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EDITORIAL
_____
Safe drinking water: Asom's serious problem
- Tapati Baruah Kashyap
Water is indispensable for human existence. But, though more than
two-third of the globe is covered by water, yet getting safe drinking
water has been a worldwide problem. The situation in Asom is no
different. In fact, in some cases, the problem of safe drinking water in
Asom is as acute as in several other States of the country.
With its considerably high rainfall and a massive river system that
includes the mighty Brahmaputra and its numerous tributaries, Asom
definitely can boast of adequate availability of water. But when it
comes to availability of safe drinking water, the picture is far from
satisfactory. Going by the findings of the Census of 2001, access to
safe drinking for the people of Asom is indeed pretty low. When
discussing drinking water, it is not just the quantity or availability
of water that has to be taken into consideration. In fact, what is of
vital importance is the quality of water that the people are actually
getting.
Access to safe drinking water in Asom is substantially less than the
national average. The population in Asom with access to safe drinking
water is only 77.55 per cent compared to the all India figure of 88 per
cent (the same is 84 per cent in rural areas and 95 per cent in urban
areas). But though an encouraging percentage of households or families
do technically have access to safe drinking water, it is also a fact
that not all sources of water are sustainable. One of the millennium
development goals that India has set is to halve by 2015 AD the
proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.
As per Census of India, if a household has access to drinking water
supplied from a tap or a hand pump/tube well situated within or outside
the premises, it is considered as having access to safe drinking water.
If that is the measuring scale, then the situation in Asom is definitely
not satisfactory. Just look at the Census 2001 figures. Out of 49,35,358
households that were recorded in the Census of 2001 in Asom, only 37.88
per cent (18,69,870 households) had drinking water sources available
within their premises. Even if we add another 22.44 per cent (that is
19,57,608 households) that have access to safe drinking water 'near the
premises', then the overall percentage of people having safe drinking
water in Asom comes to about 77.55 per cent. This means at least
7,18,590 households in Asom still draw drinking water from unsafe open
sources; of these 3,44,992 households in Asom draw water from tanks,
ponds and lakes; 2,56,813 households from rivers and streams; 67,154
from springs; and 49,631 households from 'any other' sources.
Millions of people in the country suffer from water-borne diseases on
account of lack of access to safe drinking water. It is the poor who
suffer from higher prevalence of disease as compared to the rich. There
is no denying the fact that water-borne diseases have a very high
prevalence in Asom, with hundreds of people dying every year due to
different such diseases. And, in most cases, water-borne diseases
originate in and enter the human body from unsafe water that the people
consume.
People, especially those in rural areas and those belonging to the lower
economic strata in the urban areas need to be informed time and again
that safe drinking water availability reduces the risk of deaths due to
diarrhoea, jaundice and other water born diseases. With a huge
population still having no access to safe drinking water facility in the
country, at least about 1.5 million children below the age of five years
die every year due to various water borne diseases. If the World Bank
estimates are to be believed - and we are bound to believe them - at
least 21 per cent of communicable diseases in India are water related.
Again, with the State of Asom, there are huge disparities among the
States. In Dibrugarh district, for instance, as high as 90.44 per cent
of the households had access to safe drinking water within or near the
premises. Similarly, in Tinsukia, the proportion is as high as 83.23 per
cent. But, the picture is dismal and alarming in, say, several other
districts, like Hailakandi (29.85 per cent), Karimganj (30.14 per cent),
Cachar (39.96 per cent) and North Cachar Hills (48.72 per cent). Again,
as far as Dibrugarh and Tinsukia are concerned, it is a fact that there
is a big presence of public sector and private industrial houses
including the petroleum and tea industry, which has actually taken the
overall number of safe drinking water sources up.
But more surprising is the fact that while Hailakandi, Karimganj, Cachar
or NC Hills are known backward or underdeveloped districts of the State,
the access to safe drinking water in Jorhat, the highest literate
districts is also no better. Going by Census 2001 data, only 58.55 per
cent households in the district of Jorhat (which had 1,93,314 households
during the census enumeration) had access to safe drinking water. This
means an alarming 41.45 per cent of households in Jorhat district did
not have access to safe drinking water. No doubt reports of people dying
due to various water-borne diseases like diarrhoea and gastroenteritis
also come in good numbers from Jorhat too.
Even when one looks at Kamrup (which was not divided into two districts,
Rural and Metro at that time), the scenario is not very encouraging.
While Census data puts the proportion of households having access to
safe drinking water at 78.06 per cent, as many as 27,025 households here
out of 4,90,339 (which works out to a little over five per cent) do draw
water from completely unsafe sources; of them, 13,679 depend on sources
like springs, 7,671 on rivers and canals, 674 on tanks or ponds, and
5,001 on 'any other' source! Kamrup, the district which has within it
the city of Guwahati as well as the State capital, is also one district
where members of as many as 98,702 households have to draw drinking
water from sources that are located away from their premises.
It is worth noting that the Asom government does not hesitate to admit
that there is a large urban-rural divide as well as inter-district
variations as far as availability of safe drinking water is concerned.
"There is a significant inter-district variation and a noticeable
rural-urban gap," says the Asom Human Development Report that was
published by the State government in 2003. The government incidentally
is also frank enough to admit in the Asom Human Development Report that
many completed water supply schemes in the rural areas are not working
"because the community or the water agency is unable to keep the
installed facilities functioning due to inadequate funds for operations
and maintenance."
Asom also has a major problem of high concentration of fluoride in
water, which, when consumed, can cause a crippling bone disease called
skeletal fluorosis. Karbi Anglong, Nagaon and even Kamrup have reported
alarming incidence of fluoride in drinking water. People with low
nutrition levels, elderly people with deficiencies of calcium and
vitamin C, and those with kidney problems are more susceptible to the
toxic effects of fluoride. And, Asom being a flood-prone State, yet
another major problem in the drinking water sector is the bacterial
contamination of water during and after every flood, which is an annual
feature of the districts of both Brahmaputra Valley as well as Barak
Valley. What Asom urgently requires now is a massive awareness campaign
for the people, urban and rural, focusing on the importance of safe
drinking water. At the same time, the government should also set its
eyes on providing safe drinking water facilities to the people, which
itself should be considered an important component of health sector
investment.
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