Sanitation

This paper published in the journal Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability draws attention to the serious issue of poor water quality in the developing economies and argues that among the water challenges in the 21st century, the water quality health nexus is one of the most serious challenges that will need to be addressed at an urgent level.The paper directs attention at the rapid and unequal growth and development patterns emerging in developing economies and the impact of this development on the environment and human populations. The paper directs attention to the negative impact of this development on one of the important natural resources such as water and the linkages between water quality and public health of populations.

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Through these three papers, the authors argue that the solutions to the global water crisis do not lie in investing more and more money into the water sector or in the introduction of better technology. Nor is the introduction of the private sector and the reduction in the role of the government going to help. Rather, the time has come to introduce changes at the basic or the fundamental level in the way in which the water sector functions.

There is an urgent need to bring about reforms in governance by moving towards decentralisation and democratisation, leading to  involvement of people from all the sections of the society, who know and understand that they are responsible for the system and its functioning, as well as by introducing principles of equity and social justice. The papers demonstrate the successful implementation of this approach by describing the experience of Tamil Nadu at democratising water management through introduction of reforms at the level of governance, through involvement of the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD).Read More

This study by Udayvani and Arghyam describes the findings of case studies undertaken by Udaywani to get a clear picture of the drinking water and toilet facilities in 8 Gram Panchayats of the 6 Districts of Karnataka following the ASHWAS survey conducted by Arghyam that included a survey of Household Water and Sanitation in 172 Gram Panchayats across 28 districts of Karnataka (all except Bangalore Urban). Read More

This report by the Ministry of Rural Development is divided into the following sections:

Chapter I: Introduction

Chapter II:Status of implementation of the recommendations made by the Committee

Chapter III: General AnalysisRead More

• Expenditure by the Department of Drinking Water Supply from 2007-08
• Share of the budgetary allocation of the Department to the GDP
• Non-plan expenditure
• Performance during the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12)
• Preparedness for Twelfth (2012-17) Plan