RURAL SANITATION
- A large section of Indian population lives in villages and is mainly engaged in agriculture. They belong to weaker section of the society.
- There is a definite trend of rural population migrating to the urban areas due to lack of employment opportunities, low earnings, insufficient means of transport and insanitary living conditions.
- The latter is mainly responsible to repel the educated youth from working in rural areas. One source of insanitary condition in rural areas is the drainage of waste water from bathing and cooking areas of dwellings over the kutcha roads and lanes having inadequate slopes.
- The situation is further aggravated due to the movements of carts and animals which result in the creation of pot holes and ditches that gets filled up with dirty stagnant water.
- The mosquitoes and flies find good breeding centres in these places and spread diseases. Some of the village roads are brick paved with drains for waste water disposal. But these have not served the required purpose due to improper slopes, insufficient maintenance and unpredictable flow of water. Rural dwellings having their own source of water supply like hand pumps discharge more water on the streets.
- Furthermore, the agricultural waste and domestic refuse collect in drains obstructing the flow of water and ultimately, all these things appear on the streets.
- Some of the village panchayats have suggested individual pits for collection of waste water and its disposal by intermittent sprinkling on large areas, either in the courtyard or on the streets.
- The villagers adopt this practice for some time, but their enthusiasm dies with time. A few progressive farmers have access to the technical know-how and capacity to invest finance to make large sized soakage pits filled with brickbats (to dispose off water underground). These are frequently choked with ash and soil used by the villagers to clean their utensils. This requires cleaning of the pit and involves considerable expenditure. The high cost of construction and costly maintenance make it beyond the reach of the poor.
- A detailed study of the problem, including the living habits of rural population, was conducted by the Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee.
- The urban type of underground drainage system was not found suitable because of the settlement of silt and ash in drains; insufficient quantity of water for self-cleaning of the drains; high maintenance and running cost.
- The lack of interest in the maintenance of community services leads one to conclude that the proposed system should be such that it should make the individuals responsible to run their own waste water disposal system. At the same time, the system should be within the economic reach of a villager who can maintain it without outside help.
Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin)
- Safe sanitation is an essential requirement for the well-being of every society. Though India has come a long way in improving its sanitation coverage status, it is still well short of desired levels.
- In the rural context, Safe Sanitation comprises of the following components
Personal & Household Level
- Safe disposal of human excreta
- Personal hygiene
- Safe handling of drinking water
- Domestic sanitation & food hygiene
Community
- Safe disposal of waste water
- Management of solid waste
- Clean environment (No littering)
- Management of Community Toilet Complex
- The sanitation programme needs to take care of the above components.
- To tackle the challenge, the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) was launched on 2nd October 2014, and is a community-led and people-oriented programme aimed at universalizing safe sanitation, by providing flexibility to states in the implementation of the programme.
Safe Drinking and Supply
- Safe drinking water is the birthright of all humankind – as much a birthright as clean air.
- The majority of the world’s population, however, does not have access to safe drinking water. This is certainly true in most parts of Africa and Asia. Even in relatively advanced countries such as India, safe drinking water is not readily available, particularly in rural areas.
- One reason safe drinking water is of paramount concern is that 75 percent of all diseases in developing countries arise from polluted drinking water.
- Knowledge about how to make water safe for consumption is rare in most developing countries.
- We simply must do a better job of raising public awareness and understanding about the nature of the problem and the technologies and strategies that are available to address it.
Background
- Safe drinking water is a human birthright – as much a birthright as clean air. However, much of the world’s population does not have access to safe drinking water. Of the 6 billion people on earth, more than one billion (one in six) lack access to safe drinking water.
- Moreover, about 2.5 billion (more than one in three) do not have access to adequate sanitation services. Together, these shortcomings spawn waterborne diseases that kill on average more than 6 million children each year (about 20,000 children a day). Water covers 70 percent of the globe’s surface, but most is saltwater.
- Freshwater covers only 3 percent of the earth’s surface and much of it lies frozen in the Antarctic and Greenland polar ice.
- Freshwater that is available for human consumption comes from rivers, lakes and underground sources and aquifers. Together these sources account for just 1 percent of all water on earth. Six billion people depend on this supply and a significant portion of the world’s population now face water shortages.
Ways to save and replenish
- We must meet the world’s growing demand for freshwater.
- However, we must do so with limited financial resources and with practices that minimize ecological disruption.
- An analysis of the situation suggests that our goals can be reached. Experts have proposed a four-fold path towards a viable solution for making water both potable and safe:
- Seek new sources
- Save and redistribute supplies
- Reduce demand
- Recycle
- Some of these approaches are global in nature, while others are regional, national, local and even family-specific.
- These efforts will ultimately succeed only when we empower people with the knowledge and means to address the issue on their own.
Individuals and communities Role in Safe Water
Efforts need not be left solely to governmental and nongovernmental agencies. Individuals, families and communities also have a vital role to play. Such responsibilities include:
- Water harvesting at home, schools and community buildings
- Water recycling at the microlevel, including at homes, buildings and communities
- Saving water by ensuring taps and pipes are not leaky and by using optimum amounts of water for washing and toilet flushing
- Making sure that the water is purified by methods suited to family conditions and needs
- Maintaining proper levels of sanitation at home
Private industry and nongovernmental organizations role in Safe Drinking Water SUpply
Many countries – for example, India, Indonesia, Kenya, and Nepal – have active nongovernmental organizations that involve communities in the funding and implementation of programmes designed to transform arid and semiarid terrains into productive agricultural regions receiving sufficient amounts of water. Such efforts should be expanded by:
- Exchanging information among and between industry and nongovernmental organizations on relevant and novel methods and strategies
- Focusing on sociological factors that may have an impact on the most suitable technologies and programmes for a given region/ community
- Ensuring equity in both services and benefits
- Involving communities in all aspects of water harvesting, recycling, storage, purification and supply
- Coordinating efforts among governmental and intergovernmental sectors for the purposes of achieving harmonious processes and results.
Various Initiatives by Ministry of Drinking Water
The National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP)
- The National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) is a centrally sponsored scheme aimed at providing adequate and safe drinking water to the rural population of the country.
- The NRDWP is a component of Bharat Nirman which focuses on the creation of rural infrastructure.
- This has resulted in the provision of significant additional resources to the sector and for creating an environment for the development of infrastructure and capacities for the successful operation of drinking water supply schemes in rural areas.
Bharat Nirman
- Bharat Nirman was launched by the Government of India in 2005 as a programme to build rural infrastructure.
- While Phase-I of the programme was implemented in the period 2005-06 to 2008-09, the Phase-II was implemented from 2009-10 to 2011-12. Rural drinking water is one of the six components of Bharat Nirman.
- Funds provided under the NRDWP are counted towards the Bharat Nirman also and no additional funds are provided under Bharat Nirman
Scheme for providing safe drinking water supply through community water purification plants in fluoride, arsenic, uranium and other heavy/toxic metals and pesticide/fertilizer affected rural habitations in the country
- The National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) funds for supplying “safe” water in contaminated areas are being utilized by the States as a policy mostly for alternate safe Piped Water Supply (PWS) schemes including Multivillage schemes (MVS) (i. e., from far away safe sources) the gestation period of such MVS projects is about 4-5 years.
- Since the rural people cannot be put to risk due to consumption of unsafe drinking water in the interim period as also whereas all such Multi-Village Schemes carrying safe water from far away sources cannot be planned and completed in the span of 4-5 years due to huge funds involved, hence, the Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation has submitted an EFC proposal to provide community water purification plants in fluoride, arsenic, uranium and other heavy/toxic metals and pesticide/fertilizer affected rural habitations in the country for providing safe drinking water immediately with an anticipated expenditure of total capital cost of Rs 3,600 crore with fund sharing pattern of 75:25 (90:10 in case of NE, J&K) between Centre and State in approx 20,000 habitations during the period 2014-15 to 2016-17.
Combined Water Supply Schemes (CWSS)
- Combined Water Supply Schemes are being implemented where more than one local body, either rural or urban with a common source of water supply is involved with financial assistance under the Minimum Needs Programme, National Rural Drinking Water Programme and with funding from financial institutions like TUFIDCO, TNUIFSL, NABARD and Asian Development Bank.
- During 2009 – 10 combined water supply schemes have been completed to benefit 4352 rural habitations and 41 towns at a cost of Rs. 795.04 crores. Presently Board is maintaining 422 CWSS in the state to serve 10,101 habitations benefiting populations of 131.59 lakhs which is about 20 percent of the state population
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