Sub Themes:1.Universal and equitable access to safe drinking water.

DRINKING WATER SECURITY AND SAFETY IN RURAL ODISHA –

CHALLENGES
D. S. Chavda, J. Sethy
Rural Water Supply & Sanitation
Rural Development Department, Govt. of Odisha
Jal ‘O’ Parimal Bhawan, Unit - 8, Keshari Nagar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751001

ABSTRACT
Water is an essence of life. Availability of safe and sufficient drinking water is top most priority.Accessibility of
drinking water is aglobal issue due to increase in population, demand and use. Millennium Development Goal -
MDG 7C was targeted that; Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe
drinking water and basic sanitation and access to an improved drinking water source. State Development Goal -
SDG 6.1 targeted; by 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all
and proportion of the population using safely managed drinking water service.
Odisha committed to achieve the SDG 6.1. The state has completed goal to provide 40lpcd to all 1,56,468
habitations and further initiated efforts to provide 55lpcd safe drinking water by pipe water supply schemes to
each household up to 2030.Major challenges face in water supply are water scarcity, water quality, community
participation, sustainability of system and understand the drinking water security and safety rather than just a
project.
Drinking water security concept focus on ensure the water availability for the whole year in all situation. It
needsinvolvement of all stakeholders, convergence of various government schemes and capacity building of
stakeholders. Water availability doesn’t mean the water security; water quality is the concern for the drinking
water and it is a major issue to service provider. Drinking water safety concept focuses on water quality issues
and ensures the safe availability of drinking water to community by risk assessment and risk management in the
water supply schemes from catchment to consumer with prevention measures.Odisha has inaugurated the
process of drinking water security and safety in the open defecation free villages of the state to support Swatch
Bharat Mission would be the optimistic forthcoming in WASH sector in the state.
Key words:Drinking water supply, challenges, water security, water safety, Odisha

INTRODUCTION
Water is an essence of life and source for development of human and all other life on the earth. For human avail
the safe and sufficient drinking water conveniently is most priority and governments has also given the first
priority especially in rural areas. A major challenge is day by day increase in demand due to population growth
and second is depletion in water quality due to natural phenomenon and human interventions; both chemical and
microbial contamination. Worldwide more than one in six people i.e. 894 million people do not have access to
20 to 50 litters water per day for their need of drinking, cooking and cleaning. 1Half of the world's hospital beds
are filled with people suffering from a water-related disease.2
India has committed to improve the water supply in the country and data reflect the same; in 1991, total
coverage was 62.3% population out of that rural coverage was 55.5% and urban coverage was 81.7%. In 2011,
total coverage was 85.5% population out of that rural coverage was 82.7 and urban coverage was 91.4%. State
wise households access to safe drinking water in rural areas isshown in Figure 1.

India has total 17,14,528 rural habitations and out of these 16,27,467 habitations are covered 94.92% with
minimum 40lpcd water supply in 2016.
Odisha has also improved their water supply in total and very gain very fast progress in rural water supply
35.3% in 1991 to 74.4% 2011 shown in Figure 2.
Odisha has total 1,56,468 rural habitations and out of these 1,48,572 habitations are covered 94.95% with
minimum 40lpcd water supply standing with national progress in 2016.

1
http://www.indiasanitationportal.org/full-view-page.php?title=MTA4
2
https://thewaterproject.org/water-scarcity/water_stats
 Figure 1: India - Households access to safe drinking water (Rural) % (1991. 2001, 2011)

120

100

80

60

40

20

Tap/Handpump/Tubewell 1991 Rural Tap/Handpump/Tubewell 2001 Rural Tap/Handpump/Tubewell 2011 Rural

Source: https://data.gov.in/keywords/safe-drinking-water
Figure 2: Odisha - Water supply coverage % (1991, 2001, and 2011)

90.0 79.8
72.3 75.3 74.4
80.0
70.0 62.8 64.2 62.9
60.0
50.0 39.1 35.3
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0

Total Rural Urban Total Rural Urban Total Rural Urban

1991 2001 2011

Odisha

Source: https://data.gov.in/keywords/safe-drinking-water

STATE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 6:

Millennium Development Goal (MDG) was targeted up to 2015 and MDG GOAL 7 was “Ensure environmental
Sustainability” including target 7.C which was focused on sustainable assess of drinking water by an improved
drinking water source.

State Development Goal (SDG) has target up to 2030 and SDG Goal 6 is “Ensure availability and sustainable
management of water” including target 6.1; By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and
affordable drinking water for all and will be monitored by indicator “Proportion of the population using safely
managed drinking water service” (Figure 3)

DRINKING WATER SECURITY AND SAFETY APPROACH

Drinking water security and safety approach has been accepted by National Rural Drinking Water Programme to
ensure the safe and sustainable water supply with community management and improved services.
Odisha has inaugurated the process of drinking water security and safety in the open defecation free villages of
the state to support Swatch Bharat Mission would be the optimistic forthcoming in WASH sector in the state.
DRINKING WATER SECURITY
It can be define as ``Reliable access of water with adequate quantity and quality for basic human needs for
domestic and agriculture use with intra village monitoring & management system of water resources by
community``.
Rural water supply in India is in a challenging situation with high rates of slippage of covered schemes due to
lack of ownership, poor O&M, sources going dry or lowering groundwater tables, sources becoming quality
affected and increasing populations.
Competition for water use is drastically increasing to fulfil the demand by population and that stage water
supply can no longer be discussed in isolation of uses for agriculture and industry. All available fresh water in
country is used in main three sectors,
i. Agriculture; used 70 % of fresh water,
ii. Industries; used 22 % of fresh water and
iii. Domestic; only use 8% of the fresh water.
Whilst domestic water for drinking is accorded the first priority use in the National Water Policy, it is actually a
very small consumer of water resources. Approximately 70 per cent of the total fresh water resources in India
are utilized for agriculture. There is need to develop a system that safeguards the meagre quantity required for
drinking water with farmers.
WATER SAFETY
Water availability doesn’t mean the water security; water quality is the concern for the drinking water and it is a
major issue to service provider. Drinking water safety concept focuses on water quality issues and ensures the
safe availability of drinking water to community by risk assessment and risk management in the water supply
schemes from catchment to consumer with prevention measures. Pipe water supply has own risk and its result in
to health impacts. Water safety has concern to the safe water supply to the consumer. The World Health
Organization defines as;
"The most effective means of consistently ensuring the safety of a drinking-water supply” and it can be achieved
by the use of a comprehensive risk assessment and risk management approach that encompasses all steps in
water supply from catchment to consumer. This approach is called as water safety plan. It enhances the health
aspect of the consumer. Design and implementation of a series of preventive measures at the basin, source,
system and household level for ensuring the quality of drinking water supply with acceptable standards (water
safety plans). Developing and operationalizing water quality testing facilities at appropriate levels in the
field.Water supply systems can be considered as a number of steps aimed at assuring the safety of drinking-
water, including:
a. preventing pollution of source waters;
b. selective water harvesting;
c. controlled storage;
d. treatment prior to distribution;
e. protection during distribution; and
f. safe storage within the home and,
g. In some circumstances, treatment at the point of use.
These steps can function as barriers, where activities are designed to minimise the likelihood of contaminants
entering the water supply or reduce or eliminate contaminants already present in the supply. With the multiple
barrier approach, each barrier provides an incremental reduction in the risk of water becoming unsafe. If there is
a failure at one point, the other barriers continue to provide protection.
Drinking water security and safety both required involvement of all stakeholders, convergence of various
government schemes and capacity building of stakeholders.

CHALLENGES
SDG Goal 6, Target 6.1 and its indicator clearly explain the major challenge water supply after the coverage.
Three main factors to achieve SDG goal are water resource, water quality and water supply system. The Odisha
committed to achieve the SDG 6.1 goal. The state has completed goal to provide 40lpcd to all 1, 56,468
habitations and further initiated efforts to provide 55lpcd safe drinking water by pipe water supply schemes to
each household up to 2030.
The progress in water supply coverage at national and state level doesn’t mean the safe and sufficient water is
available to all for whole year and in any situation. There are challenges after establish the hard components of
the schemes and it is the most important fragment of worries by the water supply provider in the country and
state. Major challenges in safe and sustainable water supply in the Odisha are;
Figure 3: State Development Goal (SDG) Goal 6

6.1
Drinking
water 6.2
6.6
Sanitation
Eco-
and
systems
hygiene
SDG
6
6.5
6.3
Water
Water
resource
quality
s 6.4
Water
use

SOURCE SUSTAINABILITY
Rural water supply in Odisha is solely depending on the groundwater.

Hydrogeology
The State is underline by diverse rock types and hydro-geologically subdivided into consolidated, semi-
consolidated and unconsolidated formations. The consolidated formations include hard crystalline and compact
sedimentary rocks having low yield 10-35m3/hr. and it cover nearly 75% of geographical area of the state.

Figure4: Hydrogeology of the Odisha

Source: http://orienvis.nic.in/index2.aspx?slid=38&sublinkid=36&langid=1&mid=1
Climate Change
The state is vulnerable by climate change due to high variability of rainfall, Flash floods during rainy season,
heat waves in summer and intense coastal flooding and cyclones. It affects both water availability and water
quality. Dry spells in areas of consolidated formations impact the natural recharge and availability of
groundwater.
Figure 5: Climate Change Vulnerability profile generated by integration of adaptive capacity & climate
sensitivity profile (TERI, 2003)

Source: http://orienvis.nic.in/index1.aspx?lid=24&mid=1&langid=1&linkid=22

Overexploitation of Groundwater
Groundwater resources of the State is underutilised as per CGWB, still 11 areas found in 8 districts where
groundwater resources is overexploited in 2011.
District wise average depth to GWT in meter below ground level of Odisha – 2011
Sl. District Pre-monsoon Post-monsoon No.of over Total Ground
No. Minimum Maximum Minimum Maximum exploited Water
area Resources
1 Balasore 3.79 12.87 2.31 8.62 2 110063
2 Bhadrak 1.82 6.60 1.09 4.75 2 45409
3 Cuttack 1.29 13.27 0.48 11.00 1 70716
4 J.S.Pur 0.85 7.38 0.57 5.96 2 45029
5 Jajpur 2.73 9.85 1.12 7.86 1 56933
6 Kendrapara 1.05 5.21 0.68 3.91 1 16781
7 Keonjhar 4.28 11.41 2.55 8.23 1 81323
8 Mayurbhanja 1.45 14.63 0.76 10.12 1 148194
11
Source: http://orienvis.nic.in/index2.aspx?slid=38&sublinkid=36&langid=1&mid=1

WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM SUSTAINABILITY

It has four components;

Technical
Actions for identify of damages, repair, maintenance and monitoring of the performance of water system
including sanitary inspection and water quality monitoring of sources and check point of water supply system.

Financial
It includes preparation of Operation and Maintenance budget, Tariff finalisation and water tax collection system.
Planning of Gram Panchayat fund, 14th CFC and 5th SFC funds for augmentation of water supply scheme;
extension of pipe line, new source development etc.

Institutional
Institutional arrangement, roles and responsibilities, training of water person, accountability and reporting

Environmental sustainability
Proper reject management if any treatment used for the water supply and energy efficient pumping machinery.

COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT
It is the major challenge face by the water supply service provider due to lack of community involvement in the
managing their own water supply systems. Odisha has implemented 19,937 pipe water supply schemes and
2,370 pipe water supply schemes are in implementation stage. Out of this, 13,751 schemes are handed over to
community (Gram Panchayat / Village Water and Sanitation Committees) but community not come forward to
own the schemes and it is run by Self Employed Mechanic (SEM) with support of Junior Engineer of the
Panchayati Raj Department.
This issue has own dynamics like, they are not involved in planning and implementation stage, don’t have
technical and human resource support for capacity building and handholding. Users not pay for the water they
get, coordination and institutional acceptance issues.

GOVERNANCE ISSUES
There must be active links, communication and institutional clarity between the all stakeholders of system and
departments to ensure the sustainable water supply through community management.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Odisha is committed for drinking water security and safety in rural water supply. Following recommendations
may assist to improve process.
1. Capacity building of service providers and other stakeholders on approach of drinking water security
and safety
2. Planning for groundwater recharge and optimum use of groundwater in the state with convergence of
concerned schemes and departments
3. Strengthen support to Gram Panchayat level to regular operation and maintenance of schemes

REFERENCES
 IMIS, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Govt. of India
 ORIENVIS, Govt. of Odisha
 Water Safety Plans - Managing drinking-water quality from catchment to consumer (WHO, 2005)
 Water Safety Plan Manual Step-by-step risk management for drinking-water suppliers (WHO, 2009)
 A Handbook for Gram Panchayats: To Help Them Plan, Implement, Operate, Maintain and Manage
Drinking Water Security (DWSS, WSP, 2010)
 Strategic Plan – 2011- 2022 “Ensuring Drinking Water Security in Rural India” (DDWS, 2011)
 Household Water Safety - A Paradigm Shift from Routine Water Quality Testing (UNICEF, 2011)
 Water Safety Planning for Small Community Water Supplies Step-by-step risk management guidance
for drinking-water supplies in small communities (WHO, 2012)
 National Rural Drinking Water Programme “Movement towards ensuring people’s Drinking Water
Security in Rural India”, Guidelines – 2013, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, GoI.
 Letter No. W-11042/16/2010-WATER dated 10th September 2012, Ministry of Drinking Water and
Sanitation, GoI.