Contamination, Pollution and Quality

With an annual rainfall of more than 1200 mm, this region has truly pristine and under-developed ground water resources. The water related issues are more complex in the hilly areas. Some of the most concerning issues that affect the current water scenario in the Eastern Ghats are pollution of water sources (springs & streams) leading to poor health, illiteracy and ignorance resulting in improper hygiene and sanitation practices. The burden on women and children is also high since they have to walk a long distance to the springs/streams for fetching water.

Over 4,000 families in India face serious risk from threats of leaks from Vedanta's red mud pond as the rainy season begins in June. Levels within the pond have already risen, amidst reports of two leaks in the last two months, threatening the communities' safety, health and livelihoods.

On 5 April and 16 May 2011, following heavy rain, local communities in Orissa state reported leakages from the 28-hectare red mud pond, owned and operated by Vedanta Aluminium, through its walls, polluting local streams and creating anxiety among the communities at the downstream villages of Lanjigarh, Bundel and Basantpada.

Fluoride is essential for normal bone growth, but its higher concentration in drinking water poses great health problems and fluorosis is common in many parts of India.

This compendium by the Water and Sanitation Programme and the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India  presents case studies about the achievements and experiences of different situations, institutional models, community mobilisation approaches, supply chain management techniques, capacity building methods, convergence of various programmes, school sanitation, innovative approaches etc from different states and regions in the country.

After a decade of launching the Total Sanitation Campaign, India has seen significant successes in terms of the sanitation coverage, creating open defecation communities/GPs and solid and liquid waste management. Thousands of success stories have emerged across the country while still there are many challenges in making the entire rural India Nirmal and sustaining the changes achieved.

This report by the Water and Sanitation Management Organisation (WASMO) is based on the analysis of Multi-District Assessment of Water Safety (M-DAWS) carried out in 8 districts of Gujarat (Vadodara,Valsad, Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Kachchh, Surat, Ahmedabad and Dangs) , where ensuring adequate and safe drinking water to the people has been looked upon as a huge challenge needing urgent action during years 2007 and 2008 .

The Multi-District Assessment of Water Safety (M-DAWS) programme was undertaken by Water and Sanitation Management Organisation (WASMO) with financial and technical support from UNICEF.

A huge number of links are present on these sites which provide access to various data and information regarding the status of rural drinking water & sanitation and related government projects.

This season in the region is commonly referred to as – Barh (flood). For centuries local people have treated it as ‘a way of life’, and found ways to deal with it. Post independence, this ‘way of life’ gradually transformed into an assured annual devastation. The once self-sufficient communities in the flood plains have been relegated to being highly dependent on sources external to the village for their survival during floods.