"Water pollution is a major challenge, the report said, with nearly 70 percent of India´s water contaminated, impacting three in four Indians and contributing to 20 percent of the country´s disease burden.
Yet only one-third of its wastewater is currently treated, meaning raw sewage flows into rivers, lakes and ponds – and eventually gets into the groundwater.
"Our surface water is contaminated, our groundwater is contaminated.
See, everywhere water is being contaminated because we are not managing our solid waste properly," said the report´s author Avinash Mishra.
It predicts that 21 major cities, including New Delhi and India´s IT hub of Bengaluru, will run out of groundwater by 2020, affecting 100 million people.
You fall ill because you don´t have access to safe drinking water, because your water is contaminated. "
"The burden of not having access to safe drinking water, that burden is greatest on the poor and the price is paid by them. "
To tackle this crisis, which is predicted to get worse, the government has urged states – responsible for supplying clean water to residents – to prioritise treating waste water to bridge the supply and demand gap and to save lives.
Currently, only 70 percent of India´s states treat less than half of their wastewater.
That does not stop 10-year-old Gauri, who lives in a nearby slum, from jumping in every day.

It took the deaths of her husband and son to force authorities to supply it to the slum she calls home.
But earlier … the water used to be rusty, we could not even wash our hands or feet with that kind of water," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Delhi.
Water pollution is a major challenge, the report said, with nearly 70 percent of India’s water contaminated, impacting three in four Indians and contributing to 20 per cent of the country’s disease burden.
"Our surface water is contaminated, our groundwater is contaminated.
See, everywhere water is being contaminated because we are not managing our solid waste properly," said the report’s author Avinash Mishra.
You fall ill because you don’t have access to safe drinking water, because your water is contaminated."
"The burden of not having access to safe drinking water, that burden is greatest on the poor and the price is paid by them."
Crippling water problems could shave 6 per cent off India’s gross domestic product, according to the report by the government think-tank, Niti Aayog.
To tackle this crisis, which is predicted to get worse, the government has urged states – responsible for supplying clean water to residents – to prioritise treating waste water to bridge the supply and demand gap and to save lives.
Currently, only 70 per cent of India’s states treat less than half of their wastewater.

The maximum time you can survive without water, which makes up 60 percent of your body, is a week.
But as PennLive’s Wallace McKelvey details in a harrowing but utterly necessary report, years of budget cuts have depleted the ranks of water inspectors at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, putting your safety, and that of your family, at risk.
The numbers are shocking: Between 2008 and 2012, state funding for the DEP was nearly halved, dropping from $229 million to $125 million.
During that drop, the DEP lost 750 inspectors, who are carrying an average inspection workload of 149 water systems each.
The same budget cuts that hit the inspection side also impacted enforcement.
In fiscal year 2017, state inspectors visited about 19 percent of the state’s water systems, well below the national average of 37 percent, McKelvey wrote.
Tom Wolf signed into law last week includes a $5.6 million funding increase for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
Those trainee hires, who would replace the aging, veteran inspectors who are moving toward retirement age, would eventually bring the DEP down to a more manageable workload of 100 to 125 water systems for each inspector.
At an average cost of $40,000 per inspector, lawmakers would need cough up an extra $3.4 million a year.
It’s time for Harrisburg to live up to that trust.

I’ve been fascinated for years about our access to fresh drinking water, and I see a trend coming that will eventually lead to a declaration of “privatized water.” Once water becomes “privatized,” it will no longer be recognized as a civil right.
When this happens, I won’t be around any longer, but my grandchildren and their progeny may still be here when a gallon of water may have the same value as a week’s work.
Water is not a foodstuff, but it is a necessity.
You can live for weeks without food, but your life can end in a matter of days without drinkable water.
If potable water is not delivered by your local community, there is no alternative worldwide, except for occasional river and spring water or well water.
In the absence of potable water, supermarket water may become overly expensive.
For the past half century or more, water has been an essential “right” in many communities in the U.S. and in others around the world.
However, that “right” doesn’t bother people who see water only as a profitable commodity.
It has become common to see international corporations buying up water rights around the world.
John H. Schultz Providence

Red Deerians shouldn’t wait for a drought to put water conservation practices in place, says a city manager.
Local residents are being asked to voluntarily water their lawn or gardens according to the odd or even day of the month, based on address number.
They are also being asked to water at non-peak times of day, and to use commercial car washes instead of washing their vehicles at home — since this makes more efficient use of water.
The new guidelines will go into effect annually May 1 and will be lifted Oct. 1.
Monkman said they come out of the Water Conservation, Efficiency and Production Plan that was passed in 2016, but had not yet been fully implemented.
He affirmed the flow rate of the Red Deer River is still normal, “and we don’t have any major concerns.” But that doesn’t mean the public shouldn’t be concerned about water conservation.
Several stages are itemized in the plan.
Stages 2, 3 and 4 would be enacted based on dry weather conditions and a much reduced river flow.
They would involve enforced rules on water use to deal with an emergency shortage.
Any person or business that does not comply will face a warning, fine, or stoppage of service.

The City of Red Deer is encouraging residents to reduce the amount of water they use in their homes, yards and at work by following the City’s new water conservation guidelines.
Officials say the new guidelines have four stages which set water use standards for residential, commercial, industrial and institutional operations.
The guidelines will take effect each spring on May 1, and will be lifted each fall on October 1.
Stage 1 is in effect now with voluntary guidelines to help conserve water and reduce strain on the water treatment plant.
“We’re trying to encourage people to think about their water use and to be mindful when watering their lawns and plants, and when washing their vehicles.” Stages 2, 3 and 4 are each enacted based on weather conditions, the flow rate of the Red Deer River, and potential emergency situations as they relate to The City’s water supply.
These three stages are all enforced.
Residents and businesses who do not comply with the guidelines in these stages may face penalties that range from a warning to a fine to a stoppage in service.
“Historical data shows that the likelihood of Red Deer enacting Stage 2, 3 or 4 water restrictions is very unlikely, but we’ve put these guidelines in place to ensure we’re prepared,” said Monkman.
“If a state of emergency is declared for our water supply, and Stage 4 is called, we wanted to have a process in place to ensure citizens continue to have access to clean, safe drinking water.” More information about the new Water Conservation Guidelines, including the steps for each stage, is available on the City’s website at reddeer.ca/savewater.
(The City of Red Deer)

Around 400 residents of the Daghestani town of Izberbash protested in front of the local mayor’s office on Tuesday, demanding their water access be restored.
According to Daghestani daily Chernovik, drinking water in Izberbash, a town 50 kilometres south of Makhachkala along the Caspian Sea, is normally supplied just twice a day.
On 2 July, Mayor Abdulmedzhid Suleymanov and the chairman of the city’s assembly of deputies, Islamabal Bagomedov, shared a video on YouTube to explain the reason.
The mayor criticised the ‘destructive Izberbash residents’ for their protests, and relieved himself of responsibility, claiming he could not solve the problem without state support.
Another ₽360 million ($5.7 million) is needed, the letter said, for the completion of water treatment facilities started in 2009, and ₽350 million ($5.5 million) for an ‘external water supply system’.
‘No city mayor could solve this problem without ₽1 billion ($16 million).
Deputy Mayor Nariman Rabadanov claimed the shut-off was the result of an influx of tourists.
In addition, according to the Mayor’s Office, there has been a decrease in the amount of water coming to Izberbash via the October Revolution Channel (ORC), a major source of drinking and irrigation water in Daghestan.
Last year, Kadilabagand Kadilagabandov, the director of the ORC Office, stated that the company supplies 472 liters of water per second, in compliance with their contract, and that they bear no responsibility for the water level in the lake or the amount of water reaching Izberbash.
He claimed the local authorities were responsible for the degradation of the water network, but even in such circumstances, three years ago residents of Izberbash still had water in their houses 24 hours a day.

But majority of Nepalis still lack access to clean and safe drinking water.
With the monsoon, the threat of waterborne diseases increases significantly.
Diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid and cholera among others are common waterborne diseases.
Several bacterial, protozoal and viral waterborne diseases pose a serious health problem in Nepal.
Lack of clean water increases the risk of diarrhoeal diseases, cholera, typhoid, dysentery and other waterborne diseases.
One of the most common waterborne diseases is diarrhoea which is the leading cause of child death in our country.
In Nepal, only limited percentage of the population have access to basic sanitation.
At the same time, water treatment facilities throughout urban and rural areas are limited.
Awareness is an important tool to reduce the burden of waterborne diseases.
Simple hand hygiene can reduce diarrhoea and typhoid cases.

Protesters rallied outside City Hall Monday to decry Baltimore’s third water rate increase in two years.
A typical home paying $84 a month will now pay $92.
Mark James said he nearly lost his Northeast Baltimore church over a water bill.
The $6,000 bill sent his congregation into a protracted legal battle.
City officials say they have no choice but to raise the rates.
Rates increased an average of 13.9 percent, up from an 8.4 percent increase last year.
The county has raised water and sewer rates for the past three years.
Raymond said the city’s public works department does not have any proposals in place for future rate adjustments for Baltimore customers.
“And yet with all of this chaos and confusion we are, again, raising the rates,” Cohen said.
The city sent the church to the tax sale in 2015.

June 27, 2018; Next City A social justice caucus and a nonprofit have come together to bring the city of Newark, New Jersey, to court for failing to keep lead out of the water.
As NPQ has noted, there is a lack of will to address aging water pipes in cities, even though it may provide economic benefits.
“Access to safe water should be a basic right for everyone,” Al Moussab, president of the NEW Caucus, said in a statement.
“However, for many working-class people, it’s not.
By joining this lawsuit, we hope to hold the city and state governments accountable for providing safe drinking water to every home and school in Newark.” According to NRDC, Newark’s data demonstrates that 10 percent of the samples of water tested at an elevated level of 26 parts per billion.
The “federal action level” of the Safe Drinking Water Act is 15 parts per billion.
NRDC claims the city did not test 91 of Newark’s 131 high-risk sites.
Water fountains in 30 of Newark public schools were turned off two years ago while they waited to replace the pipes due to high levels of lead.
Newark’s director of water and sewer utilities, Andrea Adebowale, in a statement to Asbury Park Press, stated the issues were “confined to a limited number of homes with lead service lines.” The NRDC says in its lawsuit, however, that “the City does not know the scope of the problem because it has failed to identify which service lines contain lead and has failed to properly monitor lead levels at Newark residents’ taps.” Exposure to any level of lead is especially unsafe to children, with potential impact on IQ and ability to learn, according to the CDC.
The lawsuit against Flint, Michigan was settled and lead water lines will have to be replaced throughout the city.