I offered in'86 my Safe-water-from-any- water(all bacteria,heavy metal ions,smell,smack gone) --- Electrocoagulation solution 3rd world--whereever there is a little Electricity anywhere near. I would have gone long back without this-- my Madgharia Dug -Well water is Poison.
Nobody WANTS to accept simple Solutions
BECAUSE then will be redundant:
So many JOBS like this totally non-technical JOURNALIST's + PUBLIC HEALTH departments' !
Even now--anybody?
mm
From: "Barua, Rajen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: [Assam] Safe drinking water: Assam's serious problem
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 16:42:04 -0500
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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.
EDITORIAL
Safe drinking water: Asoms serious problem
Tapati Baruah Kashyap
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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