Water and Sanitation Go Back

India’s huge and growing population is putting a severe strain on all the country’s natural resources. Most water sources are contaminated by sewage and agricultural runoff. Government bodies have made progress in the supply of safe water to its people, but gross disparity in coverage exists across the country. India has long faced the challenge of providing safe drinking water to over 700 million people in more than 1.5 million villages. According to the census of 2011, around 83% of the rural households have access to safe drinking water. In some areas like Manipur, Meghalaya and Lakshadweep, less than 40% of the households have access to some form of safe drinking water.

Hygiene practices also continue to be a problem in the country. Latrine usage is extremely poor in rural areas of the country; only about 30% of the rural households have access to a latrine, which translated to around 116 million households. Hand washing is also very low, increasing the spread of disease. In order to decrease the amount of disease spread through drinking-water, latrine usage and hygiene, the basic amenities must be provided and to be improved simultaneously.

1. 28.5 million households lack safe water
2. 116 million households have no sanitation services
3. 20% of all households have to travel more than 500m to get their drinking water, with the job of collecting water overwhelmingly done by women and girls.
4. Groundwater levels have fallen as much as 1-3 meters per year to 70 meters or more below the levels of 30 years ago
5. 59.43% of people defecating in open in the world are from India.
6. Diarrhoea is the third most common cause of death in under-five children, responsible for 13% deaths in this age-group, killing an estimated 300,000 children in India each year.

The Millennium Alliance intends to address the pressing issues related to the water and sanitation sector and contribute towards making clean drinking water affordable and accessible to every Indian.

MA also aligns with the government’s aim to clean rivers and recognizes that river rejuvenation is an important area which will affect large populations of BoP. MA aims to address this issue too.

Innovative technologies and models in River Rejuvenation including impact on quality and quantity of water table including (i) Innovative Waste water treatment technologies to reduce industrial and urban pollution load in rivers; (ii) Innovative Low cost decentralized solutions including Bioremediation and Wetlands; Community interventions including water literacy, ponds, rainwater harvesting, organic farming etc.

Note: Compliance with NMCG water quality monitoring parameters, as applicable, and linking with Govt. schemes for scale up encouraged