Status of Spot sources

Existing

as on 31.3.07

Achievement during2007-08

Existing

as on date

Cover of 55,067 uncovered habitations. Provide additional coverage to 2.8 lakh habitations that have slipped back from full coverage. Provide potable water in 2,16,968 villages affected by poor water quality

Introduction
The Bharat Nirman Programme is a step taken towards building up a strong Rural India by strengthening the infrastructure in six areas viz. Housing, Roads, Electrification, Communication (Telephone), Drinking Water and Irrigation, with the help of a plan to be implemented in four years, from 2005-06 to 2008-09.
The primary responsibility of providing drinking water facilities in the country rests with State Governments. The efforts of State Governments are supplemented by Government of India by providing financial assistance under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP). ARWSP has been under implementation since 1972-73. In 1986, the National Drinking Water Mission, renamed as Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission in 1991, was launched and further in 1999, the Department of Drinking Water Supply was created, to provide a renewed focus with mission approach to implement programmes for rural drinking water supply.
The proposed strategy for coverage in respect of rural drinking water supply under Bharat Nirman is as follows :

Norms for Coverage under ARWSP
Under ARWSP, the following norms are being adopted for providing drinking water to rural population in the habitations :

• 40 litres per capita per day (lpcd) of safe drinking water for human beings.
• 30 lpcd additional for cattle in the Desert Development Programme Areas.
• One hand pump or stand post for every 250 persons.
• The water source should exist within 1.6 km in the plains and within 100 metres elevation in the hilly areas.

[Water is defined as safe if it is free from biological contamination (cholera, typhoid, etc.) and chemical contamination (excess arsenic, fluoride, salinity, iron, nitrates, etc.)]
Definition of habitation

A ‘Habitation’ is a locality within a village where a cluster of families reside. The total population should be 100 or more for consideration for coverage under the rural water supply norms laid down by the Department (Section 2). It is generally assumed that around 20 families reside in a habitation. Average number of persons in a family is taken as 5. In case of hilly areas, a habitation may have a population, which is less than 100.
Definition of Not Covered (NC) and Partially Covered (PC) habitations

Habitations which have a safe drinking water source point (either private or public) within 1.6 km in plains and 100 metre in hill areas but the capacity of the system ranges between 10 lpcd to 40 lpcd, are categorized as Partially Covered (PC) and those having less than 10 lpcd are categorized as Not Covered (NC).
Rural Water Supply Coverage Status as on 01/04/1999
A survey of drinking water supply in rural habitations was conducted in 1991, which was validated in 1994. A Comprehensive Action Plan, 1999 (CAP 99) was prepared by updating the habitation survey results validated in 1994. The coverage position as on 1.4.99 at the time of formulation of CAP 99 was as under :

It was envisaged in the Tenth Plan that during the first two years of the Plan, i.e. 2002-03 and 2003-04, the emphasis would be to cover the remaining ‘NC’ and the ‘PC’ habitations of CAP 99. As a result of these efforts, 96.13% habitations have become fully covered, 3.55% are partially covered; and the NC habitations are 0.32%. In absolute terms, the coverage status is as under :

A fresh Habitation Survey has been conducted in 2003 and the results of the same are being validated at present. The number of slipped back habitations will be known after the completion of the validation exercise. The Tenth Plan Working Group has estimated the number of slipped back habitations as 2.8 lakh. It is proposed to cover the slipped back habitations on the basis of list of habitations to be provided by the State Governments which would be a web-enabled computerized list.
Coverage of habitations is a dynamic concept and the reasons for fully covered habitations slipping back into NC/PC may be due to a number of factors like :

• sources going dry or lowering of the ground water table.
• sources becoming quality affected.
• systems outliving their lives.
• systems working below rated capacity due to poor operation and maintenance.
• increase in population resulting into lower per capita availability.
• emergence of new habitations.

Uncovered habitations of CAP 99
As on 1.4.2005, there are 55067 NC/PC habitations of CAP ’99 spread over 16 States and 4 Union Territories which are yet to be covered. These habitations are targeted to be covered during the Bharat Nirman period from 2005-06 to 2008-09.
Coverage of Water Quality affected habitations
Rural drinking water supply is, to a large extent, dependent on ground water (85%). Though ground water is less susceptible to pollution, the quality problem in ground water is inherent in the form of contamination caused by the very nature of geological formation, viz. excess fluoride, arsenic, brackishness, iron, etc. The reasons for chemical and bacteriological contamination are: poor hygienic conditions around the water sources, improper disposal of sewage and industrial waste water, callous disposal of solid waste, indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers having high quantity of Nitrates used in the agricultural sector, pollution from industrial effluents (untreated), over-exploitation leading to quality degradation, pollution of the source due to ignorance of the people, over-population and lack of public awareness. The ground water level has depleted resulting in surfacing of quality problems due to higher concentration of the contaminants in the depleted so urces of water. Inadequate recharging also aggravates the problem of chemical contamination.
For ascertaining the magnitude of the quality problem, a survey of drinking water problem habitations was undertaken in 2000. As per data received from the State Governments 2,16,968 habitations are affected due to a variety of water quality problems in their drinking water sources with following break-up:- Excess fluoride: 31306; excess arsenic : 5029; excess salinity: 23495; excess iron : 118088; excess nitrate : 13958 and multiple quality problems : 25092.
Emphasis is being given on tackling water quality schemes relating to arsenic, fluoride, nitrate and salinity.
It is proposed to cover these Quality Affected Habitations with safe drinking water within the four-year period 2005-06 to 2008-09 i.e. the Bharat Nirman period.

Coverage of slipped back habitations
States/UTs have been requested to furnish list of habitations to be covered and it is proposed to cover the Slipped Back Habitations during the Bharat Nirman period 2005-06 to 2008-09. Priority is proposed to be given as follows :

• Newly emerged NC habitations / slipped back to NC category.
• Second priority to slipped back PC habitations.

List of all Habitations in the country
The list of all habitations in the country, as per Rural Water Supply Status Survey-2003, has been compiled and hosted on the department web site at the following URL http://ddws.nic.in/habquery/main_menu.asp.
List of target Habitations
The proposed coverage under Bharat Nirman within a four year period is as follows :
 

The list of habitations proposed to be covered in 2005-2006 is available at http://ddws.gov.in/bnp_hab/citizen/citizen.asp in the “Reports” section.
Action Plan for Bharat Nirman
The States and Union Territories have been requested to furnish Action Plans along with list of habitations to be covered during the 4-year period of Bharat Nirman. This will facilitate preparation of a road map for achieving the goal set out under Bharat Nirman for rural drinking water supply by 2008-09.
Strategy

• Supplementing with new schemes for the habitations served by outlived schemes.
• Rejuvenation of the outlived schemes which are functioning below their rated capacity.
• Providing the regional schemes from alternative safe sources by extending new pipelines.
• Providing rainwater-harvesting structures.
• Reviving the traditional sources.
• Utilizing low cost technology for mitigation of quality affected habitations.
• Providing water supply from alternate sources for coverage of habitations with no safe source.

Sustainability of Rural Water Supply sources

• For Sustainability of Systems, Department has undertaken extensive exercise for institutionalization of community participation in O&M of rural drinking water infrastructure.
• Low-cost technologies are being promoted not only for meeting drinking water requirements, but also for re-charging of the water table.

• Source strengthening measures proposed to be made an integral part of all Rural Water Supply schemes.

• Convergence of efforts of all Departments in watershed development and management would go a long way in meeting the drinking water needs.

Policy and Implementation Measures

• Intensive interaction with States for firming up the Action Plan for Bharat Nirman.

• Collecting Locational details, technology options and, fund requirement from States.

• Sorting out administrative and technical problems in poorly performing States on a case-to-case basis e.g. in sanction of schemes, in procurement machinery and equipment.

• Commitment of States for providing matching or higher State share for coverage of NC / PC / quality affected habitations.

• Focused funding for tackling water quality problems, particularly those relating to Arsenic / Fluoride / Salinity.

• Identifying and preparing standardized low-cost technologies for tackling water quality problems.

• Involvement of scientific institutions.

• Sustainability measures such as involvement of PRIs / VWSCs in Operation and Maintenance of assets created in the past. In addition, some contribution towards capital cost of new assets to be created for generating sense of ownership among local community.

• Need for a system of incentives for PRIs / VWSCs for ensuring village level O&M of assets.

• Capacity building of PRIs / VWSCs.

• Sustainability of sources by creating re-charging structures and regulating over-exploitation of underground water.

• Compilation and circulation of best practices in the Drinking Water Sector.

• Strengthening of the Technical Wing of the Department of Drinking Water Supply for better planning and monitoring of quality affected and inaccessible habitations.

Monitoring

• Regular monitoring, concurrent evaluation / social audit of Bharat Nirman Drinking Water Schemes by lead NGOs / academic and research institutions, reputed social workers, professional experts.

• Obtaining monthly reports regarding the implementation of the schemes from the District officers/State Governments.

• Taking feedback regarding implementation of the schemes from District Vigilance and Monitoring Committees which include elected representatives.

• Involving community and local institutions in water quality monitoring and surveillance.

• Monitoring by State/District/Village Water and Sanitation Committees.

• Creation of awareness and publicity of the schemes through mass media.

• The Department / State / District website to contain information of habitations to be covered as per the Action Plan and the up-to-date progress.