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Recommendations for
Providing I ndia is an emerging economy. With the Gross Domestic Product of the country growing rapidly, access to basic needs is still a lacuna. A lot of people still lack access to safe drinking water, especially in urban slum pockets and unauthorised colonies. An estimated 73 million working days are lost due to waterborne diseases each year in India, resulting in an estimated economic burden of $600 million annually1.With the population increasing every year, the government is facing a huge challenge in providing water to all. At times the quality of water supplied through these sources is compromised. Quality of water whether used for drinking, domestic purposes, food production or recreational purposes has an important impact on health. Water of poor quality can cause disease outbreaks. Currently India has the highest number of diarrhea related deaths every year. Almost 300,000 children die due to diarrhea annually 2.Challenges and Opportunities Access to safe drinking water is still inadequate
despite long standing efforts by various government agencies and
non-government organisations. The coverage of water supply has increased
tremendously in last few years but the quality of water supplied is
still questionable.
A dozen ministries are working within the government system to deal with this problem. However, the involvement of so many agencies in the process is a major bottleneck for effective implementation. Each agency reports to its respective ministry and there is limited coordination among them. Provisioning of quality water requires them to work in close association. Water quality standards i.e. BIS 10500: 2012 are only recommendary in nature so agencies responsible for supplying water are not accountable if the quality is poor or not meeting the standards. In fact, there is no disclosure about the quality of water supplied by the agencies responsible for it. Taking into account the country’s present scenario in terms of water treatment and supply, the time when water from the source will be safe for consumption will probably take eons to come. Till that time interim measures such as Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) need to be promoted so that people can consume safe drinking water and the brunt of waterborne diseases can be reduced. Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) measures provide a first or extra barrier of protection to ensure safe drinking water quality. These methods have gained increasing recognition and are implemented in the developing world as a means of safe drinking water at the point-of-use. The idea is simple – to treat water at the point of use, preferably using effective but low-cost treatment technologies that could be developed using locally available raw materials. HWTS needs to be promoted on an urgent basis and the policy environment needs to be made conducive for promotion and adoption of these methods. Policy Recommendations As different government departments are working on the issue of water quality, lot of cohesiveness among relevant departments is required. These departments along with being accountable to their respective ministries also need to be accountable to each other for ensuring access to safe drinking water for all. Some of the policy recommendations for ensuring that everyone has access to safe drinking water are as follows: 1. Minimal Norms for Water Safety The current norms for water quality are developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). These standards are similar to the WHO water quality standards and are prescribed to all the agencies supplying water. As these standards are very extensive, in present capacities it is very difficult for water supplying agencies to follow them. Very few laboratories in India can conduct tests to ensure whether water supplying agencies are following these standards or not. There is a need to develop minimal quality standards which ensure that water delivered through these agencies is free from contaminants. These standards should be recommendary in nature and should be part of the food law bill so that all agencies put mechanisms in place for ensuring the same. These standards should be formed by BIS and should be made mandatory by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MoDWS). 2. Disclosure on Water Quality Presently the agencies supplying water are not disclosing the quality of water supplied by them through various sources. As per Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, relating to Protection of Life and Personal Liberty, right to pollution-free water is guaranteed under this provision. User has the right to know whether water provided at source is free from any contamination as claimed by the authorities 3.But very limited or no information is available in this regard. Systems for ensuring disclosure of water quality in the public domain need to be set and tracked by the relevant government authorities. This will also help people to decide whether to adopt HWTS method or not. The guidelines for disclosure on water quality need to be formed at the central government level and should be implemented at the state level. 3. Behaviour Change Campaign on Safe Drinking Water More than a dozen government ministries are dealing
with water related issues and all of them have some for Information
Education Communication component (IEC) which gets lapsed as ministries
do not know how to utilise the same effectively. There is a need to
design a massive behaviour change campaign involving all the relevant
stakeholders for promoting HWTS methods. The campaign strategy needs to
be developed at the central level by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD)
and should be implemented by the state governments.
The behavior change campaign on safe drinking water can also be part of the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, launched by the government a few months back to improve individual health and hygiene. The Abhiyan aims to improve water, sanitation and hygiene conditions. However the focus on safe drinking water is presently missing in the guidelines. This needs to be included as water quality is one of the crucial factors for reducing the morbidity from diarrheal diseases. According to one study, 39% of diarrheal diseases can be reduced if water quality is improved 4. Adequate focus on this issue should be put upon by the MoUD and MoDWS.4. Third Party Validation of Water Treatment Products As people are becoming conscious about the correlation between water quality and health, the market is being flooded with various water treatment products. Majority of these products do not disclose information on shelf life, service life, precautions, material safety issues, replacement of filters, end of life indication, safe disposal etc. Norms for third party validation should be developed by BIS and agencies should be designated for conducting the evaluation. These norms should be enforced and information on buying validated products should float in the public domain with the help of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. 5. Inter - Ministerial Agency Coordination Presently, a lot of ministries and departments are working on the issue of water without coordinating with each other. There is a need to develop cohesiveness among different departments and ministries for ensuring quality water supply. A small body needs to be formed at the central level which ensures that HWTS is promoted with the help of various departments. The main role of this body will be to bring all the key stakeholders on one table and design systems for delivery of safe drinking water to all. Till such a time that these systems are put in place, the agencies should work towards promotion of HWTS methods. The Behaviour Change Communication strategy for promotion of HWTS should be developed and guidelines should be provided to the states for its effective implementation. Conclusion The world has celebrated the Million Development Goal of providing access to water but there are a lot of loop holes in the current mechanism. The scope of access needs to be broadened and the quality, sustainability and equity dimension needs to be incorporated in the Sustainable Development Goals. Till that time, the government machinery has to work towards promoting Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage methods so that the brunt of diseases caused due to consuming contaminated water can be reduced. q Kavneet Kaur Endnotes |
