The water crisis in India According to Water.org, 163 million Indians are currently living without access to safe and clean water.
Last year, WaterAid’s ‘State of the World’s Water‘ report disclosed that 63.4 million people in rural areas are living without access to clean drinking water, which is more than any other country.
Most of the rural drinking water comes from wells, hand-pumps, and tube-wells, as the scattered population is not ideal for a piped system.
Women, children, and economics: The unseen consequences Lack of access to water is one of the major causes of the feminisation of poverty (disproportionate impact of poverty on women as compared to men) in India.
Empowering women is critical to solving the nation’s water crisis.
Even school-going children find themselves on the losing side as the family water-collection duties take time away from study and play.
On the other hand, Piramal Sarvajal deploys another innovative and technological solution for creating affordable access to safe drinking water—that of Water ATMs.
The Water ATM technology was also used in Rajasthan as part of Cairn India’s ‘Jeevan Amrit Project,’ where kiosks with Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants were installed in villages like Aakdada, Batyu, Bhakharpur, Guda, Jogasar, and Kawas with the aim of making potable water available at the doorsteps of the local community.
Moreover, since these machines are portable, the facility can also be availed in the surrounding areas and hamlets at an additional cost of less than Rs 2.
For this Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, Cairn India has undertaken a collaboration with the Rajasthan Government’s Public Health Engineering Department, Tata Projects, and the concerned village Panchayats.

Only 35 per cent Jammu and Kashmir residents have access to drinking water from treated sources, government data has revealed.
The rest population gets unfiltered water from springs, lakes, canals and other water bodies.
These could be controlled only when we get water from treated sources,” a doctor at SMHS hospital wished anonymity told news wire KNS.
There has been sharp increase in water borne diseases for the past several years and according to health experts they have documented that these diseases had emerged due to supplying of “contamination and unfiltered” water to the people.
A Public Health Engineering official wishing anonymity said, “The rickety apparatus for water testing, and poor state of existing water supply schemes was resulting in poor quality of drinking water in Kashmir.” He added that in many areas of Kashmir, especially the rural ones, water was supplied through pumping stations that neither had a filtration plant, nor a reservoir.
“The water is just lifted and pumped, without any treatment.
However, people complain that unfiltered and muddy tap water was being supplied to them without any filtration being done.
In J&K thousands of water supply schemes were taken up for execution over the years, majority of them have not been completed thus forcing people to consume water from the contaminated sources.
“These schemes could not be completed due to non-availability of funds,” an official of public health engineering department said.
Official sources said that around 1,900 water supply schemes have been started by the successive governments in the six eight years in the state.

However, the report also shows a connection between the shallow aquifer where toxins were found and the deeper Memphis Sand Aquifer that provides the city’s drinking water.
TVA began investigating last year after toxins ended up in wells that monitor pollution from coal ash ponds at its Allen Fossil Plant in Memphis.
The shallow monitoring wells are near far deeper wells drilled directly into the Memphis Sand Aquifer.
The TVA had planned to use the deeper wells to cool a nearby natural gas plant that will replace the coal plant later this year, but it has decided it will not use the cooling wells at this time.
Discovery of the toxins raised concerns from Memphis residents and environmental groups that the contaminants could seep from the shallow Alluvial aquifer where the monitoring wells are located into the deeper Sand Aquifer that supplies the city’s slightly-sweet drinking water.
A layer of clay about 30 to 70 feet thick separates the two aquifers.
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The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation stated at the time that news of the toxins’ existence was released that the department was confident the contaminants "are not impacting drinking water."
Still, the department asked Memphis Light, Gas & Water — the city’s water utility — to test treated drinking water, and it came up clean.
TVA is planning to buy water from Memphis Light, Gas & Water for daily operations, it said.

These provinces house some of South Africa’s biggest economic and agricultural hubs.
Blazer attributes the current crisis to four factors: Insufficient water infrastructure maintenance and investment, Recurrent droughts driven by climatic variation Deteriorating water quality A lack of skilled water engineers He also noted that 35% of South African citizens did not have access to reliable drinking water and that 14.1 million people did not have access to safe sanitation, while 41% of municipal water did not generate revenue.
“South Africa is facing a projected 17% water deficit by 2030 if it doesn’t adopt a ‘new normal.
Achieving water security in the country requires a significant paradigm shift that recognises the limitations of water availability and the need for financial sustainability,” he said at the Indaba.
The Department of Water and Sanitation has adopted a Strategic Plan which aims to be implemented over a period of five years as part of the National Development Plan (2030).
The department has also welcomed a new Minister Gugile Mkwinti, who was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his cabinet reshuffle.
— Water&SanitationRSA (@DWS_RSA) February 28, 2018 Here is your weekly dam update: The Vaal River System consisting of 14 dams serving mainly Gauteng Sasol and Eskom is at 92.8%.
The Cape Town Dams System consisting of six dams serving mainly City of Cape Town this week drops to 20%.
The KwaZulu Natal Dam System is at 59% this week while Eastern Cape Dam System sits at 64.4%.
Here are the latest dam percentages throughout the country: For a more in depth rainfall update, visit WeatherSA or click here.

To the editor: Thursday, March 22, is World Water Day, a day dedicated globally to acknowledging water contamination and focusing on issues surrounding access to clean water around the world.
1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water contaminated with feces, putting them at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio.
Nature-based solutions focus mainly on preserving watersheds.
Source watersheds collect, store, and filter water and provide a number of additional benefits to humans and nature.
Protecting areas surrounding our water to ensure the water itself will not deteriorate should be a priority.
Something as small as planting a tree can help to secure our water’s future supply.
The death toll has reached 2,100-plus, and the reported number of cases are climbing into the millions.
The country’s water sanitation system has been deteriorated and destroyed by war.
More than half of the cholera patients are under the age of 18, and 26 percent under the age of 5, according to WHO statistics.
Celebrate World Water Day through active conservation to help the planet and ensure clean water for all.

Taking this scarce resource for granted will soon be a thing of the past and this time of crisis, we have the opportunity to turn to innovation and gain peace of mind with off-grid water solutions – water from air.
By Rutger-Jan van Spaandonk for WaterGen.
The Trammps made light of the 1977 blackout in their song Where were you when the lights went out in New York City?, but it is doubtful that South Africans will respond as cheerfully when taps eventually run dry.
Problem is, these solutions don’t necessarily change the equation.
It is entirely “new” water, and consuming it does not affect existing water resources.
To do so requires the installation of an Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG).
Most of them are essentially modified air conditioning units.
The problem is that with condensation being an unwanted by-product of cooling, air conditioners are optimised to produce as little as possible.
However, Watergen’s proprietary GENius technology allows for water generation from the air at conversion rates of around 250 to 300 Wh/L from units that produce up to 6,000 litres per day, making them the most energy-efficient and largest dehumidification devices available in the market today: Watergen’s units use four to five times less energy, and produce at least more than three times the amount of water compared to other AWGs.
True water security can be achieved by installing Watergen AWGs as a supplementary and backup solution to municipal and borehole water supply, providing peace of mind that even in the direst circumstances one has unhindered access to the highest quality drinking water.

THE new vision of our municipality stipulates that by the year 2035, the district municipality will provide adequate access to basic services in an efficient and sustainable manner, enhancing the quality of its citizens in an inclusive progressive economy.
We also deliver services guided by a mission that says that as a water services authority, we will ensure that all our communities have access to quality drinking water, decent sanitation and sustainable economic opportunities underpinned by the active participation of our citizens in exemplary government.
Over the years, our municipality has made remarkable progress in the delivery of water and sanitation services.
However, we cannot stay still at the comfort of these achievements as voices of our communities are still echoing.
Our efforts to expand and improve the access of our services to our communities continue.
It is therefore against this background of our efforts to improve water supply and sanitation services that we have implemented a water supply improvement project for the Qinabout, Thembelihle and Chibini areas in the outskirts of the Gamalakhe area.
This upgrade process commenced in the first week of February and is scheduled to be completed by the end of March.
These communities have been experiencing frequent supply interruptions due to these communities not having formal reticulation.
In the interim, we have put up approximately eight static tanks on different sites for relief supply while work continues to upgrade the pipeline for supply improvement.
We also call for the community’s patience and co-operation while this process unfolds.

These provinces house some of South Africa’s biggest economic and agricultural hubs.
Blazer attributes the current crisis to four factors: Insufficient water infrastructure maintenance and investment, Recurrent droughts driven by climatic variation Deteriorating water quality A lack of skilled water engineers He also noted that 35% of South African citizens did not have access to reliable drinking water and that 14.1 million people did not have access to safe sanitation, while 41% of municipal water did not generate revenue.
“South Africa is facing a projected 17% water deficit by 2030 if it doesn’t adopt a ‘new normal.
Achieving water security in the country requires a significant paradigm shift that recognises the limitations of water availability and the need for financial sustainability,” he said at the Indaba.
The Department of Water and Sanitation has adopted a Strategic Plan which aims to be implemented over a period of five years as part of the National Development Plan (2030).
The department has also welcomed a new Minister Gugile Mkwinti, who was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his cabinet reshuffle.
— Water&SanitationRSA (@DWS_RSA) February 28, 2018 Here is your weekly dam update: The Vaal River System consisting of 14 dams serving mainly Gauteng Sasol and Eskom is at 92.8%.
The Cape Town Dams System consisting of six dams serving mainly City of Cape Town this week drops to 20%.
The KwaZulu Natal Dam System is at 59% this week while Eastern Cape Dam System sits at 64.4%.
Here are the latest dam percentages throughout the country: For a more in depth rainfall update, visit WeatherSA or click here.

Just weeks ago water tests showed some Flint schools still have elevated levels of lead.
Mayor Karen Weaver said the city still needs the bottled water until all of the lead-tainted pipes in the city have been taken out.
Flint residents have been dealing with the water crisis for nearly four years.
“Not until it’s completely took care of.
As a new father, Mendez said he isn’t taking any chances with Flint water until he’s sure it’s clean.
“I have a newborn and I’m scared to bathe her in the water.
So, I have to use this water to make her bottles and stuff with it,” Mendez said.
Many residents said they support the mayor’s decision.
You don’t want a bunch of people who are going to be sick over lead,” said Felicia Jaynes, Flint resident.
Meanwhile, Mendez said he just wants the crisis to be over and he is tired of having to drive to the distribution center each week just to get a drink of clean water.

Three Holliston residents — including Denehy and Cordon — are listed as contributors, and have been working with researchers for years.
"We’re concerned particularly about drinking water," Clark University researcher Timothy J. Downs said.
The Boston University and Clark University joint study also included photos by Holliston residents of brown water.
Discolored water is a regular problem in Holliston, Department of Public Works Director Sean Reese said.
Though this month’s study focuses on Holliston, manganese is a problem across New England, especially in shallow aquifers that are overworked.
Manganese, unlike most of the contaminants listed in the Boston University-Clark University study, is labeled a secondary contaminant by the state and federal government.
"I think it will be the next regulated contaminant," Reese said.
In Holliston, Reese said the town’s two treatment plants filter out manganese, but a third plant is needed.
She doesn’t know if manganese caused her daughter’s autism, epilepsy, and missing kidney.
She doesn’t even know if the health issues and birth defects she’s noticed locally throughout the years have anything to do with the drinking water.