RURAL WATER SUPPLY: ANALYSING THE SWAJALDHARA PROJECT (UP Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Project)

Abstract

Clean drinking water is a basic necessity of life. Supply of clean drinking water in the rural areas has always been one of the highest priorities of the government. Availability of potable water in rural areas is strongly interlinked with rural development and growth and displays direct, positive results for human health and well-being, especially for women and children.

Uttar Pradesh is affected by Water scarcity with 63% habitations receiving less than the Government of India prescribed basis service level of 40 lpcd. Rural Water Supply systems range from traditional open wells and hand pumps to piped water supply schemes with treatment plants and private connections. In India, the rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) service is as close to the definition of a public good as is possible therefore almost the entire sector is financed by public funds. The sources of drinking water in rural India are quite diverse ranging from dug wells and hand pumps (often privately owned) to electric motor driven pumps pumping water to overhead storage tanks releasing supplies through a distribution system to a smaller community or an entire village. Hand pumps continue to be the largest source of public drinking water followed by single village schemes and open dug wells.

The water crisis is largely our own making. It has resulted not from the natural limitations of the water supply or lack of financing and appropriate technologies, even though these are important factors, but rather from profound failures in water governance.... Consequently, resolving the challenges in this area must be a key priority if we are to achieve sustainable water resources development and management.

—UNDP on Water Governance