chutney.
taurants catering to the heavy
of rupees into modem develop­ water collection followed in Naga­
drained into a pipe, going down to
Pudunamai village, inhabited by
flow
of
traffic.
The
locals
catch
ment schemes that are often of land. In the villages every’ care is
ground level from the roof.
the Mao Nagas of Manipur, close
every trickle of water running
dubious benefit to a small seg­ taken to protect these water
Through the force of gravity the
to the Nagaland border, it .was
HE advent of tap water
down the mountainside for their
ment of the population.’Neglect sources by allowing the undis­ water travelled along to the front
found that the village has at least
appears to have changed
of traditional methods of con­ turbed growth of natural vegeta­ of the house over a gentle upward ‘ ten natural spring sources, of
battling and washing needs,
the
original power strucservation has, jn consequence.’ tion. and banana trees, which-are
A huge storage tank, like a
slope, and into a closed hume
which four have been harnessed
tures of Naga villages. In
helped cause st* environmental a water retentive species. Bath­
small house with a covered roof of
pipe, attached with a tap..
through the building of a storage
Pudunamai a handsome young
imbalance.
corrugated iron sheets, was seen
The Government of Mizroram
tank around the spring. Of the
ing, washing of clothes and pre'.jjesye.- vh-,
•<c'3et.x>f,’'Ca*<i£ Js tsfjistir ;s»rob»- . in Dece.mhex J 988. commissioned
p
J into Nagi :.-J by ’he Cen­ bited here.
an ambitious and expc'r.yvt
tral Government. ostensibly tor
scheme for pumping water io
In the matter of domestic water
development, there is little evi- conservation, the Mizos have
Aizawl from the Tlawng River,
of it*.
j-' in Kohima.
proriding water for a population
the capital city. Here innumerable
of cid.GCO and the capacity cf
families suffer ar. acute shortage
delivering 2.5 million gallons a
of water, despite 'he abundant
day. Presently the coverage is
rainfall caught in the.thickly fore­
only half the amount. The original
sted mountain ’unges circling
estimated cost of Rs 4.5 crores has
Kohima.
r.ov- escalated to Rs 15.6 crores.
For Bano Mr.-uno. my young
In tne rural areas the Mizoram
hostess, the pror.em of procuring
Government has covered forty
water for her household is a con­
per cent of the total 737 villages.
stant thought that eaves no room
with piped water supplied through
for tiredness or morning sleep-m.
gravity feeding schem.s. By this
Her house, situated on a hill
scheme the water from a high
slope, is still untouched by the
mountiain source is tapped and
town water suppiy scheme, as are
delivered to a village below, upto
various localities tn and around
IS kms away, when water travels :
Kohima. These -teas depend on
over varying gradients through
water tapped fre.m natural springs
the sheer force of gravity. In a
and streams that are fast drying
recent scheme rain water tanks
because of the cns.aught of urba­
have been provided as a commun­
nisation and me depletion of
ity scheme to over hundred vil­
trees.
lages. Meanwhile the Govern­
Around midnight. Bano rouses
ment is pinning its hopes on
herself tn co e-ct
available
groundwater explorations being'
bucket- ;i"i?
jeuh *.*»presently conduced. Over the
ter from a spring .tele, fortunately
las’, two years drilling cf deep : .be
situated next to her house. Alter­ proved to be more adept than the
wells has resulted in 26 being
nately. the household is up be­ Nagas. Facing a severe water cri­ created in Aizawl. However a ,
tween 4 am and 5 am to fetch
sis. necessity has forced the Mizo
couple dried up within a year,
water before the rush hour. By 6
householder to be his inventive
indicating that ground water may
A rainwater pend in Kikruma village: enough foi
am. one is awakened to a babble
best. As in Nagaland, rainfall in
only be available in pockets.
of voices as bo’aseholders from
boy, bathing near the traditional
Mizoram has so far remained
The Government of Nagaland
two tanks one saw. both were
“J the middle of the*township.
further down the locality gather plentiful and constant, averaging ‘ has provided water connections to
water tank, was introduced as
Here bathers filled pitchers from
unclean with moss, slime and
around the spring hole. Within
King Kaikho. ruler of 16 villages
250 ems, for eight months of the
eighty per cent of the rural
undergrowth choking the purity
shining brass tap attached to a
population by tapping existing
half an hour, the stone lined
in the area. Since the recent death
year. However in Mizoram water
of the water and the gush of the
wall of the tank, and gave them­
storage tank, adjoining the
of his father, King Kaikho has
retention in the soil is reduced
water sources. Twenty per cent
selves a" thorough lathering of
springspring, is empty, and late comers
assumed responsibility, issuing
because of deforestation and soil
have been given expensive pump­
The Government has provided
SOaP- as crystal clear water cas­
patiently wait to catch rhe trickle.
erosion.
diktats from this picturesque
ing facilities that lift water from a
tap water to Pudunamai by har­ caded out in abundance.
The same pattern was seen in
palace,
’made distinct by the tradi­
In Aizawl, every household has
river to the hilltop settlement.
nessing a perennial source from a
Mao Nagas of this area
an even more acute form in the
tional Naga architecture, its front
tanks made out of tin or concrete.
The tap water flow is however
nearby mountain top and piping it .enjoy water with special mineral
hill top town of .Mokokchung.
below flfry per cent capacity, be­
in various sizes, which are situated
lined with animal skulls.
through the force of gravity, over
P5°Penies. One such spring hole
According to local residents, wa­ on the roof or under the ground.
According to King Kaikho, who
cause of water sources drying up.
a distance of 13 kms. Cut this close to Mao Gate revealed salty
ter had to be carried in tankers A common method of catching
says he is still learning the ropes,
And according to an official all
amount does not satisfy the needs
w*(er coming out of the moun­
rain
water
is
to
place
horizontal
from the river and sold at Rs 5 per
his duty is to stand on a rock every
villages in Nagaland are classified
of the villagers.
tainside. The locals extract • the
tin. Once a week in the dry'5 rain gutters along the sides of the
month in May, June and July, to
as ‘problem villages’ as there are
In contrast to the indifference
salt, packing it into flat round
season, residents collected their sloping roof, which is normally
inform the. villagers that on this
no dependable sources of water.
of the Pudunamai villagers tocakes, and use it to flavour veget-

N

Tribal societies in Nagaland and Mizoram have much to teach the rest of
the country about water conservation, says RUFA CHINAl

T

earn

X HE village
of Kikruma has
made rain water
harvesting into a
fine art... Even the
down-flow of
water along the
hillside
is caught and
utilised for
irrigation.”

day, Genna (a religious ritual) will
be observed, and prayers offered
to God to give them good water.
While Kings in other villagesare
known to have. ordered the
population to clean the traditional
water sources, King Kaikho has
yet to convince the villagers of
this need, and appeared shy of
exerting'his authority.
Where Nagaland has scored is
in its use of water for agriculture
and irrigation/' The villages of
Khonoma, inhabited by the
Angami tribe in Kohima district,
and Kikruma, inhabited by the
Chakhrsang in Phek district, pro­
vide the best examples of how
their remarkable and highly adv­
anced system of conservation and
sharing, works.
• ■
The Angami phrase, ‘Kwunoria
— Kelhukeviria’ (‘Khonoma —
where life is"good’) is a term used
by the villagers, to describe this
beautiful settlement. The village
offers the most breathtaking view
.of towering mountain sides.
■whose siopes sparkle 'wni'.’-tne
.emerald green of terraced rice
fields. Here one of the most scien­
tific methods of cultivation prac­
tised by ancient man. continues to
flourish today.
The method of wet rice terraced
cultivation has been practised
here for over 700 years, brought
by the Angami. who knew the art
from wherever they came, prob­
ably Southern China or Philip­
pines. This method was emulated
by the Chakhesang, and Zeliangs
to a lesser extent, neighbouring
tribes”, who adapted the Khonoma
partem to their conditions.
The Angami tribes took care to
protect the forest cover on the
mountain tops and took advan­
tage of the perennial streams ori­
ginating there, to irrigate their
terrace fields. The Chakhesang,
not having the advantage of
perennial mountain sources, de­
veloped a rain water harvesting
scheme, by simply catching every
drop of rain water in the vicinity
of rhe villageIn- Khonoma, there are three
streams that course down the
mountain slope. Fields have been
demarcated into small plots, ter­
raced by a stone wall, which climb
high onto* the steep slope. At
various points as the stream flow's,
horizontal channels divert water
into the adjoining terraces. When
the plot has enough for its needs,
the flow is blocked off with a
stone, and the flow continues
onwards to irrigate subsequent
plots.
Meanwhile there is also a ver­
tical flow pf water from the
flooded irrigated field. At a par­
ticular high slope in the plot, a
small opening is created whereby

■/

*
■■ V
\ \

excess water" can flow into th*
•
field below. The intricate pattern
of horizontal and vertical flow
continues all the way’down the
mountain slope. These points of
overflow cannot, be changed and . ■
remain as they have done since
ancient times, the Khonoma
eiders said.
The person whose field is
closest to the w'ater source is
responsible ,for protecting the '
source. However the person '
whose field is tight at the bottom 1
of the canal is its owner, who has ;
a major share of the water and
coIs bow much
token aP.
'aier.g the way. He is also responsi­
ble for keeping the canal clean.
While everyone has a right to pull
I
guv water from the stream, they
;
cannot take more than their de­
marcated share.
Asked if disputes arise over ;
water rights, a village elder said,
“Like life it is so designed that
ever.ere will get their share, and
there will never be any dispute.
Tneze fr mutBEi
?
how much each deserve.”
The village of Kikruma has
made rain water harvesting into a
fine art. that has become a part of
their being. So fastidious are the
Kikruma villagers about' water
conservation, that even the down- " x
Cow of water along the hillside
anti the steep approach rood to
the •-'./age. is caught and utilised
for irr.gation. The villagers have
built speed breakers on the road.
which serve to block the water run
erf. The water drains into a chan­
nel along the roadside and takes a
right angle turn when blocked by a stone. From there it is channelled
into the nearest field. Meanwhile.
spiked bamboos placed along the
hill slope drain water into a pipe
that goes below the road and
flows cut into rhe channel on the
other side of the road.- before
being diverted into the field.
The unique feature of Kikruma
however, is the over hundred
micro ponds al! over the village to
cc’ieu r.’ti;: wuter
irrigation
A’, ur.e such <»:e •:.V“ to
village. the pond was owned by
five persons who had adjoining*
fields. Two channels, over a
kuocetre long, constructed along
a biDock, drained water from the
surrounding area into the pond.
which also caught rain water. The
villagers compact the channel and
pood base by hammering it with
an iron thermos, which reduces
water percolation to the mini­
mum. When water is required for
transplanting, the villagers dig a
bole at (he base of the pond wall
to a3ow flow of water to the
nearest field. The partem of water
dscribution and water rights is
senflr-r to that of Khonoma.

Telephone : 630091
which
designed
to -full
cany
adequate
water
do
not were
carry
it to their
capacity
carry
southern
Haiyana
mUerable.
The orcanals
for less number of days. This waler, besides
ment
hive
made
lhe
life
of
the
people
in
i irrigating the crops, is also used for drinking
Bhari",animals
C-46,
East of Kailash-l
and filling pondsHari
for domestic
’ use.
Haryana
falls both
in the
Gangaticappease
and the­
with
an unethical
policy
of political
Indus river’ basins. At present Haryana re8 ; ceives water
from the
Sutlej,
the Ravii and
lhe TRIBUNE
: Name
of tho
Paper
THE
Beas of the Indus system and from the Yamugrown
out
of
human
negligence
combined
•I ;nirof the Gangatic river basin system. The

PRESS -CLIPPING SERVICE

I

New Delhi-1100G5

CHANDIGARH

Published
at water is 5.6 m.a.f.
; ^ allocation from
the Yamuna
• whereas from the Sutlej, lhe Ravi and the
y Beas, it is 3.5 m.a.f. Out of this, Haryana
" actually
aboutTechnical'limitations
5.2 m.a.f. (3.4 m a.f.
situationreceives
of scarcity.
I ‘ from the Yamuna and 1.8 m.a.f. from the
i ‘Sutlej). An expert’s panel called the Food
Committee had recommended in 1966 that
k 4.56 m.a.f. of Himalayan rivers water is abso­
lutely
necessary for
the optimum
and accumulation
of attaining
silt have aggravated
the
level of crop production. The assessment of
Runbir
need to give by
4.56
m.a.f Singh
of irrigation was
perhaps
computed
in mind Inc
size of of
rpHE
people inkeeping
eight southern
districts
the population and economy of the state at the
time. Haiyana have recently discovered a new
truth.recent
Il is about
inequitable diKcrunmution
distribution of
But
udinnuMlrutivi!
f Himalayan
to their
water-starved
and
political
unli-will
prevented
north­
and
channels,rivers
poorwater
andhave
delayed
maintenance
fields.from
Theseflowing
districts
arc Rohtak,
Sonepul,
ern wuteru
lowurds
the purched
Rewari,
Gurgaon,
Mahendragarh,
fields ofhridabad,
southern
Huryanu.
Two decades
ago,
Bhiwani Jawaharlal
and Jind. Nehru,
Here, not
science
170-km-long
feeder
canal but
politics determines
to Himalayan
was constructed
to carryaccess
the Western
Jamuna wa-.
ters. The to
people
of these
districts
comprising
Canal waters
Bhiwani,
Rewari
and Mahen-.
hall,the population
the more
state,than
felt further
iSSdragarh.
But (or theoflast
10 years
wounded
by
revelation
that
annually
this canal system with lift pumps on its way,about
is
"pucca"
lining
of
lhe
old
as
well
as
new
canals
one
million
acre
feet
(m.a.f.)
of
lhe
Ravi-Beas
blocked with weeds and heavy silt. Years ot
' water, allocated to irrigate their fields was
neglect have reduced this cunul system to
being
diverted
"llh'gully"
to IhuSliNu,
HImui*
rubble.
The
Irrigation
Department
has not
and Nafwana
areas now
forfor
nearly
15 years.
been allocated
sufficient
funds
its desilting
On
account
of
this
economic
and
social
injus
us Ben's report indicates. Most budgetary ­
tice, thehave
people
in this
have
allocations
gone
intorain-deficit
payment ofregion
salat ies
been for
impoverished
of aofwealth
equivalent
and not
actual work
desilting.
Unless to
Rs 6000 million. The Investigated facts relat­
desilting,
clearance
and repair In
of all
’
ing toweed
thia ibhtie
an: contained
the the
2ftlh
used
inofthe
of
newdone
canals,
water
channels
in the stateon
are
not
on u in
report
lhe construction
Committee
Estimates
(Budget
ertsisEstimates
management
level,
the
people
of
south
­
for 1992-93-Irrigution Department)
ern Haryana
cannotVidhan
get more
waterRealising
than theythe
of the Haryana
Sabha
dm
. . Z ........ 1 (' . . / , 1. . ____ _ .., al .
sensitive nature of
para 16 of lhe report, the
state government confidentially persuaded Mr
Om
Parkash
Beri,
its
Chairman,
to remain
House.
However,
Beri
chose
totable
expose
the
absentand
andssnot
toMrplace
on
the
of the
tnith
a punishment
faced
expulsion
from the party.
A close secruting of the above indicated
fl administrative
repoit reveals that
lheSubstandard
inequitable distribulevels.
material
S Hon of canal water is mainly due to gross

(City Edition)

- 6 OCT WS

(

A

!I

lethargy and several deficiencies prevailing in
lhc functioning of lhe slate Irrigation Depart­
ment for the last 15 years. This is indicative of
infrastructural decay both al institutional and

i

are getting now.

In the case of taking sufficient canal water
to southern Haryana technical, scientific, eco­
nomic, cultural, social and environmental
aspects need to be closely examined. There is
also an immediate need to quantify the impact
of canal irrigation water to southern Haryana
when different irrigation techniques are ap'♦plled, viz., drip irrigation, sprinkler system
and surface irrigation..
The area is drought prone. Research sug­
gests that only partial recharging occurs once
in 10 years during flash floods as witnessed
recently In Mnhcndrngiirh.
On the lust 50 years, pressure of human and
cattle population on the area comprising the
northernmost
Aravallis
has
increased.
Geomorphological features, vegetation cover,
lifestyles, land, cultural practices of the peo­
ple of southern llnryimu arc undergoing
change, though undetectable to an indifferent
observer. Many cultural practices like folk
songs, festivals, sayings and legends revolve
around drought and land features of the area.
Besides above, the design of houses and
"baolis”, i.e. step wells, is greatly influenced
by climatic and geological conditions in the
region.
Another remarkable feature through which
purity of a water source in this area was
maintained, was through the use of stone
carved figures of gods and goddesses either on
the walls and pillars of the “baolis" or on a
large stone pillar erected al the deepest point
in a pond. Ail the four sides of the head of the
pillar bore figures of deities. The people never
contaminated these water sources. It is re­
grettable that the local self-government admi­
nistration abandoned the time-tested "baoli”
technology and substituted foreign technolo­
gy. The small catchment area of the village
ponds has also been encroached in due course
of time. It was never thought to preserve it by

planting traditional species of trees English­

the help of local people and Voluntary agen­
cies. This project can ensut-e fulfilling of
drinking water projections of the future. The
revival of this activity will not only be cultur­
ally suitable but also be economically and
environmentally sound to this semi-arid re­
gion. Regrettably, this aspect was ignored
. during International Decade for Drinking
Waler and Sanitation whiclLcnded in 1990.
■ Recently the Society for People’s Advance­
ment, Technology and Heritage (SOPATH) at
Rohtak achieved limited influence with poli­
tical lenders of lhe urea spearheading the
movement for demanding ennui waler for .
poulhein Huryanu. AiioIIk r
ullage of the .
traditional system of water storage and har-;
vesting is that they can act a:; a standbyf
■ measure and can effectively induce the acute-*
ness of the drought.
<

fn recent Ilmen canal Irrigation systems
have created very difficult problems for en­
vironmental scientists, health officials, habi-'
tat and urban planners and sociologists.
Though pressing to lake canal waler to mz.th­
em fields in Haryana has become "a matter of
political correctness" for certain political
leaders, simultaneously they should seriously
listen to the scientists for . they have the
knowledge to pul matters in proper perspec­
tive. First,-obtaining lhe Ravi-Beas waters in
the present political milieu I* like chasing a
mirage. Therefore, two steps lire immediately
required to be taken. These were suggested at
a political seminar on this issue organised on
July 4 lust year al Rohtak by the Congress
M.P., Mr Bhuplnder Singh Honda. These were:
(i) recasting of lhe water needs of Haryana
within the available quantum of Himalayan
waters, and (ii) introduction of an annual
canal water-audit system. These steps are
essential otherwise within the next 50 years or
so, the semi-arid zone of southern Haryana
will be threatened with waterlogging, soil
salinity and rise in vector bolhe diseases like

men used the indigenous watershed manage­
malaria.
An important landmark study by Prof. V.K.
ment techniques. Irrigation and Public Health
Engineering Departments of the Haryana
, ___________
.. mdicaies______
Sharma published
in 199!
about—
the
Government never bothered to follow the', dangers involved in changing the crop and
“desi" system.
.vegetation pattern in the ralH-fcd semi-arid
More “baolis” are required to be built with
southern Haryana. Through nh excellent use

Running for 123 years
by Padam Ahlawat
HE RAILWAYS in Haryana will turn 123
years on October 14 next. On this lay in
1870 the first railway passed through
Haryana. The first rail-line in Haryana, cover­
ing a distance of 70 km, was the LahoreAmritsar-Ambal a - Saharanpur-Delhi rail­
way. This broad gauge rail-line was built by
the Sindh Punjab and Delhi Railway. The
Lahore-Amritsar rail-line opened to traffic on
April 10, 1862, was extended to Delhi via
Ambala Cantonment and Sahuranpur in 1870.
T,he
and-Delhi Railway con­

T

tinued to operate this route till 1886 when it
was taken over by the North-Western State
Railway.

enterprises and slate railways. On its first
journey people watched this fearsome steel
monster rolling by. India’s first train ran 21
miles from Bombay to Thane on April 16,
1853. The train pulled out of Bori Bunder with
a 21-gun salute It was a great occasion for the
.public. The day was declared a holiday and
many came to see this novelty.
Trains are not a popular mode of transport
in Haryana except with commuters who go to
Delhi by employees specials and the Himalayan-Ekta Express.
The next milestone was the Delhi-dewari
metre gauge rt-il-line constructed in 1673. On
its first journey the steam engine was bede­
cked with garlands and women in "ghagra
choli” came singing in large numbers carrying
earthen lamps to offer prayers. The line was
extended up to Hisar in 1883 and to Bathinda-

Fazilka in 1884. It covered a distance of 267
. km in Haryana.
The other important rail-Uhe:; in Haryana
were the Delhi-Balhinda railway passing
through Rohtak and going oh t(J Ferozepore
and Lahore. Built by the Southern Punjab
Railway, the route was opened to traffic in
1896. In 1904, the Rajputana-Maiwa Railway
built the Rewari-Phulera-Ajrrk-i-Ahtnedabad
rail-line. The route was operated by the
Bombay. Baroda and Central Railway. Then
in 1938 came the Rewari-Rtululpur metre
gauge railway which was extended to Bikaner
in 194). This rail-line passing ’hrough 162 km.
in Haryana entered the dries! parts of Rajas­
than. One of the most Inipur-irnt rail rou’eH to

............. • wa” !,<*«»’•
Indian Peninsula Railway anti upcnucl lo

-

fic in 1904. On this line ri|n all trains to
Bombay and South India.
The Delhi-Kalka Railway tfas built by the
East India Railway. The Dp))u-Amba!a sec­
tion was constructed in 1890 nnd extended up
to Kalka m 1891. From Kalkn n narrow gauge
railway to Shimla was bcilt »n
an<1

opened lo traffic in 1903. In lUilish India, the
Himalayan Queen wound ii* way through
mountaqis. ‘valleys, tunnels and on overbridges'1 on i'.s slow journey tri Shimla. From
Kalka a fresh steam loconu'’jvc pulled the
train on its slow climb into the hills.
The railways hold groat potential for the

development of Haiyana only if ‘ls satellite
towns around Delhi are connected by electric
shuttles at frequent interval:/

of satellite imagarics confirmed through®
ground observations, Prof Sharma provided Qi
valuable insights that can greatly help infe
arriving al a correct decision while planning
intcrvi ntion and changing the land use pat- e
tern A scientific attempt to simulate impact
of irrigation on this region will be useful in
learning its influence on the ecological ba­
lance and biodiversity of this area. The valu­
able information buried in lhe Haryana Agri^cultural University, The National Remote
Sensing Agency, Hyderabad, The Minor
Irrig.alion
and * Tubewcll
Corporation,
Haryana, and the Central Ground Water

8

Bom (J han not been adequately used. Thll
km-.vhdge needs to be disseminated to the ■
people in this region. Maps should be distriL.
bulrd to lhe panchnyats of this area and
should be freely supplied to other interested
agencies. Prof. Sharma’s book “ Remote Sens­
ing h>i Lund Resource Planning" exclusively
deals with Sonepat, Firozcpur Jhirka and the
Nuh and Rewari region. Il warns that even a
minute alternation in the land use pattern or
inti- nhiction of unscrupulous irrigation with­
out necessary precautions will damage the
fragile and sensitive nature of the ecology of
this mea.
Il may also be worthwhile to note that
traditionally sown "bajra" (pennisetum
typhoidium), the main staple food of the
people of southern Haryanrn is in no way
inferior or less nutritious to wheat or rice
whu h larmrr.H readily .substitute once adequ­
ate cat al waler becomes available tor irriga­
tion Sugarcane is also bring proposed ns an
additional and attractive cash crop for this
region This is disastrous. In fact, “bajra” is
more nutritious than wheat because thte
quantity of nutrients like protein, fat, car­
bohydrate, calcium and iron is almost equal in
both but what is surprising is the vast differ­
ence of a cancer preventive substance called
‘•beta-carotene”. In "bajra" it is 132 micro­
grains per 100 grams of seeds whereas in
whi.it its quantity is merely 29 micrograms
nccuding to an ICMR publication “Nutritive
value <tf Indian foods".
In water deficient rural areas of southern
Haryana, people mostly oat "bajra". In the
afternoon, women moist and hand-pound the
seeds and cook them by adding a little rice and
"dal". In the evening, this "kliichri" is served
with fermented raw jnilk, called "gozi" in
local dialect. The secret is that the surplus
butier milk of the day is not thrown away as
waste but preserved in an earthen pot. Thh
cow or buffalo is directly milched over the pot
and a desirable quantity of raw milk is thus
directly mixed. This is "gozi". This is extreme­
ly nutritious. Unscientific use of irrigation
water has made this crop almost extinct from
large parts of northern and central Haryana.
Along with the disappearance of gram from
the northern region, the incidence of car­
diovascular and digestive system disorders
have increased in the population. Even young
people can be seen suffering from heart fai­
lure:;. piles and "anal fistula".

Compared to many other countries ot th'

exo vcly and wa.slrfully uses it, then polluli :. il to a great extent and lastly in the name
of advancement of scientific and technological
progress, invents and develops high cost depolluliiig or decontamination technologies.
We in India are foolishly ignoring our own
safe, cheap, small, beautiful and maintainable
watershed management techniques and lechinologii :• The so-called foreign expert advice

and money have done more harm than bene­
fited our people.
To i( direct people’s energies towards in­
digenous (and truly survival oriented) science
and technologies, a congress on traditional
sciences and technologies of India is being
organised during first week of December next
nt the I IT, Bombay, which, among other
topics, will specially focus on water manage-*

/_____

le use of

water

g

agronomical regime they have Imparted

th'ss view is implied

« tremendous spurt to investment in
groundwater irrigation For a variety of
reasons — suJi as (a) concentration of
agricultural development eflort in areas
already irrigated and (b) better
availalxhty of farmer’s own investible
funds in canal-irrigatcd areas — one now
finds that farmers in canal-irrigated tracts
have evinced keen interest in developing

the slink ol groundwall' has Ix’cn
built gradually from limes immemorial.
F.s idenlly, this water cannot l» exploited
tut the same principles as otlir? mineral

attention on minor irrigation, of w.-.ich

vest tn large lulvwclls w hich would also

groundwater irrigation has Itcn a lead­
ing uompmenl

augment and linn up canal water sup­
plies

other permitting circumstamc 'or overdraft On groundwater stock m’y lx: one

about one per cent ol the annual kj
precipitation, in hard rock regions like E

Irrigation works in India arc clas­
sified in three categories: tjtinor irriga­
tion; medium irrigation, and major irriga­
tion (icnetally the i.Hcgoiics ol irriga­

the Dcccan and the Bihar plateaus (be E:
prcccnlage may lx: 5 to 0 of annual rain- g
fall and in Hal, alluvia! regions like the K

n order to attain complete control on
■ water resource its ownership is a

in which prolonged overdraft fives rise
to a new equilibrium level of « -|cr table.
Illis depletion in groundw.it> < resource
may lx- lx ih Gi ial in ureas which arc
criss-crossed by rivers ai’d where

streams arc found under coi*sc sand
deposit with the result that “induced”
tCi h.ifgc of groundwater gm v up suH"i-

the other hand, surface run-off (that por­

By Nila b'mvsli
rrigation has l<vn.i kingpin .n the
planned development o| In han

Z

agriculture 'though cotisum ive
irrigation is the watchword <•_ (Ik*
day. minor irrigation continues to .’timet
much attention all round In fact. a thriv­
ing agriculture has licvomc synonymous
with private groundwater irrigation. An­
tagonism to hig dams is now bringing in
limelight minor irrigation Hut
groundwater has its own importance.
Interest in groundwater irrigation
heightened in the wake of the 11Y V' tech­
nology nl ihc cnrly sixties. Both il tlie
popular media and within the academic
js.it.il> Agricultural growth cam- (•’ lxiJcnuluJ with groundwater de. .’.op­
ulent in general and private tulx-w.ll ir­
rigation in particular I .1 tel y. the growing
op|xiMimn Io the lag dams has I’v.m.- .cd

tion schemes arcon the basis of thei. cuk
tumble command area (CCA) as per the
billowing norms: minor work lr*j than
2»«M» |m
( ( A, ineJimit work :.<XX»IB.IMHI Ini ot CCA and major work
Itl.tXXI lia and alxive ol CCA. Ail :.'J. f-ex
water-based schemes are classif'i <1 by
the above-mentioned categorization
Every groundwater-bnsed irrit>lion
scheme, whether of the public or the
private sector, is deemed to lx *n the

minor irrigation segment. More specifi­
cally. minor irrigation works in Indian
planning comprise the following 15
Iy|>cs ot schemes.
I. Groundwater related: new open or
dugwells, new tulxwcl Is, filler poio's, ar­

tesian wells, water-lifting appliances,
well boring, major repairs Io wells and
deepening of existing wells.
2. Surface water related tanks; diver­
sion schemes, including ‘Kuhls' ul hill
areas, lift irrigation. Hood prot-ction
woikx.dininngr woikx, rtnil-krn wni.'i in
Ini.vlon work* and water coiiscrv..ii mcum-groundwater recharge works
During the courts of nearly four
decades of economic planning In Ind.a,
most of the addillona'to mrtkir inlgn'.'.on"
capacity have lx-en norir'graundontcrresources. More ipccilicnlly, whik llw

created minor irrigation potential ;,vnt
surface waler resources is officially es­
timated lo have risen from 6.4 to II.I
million ha in the aforesaid period, the
same potential from wells zoomed from
.6.5 lo 34.8 million lui in the same period.

It is because of such a predominant place
of groundwater Irrigation within the
minor irrigation segment that the (ormer
has come lo be identified with the biter
in the minds of water planners.
Just like canal irrigation, now it |f
groundwater which is playing a c itic|J
role in our agricultural transformation,
since the advent of high yielding variety
(HYV) seeds. In fact, iniiumerabb rebcarch and oilier Invcatigallmia i.xva
liighlightcd a close relnllunsliip lx.1
the success of HYV programme in tb«

area and (he use of groundwater in-gation, especially individually i-wncd
tulxwdls mid wells lilted with |x.wcr
jiuui|» 1 he advent of IIYV seeds has
once ag.un revived inicrcsl in owning
one’s own source ut irrig.itiuii su .1* to
meet timely irrigation needs of the *«:w
varieties

Since these varieties arc not a product
of natural selection, they are bov’xt to
■lack in hardiness for coping with ncissitudcs of weather or with unlimcli. ess
in agricultural operations In view o' .|jc
im~wtarw» nf wai*r In ihrjf

lion ha, leaving a IkiI.urv of only 5 mil- Egt
lion ha Io lx1 dcvdo|X'd in : >esul»cqucnt
Kth Plan period z\s the target for addi- pty-lional groundwater poienh.il for the 7th
Plan [x rtod was 7.1 nulhon Ita and the pii>
resources lor which new rv‘"urcc.s of achievement too was anbeipated to be nh
deposits or sul>.iiluie mineral- arc often very near the target (near .ilxnut 6.08 mildiscovered before long. Pri'dfcncc re­ lion ha),it would have been a climhdown nr
quires its utilisation .it n long t’tn annual for the "planners ’ to target tot -yj
rate ol no more than the annual recharge groundwater development on a lower x'.
their own resources of groundwater ir­
of the groundwall r stock, receptions scale than before — more so when the *•’
rigation. This conjunctive use of
from this prudent jx-lity arc s'-’-ccivable then Prime Minister announced (on his X
groundwater with surface water in canal
in two circumstances. One <Ucb cir­ own) nmlxtious |xogrammcs of cstxhtracts is a very welcome development
cumstance is when there is 's^tcr- log­ Itshing new tubewells and dugwells.
from the viewpoint of optimal use of our
ging m the crop root zone, which tells
In general, groundwati r resource in- S|
waler resources
upm crop production. Despi'*- Ihc low hcrcnlly lends to lx much less plentiful
live continued use of groundwater
intensity of irrigation tn curial com­ lhan surface water Ihts differential K
resources is the real answer to Ihc long- mands. considerable water-larging has arises because a smalli r (r iction of rain- i
run danger of walcr-logging and conse­ isi urred in the old canal are-**
fall tends to infiltrate down to the g
quent soil salinity in canal-irrigated
Overdraft above annu.d recharge groundw ater table lhan the fraction flow- fl
areas Where farmers arc too poor or loo would lx? a sensible policy in ,lJch areas tng into (he rivers. To take an example, ct
small to undertake investments in so long as the water table is (■•‘'cred ap- in arid area like western Rajasthan p,
groundwater irrigation, (lie Slate can in­ preciaNy Ixlow the crop root 'one. The natural groundwater n charge amounts to |',£

I

must, a condition that is easily ful­

filled by groundwater as compared to

surface water (ponds and small tanks
l»eing minor exceptions) However, tlx
ownership ol resource is only a ncccaaary, but not a suBicicnt, condition for
ensuring timely irrigation. In the event of
failure of rains, dug-wells become an un­
reliable resource of irrigation precisely
when there is pressing need for irrigation.

Likewise, tulx-wclls, which are relative­
ly less susceptible to drought, can be­

come an unreliable resource of irrigation

if the electricity supply system is ineffi­
cient and inadequate

In such a situation, diesel lubewells
appear an attractive proposition for sup­
porting HYV cultivation, though these
lubcwells loo make rather exacting
demands of repair and preventive main­
tenance services are not readily available
to distant villages. In short, the owner­
ship of a groundwater resource is no
guarantee (or timely irrigation to a (armor
ojKiallng tn an environment of under­
developed infrastructure — comprising
electricity, roads, repair and maintenance
skills.

The development nf science apd lech-'
'trilogy has ltt'l|>ed*lit ulfrtrcrti way*
agricultural devcl<i|xncnls. wbc'rcas the
advent of HYV seeds has generated
widespread appreciation of groundwater
resources, some fanciful and some total­

!y erroneous notions do persist alxiul this
vital resource. I or example, many people
arc under the illusion lh.it unlimited
water supplies exist below the land sur­
face. If wells cannot reach this water,
dug-cum-borc wells or lubcwells should
be constructed They do not know that
quite often deeper strata of groundwater
are saline and brackish wherever scanty
water is encountered in the upper por­
tions of tl>e ground Such saline waler, if
used lor irrigation, c.ui Ic.id lo salt ac­
cumulation on soil surface, thereby
rendering land unlit for cultivation
Ih'lorc lung.

In appraising groundwater resources,
it is important to keep a clear distinction
Ixtwvvn stock mid Ihiwdimcnsiun From
the stock viewpoint, groundwater is
probably .m immense resource in many
parts of India But judged from (he flow
.ingle, it is .i Ixiuiililul resource in the
eastern Gangelic (Mains only. But when
sonic concerned hydrogcologista caution
against overexploitation of groundwater
resource, they are taking a flow or 'ufe
yield’view of groundwater resource. The
two views can generate quite contrary
impressions or reactions unless one is on
the guard as to whe!'v>
t> •. V nr the

i lenity mi as In mat* li Hie os. •■halt In n

way tins is essentially a schvi'l'’ lor aug­
menting ihc groundwater potential.
However, il needs tn Ik: in’|-!enicnted
with great Care
It is surprising that esli'halcs of
groundwater potential nf Indi--’ arc lack­
ing al ihc moment. One scientist Raghav
Rao employed indirect methods of es­
timation in which rainfall and soil per­

colation quality were used ’•» assess

groundwater recharge. Tin estimate
found was about 219 million «crc-feet
(26 mhm) in which Madhya I’M’Icsh was
having a lion’s share of 26 7 m’Won acrc-

feet nf groundwater The Groundwater
Board, which is the apex groundwater
body in India, now claims *liat our
groundwater resources cm annually ir­
rigate about KB million ha ot f’»op area

G.ingrtic and the Indus plains, Ihc |>cr-

centage is alxml 20 to 22 of rainfall. On
tion of rainwater that f.ii’s to infiltrate
into the ground) may i.mj-e between 20
mid 60 |kt icnl ol the precipitation
dv|X*nding on the slope and extent of
vegetal cover of the land.

iven this relative scarcity of
groundwater vis-a-vis surface

G

waler under n.itunl conditions;

the widely-shared belief that
groundwater irrigation is superior to sur­
face irrigation in the matter of raising
land productivity, and groundwater can

be conveniently Lipped under individual

enterprise, it is easy lo visualise the emer­
gence of pressure on groundwater
resource cither in the shajx of over-ex­
traction or overcrowding of wxlls in a
given aquifer (or both)
I

The task of groundwater regulation

(in*I land nn n) But this figiu- 'reins In

Ixiil* down to ■ otiii..lling |o< ntion of

lx- high One canu.it also ns Book llic
possible inbuilt upward m< :• valional
biases in Ihc new estimates, tw>* of which
might nl once be suspected hr re. One

wells and controlling groundwater draft
by w-cll- owifbrs so that their aggregate

stems tront consider.Bions o| -n 'iling in­
stitutional credit lor cslabli’-h'iicnt of
tubcwvlls, dugwells, punips' ls, etc,
while tlx: other is linked with sense of
neglect by groundwater lx>dn -. i’nd their
personnel al the lop in the t'iatlcr of
redr. xs.il of their nei Js of pnP'C rvsourcvs/promi’lional avenues vis-n ' 'scmt.ilrelated Ixidivs and their lop |> ” mnel.

withdrawals in a year h ud hi equalise to
a magnitude which ensures long-run
stability of groundwater table. In short,
groundwater regulation on the lines of in­
dustrial licensing is indicated whence
some statutory control on location of a
well and annual groundwaterwithdrawal
bysuch a well is exercised In contrast of

flic proNcm of mulu.d in'vrlvrcncv, ihc

problem of overexploitation of
groundwater resource is l.ir more intrac­
table and with far more serious conse­
quences in certain situations. If decline in

he credit angle applies Jo slate
governments, always Veen lo

T

keep the channels of bm1*; finance
open Since Ihc Ixmks — specially
NABARI) which is the apex --sdy fOf

disbursement of farm loans — • Miut off
credit for new groundwater sch» 'hes in a
block if 85 |>er cent of lli-B. block's
giniiiidwalcr p.lenlt.il I* alien.<r *nj>p< d,

stale a d m i n I st r a 11 u ns as ^cll ns
politicians are susceptible lo induing the

waler table in a tract continues unabated,
the rising cost of groundwater tablc/and
irrigation may prove inadequate to arrest
the process of decline in w.itcr table.
In fact, even before the depth lo water
table reaches a level where margin.il cost
of exploitation equals ihc marginal
benefit from a unilof w >i- <. groundwater
tcMiiin v may l><- daiu.ig. <1 due to in­
trusion of salinc/br.u kish wafers from

the neighbourhoods Afivntpls lo control

estimated groundwater potcnii’ron Ihc
one hand and understating the rxisling
level of groundwater ultlis.i,!'‘n (i c.

both the density of the wells and Ihc well
spacings in a tract through indirect means
have proved rather mt lb. lual. Linkings

draft).
It is noticeable that the 8lh rl-»h group
on minor irrigation, unlike the H»h Plan
group, was under some <vmpi-'\iun to
adopt ihc revised estim'tc of

of the grant of electricity tottncciion for
a pumpset with a prior certification that
there is no other pumpset or well within
n specified distance has Ih cn overcome
by farmers procuring (he needed certifi­

groundwater polenlial. One corf, livablecompulsion could be the imposM^’flity of

cate through bribing of olli. ials. Short of
total exploitation nl groundwater
resource under governmental aegis, one
secs no ideal solution to the twin­
problem of ovcrcxpluitaii’.n and over­
crowding in groundwater utilisation. .■

playing the “number game". By the end
of 7th Plan, Ihc created irrigaliiS- poten­

tial from groundwater rtsouri
was
feared lo much a level of around <S mil-

Goi'-i H -

-|H 3

2L1L'2La_!24-2L1_£‘ documenta ■ x-oi:

2-I-’ii£Ii'i!l£2L:••■••L_An£\,
or -he ne?,-.-faper
-• Itl.Xli '

.-t!i.'.:ici..L

south of z. r. T

(DELH r '

rilL.J

jinduor.-,:: times

INDIAN EXPR :S3
INDIAN EXrR"SS
'M'EI'.MAN
OF INDIA
:.V3’iAR..T .'IMUS
.' -.LEORAPH
IE HINDU

(dei.'i:^
(del.-::)
(D~i.
( B-SJ l LAY)
(DELHI)
(DELHI)
(DELHI)
(CALC!:I .’A)
(ti■ ni? ■ .- 1

But will there be'drops to d ink?
Fl’. 4. nearly four decades ol worm; control of lluorosis. control of Minimum SeeA Programme (MNP)
plac m.g and despite the Country bruckishiiess, and removal ol excess provision on
ration and mainte­
being endowed with vast fresh water iron.
nance. for the
time the Govern­
resoun s there is a chronic shortage
Hie work by the Mission has made ment has dcc.d'd that out of the
of dnrwing water — a basic ncit'si- total eradication of guinea worm a fund, released
die state and Union
ty—es|K • i.dly in the rural uiv as Ru­ near possibility. Al the last i mint, the term >ries for
derated Rural wa­
ral wouenkdk currying w.ilcrjiol* number of treated villages has come ter Supply
imine up to 10 |>cr
on then li» ads may present a pic­ down Iroin 12,840 villages in 19.84 to cent tnay lie ■ i-’ivcd for operation
turesque ruing but one hardly real 3,111.
and maintenar of assets created as
iscs tnc -.train of the arduous trek
There arc plans to set up 130 well as quality improvement and
they ha' z to make every day before dc-salination plants by 19'X). In all purification of dd iking water. This is
they gel access to water.
144 locations have been identified for subject to a ccm- of matching grant
>
Realising the gravity of (he prob-. installation of these plants. So far 13 provided by U-* states out of (he
Icm, the Government set up a Tech-* desalination plants have been set up MNP provision ” also the approved
?• ’. oology M.ision on Drinking Water to in the coastal areas
norms
In the current year, 3.500 iron
The Mission b*< decided that there
:
co-ordina’e the working of the rural
‘ ’ t water supply programme and bring a removal plants are to be installed. Ol should be specked disincentives as
' water source within 1.6 kilometres of this, 500 will be set up by (he Nation­ well as positive .-.•eentives for proper
problem villages. Mere supply of al Environment Engineering Re­ maintenance of <• inking water facili­
water is not enough; what is equally- search Institute and 3,(XX) by the state ties.
The UN has dMared 1981-1991 as
important is that water should be safe governments under the overall super­
the Internativ:-. •' Drinking Water
since water-borne diseases play vision of the Mission
Likewise, 100 dcfluondation plants Supply and ''•■'nitation Decade.
havoc in the villages.
A problem village is therefore de­ arc to be set up in the country. The Hopes have bee-- expressed that In­
fined as one where there is no safe feasibility reports from 119 sites for dia w,II have lb? distinction of being
source of drinking water within a installation have been received from the only de-.1: ping country to
achieve 100 pcent coverage of
distance of I 6 kilometre, where wa- nine affected states.
The Mission is planning io have rural water snj
• in this period.
ter is ava l iblc al more than a depth
De pile son
achievements the
of IS tiicttc- and in hilly areas where 100 district level lalsoratoncs lor con­
>n is facing criticthe clevaoon ddlerence is more than stant water quality surveillance.
Technology M.
For financing the drinking water ism <i.i certain
ues. i’hc Mission
100 metres (torn (he habitation lhe
definition ..Iso covers lhe village schemes, lhe Mission provides assist­
where the water sources luiVc exces­ ance under lhe Accelerate! Rural
sive salinity. 'run, lluoridcs and oilier Water Supply Programme to the

A

:ucd on next page

''Continued from previous page

♦ t THESE INCWOE PARTIALLY COvFRED VILLACLS ALSO

toxic elements hazardous to health states which arc then asked to contri­
and whicl is exposed to the iisk of bute their share for lhe projects I’hc
water-bmi.<i
diseases.
such
ax Mission Diicclor, Mr G < <l«<*ti,
however say* dial although the Mis­

sion sanctions the resources at the
beginning of c cry financial years’
itself, many states divert these tunds
for other schemes, leaving the drink­
ing water programme stranded. This.
he says. hamjKrs the over.ill func­
tioning of the Mission.
The formula for allocation of funds
for implementation of rural supply
schemes has been modified keeping
in view the special needs of the
difficult areas like deserts, lulls and
The Minton has set out with (he drought-prone areas.
objectives of covering 98,746 residual
Hie new criteria has' e.iimarked
problem^villages (As on April 1, five per cent of the Annual Plan
1988) by M irch 1990; supply 40 litres allocation for solving specific prob­
water per capita per day in all areas lems through science ahd technology
(or people, »nd in addition 3<> hires inputs and research and dcvclojimcnt
per capita per day in the desert areas activities based on clearance of sjiceifor cuttle .To achieve these objec­ fie |>ri>jects and another five jh'i cent
tives it will evolve cost-effective tei.li- lor need based schemes to meet the
nology mix -within the constraint of requirement of sjKcial areas sidfering
jilan allocution Taking convcrvaiion from shioiiic dunking w.o. <

due to (he available drinking water.
At the c. nimenccmcnt of the Sixth
Plan there v/-rc about 23I.IXX) prob­
lem villages to the provided safe
drinking wale* in the country. About
IV2.1XX) problem villages and 47.(XX)
non-probkm villages were covered
during the Sixth Plan raising the total
number of villages covered to
306,024. The total expenditure under
this head in the Sixth Plan was Rs
2,457.63 crores.-

liK-nvtncv (■■' viivtainrd kiipply ••( wa-

and overhead ta- ks without concern
for rates o! :-.c; .ago while tapping
the ground • i.- i
Similarly, *li<
its schemes (or
eradication <-i
mea worm and c.x-

Drinking water'

\ VILI ACES COVERED’*

ibolcia, guinea wiiini mill the like

strategy, it i. ■
ignores the vulricrability of
mes in which alone
the cause
-atcr crisis can be
located T:
'ics have also ques­
tioned the • ' itcctiveficM'and eco­
logical so’in •:> s of the Mission's
strategy of replicating the urban
model of w./.r supply system in (he
rural areas through borcwells, pipes

km* due io |i>'l and void .t.vcit

let and |rii|-:i>\einciil In the pcilmin- ecu systems. These arcus arc n.i Gu­
ante mid c^si cllcclivcncss of the jarat, Haryana, Himachal l’i.>d>-vh,
on going j'p jinnies me the oilier ■Jiiiiiiun mill Kashmir and R;i).« .Oi.m
I or cnuirmg clli-.icnt ihinkiny wa­
gouts.
Hie Miu-o:i hut identified five ter vupp') In the loiig run. |in»|»cr
areas of inr<<e<>iate concern. I ir this ojicriitioii
and inmnii-nam •• «•!
«< lii*im'*, (im*iim it-il wlih
five job llit’xi <i« hnvr hern x» ( uji
C«>n*civslio • >>l wuloi and Hshaiglug iiivcuiiicnii h lonvidcied tnijioii mt.
ol aquifers b, providing tciuutc kern­ Although states have (seen jietmitiql
ing techniq tr. eradication of guinea to utilise up to It) per cent of th^

cess fluoride and iron arc welcome, a
major water borne disease, gastro­
enteritis docs not figure in its action
programme. The Mission’s answer to
this criticism is that g.isicro-cnleritiS
is spread through contaminated wa­
ler. Once safe and quJ.ity drinking
water is provided, tins problem willbe take care of.
Some experts have .V o cautioned
(hat without enforceable laws on
regulation of ground w.ii.-r, the coun­
try is likely face ■■ .-vcrc water
famine. They feel that I ke (he Pani
Panchayat experience in Maharash­
tra, the Technology Mission might
rovidc impressive .-lion run results
ut might prove disa.»r«•• -. in the long

E

run.

On

thii i*«ii< .

the

Mission

jHiint* out that dunking waler
accounts for only a negligible four
per cent of the ground w.ucr supply.
The bulk of the ground water supoly
is used for agricultural and industrial
needs where some economy is called
for. In (act, the Mission stresses that
it is in favour of using water in lakes
and rainfed reservoirs as much as
possible to provide’ good quality
drinking water.
Groundwater is a precious natural
resource which ii not im shuustiblc.
Undoubtedly, drinking water is a
priority area. What is needed is an
integrated approach bv v_- ious agen­
cies for coordinated and sustained

use of it.

/

Borewells in the backyiari
(90), Ahmedfi.igar (89) and Pune
(85).
"Hie major problem before the

government was digging of
private wells us well as bores near
die water source developed by the
local civic body. It was found that

DESPITE
GOOD ruinfull

last year, more
than 1.5 crorc
people (about
one-font th
population of

once the sources had been

the state) living

, in i 1,075 villages and 6,240 .
’ hamlets in 29 districts, arc facing
> the decade’s worst di inking waler
; crisis due to failure of the
i administration to involve and
J enthuse the masses in water
J conservation movement.
I
At the moment, drinking water
! is being supplied by tankers and
’ bullock-carts to about 5,000
•..villages and 3.000 hamlets.
rAlarmcd by the unprecedented
j crjsis, all the district collectors
have informed the water
-conservation, rural and revenue
departments about the immediate
need to tackle the problem on a
war-footing.
_ PAUCITY OF FUNDS: They
have also demanded more funds
for the purpose. However, none
of the officials have cither
reported migration of the local
'population or fodder shortage in
their districts. Meanwhile, rural
” development minister Ranjeet •
Deshmukh denied paucity of
funds and said district collectors
have been provided with more
■ financial as well as administrative
t powers to tackle the problem.
|
“Upto March 1993, Rs 5 crorc
J had been provided for tackling
- drinking water problem, while a
,' provision of Rs 50 crore has been
i made for the summer season to
i meet the requirements’’,
\/Deshmukh said.
\ Elaborating on the financial
'aspects of the various schemes,

OUT ON THE STREETS: Residents of Pune’s Kasha Pcth locality wr’’ for their turn to get
water from a private borewell. Express photo.
Deshmukh said Rs 1,960 lakh
have been earmarked for
completion of on-going schemes,
Rs 460 lakh for borewells, Rs 196
lakh for deepening of wells, Rs
1,140 lakh for temporary water
supply schemes, Rs 112 lakh for
repairs of borev ells, Rs 79 lakh
for acquisition of private wells, Rs
460 lakh for repairs of water
schemes, and Rs 715 lakh for
supplying water bv tankers and
bullock-carts.
The minister s.-ia a total of 145
most-difficult villages, five^n each
district - without a water source -

have been selected for
construction of water tanks.
Despite the fact that a huge
amount was spent on creating
drinking water facilities,
permanent remedial measures
were not taken with the result that
the difficult villages’ list was
getting longer.
DIFFICULT DISTRICTS:
Ahmadnagar, Nashik, Pime,
Satara, Kolhapur, Solapur in
western Maharashtra,
Osmanabad, Latur, Beed and
Nanded in Marathwada and
Bhandara, Chandrapur,

Gadchitoli, Yeotmal, Amaravati,
Akola add Wardha in Vidarbha
were tlv’ Worst-affected districts.
A top official on condition of
anonynrty said assets for drinking
water wide created but these
lacked phoning and coordination
as a resu’i, the entire exercise
turned o»H to be a purely
temporal v measure. The
maximu'd number of incomplete
schemes •’'ere reported from
Jalgaon t ‘64), followed by
Solapur ('40), Yeotmal (127),
Kolhaput and Sindhudurg (105
each), A "angabad (94), Nagpur

developed or detected,
individuals in the nearby areas
dug up wells or borewells thus
resulting in the source developed
bv the department automatically
di ying up after a certain period.
Even as Ahmadnagar and
Solapur emerged as chronically
di ought-prone districts, state
administration had not taken
adequate steps to meet the
situation. A total number of 192
tankers were operating in
Ahmadnagar, 167 in Solapur, 1-19
in Pune, 102 in Sangli, 78 in
Satara and 23 in Kolhapur. The
political leadership in these
districts had failed to tackle the
water crisis.
Meanwhile, 500-odd
residents of the remote, scarcityallectcd Menumbkhadi hamlet in
Ambegaon taluka in Pune have
devised a novel "drinking water
rationing system", to make
optimum use of water in the only
'well-existing well there.
Under the system, each family
is allowed to draw three buckets
of water during specified morning
and evening hours. It is then duly
recorded in a register maintained
by the hamlet head.
'] he villagers have resorted to
the rationing system, as they
cannot depend on the water
tankers and bullock-carts
deployed by the state
government, which come to the
hamlet once in a while.

(With Inputs from Arif Shaikh,
I N. Haghunatha and Mudhav
Gokimlc.)
;

vid®

-J_____ ____________Hash-1, New Delhi-i 10065
Narne°',h6

iVSINESsT^^----------------------------- ------

. Calcutta

Polished at

_____ Da:^f

:
■

IMS

------------------ 1-/

(City Edition!

'j'yMaking every drop of water count
rainwater.'"Collecting rain water isn’t the perma­
nent answer to Madras dry's water
shortage. But the Madras Metro
Water Board believes that every drop
counts. "It is a complex way of allevia­
ting. if no: overcoming the water cri­
sis." says a senior official of the Madras

■

n-

ji

> Water Board
tedies like colother -r.d of
the spectrum, the Manali Industries
Association (MIA) wants to set up a Rs
IDAcrore desalination _plant to supply
water to the factories in*tne industrial
belt
The government also has a number
oi expensive plans up ’.is sleeve By the
end of 19?5 it hopes to have the Rs
450-crore Veeranam pipeline scheme
on line. The gigeline will bring water
fromjLeeranam Lake to.Madras.
But die Veeranam project and others
like it are in the disomt future. For the
time being the government is looking
at more homespun remedies. Last
i week Metro Water issued an appeal to
hcuseo'wners to instal 'a rain water
drain system. What people will have to
do it to dig a pit 10 ft deep in their back
yards. These pits should then be lined
with brick s,_ stones and pebbles and
usgd to coDea rain waterjvhich will be
flfeed to re-charge weilsE
WBretro Water is even thinking about
making it mandatory for all buildings in
.q'.'pi.'•'■r

sT.’.',.?ct

.
water, izys <
boyu .Z.:.."It is the oniy way by which pressure
on Metro Water can be eased."
It isn’t too hard to understand why
the water board is so desperate. Accord­
ing to MMWSSB chairman P C Cyriac.
Madras city needs 55 million gallons
per day (mgd). It gets barely one third
of its needs - around 18 to 19 mgd. The
shortfall is supplemented to an extent
by bringing water from surrounding
areas like Neyveli and Palar by tankers.
The government has taken a number
of short-term measures to save every
last drop of water The state govern­
ment has sanctioned Rs ^)_aore_jor
bringing w-aier bv tanker. It is also spen­
ding money to dkjHXXLbore_w^.imd
jjcril 7 orri ryw-plasdc and steel tanks
- for storing water. The government has
| also?according to Cyriac. identified 20
I tanks that can be deepened.

Desalination plants: still a distant drcam

There are private agencies too devis­
ing ways to beat the water crunch. The
Manali Industries Association wants to
be up with the Tamil Nadu Industrial
Development Corporation (TIDCO) to
set up a plant ’which will desalinate 10
mgd. The plant which wul cost Rs 100
crore. will serve public sector and priva­
te companies in the industrial belt
This plan is sdU awaiting ratification
by several companies.j^s?***^P<u'd-

Rs 28-crore plant which uses the rever­
se osmosis technique can convert 3.3
mgd of city sewage into 2 7 mgd of usa­
ble industrial grade water fur the cool­
ing towers.
ther companies too are putting up
proposals for gianFdesalination plants.
Tfie"~Madras-baseif 77tanium Equ'pment and Anode Manufacturing Compa­
ny Limited (TEAM) has recently been
trying to push the idea of putting up a
one mgd desalination plant in south
Madras. It also wants to put up a five
mgd unit in the Manali Industrial Area.
Another company. Nuchem Weir
Limited, has put up a proposal to set up
desahiAtisn units. Niicbem Weir is
thinking on an extremer; anwroTus.
scale: it wants to set up a 50 mgd plant.
Until this unit comes up it wants to start
a smaller desalination plant to process
10 mgd.
The catch in all this is that desalina­
tion plants cost a lol of money.
?\uchdm’s 560 mgd plant; is"!ikeK’ Id
cost around Rs 475 crore according to
Nuchem managing director Prathmesh
Barer. The five mgd_plant proposed by
TEAM will cost around Rs 80 crore.
TEAM’S chairman and managing direc­
tor C H Krishnamurthi Rao says the
one mgd unit in south Madras is likely
to cost Rs 18 crore.
Even the government’s grandiose
schemes are going to cost a lol of
money. The. Veeranam Project wflljrftSL.
more than Rs 40O crore. AnB’^tKer pro^ecCTTikethe Krishna‘waters plan will
also be extremely cost intensive.
That in turns means that water will
cost a lot more. Cyriac, for one. does
not believe that desalination units will
be viable. Al present municipal waler
costs around Rs 30 per kilo litre. Desali­
nated water could cost as much as Rs
75 to 80 a kilo litre. The prohibitive cost
is one reason, perhaps, why the govem•T- in is ’ukewarr:. :r< hr«•( putting
up ue- ijuation punts
Why is there such a water shortage
in Madras’ The fact is that Madras has
been severely hit by insufficient rains
in the catchment area. There are other
factors too. Says fN at esan. the state
environment secretary. ^Vhat.has real]y.contributed to waKr^gpardty is the
unbridletT'encroachmenl-in-.lake-areas
by greedy developers and the growth
cipating in the project These inctude
in urban population.”
giants like Madras Refineries (MRU
Is there a way out? For the lime
and Madras Fertilisers (MFD. MRL
being the harsh fact is that the govern­
marketing manager J N’aiarajan says
ment is totally dependent on the mon-’
the project is awaiting the green signal
soons. Desalination is still a distant
from the board.
dream. And the only option left for
Some of the companies in the Maoafi
people in Madras is an old one - to wait
Industrial Area have already spent hea­ and pray for the rains.
vily to get water. MRL and MFL have
installed an effluent treatment pbnl
T M A RamaN
which convert*
into water. The

Hart Bhari", C-46, East of Kailash-1, New Delhi-110065
Name of the Paper
Published at

’Dated

Rohtak

HINDUSTAN IlMiS

4EW DELHI

7 SEP 1993

(Late City Edition j

A victim of civic body feud
stored in the nanie of raw- ua:

ance and implementation of these
projects.
But r-.-j; side of Rohtuk has a

:ar.k. ha>
been convened ito a drain tu
filth.

by Anil Anand

ne p:
-----of the
cty. Majority of the corporators in
’■ hou-e. are rut in
protest agamst the chairman, charg­
ing him with neglecting the city
/•This is 3 typical example of
Haryana po itics which has brought
together the ideological rivals to
a ;_r.'’e>t. A faction of the

is that tne tank nas not txen cisittea
for the past many years. It has been
disilted four times but onlv on nape r s,jiU eg ecTVf r CrllsSan* \arang.
one of the protesuag members.
This
water
supply
scheme
accounts for 35 iakh gallons of
drinking water daily. The second
scheme has the capacity of 22 lakh
gallons. There is a net shortage of o3

by the BJP members to rai>e a revolt
against the chairman The 20 mem­
bers belonging to the two parties
have come together under the ban­
ner Of rhe Rehtak Vikas Panshad
Ds] and are on an indefinite dharna
and relay hunger stnke. seeking
ouster of the chairman for his antipevr'.e activities, alleged
mis­
appropriation of funds and misuse
of power.
The ongoing feud in the civic body
has strongly mt the aty on the de­
velopmental front. The existing set
up be it the water or power supply.
maintaining roads and lanes or prov.cmg health care facilities, was
already burst'ag at the seams and
ru^^il in the avic body has dealt it

:and for t;
population of
--------- .. — ....... gallons. A third
scheme which w-j incur an esti­
mated cost of Rs
lying in cold stor:

blow The administration is
ct^^the local political leadership is

?;

r.Ci'A -.g eno
A visit to the interiors of the city
reflected the state of affairs. Filth
squalor and overflowing drains
almost waterlogging the poorly
maaiiained streets with stray pigs is

.Most shocking is the drinking water.sruation. A storage tank is connetted :o the water treatment plant
which constitutes one of the oldest
wa»er worts scheme in the city,
Cher three decades old. it sail re­
mains to be the main source of
drauLing water. It is horrifying to
visit the storage area. What has been

cy drive launched by the district';
administration.
“Saksharta
abhiyan" as it is being called, is the ’
in thing “Jai Saksharta’* has in fact
become 3 popular slogan. The Gov- .
emment officials even wish each
other by raising this slogan.
Mr T. V. S. Prasad, the young
additional deputy commissioner of •
the district, seemed enthused on the
success of this programme. He is
spearheadmg
the
environment ■
building campaign for the program­
me It is being projected as the

This is a scenario caused di e io
the apathy
.
. and neglect
___ of
. the au­
thorities as well as public. Surpri­
singly. the pond area has a free ac­
cess and the canal feedine it seemed
to have been neglected Neither the
pond nor the canal is being regularly
cleaned On questioning one of the
district officers regarding r.eriect of
the water supply system evok'd a
strange reply. The storage tanks are

response from the people particular^ .
ly the women has been encouraging. ■.
Yet another experiment bring .
carried cn by Mr Prasad is the set­
ting up of modem farms with inte­
grated acuvjnes. This is to encour- .
age unemployed .youth to take up
their o»n ventures which are mostly
agro-based Quoting for instance,
he told that how he encouraged two

city on power fro:
scheduled power cut is supposed io
be for two hours. Bet the pow-r dedule In fact the power goes off for
more than six hours daily, said Mr
Vinay Kumar, a Iccai businessman.
Failing to take timely action :n
disilting the drains xnd the mam nullahs the civic authorities pushed the
city to a tlood-simanoo dunng the
recent rains. Most Tarts of the aty
were inundated for two days cue to
the choked drains. The resultant mvanitanon coudec wub poor cualitv
c-f liinkin»: water ‘as
’e."o ?
jaundice epidemx* m tne . wn.
claimed another corporator Mr
Ramesh Sehgai. He alleged that
over I.OCX) cases of jundice ~ave so
far been reported □ the an cunng
“’
the past three memos

Expressing concern ove: ..ie fai.ver.ng
goods to rhe residents of Roctak.
was Mr Inder Smc Dhull. a senior
leader of the Sama >adi Jar.au Parry Due to rampant comiptioo in the
higher echelons of tae State s acinimstration. the distz c and the city is
being starved of rrnds. The rm-

—,

.

.

.

...

.

the eight acre* land they had in a
nearby village. As an integrated >
activity, they were taught to set up a 1
bio-gas piant using the dung, grow
fodder for the milch animals in
another part of the farm and simul­
taneously planting useful trees.
On tn-e health care front, he
claimed that the district has
achieved remarkable results in the
field of famny planning. The women
has been more responsive and they
constitute st) per cent of the total
benefic.ar.es A visit to some vil­
lages did oct prove the official con­
tention of total success. It is very
difficult to motivate the villagers re­
garding
family
planning.

1 "e ma,n reservoir from which water ts supplied to Rohtak town
is in a sorry state. Desilting has not been done for years, and the
inlet into it from a canal...
collects all the waste of the town en
route. — HT photo
doctors. The electronic media be it
pioyecs of the civic body have not
;o!
claries for the mor..h of
J'u0 Although
fi> ndalion tor
ncw bus SLand spread over an
area of 200 acres was recently laid by
Chief Minister Bhajan Lal. but the
*ork did not Han due 10 paucity of
funds, he said.
Rohtak is supposed to be countermagnate town in the proposed
National Capital Region (NCR)
plan. The people and the
(he politicaJ
leadership
leadership of
of the
the district
district though
though
aware of the plan, are unaware about any development having taken
place in the aty as per the requirement of the plan. The recent meet­
ing of the NCR Board held in New

Delhi w-as mended by the Deputy television or the films shown by the
rommissioc.-r. Some new proposals depanment. have a quick effect on
the people r.e ..tdid
ing
As per the available ucures Ak-Z
These, include construction ot family operations were done in the
new bus stand, two more by-passes district Curing the last year This
to ensure free movement of traffic year from April to July the number
on the highways without any press­ has touched 2.660. As per the 1991
ure on the ary and six flyovers. The census, as against the national
other proposals subcuned were for growth rate of 2.11 per cent.
four-laning of the naoonal highway Ffarvana showed a rate of 2.64 per I
number 10. two-lanmg of Jhajjar- cent. Against this the Rohtak disRohtak
Road
and
Jhajjar- trict hac a rate of only 1.7 per cent f
Najafgarh Road, aevelopment of which is saxi to be the lowest in the
more Dousing sectors ry the HU DA State. The :*nmunisation target had
and dcvelpment of central sewage touched ?.i 2 per cent during las)
system. Nobody here _s sure about
the time to be taken j the accept­

”Hari Shari", O45, Last of KaHashrl, New Delhi-110065

ft

Namft of Iho Pan*?r

1

DECG-XN ME?..XL!)

Published by

:

BANGALORE

Dated

i

x'

® ^0 I !»?•■’ -

__

(City Edition)

a
In Africa, of course, the horrors i
lhe guineaworm scourge is le- j
gion But nearer home, we have |
again, the example of Rajasthan, i

A
/'A
• / y\
J

LMOST every other
glossy carries the
picture — the tall,
slim woman balancing two pots on her
head, veil billowing in the desert
wind, one profusely Fancied arm
in swing. the other leading a
child, perhaps. Tor the Coffee
table book, this is a romantic
shot, one we are all familiar with.
But the pots, however skilfully
poised, is as good a symbol bf
social oppression as the veil, ho­
wever colourful it may be.
We arc talking of the water­
bearing women of Rajasthan.
who have, for centuries, been
bearing -this uca-ttcentabJe h.L,rd
fei oi carrying water in large
sort sand, fettered as they alrea­
dy are by clothes and taboos and
n::?
sheer curse of an C’-erbeagjy male-dominated societv
.’lic'h so cunningly managed.
until very lately, to foster that
unspeakable atrocity on all hu­
mankind — sati.
This picture of the waterbearer has become all too stark
in the last many years, with the
pressure on natural water sour­
ces increasing without letup be­
cause of. among other things.
widespread, uncontrolled, unor­
ganised industrialisation and ur­
banisation-. The women have to
wander farther afield for the
precious commodity, no longer
sparkling, if it ever was. but
often deadly contaminated.
Water — that natural source
of health and succour — can
bring crippling disease and
ilh. A potent political weapon
ay, successive governments
ha-’e been promising water to
the people in villages and cities.
But while the urban elite and
middle-classes have been able to
garner a more-than- fair-share
for themselves, the village poor
and urban slum-dwellers have
been left dry. As Mr. Gouri
Shankar Ghosh. Jl. Secretary.
Department of Rural Develop­
ment and head of the Drinking
Water Mission, said at a roundtable discussion with the media
in Delhi recently. “My kitty is
small and almost the whole of it
goes to the one who hankers
after it the loudest.” He was
alluding to the practice of rich
3 industrialists who even use up
' the water allocated for drinking
I purpose to the villages.
a - One major reason for the
?F scandalous discrimination in the
T distribution of water is the ex* treme reluctance of governments
•! to cost the commodity a: actuals,
J fearing stiff resistance and a
:j backlash at election time, from

•

"IT”

l"c sm2^ anc^ unproduc-

D--;.trr .
Bar<wI-..
'i
ar.c Lcaipur. ir.e the triba! Bhils. driven io de- }
speralion and the guineaworm i
by crushing poverty. In the
stepwells and other shallow wat- j
er sources, drinking water is i
severly • contaminated
and •
disease-laden. Here, the guinea­
worm spa'es no one — not even
the w outer.. or the aged, or the ,
me most. >?th from the infec• ■Oil skSCi.
,.^... ..CgiCvL _ •
the afflicted parents who cannot
tend ever, to the barest extent '
mat cec... -..ng po-erty wou.c
have otherwise allowed them to ;
Here, the people writhe as they .
try, vainly to arrest the progress |
of their .marauding, -wormy I

An ambitious programme, launched
at the beginning of the International
Water Supply and Sanitation Decade
(1981-90), to reach safe drinking water to
the whole of India by March 1990 has
gone dry.
Statistics and target nonrealisation
aside, what is safe drinking water? In
some places in Rajasthan/ for example,
drinking water is severely contaminated,
leaving a crippling effect on its users,
writes Mary Mathen.
powerful and gluttonous indu­
strial lobbies and even the urban
citizenry, for whom piped water
comes as easily as they pour
them down the drain.
Consider the statistics. The
situation in India and the rest of
the developing world ire broadly
comparable. At the beginning of
the International Water Supply
and
Sanitation
Decade
(1981-90). prolected -iter sup­
ply- facilities were available to
only 31 per cent of the popula­
tion in India. With the launching
of the decade, the programme

gained some momentum. But
what was the target of this
ambitious programme? Hundred
per ceni coverage by March
1990! Translated into numbers.
it meant reaching safe drinking
waler to 362 million people! The
estimated cost (al lhe 1980, price
level)? Rs. 7.300 crore!
Statistics
and
target-nonrealisation aside, what, in prac­
tical human terms, is safe
drinking waler? This is better
understood when one knows
what happens when lhe deprived
of lhe world drink unsafe water.

A case ?:_£•. conducted b\ lhe :
UNICEF
c N AM EDI-\/Me-1
dia Foundation of the NcnAligned Research and Publica-1
t.on Genre, along with the i
Government of India’s Depart­
ment of R-rai Development.
describes re agony of a guinea-;
worm patent, a 21-year-old I
school teacher of Udaipur di-[
strict. Maramaya. He. in the;
courageous rrocess of extracting <
3 guineawerm from his own foot.'
broke it. and the part of the
worm that remained in the foot.
created a painful abcess. He was
sleepless with pain for three days
and bed-ridden for fourteen.
The pligr.t of similarly af­
flicted women and children is
heart-rending Their agony has
to be seen to be believed.
Watching the ayurvedic surgeon
draw out the long, white worm,
all 150 cm of it. from an incision,
say. on the leg of a little patient.
makes one’s stomach turn. Es­
pecially since it is done in lhe
raw. without the benefit of
anaesthesia. the trauma of a
child subject to such surgery is
unimaginable.
.And yet. ayurveda is the only
system that can offer even this;
aJcpathy offers no comfort at .
ah. Dr. Karl-Eric Knutsson. Re- ;
gional
Director,
UNICEF, i
warned the country' not to make 1
light of the services of qualified
ayurvedic doctors. “Ayurveda
has developed a very ingenious.
traditional surgical technique io I
combat the guineaworm. This
popular, r.on-recognised Aystem
Coadoaed oo

61

~~ ■

Hopes sink as ground-water table dips
day Right now, they arc getting water on alternate
days, for about four flours, the limings being solely
the discretion of the authorities. Despite this, even
BANGALORE
though the ci'ttzcns arc paying a cess in addition to the
DRINKING wntci is gradually be­ water extraction increased
ly, the (’mi very fomih-singc project, which carries a waler tax, they arc bl-ing charged for every drop of
coming p hixuiy in Kainntiiku,
But this resulted in many open wells drying up and price lag of Rs I .(XX) ci<»re> is still waiting for a wati r..they use.
with 90-95 of the chics, towns and water table going down. Many single-family house­
Bangalore and Dharwad present a microcosmic
decision from the country’s planners. In other words,
villages having problems getting holds got borewells drilled in their compounds. And,
by the time it gets off the ground, the project’s price view of the water problem in Karnataka. As these
waler barely sufficient to meet the
now, a host of industrial units in and around the city, tag as well as Bangalore watc’ requirements arc sure examples indicate, Karnataka’s position is hardly
demand of their residents. The
hotels, hospitals, cinema theatres, schools, colleges to go up.
challenges before the State are
and offices have their own wells. Nearly 2,000 wells
Belgaum city gets water five times a week and its
DESPAIR IN DISTRICTS The.scene in. the _
many: there’s no perennial water
’ districts
also is uninspiring.
for instance, residents are keeping their fingers crossed because if
are being drilled annually in the city.
___ _____________
...
„InawDharwad,
, IU1 ..,3Uiiitt,
suunx in Ksriia^ka, so seasujj?
WELLS KEEP CT4WlNGj-Accordir\g to. figures jhe.main..source
of water supply
the Tur.gabhadra,
.....................
‘rrv is '"*•
»ui-ftuuii<iuici, it doesn't rain_heavily this season; their lifeline..the
f
,
rivers alone offer some hope; then, available, there were nearly 20,000 borewells in the ■ ’ ’ .......
’ flows
n
"
*' in the eastern part of Rakkasakoppa reservoir, may just dry up. But the
which
from
south’ to north
.too mAn y. bore wells, sunk too close to each
city which has limited ground water resources. The the district. In the northern pari, Malhaprabha is the city's plight is-hardly comparable to that of the
depicting uiG
the ammAg
StatetA~giumiu-wdlGl
iound-watcr lejel
y.-...-!;f, that
iiioi arc
tut ucpicuug
IC
water table, mernwhile, keeps going down as the principal water provider. Danh have been built only district’s 80 ‘problem’ villages.
I rapidly. The result is certainly not a happy one.
on Malhaprabha and Tungabhadra, which provide
o Ironically, water shortage is a part of life,
f*. Aj per world standards, ideally, the per capita number of wells grow. What is clear, though, is that
kvater consumption should be 200 litres a day, but, in wjth a static population of 5 million and a floating one drinking water to cities like Ih’bli, Dharwad. Gadag, especially during the summer, of even the port city of
of 5-6 lakh, and a r.-pidly expanding metropolitan and Harihar, Davangere and Ranibhnnur. The rest of the Mangalore (population:
4 lakh) which is situated on
,
Jeality, in Karnhtaka the daily per capita supply is 135
industrial base, Bangalore’s drinking water needs is district is being supplied with water from natural ’ the west coast. Mobile tankers help the city meet its
!litres in cities and big towns, 60 to 70 litres in smaller
bound to increase.
tanks, ponds and borewclls According to M. Munis- pressing water needs. Somewhat!
[Towns, and hardly 25 litres in villages. Most of the
• In the water-starved Gulbarga district, some 210
Chronic water shortage is not a new phenomenon wamiah of the Geology Department, about 15,985
^districts of the Stale are reeling under the impact of a for many residents of the qty. People arc used to hectamcters of ground wate» have already been villages have been identified as problematic. Of
drinking water famine, and Bangalore is no exception getting water frequently during odd hours of the
these, only 23 villages and the industrial .town of
to the rule.
night. Scarcity seems to be more acute in individual
Incidentally, even in the case of waler distribution, Shahabad are supplied water by (ankers. Such is the
- Two Government agencies - Karnataka Urban houses and particular streets that are either located at the scales arc lilted towards ii’han areas. The waler lu uh-ncM of the scarcity that the people have taken to
.Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB) and greater heights or have poor supply pipes.
the streets to make themselves heard by an insensi­
the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board
Uifrd-hii reJdc-‘i> frequently _form groups aop urban areas, and released lo the villages once a week tive administration. Recently, the residents of Nim(BWSSB) - arc officially responsible for providing mectjiighcr-ups lo get hnn)cdjate rjilicf, which jqn or so. Similarly, al Nedlcri village of Ranibennur barga in Aland taluka locked the office of the mandal
drinking water. But they are straitjnckcled by a many occasions is only temporary. Some even .resort tuhika, people have to depend on water supplied panchayut for over n week in protest against the
l crunch that leaves them little leeway.
t < fl i n c (I ij cii| jn c I h;oJ's jj u
.1) ii b i 11 g. illu_LquuLyu1>' c through laps, even though the I ungabhadrn Is only 2 non-execution of sanctioned water supply schemes.
fe DEPLETIO1C Practically every village In operator, which 1.- widely perceived lo he thc.mpil km away from the hamlet. On lop of this, the river's
Despite the acuteness of the problem, precious
ki has borewclls, but the absence of proper effective means of getting water. And forjhose who water is so polluted with effluents released by a little is being done to salvage the situation. With the
h&tcnancc and the depletion of groundwater re- can afford it, water tankers on hire offer an easy way neighbouring polyfibres factory that it cannot be used completion of the third stage of the Cauvery water
fwyes have started rendering many of them useless. out.’ '
...... even for cattle or for plants,
supply scheme recently, the situation in Bangalore
~~The city gets 420 milion litres of water a day against
Awrding to a study on the status of the utilisation
The (win cities of I lubli-Dharwad are supplied with seems to have improved somewhat. According to
the demand of 1,100 million litres. Its main water water from the Malhaprabha arid Neersagar projects.
BWSSB’s former chairman, U.S. Pultakempaima,
Bingalorc Jhe level in many disiriglo'itsJoiy source is the Cam cry river. BWSSB is drawing 60 Both are managed by (he KUWSDB. The local who was behind the execution of the third stage,
pth inextent that it indicated severe depletion. million gallons fro.n Cauvery first and second stages, municipal corporation has been desperately trying to
Bangaloreans are not likely to face a major water
Sillgalore, which is situated on the ridge separat- in addition to 27 million gallons from the Thippagon- get them back under its administration, but politics problem till the middle of 1997.
f'tbe Ciuvcry basin from the Pennayar basin, is danahally reservoir.
has prevented this from happening.
I Ic says, “If work on (he proposed Cauvery fourth
Grty placed in respect of ground waler resources.
The city’s hope" now arc pinned on the Cauvery
stage is not taken up immediately, the situation will
D.K. N^icker, (he local Ml’, f -'iys if the corporation
the supply of nitcred water into the city is not third stage, which u expected to provide 60 million is given back the Neersagar prelect at least, then the
be worse by the turn of the century as Bangalore is
(bmenjurato with the population growth, ground gallons when it fully operational by 1997. Incidcntal- citizens wohld be assured of (' nking water once a one of the fastest growing cities in Asia.’’
/
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

E
£4

WAU — t

Wai
vvai

of ths Peper .;. BUSINESS WORLD .(MAGAZINE)

lished at

:

BOMBAY

■' ' '

■13 SEP 1993.

2 6 SEP 1993

siness Notes

ATER PESC-U=E: '

^Concern down
south
he al am
icing Earlier this
water resources.

Xf i Poondi and Sholavaram depleted. This
sjfe.. 5 time around, it's the city's groundwater
:W J resources that arc causing concern
4
Says protessor Sundaramoorthy. Centre
y 1 for Water Resources at Anna University.
“At the time of Independence, groundwater
was ten times uic ramfx.. Today.isaonelo-one correlation " According to a March
1993 report b> the Central
Groundwater B<\ird. South­
ern Region, groundwater resiujrve>. are deci]ning. Prom

had receded to dancer point. Source* al
Metrov. ater. the city - water tx.xird.sa>. that
constant monitoring brought it bacs to a
rechargeable level.
In addition, there have been fluctuations
in the groundwater table because of poor
recharge, adds Sundaramoorthy "The
present culture of pa\ mg ogenareas or- the
side and carparks needs to be re-examined.
Multi-storey buildings should, have suitable rain water harvesting. “Madras city had
39’ternpie tanks. Tilled during rainfall w nh a
network of pipes lor recharging. Txiay.
those connections have been cut and the
tanks Till up only with local rainfall In fact.
white the gross groundwater recharge is
only about 5.5.34 million cubic metres oer
year, the gross groundwater exiracucr. i>

udy rx-en Jc-« eloped Ti­
en? cn>o, :Hee month«•
back. Metrowater put _2.50 f pumps into
effect th The cits, totalling^up to 0.665
pumps._
’*““Any further groundwater development
shouRTbe done cautiously, as it may lead to
Aiming of water, "that i>. the water going
below rechargeable levels. The Central
Groundwater Report raises fears about
mining of w ater in the Besant Sagar area in
Madras.
Another- problem, ground water con­
tamination. through highly toxic industrial
effluents from a large number of industrial
units in Guindy. Ambanur. and North Ma­
dras. A few years back, even cyanide pollu'Urcc'

January |9*« only 1- mil­
lion gallons per day have
been pumped from :r-e well­
fields at Minijur. Tarr.arapakkam. Panjetty. Poondi.
Kannigaiper and the fkxxl
plains.
Q
The water table ,n Ma­
dras city used to he between
IS feet and 2D feet That has
now dropped to between ?()
feet and 45 feet. Even -*ith a
good mon^.xtn. experts say.
the water table will not rise to
the level of 20 feet. Recentlydug borewells average a
depth of 140 feet. against 60
feet rarlie*.
I he groundwater prob­
lems have various causes. In
a year of below average rain­
fall. a significant amount of
water is taken from the Private water operators: depleting the preooua groundwater reserves
shallow basin below- the city
Buckingham Canal, used as a sewage dis­
45.36 million cubic metres per year.
to meet the needs of piped water supply.
posal line, also causes contamination
Another threat to groundwater resourc­
The unchecked growth of flats, with their
Lessening dependence on groundw ater
es is sea water intrusion duejo extensive
heavy withdrawal of water, has also
is the only"wa~yTo avoid depleting it. And
extraction. In the Minijur well-field, the
made deeper tubewclls and bore wells
ihat calls for long-term solutions. such as
necessary.
interface between fresh water and salt
the somewhat delayed Krishna water
water has advanced 8 km inland. Artificial
The problem is exarcebated by the pri­
project, (see Business India. May 10 1993«
recharge through injection wells, has been
vate water operator, who dip into the
to increase the water supply to the city.
undertaken to check further intrusion. Says
groundwater reserves to supply water to
But as the first showers of the north-east
an official. “If there is sea water intrusion
certain pockets in the cuy and the outskirts.
monsoon hit Madras, will its decision-mak­
into one well, all others in the same line are
Madras has 400 to 1.Q00 of these. The
ers comfortably delude themselves once
current rate for one 10.000-litre tanker of
endangered.”
more?
According to the report, nearly 82 per
water ranges from Rs360 to Rs.450. At
Palavakkam. for instance, the water level

3S •

H« SIXES’* ISO'S • September «A

cent of the city’s dynamic groundwater

14V*

• ANtTHA POTT aw*

""

c:

East Of Kailasil-i, New Delhi-110065

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DECCAN HERALD

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BANGALORE

Dated

K(a^
(City Edition)

ST

Water schemes planned
JoFMvif 8,000 villages
8)0.
BANGALORE. Sept. 16. — In
COMPREHENSIVE UAW: Com­
order to augment ermking water sup­ prehensive legi.d.'.ixn to replace the
ply in rural areas. the Government existing .Act had been prepared in the
proposes to irriement piped water spirit of the 64th amendment to the
schemes in “CC villages and mini­ Constitution introduced bv Rajiv •
water supply schemes in 7.340 villages Gandhi. It was his intention to inrothis year. Rural Development and ducc the Bill in this session itself if
Panchayal Rr Minister K.H. Paid- ■possible, he said.
informed the Assemriy today.
Prime Minister P.V Narasimha
Replying to the discussion on the Rao had given him an appointment
demands for grams. he said Lhat^on.c some time after September 20 tc
bore-well would be provided for a discuss the Bill, following which he
population.. of .250 ~ under a__Rs. would introduce it in the House dur­
ing this session, if possible However,
9.12<rorc.scbczx.
*~Of the 27.023 villages and 25,595 the Bill needed the President's assent.
hamlets in the State. only 5,600 vil­ which could take some time .An or­
lages were covered by protected water dinance could be promulgated if the
Bill could not be passed during this
supply schemes. Mr. Patil said.
Another scheme bad been proposed session, he said, but added that he was
to provide hrmes in every village not in favour of such a step.
He said he intended to replace the
within rive years. Pointing out that
there was no xmi in constructing existing Act with the new one before
Ikitrines without first ensuring adequa­ elections to the Zilla Parishads and
te water supply cod drainage, he said Mandal Panchayats due in December.
this aspect wood also be taken care of. Allaying the Opposiuon members’
Hailing the ccrtribution of the late fears, he said the elections should not
\\izuer z-ab :r a ze.ing in ranc.ha\a! be postponed as far as p .oibie.
Rai in the Stare. he said the fact that
Under the new Act. a Mandai
the system had ax taken roots in the Panchayal would be set up for a
manner he had envisioned was another population of between 4.000 and 8.000
matter altogether. Therefore, the time instead of one Mandal Panchayal for a
had come to bezg in certain amend­ population of between 8.000 and 10.
ments to the orgtmJ Act in the light 000 as per the existing Act. Mr. Paul
of experience and in order to said.
Pointing out that gram sabhas were
strengthen the remocratic aspirations

incnonin® eflcctivelv in manv
plxes. he saki steps had to De men •
rev —jc them, failing which the verpurxsc of Panchayal Raj would be
defeated.
Mr. Paul also said he was against
the arge number of nominations pro­
vided for in Mandal Panchayats and
said that all members, including those
from reserved categories, should be
eler.ed.
CHECKS: He said that under the
e.XLscng Act there were not enough
cheats and balances to ensure that the
Parishads and Mandal Panchz-uts discharged their responsibili­
ties ’properly. \X"hilc 80 per cent of
funas under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojanz went directly to the Mandal
Parchayats. these bodies were not
acc-imtable for bow the money was
utlsed. The checks and balances re­
quired would be provided for in the
new Act, he said.
Maintaining that few Government
oiTcals had the interests of the people
at zeart, he said this was the reason
wj' development schemes remained
unzzpiemented. If the officials were
Continued on PageV&col. I

Water schemes
Continued from Page 1
conscientious, they cccld implement were yet to get the amenities and
many schemes for wham the Central facilities that their urban counterparts
Government was prepared to provide enjoyed. He underlined the need to
funds. However, the fads remained take up rural sanitation on a war­
unutilised for lack of riuative and footing. He favoured elections to
Man dal Panchayats on non-party lines.
interest.
Many Government schemes re­ Party politics al the •cTiage-levd was
mained on paper and mb not bene­ ooc conducive to development.
fited people in any manner, he said.
FAILURE: Mr. Narayan (Cong-I)
The Karnataka Land Army Corpo­ demanded abolition of die Zilla Paration employed 1,600 mgmeers who risbad system. The expei iment had
had do work to do. This scale of affair* ■£‘ed mi*eraL1: he
r'- .-ploring the
would have to be changed. be added. -puhy to providing drmklng water to
Tb-z dcniands were passed by a the people and generazing employ­
voice vote.
ment opportunities.
Participating in the discussion earl­
Mr. Baba Gowda Pan! (Raitha
ier. Dr. Venkatesh (SJP — Heggada- Sangha — Kittoor), warned Taluk
devanaxote) regretted thr the Rural Pzxhayat Sami tics to be strengthen­
Development De partmem had doc ed. He made it clear that he was not
been rendering service entered of it for legislators heading the committees.
to the people. He urged the Gostra- He favoured an elected mar.dal
ment to release more foes to the member being chosen as the commit­
department to help it laztch more ted; chairman. Zilla Parisharis should
developmental activities eke the hare supervisory powers over the
drinking water supply scheme.
Mzrdals, he said and asked the G-ovMr. Vatal Nagaraj (Ind — Cha- enznent to entrust itself with the
marajanagar) felt that freq rem change responsibility of providing drinking
of rural development masters had wzrer to all villages.
Dr.
Nanjappa
(Ccqg-I
—
affectec the functioning n the de­
partment. In the last two jears the Sbnr-'anabclagola). said the creation of
portfolio had been reshuffled zmong 7~~r Panshads had led to wasteful
expenditure. The present system had
ministers four times.
Mr. Nagaraj said the rura. people failed to deliver the goods.

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INDIAN EXPRESS
MADRAS

(City EciN-in)

Drinking water schemes
to get top priority in PUs
:ws SERVICE
. Oct 4

Drinking waler schemes will get
top priority in the Rs.one-crore-perpanchayat union self-sufficiency
scheme. Finance Minister V R
Nedunchezhiyan said in the Assem­
bly on Friday.
Replying to the discussion on the
supplementary expenditure esti­
mates. he said the TWAD schemes
would continue with separate fund­
ing, while the Rs.one crore would
be used for other schemes with
pnonty accorded to water supply.
[Laying of pipelines for integrated
(water supply, and building of over­
head tanks would receive special
attention.
Participating in the discussion. Mr
C Swarmnathan (Cong-1) said sever­
al pans-of the state, including Pudukottai district, faced water scarcity.
In his reply to the discussion on a
bill on introducing prohibition. Mr
Nedunchezhiyan said the govern­
ment was keen to do away with
IMFS also, but it was awaiting the
appropriate time. Al present, it was
concentrating on eradicating cheap
liquor.
The revenue loss on account of
doing away with cheap liquor would
amount to Rs.390 crore in a full
vear. and the decision had been

taken descite it. The step to make
VAOs and Sis responsible for ensonzrr^rr. v. prourotuem 'zn.;. p
duced results much better than anti­
cipated.
Replying to Mr S Balakrishnan
(Cong-1). Mr Nedunchezhiyan said
the government could provide
opportunities m the cottage industry
or incentives to the displaced “poor
illicit distillers” but it was unlikely •
that they would come forward and
identify themselves.
The increase in vend fee and tax I
' on the IMFS were aimed at reducing
the consumption of liquor, and to
meet, to some extent, the revenue
loss resulting from the ban on cheap
liquor.
Mr H M Raju (Cong-J) wanted
implementation of total prohibition, i
and utilisation of Fines for prohibi­
tion and drug offences for propagat­
ing the evils of drinking.
Mrs A S Ponnammal (Cong-1)
called for more stringent punish­
ment for prohibition offences, in­
cluding making the offences nonbmlable
Mr C Gnanasekaran (Cong-()
suggested ooe-year mandatory jail
sentence for prohibition offences.
The House passed without discus­
sion four tiJs. relating to tax on
entry of .vehides into local body
areas and changes in sales tax.

Q- V“

safely be desenoed as water famine.
In the high-altitude areas of I famidganj and Shivaji

SIIAIIPDR (Piikiiigni)

M nd.m in Dnltonganj, mm h before dawn, people
stand before a lone hand pump in queues which arc at
times half a kilometre long. Or (hey wait for the
tanker pressed into service by the district administra­
tion. There arc others who can afford to rely upon the
labour of others and buy water at a rate varying
between Rs 5 to Rs 10 per two bhars (about 100

ITH Till'. onset ol summer mid hardly any

W

rainfall for the past three years, the people
of Shahpur in the drought-affected district
: Of Palamau, this year too, are not depending on the
/rainfall for water. They have devised their own
J technique to survive - chuals.
There are half a dozen hand pumps, one pond and
One river - Koel - which have all turned’diy. So. in
order to get water, the people dig up a chual on the
dry river bed. To begin with, a proper site is selected,
somewhere closer to the heart of the river. Then
digging starts and at a depth ranging between two to
seven feet, a small reservoir of water is found.
The waler of the chual is pure. But then, the

WOMEN GIVE UP PURDAH: The impact of the
water famine is visible elsewhere too. The children
skip classes, say the school principals, as “they have
to help their parents fetch water everyday."
A resident of Hamidganj, Gupteshwari Prasad,
told Indian Express that many Muslim women, who
religiously donned purdah while moving out of their

homes. have been compelled to give up this practice.

process of gelling water from u chual is not easy as its

‘This is natural", he said, adding, “When they h ivc

hard to discover a proper place on the river bed and

tn walk for long distances everyday to fcry water in
the blazing sun, how can they afford to continue

moreover, from one chual. the people say. only a few
pitchers of waler i.m be drawn So. in order Io meet.

wcaiing a purdah", he said.
If the government officials arc to be believed, the
district administration has taken a number of reme­
dial measures to combat the water famine.

their daily needs, they have to dig up new chuals
every now and then.

WIDESPREAD PRACTICE: Inlcrcklingly, the
.'echnique of c/m«/-digging is not new. Nor is its use a
Monopoly of (he residents of Shahpur. There are
housands of people in Panki, Manatu, Kankari,
Juraria, Dhuri, l.aroo, Mahuanlanar, Paraskhand
md Barwadih villages in Palamau district, where
bought is a |»crennial affair, who have been quenhjng their thirst by means of chuals.
'To add id their woes, the ground water level has
one down from the earlier 30 feet to 60 feet. The
zorst-affected are the plants and animals. However,
ic problem has taken a serious turn for the people of (
Inltongnnj town, who, in the absence of a proper
mnicipal water system and dried up hand pumps and
ells, are faced with a situation similar to what can

Children of Shahpur village drinking waler from a freshly dug-up chr 5 on the Koel
riverbed. Express pliot^.

Commenting on the district administration’s move
on water conservation, Girja Nand Singh, a hotelier,
said, “Where there is a little water, its conservation
becomes a nullity." Seriously enough, water scarcity
is not confined to Palamau alone. It is prevalent, in
varying intensity and form, in Garhwa, Lohardaga,
Gumla, Chatra and Ranchi districts as well.
The state government's response has been far from
satisfactory. But the Public Health and Engineering
Dipaitmcit (PIIED) minister, Gajendra Prasad
Himanshu, told Indian Express on Tuesday that
UNICEF has provided 1 t2(X) sets of hand pump.
besides-Two ng machines jimTspare “paris’

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hanr.tu. pove a greater threat. The exhibitxx: .‘-id shocking rcvclatior.v to
make regarding
water-pollution
cauvcd *“• industrial waste, which is
limited “>'t only to surface wjtcr
v’u.'cr'' ..ir ponds, men. lakes, etc
but g-exu-zC watcr sources as well
One enmatte example of ground­
water rotation is to be found in Bicchn.a
jgc ;n Rajasthan At least t>0
wells — S ocnri arc poll ufcT."o wing to
the ci.“=r»?genic.“ardWSrie compounds
in
rfiuents from the industries
ma.-.-acrar.ng H-ac.d. a highly toxic
dvc _-.:cr-.ed:2ie. Intercscmgjy. Hacid r-xcufacturing has beer, stopped

places- Patanchcru near Ihdcrabad
w as to be converted into an "Industrial
beehive”. But the so-called progress
took its toll. Cher 3.000 industrial un-

Bv Harvinder Kaur
in
•’est because of its hazardous
effi-mttx
Toe untreated liquid effluents are
releasee into the gullies and irrigation
cana«. zeing untold damage. A glass
ccc’J-ocr filled with water from Bicchr. ■»rs nalccd ar the exhibition and
loo-ken more like Campa Cola than
plxrn witer. This has naturally spelled
havoc for the inhabitants as far as
hexm zed agriculture is concerned
San i caused Pandit Shiv al al. an aged
innacxutci of Bichhri, ‘This is worse
thxa Bocpal. .Mort people died here.”
Ouy. Blcchn is not alone with is
tn pc '_ije of do-* death of people and
plaits. There are many such afflicted.

A bottle of village well water
(left) adjacent to a bottle of city
tap water
us pollute the jurnxinding area. Pic­
tures show the <s>ocs that children
have developed crocs placing m tne
dirt. Surveys Save confirmed the
health hazards.
Says Dr Krazrna Rx> of that area
'Three boys dxd of icuxacmia... Our

cattle and goats arc dying . I hasc
seen a calf tx?m without skin " In Bah
official sources list the number of
deaths due to water pollution up to 42.
while independent sources put the fi­
gure to be 120 and 150. In Hussamabad a third of its wells have become
saline, rencenng them useless lor
-.rogation or domestic use The cocv>r.ul yields of the area have declined by
S') per cent to 70 per cent along with ,
deteriorated quality In Ambur a
medical team in I9S0revealedNX)tan­
nery workers had a zero sperm count.
Raikoc. Ambamath. Jetpur. Balotra.
and Jodhpur
some mere ;* aces
snicker- wi.n water pcfiu’.oa. ar ?
threatened with an insecure future.
The exh: muon. while exposing the .
near-tragic conditions caused by in- j
dustnes in the name of “progress”.
raises other disturbing but important
questions: Is safe w-atcr a luxury? Who
is responsible'’ How much can a com­
munity take?... As to why we haven't |
been able to curb pollution, one possi­
ble reason rs that initial no-objection
ceruficatcs are not too difficult to
obtain, in fad they base been called a
"licence to pollute”. Furthermore, I
prosecution. with its lengthy and ex- i
pensive Lu gallon is not a feasible !
answer for inc poor labourers On the
other band punishment for dnregarding polluDoo-law-s is not sufficiently
stringent, so. many adopt the motto of
"pay and pollute.’*

K? Namo of tho P.i|»:r
^.'Published at
l

Dated

SAM TH I HUNK
GUWAH.ATI

<Ss> m r-t - <+1 • I 1

9570 villages facing
drinking water problem
from OurSpeci.il Representative
iden'tfird 3658 drinking wale;
NEW DELHI, Aug. 25 - About.
probl'-m villages as on April 1.
9570 villages in Assam were
198"
identified as drinking water
In bis reply, the Minister has
problem villages as on April 1,
also ’’iformed Sri Ram Narayan
1985. After stops were taken to
Berw" that the Government has
improve the situation and
sancD’jncd special allocation of
progress made in solving the
Rs. 269 crores for coverage of “no
problem of drinking water in
sourer" problem villages within a
period of two years. A special
these villages, BK villages remai­
ned as drinking water problem
crash programme to be named
villages as on April, 1991. Till
after Rajiv Gandhi has also been
June 30 this year one inure
planted by the Government to
problem village was covered with
provide safe drinking water
supply of drinking water and as
facilities to partially covered
on date now there are 87
villag i and population in rural
drinking water problem villages
area" vithin five years.
in the State. These 87 villages in
Assam have not a s:ngle source
of drinking . water. However
according to a statement laid <>n
the table of the Lok Sabha on
August 21 by the Union Minister
of Stale for Rural Development,
Sri Uttambhai II. Patel, these
villages alongwith 5095 other
villages with no source of
drinking water in different
St a Ira of the country an on A pi il
1 this year are likely to be
covered by the.scheme for supply
of drinking watei by the end of
Mrtrch, 1903.
The Minister, was replying to
two questions on drinking water
problem villages of the country
raised by Ashok Anandrao
Deshmukh, Sri Mriyunjuy Nayaki
and Sri Ram Naratn Berwa.
From the figures of problem
villages given by the Minister, m
his replies, progress made in
solving the problem of drinking
water in Andhra Pradesh
appears to be very Impressive
while as many its
15834
villages in Andhra Pradesh were
identified us drinking water
problem villages as on April I,
1985, the figure turned into nil as
on April 1, 190! after steps wei e
taken to Improve the situation
us a result, there Is no “no
source" problem villages now in
Andhra Pradesh.West Bengal is
another majot State which has
made cent percent progress in
solving the drinking water
problem of 5930 villages as
identified on April 1, 1985. Its
number of such villages dropped
to nil, its on April 1, 1991.
’Among the proverbially water
problem States, Mizoram hits
been able to solve the drinking
waler problem
595 villages
identified as on April 1, 1985.
Among the Stales in the country
Meghalaya is still having the

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THE STATESMAN
DELHI

published at

JUN 1991

Dated

(Late City Edition)

Waiting for taps to trickle
By a Staff Reporter
Delhiites.
: no end.
Change of season brings hor­
des of problems. Come sum­
mer and there are scarcities of
all sorts Bogged by erratic
power s
e populace has
another
the shape of
water
De
he Delhi
age Dis­
at there
co:
areas
Delh
Th
fact
plan
caoa
DWSSD

fi'S ^5

age. The
acute m South
h-West

and

East

ing the
■eatment
producnormal
again.
ented
to 469
the

MGD
corresj
previous
The reasons for the shortage
are obvious. DWSSDU has not
been able to cope with the
growing consumption of water
which reaches its peak during
summer, especially in May and
June. Either the water is at low
pressure or the supply is sim■y discontinued for the better Nair, however, denied that the Renney wells in Alipur block, a onies of Delhi which has worse­
supply had been affected due 40 MGD water treatment plant ned the situation further. Water
part of the day.
to the reported collapse of 14 at Nangloi and a 20 MGD plant supply has hardly been com­
mensurate wrrh the ever-ir.The bulk supply for the areas gates of the Wazirabad barrage. at Bawana.
Io make up for the tempor­ creasing demand ..:r
L?e
falling under South Delhi, for “The repair work ,s in progress.
instance, comes from the normal water supply has been ary shortfall. DWSSDU has in­ face of the expanding residen­
Wazirabad and Gokulpuri wa­ maintained throughout”, he stalled over 200 tubewells ac­ tial areas.
ross the city. Emergency water
Moreover, the Capital has to
ter treatment plants. producing stated on Wednesday.
He told this reporter that tankers have also been pressed remain at the mercy of the
120 MGD and 100 MGD of wa­
ter
respectively. DWSSDU DWSSD U was thinking of into service. Mr Nair said that neighbouring States for the re­
sources disclosed that the bulk rationalizing the water supply scores of tHoewells would be lease of water. The only indi­
supply from these plants did in the Capital. He added that commissioned in areas found genous source of water for
not reach the booster pumping several projects had been to be receiving low water sup­ Delhi being the Jamuna Canal.
Areas along the Delhi-U-P.
stations. At the Greater Kailash undertaken to ensure adequate ply. Asked about the ground
to
the
residents. water resources, he said that it border such as Seemapuri. DlLbooster pumping station in supply
South Delhi, only about 30 According to Mr Nair, a 100 could be exploited further as shad Garden. Surya Nagar.
MGD of water reached on Wed­ MGD plant at Haiderpur would even after considerable digging Seel am pur and Nand Nagri re­
to
get ceive a despairingly low supply
nesday creating panic among be commissioned next year, officials continued
plans to build reservoirs were muddy water, emanating a of water during the day. Hous­
the residents.
underway. Work on six reser­ nauseating odour.
ing over lOO.OOC1 people the resi­
Sources in DWSSDU dis­ dential pockets of Dilshaa Gar­
The Wazirabad water plant, voirs had already started. Con­
however, faces an impending struction of another seven re­ closed that water shortage has den get water az odd hours. Wa­
closure in the event of the re­ servoirs would take place soon, also been due to the diversion ter supply is restored only after
of supply to the colonies that 11-00 p.m and c:gtinue^iduring
pair work at the Wazirabad he added.
The undertaking has also have come up on the outskirts the night. But it becomes a
barrage not being completed
before the onset of the mon­ been working on the construc­ of Delhi. They said that water is trickle before tuwn. drying up
soon. The Additional Commis­ tion of a 100 MGD water treat­ also being supplied to many finally even before the resi­
sioner. 'DWSSDU. Mr P M. ment plant at Haiderpur, five “illegal or unauthorized” col- dents have w'-ren up

The long wait for water at a public handpump in the Capital. — The
Statesman.

Where water is more \
Dredorts than milk
By Bunker Roy
kilometres or r-rre.
uipes are
1
TN Nuvember-Dvce-rer 19S8 a
fl small ullage based voluntary
decided on me c.asts c. v. .-ether
there is a perennial source of sweet
agency called Preyatna organised a
water More chikfim atrtszni z prim­
walk through 45 villages of Dudu
ary school if thaz scbcci
a sweet
Panchayat Samiti barely 60 miles
water source. No primary zr middle
from Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan It
school
al! -_2.get v- walked
was a walk to make people aware of
through has a M.e ■*:;>-— >?urce!
their drinking water problems
We saw many sigfirs zna: defy
You ask the so-called responsible
explanation. Is Kcnssn. village,
I people in Rajasthan if Jaipur district
there is a sweet »i:cr scuirce. but
has problems of drinking water and
the villagers have been- cermed that
the response you get borders on
water: the
x Dumping
disbelief. Either 1 am being funny
it to Nagaur in tie
district.
(which*, in other words, means I
Hand pumos have Deen msuailcd but
f
'
need to get my head examined) or I
tKe’water is unfit :or dnmxcmc. Villa- - ' (.
just do not know Rajasthan. The
gefs"53k hy
money
answer inveriably is that Jaipur has
when every -,cce acws
water
no problem, it is there in Barmer
will be brack:sb.' But zszs
ar.conand piaces like that where villagers
t racts have bee □‘ c a.
5^ x ecu live .
have to walk several kilometres for
Ejigincers P1LH.3 ..for . ZDcrc—hahd
sweet water, where the Government
services have virtually collapsed
pumps L
Tn Sartala vulaze an omz. man told
Well, by sheer coincidence, some
us that out of liX zhuuanem bom in
village sarpanches from Barmer
the village only jtoucc 22 just sur­
were visiting the area and what they
vive: the re*t cSe be-miusu of brack­
saw of the state cf dnnking water
ish water. In ?
Fcr-.grehorrified them. Banner never so
Dcbn villages wc 'c_ucc me Mine
bad. they said.
sad stones of neclecr arnfi callousWho wall believe that 60 miles
;
from Jaipur there are villages where • ness.
The Walk foe Water resulted in 70
women scoop out water by hand
men from 11
eerng for the i
from puddles in drying ponds? Vil­
first time co<iexnt*ciw
the Sub- |
lages within a 10 km radius of the
Divisional NLwisrranr dfemanding
i
largest salt lake in India, the Samwater
fit
for
dnakinK..
Twenty-six
bhar Lake, are forced to liverin the
women from -five_ yaflages got1
19th century because we. you and I.
togcthef~and Iffeeit jcl ixxn rtni
have neglected them. We have
PanchayatS of wenum, members
taken it Jpr g: anted that j'ust be­
only. Ten wooea’s apoups in diffecause they live dose to Jaipur they
rent village*
mm aerveral rimes
must have basic amenities. This is
tcFebafk jour > lomg. wan plan ori
not true.
action.
Ask for something to drink and
~"A small bemansg W: in the right
they offer you milk, not water be­
direction.
•
cause that is more precious. Milk Is
Traveller, ahene ub
pash
available'at their doorstep: for wa­
Paths arc —jJw wafting.
/
ter they have to walk three

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(City Edition)

SAFE WATER 2000
By PREMA VISWANATHAN

to repeat me Jhabua ex­
. me a year and West Bengal points to how even perience elsewhere if people are
l?:.\l;TLNG .u.nvtrow
a half to acquire an adviser," he the best tcchpological_ inputsLjran adequately motivated. After all.
Oplays host to Safe Water 2000: a recalls.
boomerang unless _ ’they,'Vre. this was one of the poorest, most
five-day global consultation on safe Another fot.Trcnl was the indif­ augmented with people'spariicipaT drought-ravaged districts in the
■water and sanitation for the 1990s. ference c: the state-level ad­ jion.
country. If it was possible to suc­
The event will wrap up the Inter­ ministration One mission official
Unless the community feels that ceed here, one could succeed anynational Drinking Water Supply dredges up bitter memories of the the assets, whether it is a hand­
and Sanitation Decade(IDWSSDj.
reception be was accorded by a pump or any other source, belong
THE SOLUTION: Common::;
midway through which India’s belligerent :z:ef secretary of a to il they will continue to use
parucipation, whether it be t**own National Drinking Water state ‘‘I
contaminated
sources.
he
says.
A
meeting
jou
only
^Jissidhr^of br.
’/ay
because vo:
sources. or the rcsp-tnsibi!:" .fo­
■Ffie’cKoice of venue is somewh?’
this impediment as “a software
,por:
nt a. rite nance of assets like the
rc-or.cra. ccnsiueri ng ma. ir.c
. the inability to communicate
handpump, seems to be the key to
Washing’ion-b?: i
j •.
down to the <:cal administration with the people and get them to the problem. And Ms Ir.fora
stituie had wamed jusfja few. and accounts for the setbacks faced empathise with the government’s
months ago that this country is in by the miff’ ~ Although mistitn gca.s. “Unless we stop treating Varicarajan, an NGO working
for a major-uauv-Jaminc in tbf and rural cr-i.tpment department people like ‘targets’ and more like with an Indo-Dutch project under
the Ganga Action ' Plan in
officials claim '.hat the. target of human beings in need of help to
to Mr Martin G. Beyer of the covering the 1 55 lakh "problem” stand on their own feet we will Mirza pur, UP, reveals, j’ery ofteo
United Nations Development Pro­ villages ider.ur'ed by the mission never solve our problems,” he as­ th e term .‘comm uni tv’ stands for
vy.o~en7~-\nJ unless tEe worn ep qT
gramme (UNDP), which is rpon- has almost been reached, with only serts.
soring the consultation jointly with 3.-57 of tr.-tm remaining un­
The approach paper to the eighth the village are empowered LQ_iake
the Government of India and other covered, some -oluntary organisa­ Plan, interestingly, reflects this decisions relating to w-aterjnanzge.agencies, it is quite appropriate tions dispute tris figure. According thinking., calling for more decen­ ment. change will be slow in coin­
ing. “In Mirzapur. we*Eave traTned
that the subcontinent should be to Mr Bunker Roy of the Social tralisation and
community
picked out for this honour, for it Work and Tresea r ch Centre i n participation. But decentralisation women to be mistns (handpunip
operators)
for the first time, over­
^ran lay claim to harbouring the Tilonia. Rajasthan, the missfoTTs has its own snags, warns a former
ggest water supply system in the figure is wrong because it is based mission official. “Now everyone is coming resistance from the men­
folk. The acquisition of new skills
'world.
on a 1982 list which was never intoning the Ela Bhatt model of
Officials in the department of updated eve: after the severe decentralisation, which is not real­ has invested these women with a
rural development as well as in the drought whic: :cuurred thereafter, ly the answer. Not that the Pitroda tremendous amount of self-con­
Planning Commission concede causing mar.) revered” villages to model of centralisation is to be fidence and they can now demand
that the programme was limping turn into "pr Sem” villages. Mr applied in all cases. But to get the right to select the site where a
along in the first half of the decade. Ghosh count! s this charge with something started and give it hand pump is to be installed and
undertake the responsibility to
despite the emphasis on rural the assertion
what is impor- momentum, you do need a cen­ maintain it”
drinking water supply in both the
Lant is not the coesuon of numbers tralised structure.”
sixth and seventh rive year Plans,
Mr Ghosh and Mr T.R.Sankaran, Most NGOs echo her viewpoint
but the fact that at least some
and assert that since women are
g^il Mr Sam Pitroda entered the
secretary, department of rural de­ traditionally more in valved _ihan
target
has
beer,
reached
as
per
the
’Bre and launched the National
criteria set out S the mission. The velopment, do not concur with this .T^n •
vater
_ii—-s
Drinking Water .Mission “Actu­
erveria be in: t‘e provision of 40 view p v: cr must oercolate to the '^ute_Lhe. gj.emmcnt .recognised
ally. Rajiv Gandhi had announced
people through local bodies like
their
role
and
allowed
Lhcm_a_say_
’he -et’.i.ig up
ir.: mr. ion in
cUbtance of 1.5 clometres. at least panchayats, they feel.
tn the decision-making If Uiis_had
1986. but we end net have a clear
They agree that even panchayats been done earlier, .. says. Ms
one water source remg made avail­
concept until Sam came along.”
have their own power structures Varadarajan, the two million Mark
able for every 25; persons.
reveals Mr Gauri Ghosh, joint
1 However, the marge of poor per­ which can militate against an Il handpumps which are now in
retarv. department of rural deformance doesz*. emanate only egalitarian distribution of water re­ disrepairdue to poor mainlenanift,
. Jopment and director of the
from voluntary organisations. sources, but hope that slowly, would still be in Working. Con­
through the growing awareness of
mission.
Even Ms Ela Bbam. member, Plan­
ditio EL
their rights, the people will see that
INITIAL H .ASS LES: Pitroda ning Commissicc. speaking at a
these
bodies
do
not
foil
prey
to
WOMEN'S PARTICIPA­
himself entered the picture only in recent colloquium on water man­
TIONS : However, warns one for­
1987. “so we wasted a whole year", agement, related an instance of vested interests.
Indeed, the success of the mission mer mission official, even a term
recalls Mr Ghosh. And then there how she and otbrc activists of the
in eradicating'" guineaworm, a Eke •'women’s participation’ has
were other bottlenecks. One was Self Employed Yemen’s Associa­
water-borne ’ parasite, in ’~Jhabua, the danger of becoming just a
the altitude of officialdom. tion (SEWA) had gone to B a riswa ra~~LTda i pifr
d
Although the ‘management mode’ Santhalpur in Sazrashtra, Gujarat, Dungarpur districts in Rajasthan, ‘buzzword’, to be aired al seminars
introduced by Mr Pitroda (“divid­ to do a survey on the impact of the is ampie testimony to the effective- and taken out of context to the
ing a problem into small, manage­ official water surely programme nKTof community participation in exclusion of other issues. “What
»e need ts a holistic approach, for
able pieces", as one of the mission on the women of me area. “We had a govemment-aided^prpgianiiDe.
in the ultimate analysis, even is­
officials puts it) was a revolution­ to postpone our bath for seven
Says
Mr
R.
Gopalakrishnan,
sues
such as deforestation, soil
ary concept, it initially found no days during the smdy as there was
takers in the bureaucracy. Mr no water for bathreg.” she revealed deputy secretary, rural develop­ erosion, do have an impact on. the
ment, who was district collector of procurement of water resources. So
Ghosh attributes the resistance to amidst laughter.
the obsession with hierarchical PEOPLES PARTICIPATION: Jhabua when the programme was no one issue should be "in nated out
norms within the administration. Mr Tushar Kanrial secretary Of under way, “I think the entire of proportion to the rest.”

2

Planning Commission has rec­
ommended a budget of Rs. !0.Cv3
1 crore for its activity in the next five
fc^^r. Gouri Shankar Ghosh.
I mission director, told The Econ!
Ti‘".:. < ere ?.ri F^k’av th. • the
Signal Plan would he a period
consolidation for the .Mission, with
the development of institutions
and laboratories, which could
ensure quality water to the vil­
lagers.
Since its inception in 19X6. the
mission did introduce a more organised search for dnnking water
sources through the help of satellite
and sophisticated drilling bores.
but it could not. Mr. Ghosh ad­
mitted. ensure quality. With a shift
of thrust in he coming plan, the
mission would not only continue
to fmd out newer sources, but
maintain the punty of water too.
The mission’s experience had
brought out that water from "spot
sources" had been purer as well as

the water sources more effective?.
managed. The state governments
had been asked to draw up a
legislation, to ensure their control
over the use of water. The Gujarat
government had already passed a
legislation while Maharashtra and
Mad?;-a Pmdtsh '••e-- conternpia'.
ing similar action so that the’e
could be a more planned use c;
water. A planned “water-shed
management approach" to the
availability* and use of water is
expected to be introduced by the
Eighth Plan.

Gouri Shankar Ghosh
0.031 paise. Haphazard drilling.
however, had cost the nation Rs.
1.000 crore a year, so far. Satellite
selection of water sources, followed
by gcophvsical surveys undertaken
by the mission, had helped cut

In the Eighth Plan, the choice of
the new village conglomerates
would be left to the panchayats.
The state, according to Mr. Ghosh.
had already been asked to make a
survey, and suggest their choice of
"problem areas.” The selection
and planning of the new con­
glomerates would be decentralised
and would be done at the village
level in the Eighth Plan. The public

gmdjcte courses in public health
engineer.ng will undergo revisions
to impirt mere effective training in
water management.
With he newer sources of water
being ftund. problems cf preserv­
ing the assets were being increas­
ing?Sense of
tzeae and
p'jr/.v
dec to be imp±r. : 1 to the
villagers. The new training courses
were expected to cover all the
aspects cf rational management of
water.
>

ORF ISSUE BRIEF
SEPTEMBER 2010

ISSUE BRIEF #25

^.O^A H—

•

Water for Indian Cities:
Government Practices and
Policy Concerns
Rumi Aijaz
Abstract
The demand for basic infrastructure and services in Indian cities has increased phenomenally due to rapidly growing
populations. Such unmet demands often adversely affect the quality of urban life, the economic productivity, as well as the
process ofsustainable development. The main purpose ofthis briefis to highlight the problems involved in improving access to
water supply in Indian cities faced with a severe water shortage crisis. A case study approach is followed, and the status ofwater
supply service is describedfor three large cities ofIndia, namely Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. The author argues that there exists
an immediate need to build up the water infrastructure and institutions, and points out that the challengefor stakeholders lies in
speeding up the reform process and m the replication/implementation ofefficient watergovernance practices.
Introduction

Migration from rural areas and small towns to cities is
quite common in India. Such movement is generally
associated with the level of economic and social
development of a place. Employment and education
among males and marriage among the females are
important reasons for migration. All-India data show
that during the decade 1991-2001, more than 20 million
persons moved from rural to urban areas, and nearly 15
million moved from one town to another (Census of
India, 2001: 15). As a result of this movement, city
populations have grown phenomenally over the years.
During 1991-2001, the proportion of in-migrants' to
the total population of Delhi urban agglomeration’
(UA) was 16.4 %. It was 15.1 % in the case of Greater
Mumbai UA, 13.4 % in Bangalore UA, 8.7 % in
Hyderabad UA, 6.6 % in Chennai UA and 6.2 % in
Kolkata UA (Census of India, 2001: 18). In addition to
Observer Research Foundation is a public policy think-tank
that aims to influence formulation of policies for building a
strong and prosperous India. -ORF pursues these goals by
providing informed and productive inputs, in-depth research
and stimulating discussions. The Foundation isjupported in its
mission by a cross-section of India’s leading public figures,
academics and business leaders.

migrants, there is a sizeable working population living
in the adjoining areas which moves in and out of the
city on a daily basis. Due to a high concentration of
population in cities, there is a huge demand for
infrastructure and services, such as housing, public
transport, electricity, water supply, sanitation,
sewerage, drainage and solid waste management.
Access to drinking water

Several indicators have been identified to understand
the availability and quality of drinking water in an
area. A basic indicator included in the Indian Census is
the 'proportion of population/households having
access to safe drinking water'. Although the definition
of 'safe drinking water’ has been spelled out, there is
strong criticism by analysts on the high proportions of
the population being considered under the 'safe
drinking water' category. In this respect, it is argued
that while sources of safe drinking water have been
The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation is naively involved in.politicaleducation throughout die Federal Republic of GermanyJl considers
itself; parr of’the political moycmcnvfor democratic socialism. The
RLF'has'iu origins in the assdciatjoir/Spciil-Analysis and Political
Education*, founded in Berlin-in-1990,. It became a provider of
political-education, ’ a discussion '.forum for critical thinking and
political alternatives, and a centre for progressive social thinking and
research both in Germany and throughout the world.

11 wvvw.orfonlinc org | September 2010

Epsuc’gs&nraKQ

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LUXEMBURG
FOUNDATION

ISSUE BRIEF • Water for Indian Cities: Government Practices and Policy Concerns

listed, sufficient steps are not being taken by the service
providing agencies to test the quality of water obtained
from such sources at frequent intervals. Sample
surveys are also conducted from time to time covering
the whole of the Indian Union (with the exception of
some remote areas) to collect information on the
source and condition of drinking water. Some
indicators on which national/state-level data are
collected include: 'households (HHs) having their
principal source5 of drinking water within/near their
premises', 'HHs having sole access to their principal
source of drinking water', 'HHs sharing a public
source', 'HHs served by tap/piped water/tubewell/
handpump', 'HHs getting sufficient drinking water
from their principal sources', 'HHs satisfied with the
quality of drinking water served by their principal
sources', 'HHs using supplementary sources5 of
drinking water', 'HHs boiling and filtering drinking
water before consumption', 'HHs storing their
drinking water', 'HHs dipping in a vessel without a
handle to take drinking water out of the main storage
container', etc.

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal
Mission’ (JNNURM) Directorate has identified a list
of nine service level benchmarks in respect of water
supply services in order to review the performance of
service delivery agencies. The indicators are: 'coverage
of water supply connections'; 'per capita supply of
water'; 'extent of metering of water connections';
'extent of non-revenue water’; 'continuity of water
supply'; 'quality of water supplied'; 'efficiency in
redressal of customer complaints'; 'cost recovery in
water supply services'; and 'efficiency in collection of
water supply-related charges’.

A recent study conducted by WHO and UNICEF
(2010: 43) reveals that in 2008, 96 % of India's urban
population was using an improved drinking-water
source’. Of this total, one-half (48 %) had piped supply
on premises and the remaining used other improved
sources. According to the study, about 4 % of the
population was using drinking-water from
unimproved sources. The data compiled by the Census
of India (2001) showed that 90 % of the households in
urban India had access to safe drinking water facilities.
Most Indian States fell under the 70-99 %■ category but
percentages in many north eastern States and in Kerala
were less than 60 %. A sample survey conducted by the
National Sample Survey Organisation (1999: ii) during
January to June 1998 revealed that 91 % of the urban
households in the country’ were served by tap, tubewell
or handpump. The survey also showed that almost

one-half (46 %) of the urban households reported
boiling (11 %) and filtering (35 %) of drinking water
before consumption.
The case studies

Indian cities are home to millions of people. In 2001,
there were 35 UAs/cities, each having a population of
more than one million.

Together, these accounted for 38 % of the country's
total urban population. While most of these had just
crossed the one million mark at the time of 2001
Census count, three (namely Greater Mumbai, Delhi
and Kolkata UAs) recorded a population of more than
10 million. Their population (in million) was 16.4,
13.8, and 13.2 respectively. It is estimated that by 2025
the number of persons living in each of the three mega
cities/UAs would be more than 20 million (UN, 2009).
As per the UN population projections, other Indian
cities/UAs are not expected to cross the 10 million
mark by 2025 (Fig. 1). The three UAs are also included
in the list of 30 largest UAs in the world ranked by
population size. For the year 2025, Delhi and Mumbai
have been ranked 2"J and 3'J after Tokyo, while
Kolkata's rank is 8,h after Sao Paulo, Dhaka, Mexico
City, and New York-Newark.

The Delhi Jal7
(Water) Board
(DJB) is responsible
for the discharge of
functions of water
supply, sewerage
and sewage disposal,
and drainage within
the National
Capital Territory of
Delhi’. It functions
as per the provisions
of the Delhi Water
Board Act, 1998.
The agency currently produces about 820 million
gallons per day (MGD) of water, 85 % of which is

?. | www.0rl0nlinc.OQ’ 1 Sepccmlxr 2010

ISSUE BRIEF • Water for Indian Cities: Government Practices and Policy Concerns

obtained from surface sources’ (such as river and canal;
Fig. 2) and the remaining is extracted from under the
ground1'. Before supplying to the consumers, raw
water undergoes conventional treatment for which
treatment plants are established at six different
locations in the city". Water for treatment plants is
carried through dedicated trunk mains. The water
produced at treatment plants and in the distribution
system is frequently checked in laboratories to ensure
potable supply. After treatment, water is taken to
underground reservoirs and then distributed to
different pans of Delhi. Most of the city is covered by a
piped network. Up to April 2009, more than 17 lakh
piped water connections had been provided. At other
places (including slums/unauthorised colonies), water
requirements are met through hand pumps, stand
posts, tankers^supplies water free of cost), and private
motorised wells/tube wells. DJB levies two charges
(i.e., a service charge and a volumetric charge per
kilolitre) on domestic water consumers to recover
costs incurred in the production and supply of water.
As per the prevailing rates, a household consuming up
to 10 kilolitres (kl) of water has to pay Rs. 82 a month;
Rs. 180 for consuming up to 20 kl and; Rs. 470 for
consuming up to 30 kl. The monthly water tariff also
includes a sewerage maintenance charge levied @ 60 %
of water volumetric charge.
The Municipal
Corporation of
Greater Mumbai
(MCGM) is
responsible for the
“construction and
maintenance of
works and means
for providing a
supply of water”
to the residents of
Mumbai12. The
civic agency
functions according to the provisions of the Mumbai
Municipal Corporation Act, 1888. The quantum of
water produced is about 860 MGD (or 3,250 MLD), all
of which is obtained from six different surface
sources". Two sources are situated within city limits
and the remaining lie at a distance of more than 100
kms. (Fig. 3). All sources (i.e., lakes) have been created
by constructing dams on rivers (namely Mithi,
Alwandi, Vaitarna and Bhatsa). The water is
transferred to the city by pipe lines. Some sources such
as Upper Vaitarna are situated at a higher elevation and
thus water is conveyed to the city entirely by gravity.

For the treatment of water, plants" have been
established and the treated water is first stored in
master reservoirs and then transferred to service
reservoirs located in various parts of the city from
where all consumers are served by piped supply.
Furthermore, water samples from the distribution
network and taps are routinely collected and tested to
ensure a good quality of supply. The Corporation is
empowered tp levy a water tax, a water benefit tax,
and/or a water charge for meeting the expenditure
incurred on capital works for making and improving
the facilities of water supply and for maintaining and
operating such works. Presently, households with
metered connections are charged @ Rs. 3.50 per
thousand litres of water. This rate is Rs. 2.25 in case of
slum settlements. The rate increases if the
consumption of water exceeds 150 Ipcd. Unmetered
connections are charged @ 12.5 % of annual rental
value of property. MCGM uses accrual-based double
entry sytem of accounting for maintaining accounts.

The Kolkata
Municipal
Corporation (KMC)
Act, 1980 empowers
the civic agency to
discharge functions
in relation to water
supply. Accordingly
in Kolkata, the
Municipal
Corporation is in
charge
of
“construction and
maintenance of
water-works and
providing, by itself or by any agency, means for supply
of water for public and private purposes”. To meet the
requirements of the city population", 93 % of water is
obtained from surface source (namely river Hooghly
which flows more than 15 kms. along the western edge
of Kolkata; Fig. 4) and the remaining is extracted from
under the ground by installing tube wells. The total
production from the two sources is about 291 MGD.
Facilities have been created for the treatment of raw
water, and the installed capacity of treatment plants is
393 MGD". There are about 15 pumping stations with
reservoirs established at different places in the city for
providing piped supply of water. The municipal Act
empowers the corporation to levy a fee for the supply
of water to households. KMC supplies water free of
cost to most domestic consumers. It charges only for
bulk supply. Presently, the rate for bulk supply of

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ISSUE BRIEF • Water for Indian Cities: Government Practices and Policy Concerns

water to domestic users through meters is Rs. 7 per
kilolitre.
Issues and challenges

distribution system

connections, theft,

(40%), theft, insufficient

metering Inaccuracies

There is another set of problems such as the unplanned
growth taking place in cities and frequent changes in
city development plans which adversely affect the
performance of service providing functionaries who
do not find sufficient space to provide more service
reservoirs and pipe lines. In Delhi, there are
encroachments on mains by unauthorised colonies. If a
problem occurs on the water mains, the agency is not
permitted to resolve it since the repair work would
involve removing some of the houses. Thus, in such
situations alternate pipe lines have to be laid which
involves unnecessary spending. Yet another problem
observed in the case of Delhi is uncertainties in
receiving a sufficient supply of water from the
neighboring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. In
one instance, the supply received from the Upper
Ganga Canal was blocked by the local community that
vehemently campaigned for reservation of seats. In
Mumbai, the staff is liable for inter-departmental
transfers. This results in considerable wastage of time,
since the new functionaries have their own priorities.
In the case of Kolkata, it is reported that water politics
affects equitable distribution of supply. Despite having
piped connections, numerous households in the city
do not receive a supply for extended periods of time. It
is alleged that the “councilors are not interested in
supplying potable water to middle class areas and their
focus is only on slums where they have a larger chunk
of their vote bank” (77;e Times of India, 2010).
Furthermore, such problems also occur due to party
politics. In this respect it is note<4 that councilors
affiliated to the largest political party in local
governments often ignore the preferences of those in
minority.
Conclusion

An appraisal of the water supply situation in the three
largest Indian cities reveals a number of problems
(Table 1). Notable among these are: A huge water
demand and supply gap; poor operation and
maintenance of water supply systems; huge water
losses mainly caused by leakages in transmission and
distribution lines; significant proportion of non­
revenue and unaccounted flow of water; large number
of non-functional and defective meters; noteworthy
intra-urban disparities; inadequate supply of safe
drinking water t<? poor communities; insufficient
quantities supplied; intermittent supply; poor quality
of water, depleting ground water levels; low tariff for
domestic connection/inappropriate pricing; lack of
attention given to rationalisation of tariffs; low cost
recovery; poor financial management and accounting
systems; inadequate manpower and institutional
capacity; lack of reliable data/information; lack of
private sector involvement; lack of bankable projects
to attract institutional financing and external funding;
and numerous technical problems, including old pipe
networks/trunk mains; lack of dedicated service
connections; insufficient capacity to treat waste water;
use of substandard material (such as valves, pipes);
frequent pipe bursts, poor maintenance of reservoirs;
and lack of apparatus for volumetric measurement.
Table 1: Status of water supply in select Indian cities
Indicators

Delhi

Mumbai

Kolkata

Demand-supply

230

317

290

Production loss al

Leakages,

Leakage in

treatment plants, high

theft, plant

transmission &

leakage in the

losses

distribution line, Illegal

gap IMGD)
Water loss

Note: Data provided in the table are approximate
values, and are obtained from various sources listed at
the end of the brief.

leak detection

52

20-25

97

42

20

42 (based on a study

Coverage/househoids 72

100

88

Non-revenue water

(%)
Unaccounted flow

of 62 wards)

of water (%)

connected to pipe
network (%)
Metering of

55 (many non-functional

100 (only 54%

0.08 % (functional

connections (%)

& defective meters)

are working)

metered connections as

% to total connections);
200 metered

connections for bulk
users
Per capita supply

191 (intra-urban

(Ipcd)

disparities)

Average supply/day

2 to3

2 to4

10

42

95% of the

90 (for billed

population clear their

connection)

180 (unequal supply)

133 (imbalances in
distribution)

(hours)
Cost recovery (%)

Coping with the needs of a large urban population is a
challenging task for the city governments/service
delivery agencies. A brief assessment of the water
supply situation in the three largest cities of India
presented in this report confirms this fact. As more and
more people migrate to cities, the demand for water as
well as the pressure on civic agencies is likely to grow.
While this movement of people can be gradually
restricted to a large extent by laying greater emphasis
on balanced development of regions in the country,
there exists an immediate need to build up the water
infrastructure and institutions to meet the current

bills regularly

-I I www.orlnnhne.oi-)’ j September 2010

ISSUE BRIEF • Water for Indian Cities: Government Practices and Policy Concerns

needs of the growing economy and increasing
population.

A large number of initiatives/reforms have been
undertaken at the national, state and local levels to
improve the situation of urban water supply17. The
most significant among these is the support provided
to state and local governments under the JNNURM in
undertaking various fiscal, financial and institutional
changes in the water sector. Furthermore, with the
adoption of innovative practices such as energy
efficiency, effective billing and collection, subsidies

and incentives for water supply to urban poor, use of
ICT, public-private-partnerships (in service operation
and maintenance, distribution, billing and revenue
collection), institutional capacity building, and
customer service improvement, some urban centers
have already begun to display excellence in urban
water management. In view of the fact that the issues
and prescriptions in the water sector have been largely
identified, the challenge now lies in speeding up the
reform process and in the replication/ implementation
of good governance practices in other centres.

Acknowledgements

This study is jointly supported by the Rosa-Luxemburg Stiftung (RLS), Germany and the Observer Research Foundation
(ORF), New Delhi, India. The urban water supply-related issues and challenges presented in the brief are based on inputs
received from professionals during a seminar organised by ORF on April 6, 2010 in -which presentations were delivered by

Mr. A.K. Mehta (MoUD), Dr. D.D. Basu (CPCB), Mr. T.V. Shah (Formerly with MCGM), Mr. Amitava Pal (KMC), Mr.
R.K. Garg (DJB), Mr. Tom Thomas (PRAXIS India), Mr. Manti Bhatnagar (INTACH), Ms. Gita Kavarana (CSE), Dr.
Sanjeev Nayyar (MCD), and Mr. Anshuman (TERI). The author would also like to thank Mr. Manish Vaid (Research
Assistant, ORF) for providing valuable support in the organisation of maps and in the collection and tabulation of
data/information from numerous secondary sources.

References
Business Standard (2009): 'Kolkata assumes domestic water supply is free', by Devjyot Ghoshal, 24'1'December.

Census of India (2001): Migration Tables (Tables D1, D2 and D3), Data Highlights.

Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (1999): Manual on Water Supply and Treatment, Third
Edition-Revised and Updated, New Delhi: Ministr}'of Urban Development.

Delhi Development Authority, Master Plan for Delhi -2021.
Government oi National Capital Territory of Delhi and IL&FS Ecosmart Ltd. (2006): City Development Plan for Delhi,
Chapter 8 - Water Supply.
Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, The Delhi Water Board Act, 1998.

INTACH (2010): 'Holistic Water Policy for Future Urban WaterSecurity of Delhi'.
Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980, As amended up to 2007, by L.N. Datta and Afroze Alam, Kolkata: Tax 'N Law
Publishers.

Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Mayor's Budget Speech for 2010-11.
Kolkata City Development Plan, Chapter I- Infrastructure Profile, pages 50-123.

Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, As amended by Maharashtra Act No. 6 and 7 of 2009, Edited by Sunil Dighe,
Mumbai: Snow White Publication Pvt. Ltd.
Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, Mumbai City Development Plan 2005-2025, Section 13.1 - Water Supply.

Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (2010): Budget Estimates 2010-11.
National Sample Survey Organisation (1999): Drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in India, NSS 54'h Round (January' to

June 1998), Department of Statistics, New Delhi: Government of India.
Planning Commission, Eleventh Five Year Plan 2007-2012, Chapter 11 - 'Urban Infrastructure, Housing, Basic Services and
Poverty Alleviation', New Delhi: Government of India.
Planning Commission, Eleventh Five Year Plan 2007-2012, Chapter 5 - 'Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Clean Living
Conditions', New Delhi: Government of India.

The Times of India (2010): 'Water woes may tilt vote scales', by K. Bandopadhyay and M. Chakraborty, 13,hMay.
United Nations (2009): World Urbanisation Prospects - The 2009 Revision, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
Population Division.

WHO and UNICEF (2010): Progress on Sanitation and Drinking-Water, 2010 Update.

5 | www.nrlonlinc.org | September 2010

ISSUE BRIEF • Water for Indian Cities: Government Practices and Policy Concerns

Website references

Department of Delhi Jal Board: http://www.delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/DOIT DJB/djb/home
Google Maps India'*: http://maps.google.co.in/
Kolkata Municipal Corporation:
https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/isp/KMCPortalHomel.i sp

Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai:
http://www.mcgm.gov.in/iri/portal/anonymousPNavigationTarget °navurl://55454fe42297ed3da8ca5afe777d49de

ABOUTTHEAUTHOR
.
■ ' ■ f ‘/-v» v
Dr. Rumi Aijaz is Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation; He Is engaged in studies on-urbanisation apd;?pveroance;HS?a»ie^
works on local government have been published in two prestigious international journalsyjd'urfiaPofJA’si anvan^9XfdcahStudres,XS^ef
Publications, USA) and Habitat International (Elsevier, Netherlands).
•.

End Notes:
1. From within the State, from other States, and from other countries.
2. An Urban Agglomeration is a continuous urban spread constituting a town and its adjoining urban outgrowths or two or more
physically contiguous towns together and any adjoining urban outgrowths of such towns.
3. If a household obtained drinking water from the same source throughout the year, that source is treated as a principal source (NSSO,
1999:6).
•
»
4. If a household, during the last one year, obtained drinking water from more than one source, then the one most commonly used was
treated as the principal source and the next one was treated as the supplementary source (NSSO, 1999:6).
5. The mission, launched by the Government of India in December 2005, supports State and local governments in undertaking fiscal,
financial and institutional changes for the creation of efficient and equitable urban centres.
6. "An improved drinking-water source is one that by the nature of its construction adequately protects the source from outside
contamination. Examples of improved sources are piped water into dwelling, public tap or standpipe, tubewell or borehole, protected
dug well, protected spring and rainwater collection"(WHO and UNICEF, 2010:34).
7. Jal isa Hindi word, which means water. Delhi Jal Board is a department of the Government of National CapitalTerritory of Delhi.
8. The total population under the jurisdiction of Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 2001 was 9.8 million, of which 19 % lived in slums.The
density of population in the MCD area was 7,026 persons per sq. km.
9, Water is received through river Yamuna, Bhakra-Nangal storage and upper Ganga canal.
10. Ground water depths vary from 10 to 40 metres.
11. The names/location of treatment plants are Chandrawal,Wazirabad,Haiderpur I & II, Nangloi,Bhagirathi and Sonia Vihar.
12. The name "Bombay" was changed to "Mumbai" in 1996. The total population under the jurisdiction of Greater Mumbai Municipal
Corporation in 2001 wasl 1.9 million, of which 49% lived in slums.The density of population was 27,209 persons per sq.km.
13. Names of water sources are Vihar, Tulsi.Vaitarna (upper and lower),TansaandBhatsa.ln the case of Mumbai, it is perceived that ground
water resources are inadequate (not more than 110 MLD) and are also contaminated.
14. Names of major treatment plants are Bhandup.Panjrapur, Vihar andTulsi.
15. As per 2001 Census, Kolkata had a total population of 4.58 million, of which 33 % lived in slums. This figure excludes a daily floating
population of about 5.5 to 6 million.The density of population was 24,499 persons per sq. km.
16. Names of water treatment plants are Palta/lndira Gandhi, Jorabagan.Watgunj, and Garden Reach.
17. As per the Constitution of lndia,"Water"falls within the legislative jurisdiction of the State Governments and States/city-level agencies
are vested with the constitutional right to plan, implement, operate and maintain water supply projects.The Central Ministries (namely
Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Ministry of Urban Development, and Ministry of Housing and Urban
Poverty Alleviation) are responsible for formulation of policies, strategies and guidelines, and provides financial assistance and
technical expertise for development of urban water supply and sanitation sector in cities and towns.
18. The three base maps of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata appearing in the brief areobtained from the Google Maps web site, and are used by
the author for representational purpose only.

Observer Research Foundation,
20, Rouse Avenue, New Delhi-110 002
Phone: +91 -11 -43520020 Fax: +91-11 -43520003
www.orfonline.org email: orf@orfonline.org

6 | wwu'.orl'online.OFg | SeptcmKr 20)0

H " <+A Environ Monit Assess (2009) 159:43-50
DOI 10.1007/S10661-008-06U-0

Bacterial contamination in drinking water: a case study
in rural areas of northern Rajasthan, India,, ;
Surindra Suthar • Vikram Chhimpa •
Sushma Singh

DELNET

I a (E-mail: sangsOdeinet.ren.nic.in)

’^^25741111,3^]^

Received: 1 June 20081 Accepted: 10 October 20081 Published online: 21 November 2008
© Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2008

Abstract The objective of this study was to de­
termine the bacterial contaminations in drinking
water samples collected form some rural habita­
tions of northern Rajasthan, India. A total of ten
bacterial species: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas
aeruginosa, Enterobacter aerogenes, Klebsiella sp,
Proteus vulgaris, Alcaligenes faecalis, Bacillus
cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus lactis and Micrococcus luteum were identified form
drinking water samples. The bacteria belonging io
the family enterobacteriaceae (coliforms) showed
the maximum occurrences in water samples. The
total coliforms count, i.e. TTCm (m = MPN index/
100 ml) in drinking water samples was in the
ranges of 25 TTCm (village Naiwala)-4l TTCm
(village Meharwala). The data suggested that the
drinking water quality deterioration in rural habi­
tations of this region was due to poor sanitation

S. Sulhar (E3)
Environmental Biology Laboratory, Post Graduate
Department of Zoology, B.R.G. Govt Girls (PG)
College. Sri Ganganagar, 335 001. India
e-niail:sutharss_soilbiology@yahoo.co.in
V. Chhimpa
Department of Microbiology, M.D. (PG) College,
Sri Ganganagar, 335 001, India
S. Singh
Department of Chemistry, N.M. PG College,
Hanumangarh, 335 513. India

and unawareness about personal hygienic prac­
tices. The occurrences some pathogenic bacteria
in drinking water may increase the risks of waterrelated diseases and health problems in local
residents.
Keywords Drinking water • Bacterial
contamination • Water-borne disease • E. coli •
Coliform bacteria

Introduction

The biological contamination in drinking water
is a major problem of public health in devel­
oping world. WHO estimates that about 1.1 bil­
lion people globally drink unsafe water and the
vast majority of diarrhoeal disease in the world
(88%) is attributable to unsafe water, sanitation
ind hygiene (WHO 2003). The most common
and widespread health risks associated in drinking
water in developing countries are of biological
origin. Looking at the 20 leading risks factors for
health burden in developing regions, unsafe water,
sanitation and poor hygiene are third, behind un­
derweight or practicing unsafe sex (WHO 2003).
Ten major water-borne diseases are responsible
for over 28 billion disease episodes annually in
developing countries (Walsh 1990). Of these di­
arrhoeal diseases are the big killers especially in­
fants. According to the WHO estimations more
0 Springer

44

Environ Monit Assess (2009) 159:43-50

than 3 million children below age 5 die annually form diarrhoeal disease contracted through
drinking water in developing world. Nonetheless,
the inadequate availability of water, poor quality
of water at source, ill-maintained water pipelines
and sewer lines, unsafe disposing of human, an­
imal and household wastes, unawareness about
good sanitation and personal hygienic practices
etc. are some key factors responsible for poor
drinking water quality in rural areas of India.
Also, the infectious disease caused by pathogenic
bacteria, viruses and parasites (e.g. protozoa and
helminths) are the most common and widespread
health risks associated with drinking water in rural
habitations.
The quality of drinking water may be ascer­
tained by its microbiological examination. The
greatest risk from microbes in water is associ­
ated with consumption of drinking water that is
contaminated with human and animal excreta, al­
though other sources and routes of exposure may
also be significant. The coliforms bacterial group
may occur in water due to faecal contamination,
i.e. discharge of faeces by humus and other an­
imals in water. Coliform includes the members
of the family Enterobacteriaceae, e.g. Escherichia
coli (E. coli) Enterobacter aerogenes. Salmonella
and Klebsiella. These enteropathogenic bacteria
in water are responsible for a variety of diseases
like cholera, typhoid, dysenteries, bacillary dysen­
tery, etc. in human and livestock (Ashbolt 2004).
The faecal indicator bacterium (£. coli) has been
considered as a bioindicator of faecal contamina­
tion of drinking water. It is excreted in the faeces
of all warm-blooded animals and some reptiles
(Enriquez et al. 2001). The major pathogenic
bacteria responsible for water-borne disease are
spread by the faecal-oral route, in which water
may play an intermediate role.
The public health burden is determined by the
severity of the illnesses associated with pathogens,
their infectivity and the population exposed.
There has therefore been an increasing interest
in the application of quantitative risk assessment
for microbial load in drinking water sources. The
aim of this study was to analyse the drinking water
quality in respect to microbial contamination in
rural habitations of the northern Rajasthan, India.
The data of this study may provide some impor­
Springer

tant information about public health risks associ­
ated with drinking water quality in this region.

Materials and methods

Study site
The study was conducted in some rural habita­
tions of Hanumangarh district of the Rajasthan,
India (Fig. 1), India. Geographically, it is located
between 28° 44' and 29’ 57' N and 73’ 47' to 75°
31' E. The total human population of district is
about 1.58 million with population density of 120
persons/km2. Nearly 76.8% of total population of
the district resides in rural areas. According to the
agro-ecological-zone classification, this part of the
state is considered as Aeolian plain of northern
canal irrigated sub region of Thar desert. The
climate of this region is semi-arid with extreme
temperature conditions in summer (up to 45°C)
and winter (up to 1’C). The mean annual rainfall
in this region is 253 mm varying spatially form 250
to 300 mm in different sub-regions of the district.
In this area, the canal water is the major sources
of potable water.
Water sample collection
A total of 86 water samples were collected from
residential localities of 27 different villages/towns,
i.e. Salemgarh, Tibbi, Talwara Jhil, Saliwala,
Masitawali, Ranjeetpura, Pakki Dabwali, Munda,
Maherwala, Keharwala, Bhompura, Chaiya,
Chahuwali, Rawatsar.Jeevannagar, Mirzawalimer,
Bhuranpura, Gandheli, Sharni, Bropal, Rampura,
Naiwala, Rattanpura, Shreka and Manksar. The
samples were collected in sterile capped con­
tainers by following method as described by
Greenberg et al. (1985). To avoid contaminations
disposable gloves washed with HC1 1 N were
worn during waler sampling. The water contain­
ers were kept in airtight large plastic ice-cold
containers and were transported to microbiology
laboratory with 6 h of their collection for the
further processing. The work methodology used
for whole bacterial analysis included: enumera­
tion, isolation characterization and identification

Environ Monit Assess (2009) 159:43-50

45
V/*ur junpfij
1.
1.
3.
4.
5.
4.
7.
8.
t.
10.
fl.
12.
13.
14.
IS,
14.
17.
18.
it.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
24.

5Jkmj*ih
TilN
Tihnn
SiSwtU
HuiuWili
LujtttptUl
ray Da^wli
Kcnia
HttanmuriJ
HthmviU
KtUnuU
Ihjmpura
Ouiyi
CfubuwiO
JUwoar
]«v4anajar
Mrawjll
Bhunnpun
cudhtH
ThUria
Bnpal
Sami
Umpura
NaiuaU
Majukiar
Saitkan

Fig. 1 Location of study sites in the map of Rajasthan, Indin

of microorganism following methods described by
Williams (1989) and Aneja (2004).

Bacterial analysis of drinking water samples
Enumeration

The enumeration of microbial populations was
accomplished using Total Viable Count (TVC)
method. TVC was performed on nutrient agar
media by means of serial dilution agar plating
method (Williams 1989). Dilutions ICT6,10~7 and
10“’ of water samples were used for agar plat-.
ing. One milliliter of appropriate diluted sus­
pension was transferred in petriplates containing
molten agar medium (45°C). The experimental
petriplates were reared in replicates for each sam­
ple. The plates were incubated at 37°C for 24 h
(Aneja 2004) to obtain viable colony.

ate incubation, temperature and lime required
for growth. Isolation of pure cultures was com­
pleted by the streak plate method on various agar
media, i.e. NA (nutrient agar, pH = 7.0), MCA
(MacConkeys’ agar) and EMB (eosin-methylene
blue agar). Gram staining was used on each step
after the transfer of a single colony to check the
purity of culture. The bacterial isolates were sub­
cultured on agar slants of their respective me­
dia al regular intervals to maintain viability and
metabolic activities. Agar slants were stored at a
temperature of 4’C, which shows growth, protects
from damage due to evaporation of medium and
preserves the cultures. The isolates were main­
tained in replicates; one as the working culture
to be used as a source for identification tests and
other as stock culture from which new working
cultures were prepared whenever required.
Bacteria identification

Isolation

The isolation was performed following serial di­
lution, spreading and pour-plate methods (Aneja
2004). The viable bacterial colonies were then
transferred into broth for further cultivations.
The cultivation was performed with appropri­

The primary identification of the isolates was
carried out on the basis of their cultural charac­
teristics on agar plates and microscopic observa­
tions. The secondary identification of the isolates
was carried out on the basis of their biochemical
characteristics, the detection of which aid in the
Springer

46

Environ Monit Assess (2009) 159:43-50

identification and classification of bacteria those
were found morphological identical (Greenberg
et al. 1985).

the presence of coliforms, were further used to
enumerate them using Multiple Probable Number
MPN test.

Detection offaecal coliform, i.e. E. coli

Total coliforms detection

A specific media containing two substrates Onitrophenyl-p-o-galactopyranoside (DNPG) and
4-methylumbelliferyl-(3-D-galacuronidase (MUG)
is used to detect the faecal coliform E. coli
(Tortora et al. 1988). One hundred milliliters
of sample was enriched overnight in 50 ml of
triple-strength lauryl tryptose broth at 37°C and
streaked on sorbitol MacConkeys’ (SMAC) agar
containing potassium tellurite. The sorbitol nega­
tive strains (SMAC-) were tested for enzyme pD-galacuronidase using MUG as the substrate. A
colony of test isolate was applied to MUG impreg­
nated filter paper; moistened with a drop of saline
and incubated al 37°C for 20 min. The absence of
enzyme was indicated by the lack of fluorescence
under UV light. The water samples, which showed

A most probable number (MPN) test was used
to detect the total coliforms in drinking water
samples. MPN was determined by the Mackie
and McCartney (1996) method. This test is per­
formed sequentially in three stages: presumptive,
confirmed and completed test. Lactose broth, i.e.
double-lactose broth (LB 2x) and single lactose
broth (LB lx) tubes were incubated with differ­
ent water volumes (10 ml, 1.0 ml and 0.1 ml) in
presumptive test. Tubes that were positive for gas
production after 24 hrs incubation at 35°C were
inoculated into brilliant green lactose bile broth
for confirmed test and positive tubes were used
to calculate the most probable number (MPN of
coliforms in water samples following the statis­
tical table described by (Mackie and McCartney

Table 1 Incidences of
bacteria in drinking
water samples

SPC Standard plate
count, m Total coliform
count (MPN index/
100 ml), e E. coli bacteria

£) Springer

Sampling site No.

Village/town

No. of samples

SPC*

TCCm

FCC

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Total___________ _

Salemgarh
Tibbi
Talwara
Silwala
Masitawali
Ranjeetpura
Pakki Dawali
Munda
Mohanmagria
Meharwala
Keharwala
Bhompura
Chaiya
Chahuwai ,
Rawatsar
Jeevannagar
Mirzawali
Bhurampura
Gandheli
Thalrka
Bropal
Sahrini
Rampura
Naiwala
Manksar
Sarekan

3
6
4
.3
3
3
3
3
4
3
4
3
3
4
5
4
3
3
4
4
4
3
4
4
3
3
93

21.3 x 101
19.3 x 104
20.6 x 104
19.3 x 104
21.6 x 104
19.0 x 104
20.3 x 104
28.3 x 104
13.0 x 104
24.6 x 104
15.0 x 104
23.0 x 104
19.3 x 104
14.0 x 104
22.0 x 104
21.3 x 104
11.6 x 104
9.3 x 104
7.3 x 104
7.3 x 104
22.3 x 104
13.3 x 104
8.6 x 104
8.3 x 104
8.3 x 104
8.3 x 104

32
38
32
32
31
25
32
31
28
41
31
32
32
31
28
32
31
26
32
38
32
38
32
25
32
28

+
+
+
+
+
—
+
—
+
—
+
+
+
+
+
+
—

+
+
+
+
+
—.
+

Environ Monii Assess (2009) 159:43-50

47

1996). Completed test, involving the inoculations
of EMB agar plate, nutrient agar slant and bril­
liant green lactose broth and preparation of a
Gram-stain slide form NA slant, was used to es­
tablish that coliforms were present in the sample.

Results and discussion

As summarized in Table 1, the drinking water
resources were severely contaminated in this re­
gion. The standard plate count (SPC) which in­
dicates the total microbial load in drinking water
was in the ranges of S.3 x IO4-28.3 x 104, in
different localities (Table 1). A total of ten bac­
terial species, i.e. E. coll, Pseudomonas aerugi­
nosa, E. aerogenes, Klebsiella sp, Proteus vulgaris,
Alcaligenes faecalis, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococ­
cus aureus, Streptococcus lactis and Micrococcus
luteum (Table 2) were identified in drinking water
samples. The microbial species, e.g. M. luteum, S.
lactis, Klebsiella sp. and E. coli showed their pres­
ence in most of the water samples (Fig. 2). The
occurrences and distribution patterns of microbial
species varied greatly among different villages of
this region. Three bacterial species, e.g. E. coli,
P. vulgaris, and 5. lactis showed the maximum
occurrences (recorded form 73.1% villages/towns)
followed by M. luteuni, Klebsiella sp., 5. aureus =
P. aeruginosa, E. aerogenes, B. cereus and A.
faecalis (Table 3). Although the sources of con­
tamination is of primary importance for drinking
water quality, other climatic and locality factors
may also influence the bacterial-contamination
rates in open water sources. According to WHO
(1984) guidelines, the occurrence of pathogens
or indicator organisms in ground and sur­
face water sources mainly depends on intrinsic

Table 2 List of bacterial species isolated form drinking
water samples

Gram vc

Gram+vc

Escherichia coli
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Enterobacter aerogenes
Klebsiella sp
Proteus vulgaris
Alcaligenes faecalis

Bacillus cereus
Staphylococcus aureus
Streptococcus lactis
Micrococcus luteum

Fig. 2

Occurrences of bacterial species in water samples

physical and chemical characteristics of the catch­
ment area and the magnitude and range of hu­
man activities and animal sources that release
pathogens to the environment.
We recorded three important members of
the family Enterobacteriaceae i.e. E. coli, E.
aerogenes. Salmonella and Klebsiella in drinking
water samples. The occurrences of these bacte­
ria in drinking water are of primary importance
because these constitute a major part of coliform
organisms in open water resources. These organ­
isms generally live together in water than other
intestinal pathogens and, therefore can be de­
tected easily as compared to real pathogens. We
recorded all the three coliform bacteria, i.e. E.
coli, E. aerogenes and Klebsiella sp. in drinking
water samples of villages: Silwala, Jeevannagar,
Bhuranpura and Manaksar (Table 3). The occur­
rence of coliform groups in water could be due to
faecal contamination, i.e. discharge of faeces by
humus and other animals in water. According to
Klein and Casida (1967), coliforms may be used
as water quality indicator, and if such bacteria
are not detectable in 100 ml; the water can be
said as potable water. The potable water samples
form 78% villages/towns showed the presence of
faecal coliforms (FCC) i.e. E. coli (Table 1), which
indicates the contaminations of drinking water
resources. The continuous consumption of such
contaminated water may pose a serious health
risks in local residents of this areas especially in
children (>5 years).
sjj Springer

1$

T ihk 3 Occurrences of bacterial species in water samples of different rural habitations of northern Rajasthan, India

Village/town

Total

Proteus
vulgaris

4-

444—
4-

4+
44—
4—
—
+
—
4+
4444—
4-

4—
4—
4-

4—
—
4-

Klebsiella
sp
—
+
—

44—
—
+
4—

44—
44444—
4-

4—

44444—
44444—

44-

19

19

17

+
44+
—

4—
—
4-

Entcrobacter
aerogenes

4—
44—
44—

+
4—
44—
4—
4—
4—
—
—
—
—
4-

Bacillus
cereus
—
—
—
—
—

Staphylococcus
aureus

Streptococcus
lactis

—

4-.
4-

444—
—
—

44-

44—
—
—
—
—
4>
4—

4—
—
—

44—
4—
—
4.

44—
4—
44-

44*
444—

+
—
—
444-'—.
4444-’
—
—
4-

4-

44—
—
—

444-

444—

14

9

15

19

—

Micrococcus
luteum
—

4444—
4—
+
44-

Pseudomonas
aeruginosa
—
—

444—
—
—
—

4444-

Alcaligenes
faecalis
—
—
—

+
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—

444—
4—
—

444-

444-

444-

4—

44_
—
4-

+
4-

44-

—
—

—

18

15

4

—
—
—
—
—

Environ M onit Assess (2009) 159:43-50

Salemgarh
Tibbi
Talwara
Silwala
Masitawall
Ranjeetpura
Pakki Dawali
Mun da
Mohanmagr'ia
Meharwala
Keharwala
Bhompura
Chaiya
Chahuwai
Rawatsar
Jeevannagar
Mirzawali
Bhurampura
Gandheli
Thalrka
Bropal
Sahrini
Rampura
Naiwala
Monksar
Sarekan

Bacterial species
Escherichia
coll

Environ Monit’Assess (2009) 159:43-50
Table 4 The pollution status of drinking water on the basis
of E. coli contents (WHO 1984)

E. coli in per litre

Water pollution status

10,000
1000
too
10
3 or less

Heavily polluted
Polluted
Slightly polluted
Satisfactory
Potable

The total coliform count (TTCm; m = MPN
index/100 ml) was in the ranges of 41 (village
Meharwala) to 25 (village Naiwala) in different
localities of this region. As per the described limit
of WHO, the drinking water samples were under
the category of slightly polluted (Table 4). The
presence of colifonns shows the danger of faecal
pollution and consequent hazard of contracting
disease through pathogenic organisms. Nonethe­
less, the disease-causing organisms (pathogens)
mostly transmitted via drinking water are pre­
dominantly of faecal origin. Trabulsi et al. (2002)
concluded that typical enteropathogenic E. coli
stain is a leading cause of infantile diarrhoea in
developing countries, whereas they are rare in
industrialized countries. Moreover, E. coli is also
responsible for causing a number of other health
disorders: urinary tract infections, pulmonary in­
fections, abscesses, skin-wound infections, etc.
S. aureus was also identified in drinking water
samples of this region. It is a pathogenic bacterium
responsible for several issues of severe health
problems, e.g. food spoilage, chronic infections,
abscesses, wound infection and vomiting in human
(Table 5). In general, Staphylococcus occurs in

TableS The major
diseases by bacterial
species isolated form
drinking water samples

49

water that contained organic pollutants, i.e. min­
erals ions and organic matter contents (Tortora
et al. 1988). The organic matter content provides
a better environment for the development of this
bacterium in water sources. The occurrences of
this bacterium in drinking water samples (Table 2)
indicated the mixing of runoff water in water
sources, which contains organic pollutants such
as organic debris, sewage sludge, plant litter, etc.
Except for E. coli the, second largest recorded
pathogenic bacteria in drinking water was P. vul­
garis that may be responsible for a common dis­
ease in rural areas, i.e. urinary tract infections
(UTI).
In surface waters, potential pathogen sources
include point sources such as municipal sewerage,
as. well as non-point sources such as contaminated
runoff from agriculture areas and areas with sani­
tation through on-site septic systems and latrines.
Yau and Sadowsky (2007) summarized that faecal
pollution of waterways may originate from waste­
water treatment facilities, septic tanks, domesticand wild-animal faeces, and pets. Also, direct
access of livestock to canal water in rural areas
is an important source of potential pathogens in
water. According to Pujari et al. (2007), the on-site
sanitation that is increasingly adopted in India is
possibly responsible for high levels of nitrates and
bacterial contamination in drinking water sources.
In rural areas, people prefer to eliminate night
soils in open places especially in agriculture fields.
In such conditions, there are more possibilities of
contamination of open water resources through
rainwater runoff mechanism.

Name of bacteria

Major diseases

Escherichia coli

Urinary tract infection (UTI), enterotoxin, Traveler’s
diarrhoea, food bom disease, vomiting
Opportunistic infection in man, giving rise to inflammations
of middle ear, greenish pus
Food spoilage
Pneumonia
UTI
' Non-pathogenic
Diarrhoea, vomiting
Food spoilage, chronic infections, abscesses, wound
infection, vomiting
Found on skin and non-pathogenic
A common skin flora

Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Enlerobacter aerogenes
Klebsiella sp
Proteus vulgaris
Alcaligenes faecalis
Bacillus cereus
Staphylococcus aureus

Streptococcus ladis
Micrococcus luteum

Springer

50

In this study, common skin bacteria, e.g. S. lactis
and M. luteum were also recorded in several sam­
ples of drinking water form different localities.
The occurrences of these bacteria in potable water
indicate the mixing of bathroom drainage or sew­
erage water in drinking water resources. Nonethe­
less, people living in Dhanis (a community-based
residential locality of farmers; often established
near arable lands) used to drink and bath livestock
at canal banks. Probably, it could be responsi­
ble contamination of canal water with skin flora.
According to a report by Planning Commission,
India (2002) the risk of water contamination re­
sulting in water-borne disease is higher in rural
areas under the following conditions: inadequate
availability of water, poor quality of water at
source, ill-maintained water pipelines and sewer
lines, open air defecation is rampant, lack of dis­
posal of human, animal and household wastes, and
lack of awareness of good sanitation and personal
hygienic practices. Out of these several features,
the last fact, i.e. lack of awareness of good sanita­
tion and personal hygienic practices, seems to be
more practical for rural areas of this region. Total
results suggest that the drinking water of Hanumangarh zone has low nutritional values due to
the presence of coliforms. The increasing rate of
infant mortality due to diarrhoea in rural areas of
northern Rajasthan indicates the poor sanitation
and hygienic conditions.

Conclusions
This study indicated that drinking water of this
region contains a wide variety of enteropathogenic bacteria such as E. coli, E. aerogenes and
Klebsiella etc. The microbial load in drinking
water as measured though standard plate count
(SPC) varied greatly 8.3 x IO4 to 28.3 x 104
among different localities of the site studied. The
data clearly suggests that people of this region
are under severe threat of water-related diseases
and health risks. The continuous consumption of
such polluted water could pose serious health risks
especially in infants.

£1 Springer

Environ Monit Assess (2009) 159:43-50

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