Drinking Water Security in Rural India: Dynamics, Influencing Factors, and Improvement Strategy (Water Resources Development and Management)

This book highlights the multi-pronged strategy for achieving sustainable rural domestic water supply in India. It deepens the understanding of groundwater (predominant source of water supply) behaviour in response to natural processes in different geological settings, analyses the factors influencing the performance of water supply schemes; identifies the conditions under which groundwater-based drinking water sources become sustainable, suggests measures for improving the sustainability of drinking water wells in hard rock regions (covering 2/3rd of India’s geographical area), presents a decision-making framework for planning rural water supply schemes in the country for ensuring long-term sustainability, and suggests physical strategies and policy measures for achieving them. The analyses for development and validation of various models that explain groundwater system behaviour and performance of rural water supply schemes are undertaken for different geological settings in Maharashtra, as the state represents a microcosm of the various hydrological, topographical, and geohydrological conditions encountered in the country. The final analysis for proposing nation-wide strategies considers the various hydrological, geological, geohydrological, and topographical and climatic settings and groundwater contamination and pollution in the country. Preface and Acknowledgements Contents Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables 1 Rural Domestic Water Supply in India: Progress and Issues 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Progress in Rural Water Supply Made by Indian States and Union Territories 1.3 Threats to Sustainability of Rural Domestic Water Supply 1.3.1 Technical Sustainability of Groundwater-Based Schemes 1.3.2 Financial Sustainability of the Schemes 1.3.3 Inequity in Access to Water 1.4 Rationale for the Book 1.5 Objectives and Scope of the Book 1.6 Book Contents and Chapter Outlines References 2 Factors Influencing Groundwater Behaviour During Monsoon: Analysis from Maharashtra 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Review of Literature 2.3 Methodology 2.4 Rainfall: Seasonality and Other Features 2.5 Impact of Hydrological and Geohydrological Factors on Groundwater Behaviour 2.5.1 Rainfall and Water Level Fluctuations During Monsoon 2.5.2 Rainfall, Depth to Water Levels, and Water Level Fluctuations 2.5.3 Influence of Recharge Potential and Aquifer Properties on Water Level Fluctuations 2.6 The Model Explaining Groundwater Behaviour During Monsoon 2.7 Findings and Conclusion 2.8 Policy Inferences References 3 Factors Influencing the Performance of Rural Water Supply Schemes: Analysis from Maharashtra 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Review of Literature 3.3 Methodology 3.4 Scheme Failure and Tanker Water Supply in Rural Areas 3.5 Influence of Irrigation Water Demand on Sustainability of Schemes: Theoretical Perspective 3.6 Impact of Gravity Irrigation on Rural Water Supply Schemes: Theory and Empirical Evidence 3.7 The Model Explaining the Varying Performance of Rural Water Supply Schemes 3.8 Factors Determining the Success of Groundwater-Based Schemes 3.9 Conclusions and Policy Implications References 4 Studying the Performance of Rural Water Supply Schemes in Different Geological Settings 4.1 Background 4.2 Review of Studies on Effectiveness of Rural Water Supply Schemes 4.3 Selection of Water Supply Schemes for Performance Assessment 4.4 Scheme Characteristics and Respondents Details 4.5 Scheme Performance 4.5.1 Water Supply and Use 4.5.2 Access to Water Supply 4.5.3 Frequency of Water Supply 4.5.4 Maintenance of Water Supply Scheme and Water Tax Recovery 4.5.5 Adoption of Improved Toilet 4.6 Findings 4.7 Conclusions and Policy Inferences References 5 Locating Water for Augmenting Rural Water Supply Schemes 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Building the Case for Reservoir-Based Water Supply Schemes 5.3 River Basins of Maharashtra 5.4 Methodology 5.5 Surface Water Availability in Selected River Basins 5.5.1 Water Utilization by Minor Irrigation Schemes and River Lift Schemes 5.5.2 Water Utilization by Medium and Major Irrigation Schemes 5.5.3 Un-utilized Water Resource in the Basins 5.6 Current Proposals for Improving Rural Water Supply in Maharashtra 5.7 Conclusion References 6 Strategies for Improving Rural Domestic Water Supply in Maharashtra 6.1 Current Discourse for Water Supply Augmentation 6.2 Methodology 6.3 Technical–Institutional Interventions for Improving the Sustainability of Water Supply Schemes 6.3.1 The Proposal 6.3.2 Engineering Feasibility of Bulk Water Transfer 6.3.3 Un-utilized Water Resources in Different River Basins of Maharashtra 6.3.4 Unit Cost of the Interventions 6.4 Scale of Investment Required for Improving Rural Water Supply 6.5 Conclusion References 7 Managing Groundwater Quality for Drinking Water Security in India: Emerging Challenge 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Extent of Groundwater Contamination and Pollution and Their Impacts 7.2.1 Chemical Contamination of Groundwater and Its Impacts 7.2.2 Groundwater Pollution and Its Impacts 7.2.3 On-Site Sanitation: An Emerging Source of Large-Scale Groundwater Pollution 7.3 Issues in Tackling Groundwater Contamination and Pollution 7.4 Reducing Adverse Impacts on Human Health 7.5 Emerging Challenges 7.6 Conclusions and Policy Inferences References 8 Improving Institutional Responses to Groundwater Pollution: Use of a Drinking Water Quality Surveillance Index 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Drinking Water Supply Surveillance 8.3 Why a Drinking Water Quality Surveillance Index? 8.4 Issues Related to Water Quality Monitoring in Maharashtra 8.4.1 Water Resources Monitoring 8.4.2 Monitoring of Drinking Water Sources 8.4.3 Sanitary Surveillance 8.5 Development of a Drinking Water Quality Surveillance Index for Assessing the Risk of Drinking Water Sources 8.6 Drinking Water Quality Surveillance Index for Maharashtra 8.7 Conclusions References 9 Managing Rural Drinking Water Supply Across Hydro-climatic Zones of India 9.1 Introduction 9.2 India’s Surface Hydrology 9.3 India’s Groundwater Situation 9.4 India’s Topography 9.5 Strategies for Sustainable Rural Water Supply 9.5.1 Water Supply from Mahanadi River Basin 9.5.2 Water Supply from Godavari River Basin 9.5.3 Water from Sutlej/Beas Rivers 9.5.4 Water from Sardar Sarovar Reservoir 9.5.5 Water Supply from the Tributaries of Ganges 9.5.6 Water Supply for River Basins in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu 9.5.7 Water Supply for Kerala and the North Eastern Hill States 9.6 Institutional and Policy Choices for Improving Drinking Water Security 9.6.1 Institutional Strengthening 9.6.2 Changes in Policy Framework 9.7 Conclusions References 10 Rural Drinking Water Security in India: The Challenge of Piping Water to Every Household by 2024 10.1 Introduction 10.2 The Benefits and Impacts of ‘Tap Water’ 10.3 Link Between Quality of Water Supply and Household Tap Connection 10.4 Realizing the Vision of ‘Tap Water at Every Household’ References Index