India has the maximum number of people, 63 million, living in rural areas without access to clean water, according to a new global report released to mark World Water Day in 2017 Water is a scarce resource and an important basic necessity for the human survival.
Though water available in nature is free, sizeable investment and planning is needed in order to make water available to people in the desired quality and quantity on a consistent basis.
India has the maximum number of people, 63 million, living in rural areas without access to clean water, according to a new global report released to mark World Water Day in 2017.
According to World Resources Institute (WRI), over 100 million people in India are living in areas where water is severely polluted.
Lack of safe drinking water poses many health hazards such as diarrhea, cholera, and typhoid which have seen millions of registered cases during the past 3 years.
One such private sector initiative is JanaJal, who install and operate safe drinking water ATMs in India.
JanaJal is an integral part of the Prime Minister’s Swachh Bharat Campaign and through support from NGOs, Charitable Foundations and Corporates have implemented some landmark award-winning community drinking water projects in the country.
A majority (71 per cent) of Indians said that safe drinking water had improved over the last five years.
62 per cent of the Indians believed that the government was doing enough to support access to safe drinking water.
While a lot remains to be done, it is imperative that the government agencies collaborate with private sector companies to be able to deliver sustainable projects on ground that can deliver this precious resource to people in a consistent and affordable manner.