Samprati Motghare
IIM graduate, Batch of 2014
In July 2010, the United Nations declared access to clean water and sanitation as a human right. Even the 7th Millennium Development Goal calls for halving the proportion of population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.
West Bengal is endowed with about 7.5% of the water resource of the country. About 60% of the water resource is available in North Bengal with the rest available to South Bengal. As per a report on West Bengal action plan on climate change, the State is facing inadequate and erratic rainfall in successive years mainly in South Bengal districts. Coupled with this is the problem of high arsenic and fluoride content in state’s ground water. Realizing the consequences of these problems and to build a healthy state, the government has taken many steps for providing clean drinking water to the state’s population.
Serious about the threat
Vision 2020: For the first time a vision document has been prepared by the government for rural areas, underlining the short term and long term goals for supplying safe drinking water. The document entails projects worth Rs. 1,295 crore for short term and worth Rs. 21,125 crore for long term. Rs. 5,640 crore has already been sanctioned under the plan, benefitting 1.1 crore population of drought prone districts of South Bengal, through 383 projects of rural pipelined water supply which will also benefit people of salt and arsenic prone areas of North and South 24 Paraganas.
Arsenic free drinking water: Close to 130 lakh villagers, which amount to 78.4% of the total population of arsenic prone districts, are being provided arsenic free water through pipelines. This effort marks 96% completion of the current master plan of the new government in just 32 months.
Fluoride free drinking water: Rs. 1580 crore worth of projects have been taken up to supply fluoride free water to 43 fluoride prone blocks in 7 districts.
Solar energy in water projects: For the first time in West Bengal solar energy is being used to supply water in the drought prone areas where 704 such projects are going on with an estimated expense of Rs. 51.67 crore.
Projects in Jangalmahal: 47 projects, out of a total of 50, have been implemented in Jangalmahal area amounting to an investment of Rs. 141.7 crore and benefitting close to 3.7 lakh people in the region.
Project in association with JICA: Close to 29 lakh people of Purulia district are set to benefit from Rs. 1,173.1 crore worth project which has received financial assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Innovative initiatives: 14 mobile water purification units which have drinking pouch vending machine as well, have been commissioned across the state to help distressed people during floods or droughts. State has also ventured to produce bottled drinking water Prandhara with 8 bottling plants across the state.
Parting Thought
It is worth noting that in the last 34 months, the state government has completed 416 rural pipelined water supply projects and installed 54,935 tube wells at an expense of Rs. 1,777 crore which has resulted in benefitting 37 lakh people. In a recent report of National Sample Survey Organization on ‘Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing’, West Bengal has emerged as the state where highest proportion of households, has to travel less than 500 m to fetch drinking water in urban areas, a credential which the so called developed states failed to earn.
IIM graduate, Batch of 2014
In July 2010, the United Nations declared access to clean water and sanitation as a human right. Even the 7th Millennium Development Goal calls for halving the proportion of population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.
West Bengal is endowed with about 7.5% of the water resource of the country. About 60% of the water resource is available in North Bengal with the rest available to South Bengal. As per a report on West Bengal action plan on climate change, the State is facing inadequate and erratic rainfall in successive years mainly in South Bengal districts. Coupled with this is the problem of high arsenic and fluoride content in state’s ground water. Realizing the consequences of these problems and to build a healthy state, the government has taken many steps for providing clean drinking water to the state’s population.
Serious about the threat
Vision 2020: For the first time a vision document has been prepared by the government for rural areas, underlining the short term and long term goals for supplying safe drinking water. The document entails projects worth Rs. 1,295 crore for short term and worth Rs. 21,125 crore for long term. Rs. 5,640 crore has already been sanctioned under the plan, benefitting 1.1 crore population of drought prone districts of South Bengal, through 383 projects of rural pipelined water supply which will also benefit people of salt and arsenic prone areas of North and South 24 Paraganas.
Arsenic free drinking water: Close to 130 lakh villagers, which amount to 78.4% of the total population of arsenic prone districts, are being provided arsenic free water through pipelines. This effort marks 96% completion of the current master plan of the new government in just 32 months.
Fluoride free drinking water: Rs. 1580 crore worth of projects have been taken up to supply fluoride free water to 43 fluoride prone blocks in 7 districts.
Solar energy in water projects: For the first time in West Bengal solar energy is being used to supply water in the drought prone areas where 704 such projects are going on with an estimated expense of Rs. 51.67 crore.
Projects in Jangalmahal: 47 projects, out of a total of 50, have been implemented in Jangalmahal area amounting to an investment of Rs. 141.7 crore and benefitting close to 3.7 lakh people in the region.
Project in association with JICA: Close to 29 lakh people of Purulia district are set to benefit from Rs. 1,173.1 crore worth project which has received financial assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Innovative initiatives: 14 mobile water purification units which have drinking pouch vending machine as well, have been commissioned across the state to help distressed people during floods or droughts. State has also ventured to produce bottled drinking water Prandhara with 8 bottling plants across the state.
Parting Thought
It is worth noting that in the last 34 months, the state government has completed 416 rural pipelined water supply projects and installed 54,935 tube wells at an expense of Rs. 1,777 crore which has resulted in benefitting 37 lakh people. In a recent report of National Sample Survey Organization on ‘Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing’, West Bengal has emerged as the state where highest proportion of households, has to travel less than 500 m to fetch drinking water in urban areas, a credential which the so called developed states failed to earn.
