A recent Water Aid report finds that India is among the top countries with the worst access to clean water close to homes.
Waterborne diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid and viral hepatitis continue to dominate in many parts of the country, causing the death of nearly 10,000 plus people in the country over the last five years.
Urban India affected too While a number of cities in India are struggling to cope with increasing water scarcity due to declining groundwater levels, water quality continues to be a major problem posing a serious health risk.
However, this water continues to be of questionable quality and has been found to be exposed to severe pollution and deterioration of groundwater quality.
Drinking water in Bengaluru A study titled "Drinking water contamination from peri-urban Bengaluru" published in the journal ‘Current Science’ assessed the extent of contamination of water available from these reservoirs by analysing the drinking water quality at the source and that used in the households from eight peri-urban villages located near the Vrishabhavathi-Byramangala reservoir in the city.
The study found that: As high as 80 percent of water samples at the source was contaminated and presented a moderate to high risk for diarrhoea.
Only seven percent of household drinking water samples were found to comply with the WHO’s permissible limits, while all the remaining drinking water samples (93 percent) were found to be contaminated with coliforms.
Drinking water from borewells at Byramangala Panchayat was found to be highly polluted with coliforms indicating the possibility of faecal contamination around the areas of the reservoir due to the inflow of sewage and industrial effluents into the reservoir.
Nitrate levels were greater than the permissible levels in all drinking water sources from the villages surrounding Vrishabhavathi–Byramangala reservoir, indicating progressive deterioration of groundwater quality and a high risk to health.
The levels of drinking water contamination at the household level were found to be higher than that at the source, which could be due to poor sanitation and hygiene practices, faulty handling and other socio-cultural practices.