water and health ENVIS.docx

8/12/2019 water and health ENVIS.docx

1/14

Water and Sanitation in Indias Census-2012Farhana Ahmed, March 26, 2012

The Census-2012 has given a very dismal picture water and sanitation facilities in India.Improper planning and casual implementation of schemes coupled with rampant corruption andirregularities in the concerned departments as well as lack of awareness among the publicparticularly in the rural areas have made India to be left behind in this most basic and importantaspect of public health. The statistics on drinking water and sanitation of Assam also indicate avery disturbing picture.

The Census-2011 report on water and sanitation says that out of 246,692,667 (191,963,935 in2001) surveyed households 43.5% (36.7% in 2001) in India have tape water, 11% (18.2% in2001) has wells, 42% (41.2% in 2001) hand pump/tube well and 3.5% (3.9% in 2001) has othersources of drinking water. The Census-2011 added two new queries on treated and untreateddrinking water and on covered or uncovered source of drinking water. Here the report says only32% of Indians use treated drinking water while 11.6% do not use treated drinking water.Similarly only 1.6% households use drinking water from covered sources while 9.4% do nothave that. In Assam out of 6,367,295 households only 10.5% (9.2% in 2001) has tape water,18.9% (26.7% in 2001) has wells and majority 59.4% (46.9% in 2001) use tube wells fordrinking water followed by 11.3 % (14.6%) having drinking water from other sources. This isalmost ten percentage drop of use of wells and more than 10 percent increase of the use oftube wells for drinking water in Assam. Likewise the only three percent fall of the use of drinkingwater from other sources like ponds and rivers is also a matter of concern and indicates thefailure of concerned departments in policy making and implementation. In the rural sector thestatistics of drinking water condition of the Census-2011 both the national and state figures areof mixed results. While 30.8% (24.3% in 2001) household in rural India has tape water sourcesfor drinking water Assam has only 6.8% (5.4% in 2001). The national figure of wells for drinkingwater in the rural sector is 13.3% (22.2% in 2001) Assam has 19% (29% in 2001). 51.9%(48.9% in 2001) of rural household in India have drinking water from tube wells while thepercentage in Assam is 61.5% (51.4%). On other sources of drinking water in rural India thefindings are 4% (4.5% in 2001) and in rural Assam is 12.6% (16.2% in 2001). On treateddrinking water the percentage in rural India is 17.9% and that of rural Assam is 5.8%. Onuntreated water the national figure in the rural sector is 13% and in Assam it is only 1%. Only1.5% rural households in India collect drinking water from covered sources while in Assam thepercentage is dismal 1.1%. Similarly on uncovered sources of drinking water the national figureof rural India is 11.8% and in Assam it is 18%.

In the urban sector the all India Census-2011 findings of drinking water are like this:-70.6%(68.7% in 2001) using tape water, only 6.2% (7.7% in 2001) using wells, 20.8% (11.8% in 2001)using hand pumps/ tube wells and 2.55 (2.3% in 2001) using other sources. In Assam statisticsare very unimpressive:-30.2% (31.4% in 2001) using tape water which is 1.02% less than thelast census, 17.8% (24.6% in 2001) using wells, 48% (35.9% in 2001) using tube wells and 4%(5.1% in 2001) using from other sources. Similarly on the use of treated water in the urbansector Assams figure (29.4%) is far less than the national figure (62%). 4.5% of urbanhouseholds in Assam have drinking water from covered sources while 13.1% do not have such.

The distance of availability of water from the households is one important matter of concern.The 2011 Census reveals encouraging picture of Assam from the national level. While 46.6%(39% in 2001) Indian households have availability of drinking water inside their premises in

Assam the figure is well above 54.8% (37.9% in 2001). The availability of drinking water near

8/12/2019 water and health ENVIS.docx

2/14

the households in India is 35.8% (44.3% in 2001). In Assam it is also less than national figure,from 39.7% in 2001 to 26.7% in 2011. However the state is ahead on the availability of drinkingwater away from the household. Here Assams figure is 18.5% (22.5% in 2001) and that of Indiais 17.6% (16.7% in 2001). On this same category Assam also has impressive figures in the ruralsector than the all India figures with 50.4% (33.6% in 2001) of households having drinking watersource available within the premises while the national figure is 35% (28.7% in 2001). There is a

fall in households in rural Assam of availability of drinking water near the premises from 41.9%in 2001 to 29.3% this time. In India the figure is 42.9% (51.4% in 2001). The availability ofdrinking water away from the households in the rural sector is 22.1% (19.5% in 2001) at thenational level while in Assam it is 20.4% (24.5% in 2001). Assam too has advanced inavailability of drinking water sources within the households in the urban sector than the all Indialevel with 78.8% (63.2% in 2001) while national figure is 71.2% (65.4% in 2001). Drinking watersources near urban households in India is 20.7% (25.2% in 2001) and in Assam is 12.8%(26.3% in 2001) while away from the households the national figure is 8.1% (9.4% in 2001) andthe that of the state is 8.4% (10.5% in 2001).

On 6th March, the WHO/UNICEFs Joint Monitoring Programme on sanitation for MilleniumDevelopment Goal released its report on India which indicated that 59% (626 million) Indians

still does not have access to toilets and they use open defecation. The Census-2011 givesanother disturbing account of India on sanitation which says 53.1% (63.6% in 2001) householdsin India does not have a toilet. In the rural sector the percentage is 69.3% (78.1% in 2001) andin the urban areas it is 18.6% (26.3% in 2001). In Assam overall 35.1% (35.4% in 2001)households have no toilet. That means in the last ten years the governmental schemes couldreach only 0.3% of the households. In rural Assam the picture is as same as in 2001 with 40.4%households with no toilet in 2011 Census. In the urban areas the state has 6.3% (5.4% in 2001)households with no toilet. Assam also has over all only 28.5% (15.9% in 2001) households havetoilets with water closet (all India figure is 36.4% as against 18% in 2001), 34.7% (43.9% in2001) households have pit latrines (all India 9.4% as against 11.5%) and 1.8% (4.3% in 2001)households have other types of toilet (all India 1.1% as against 6.9% in 2001). In the rural sector

Assam has 20.6% (8.6% in 2001) households having toilets with water closet (all India 19.4% as

against 7.1% in 2001), 37.2% (46.9% in 2001) households have pit latrines (all India 10.5% asagainst 10.3% in 2001) and 1.8% (4% in 2001) households have other toilets (all India 0.8% asagainst 4.5% in 2001). Similarly in the urban sector the state has an impressive developmentwith 71% (58.9% in 2001) households having toilet with water closet (all India 72.6% as against46% in 2001). In the pit latrine category Assam has urban households 21.01% (26.4% in 2001)where the national figure is 7.1% (14.6% in 2001). The state has 1.7% (9.3%) urban householdswith other toilets (all India 1.7% as against 13% in 2001 Census).

The increase of allocation of funds for rural drinking water in this years union bud get from Rs11,000 Crores to Rs 14,000 Crores and from Rs 1500 Crores to Rs 3500 Crores for the ruralsanitation programme is the immediate step taken by the union government to address thisproblem. However policy making and implementation and public awareness holds the key to

improve the water and sanitation standards of India.

Source :http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1203/S00268/water-and-sanitation-in-indias-census-2012.htm

8/12/2019 water and health ENVIS.docx

3/14

India will achieve sanitation goals only by 2054AARTI DHAR, The Hindu, 28 March, 2012

NEW DELHI : Going by the present pace of progress, India will achieve the millenniumdevelopment goals (MDGs) on sanitation only by 2054. While some States had alreadyachieved the target and some are close to it, other populous States such as Madhya Pradeshand Orissa will reach the target only in the next century, according to WHO and UNICEF's JointMonitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMPWSS).

According to the JMPWSS' report, which tracks the progress on drinking water and sanitation,17 States, including Kerala, Haryana, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and most UnionTerritories, had already achieved the MDG target while Assam, Andhra Pradesh and ArunachalPradesh will achieve it in the next 10 years.

Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh are some States that will meet the MDGtarget in the coming 25 years, while Madhya Pradesh is expected to achieve the goal in 2105and Orissa in 2160 unless special strategies are adopted to speed up the progress, the reporthas said.

The world has pledged to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access tosafe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015 from 1990 figures. Though India has alreadyachieved impressive results on water supply, with 85 per cent of its people having access tosafe drinking water, 51 per cent or 626 million people in the country defecate in the open,accounting for 60 per cent of the world's total open defecations.

India has seen an improvement in the sanitation figures from 1990, when 75 per cent peopledefecated in the open as against 51 per cent in 2010. But this improvement is seen only in theurban settings, where 28 per cent had no access to toilets in 1990 as against 14 per cent in2010. In the rural areas, 91 per cent had no access to sanitation in 1990 as against 67 per centin 2010, indicating that it was the rich who had more access to sanitation.

Four out of every 10 people who have gained access to improved sanitation since 1990 live inChina or India, and more than half of the 2.5 billion people without improved sanitation too livein these two countries. In India, 251 million people gained access to sanitation between 1990and 2010 but the percentage continues to be low because of the annual increase in thepopulation. Over 1.7 million (22% of the world total) children under five who died in 2010 wereIndians, diarrhoea being one among the largest killer diseases and accounting for 13 per cent ofthe deaths. Worldwide, over 80 per cent of diarrhoeal deaths are due to unsafe water,inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.

Source :http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article3252400.ece

High on hygiene, Himachal to get Nirmal Pradesh status soonVibha Sharma/TNS, The Tribune, 27 March, 2012

New Delhi: Having achieved full sanitation coverage, Himachal Pradesh is on the verge ofacquiring the status of a Nirmal Pradesh- the second state after Sikkim to get the distinction.

8/12/2019 water and health ENVIS.docx

4/14

However, the country will miss its 2017 target for achieving total sanitation coverage as thegovernment today said that it would take at least 10 more years before all villages can boast ofNirmal Gram Panchayat status and completely eradicate the practice of open-air defecation.

Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Jairam Ramesh told the Rajya Sabha that it usuallytakes about a year to make a village a Nirmal Gram Panchayat.

As per the Census data, only 28,000 of 2.60 lakh gram panchayats in the country have so farachieved complete sanitation, clearly indicating that states are not taking the task seriously.Incidentally, the data provided by states show 68 per cent sanitation coverage but according tothe minister the latest Census pegs the figure at around 33 per cent for the entire country.

I tend to believe Census numbers...We have to go a long way before we achieve totalsanitation, Ramesh said. Total Sanitation Campaign was initiated in 1999 to ensure sanitationfacilities in rural areas and eradicate the practice of open-air defecation by 2017. To give fillip tothis endeavour, the government also launched Nirmal Gram Puraskar to recognise the efforts interms of cash awards for fully covered panchayati raj institutions and those individuals who havecontributed significantly in ensuring full sanitation coverage in their area of operation.

Mission Clean

* Himachal will be the second state after Sikkim to get the tag of Nirmal Pradesh as it hassuccessfully eradicated the practice of open-air defecation.

* The country will take another 10 years to achieve total sanitation; will miss its 2017 target.Only 28,000 of 2.60 lakh gram panchayats in India have so far achieved complete sanitation,clearly indicating that states are not taking the task seriously.

Source :http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120328/main6.htm

Water still a far-fetched dream for manyTimes of India, 23 March, 2012

RANCHI: More than 31.9% households in the state have to trek for more than a kilometre tofetch drinking water everyday.

To discuss this issue and to promote collaborative efforts of the civil society organizations andmedia for improving the status of drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in the state, a state-level briefing-cum-consultation was organized by Gram Jyoti, an NGO, with the support ofWater Aid India to observe World Water Day on Thursday.

Godda's Megi panchayat mukhiya Babulal Marandi discussed the problems of his panchayatwith the drinking water and sanitation department principal secretary Sudhir Prasad. Marandisaid, "More than 500 houses under my panchayat falls in hilly areas and do not get drinkingwater as there is no electricity, hence pumps cannot be used."

Prasad heard him out and said that the executive engineer of his department would be sent tohis village in the first week of April to find a solution for the problem after discussing it with thelocal residents. Another problem that Marandi spoke about was no availability of guidelines tospend the funds given to them. "The government sends us funds but they never tell us how to

8/12/2019 water and health ENVIS.docx

5/14

use it for the benefit of the villagers. The village representatives should be given training by thegovernment to use the funds wisely," he said.

Similarly, many representatives and NGO workers discussed their problems to which Prasadagreed to help them in all ways possible. Prasad also discussed about plans of the governmentfor providing proper drinking and sanitation facilities and distributed books about them to the

public representatives present in the conference.

Neeraj, head of an NGO, Saathi, said, "The government plans fail because they are notdiscussed with the locals before being implemented. If the government passes and executes theplans made by NGOs working with the local people then drinking water problems will be solvedautomatically."

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/Water-still-a-far-fetched-dream-for-many/articleshow/12374711.cms

Sunita Narain: Why excreta mattersSunita Narain, Business Standard, 23 January 2012

Indians know little about the water they use and the waste they discharge

Water is life, and sewage tells its life story. This is the subject of the CitizensSeventh Report on the State of Indias Environment, Excreta Matters: Howurban India is soaking up water, polluting rivers and drowning in its ownexcreta. It has a seemingly simple plot: it only asks where Indian cities get theirwater from and where their waste goes. But this is not just a question or answerabout water, pollution and waste. It is about the way Indian cities (and perhapsother parts of the world that are similarly placed) will develop. It is about theparadigm of growth thats sustainable and affordable.

Urbanisation in India, relentless as it is, will only grow. How should the country manage its waterneeds, so that it does not drown in its own excreta? This is what the Centre for Science andEnvironment (CSE) has asked and tried to answer in the book. What has amazed us is the lackof data, research and understanding of this issue in the country. This is when water concernsall. People in cities get water in their houses; they discharge waste; and they see their rivers die.But they dont make the connection between flushing toilets and dying rivers. It is as if they donot want to know. But they should.

Is this a reflection of the caste system of Indian society, where removing waste is somebodyelses business? Or is it a reflection of current governance systems, where water and waste aregovernments business, and within that the business of a lowly water and sanitationbureaucracy? Or is it simply a reflection of Indian societys extreme arrogance it believes it

can fix it all as and when it gets rich; that water scarcity and waste are only temporary problems;that once it gets rich, infrastructure will be built, water will flow and the embarrassing stink ofexcreta in cities will just disappear.

It is clear that Indians know little about the water they use and the waste they discharge. CSEresearchers had to collect data the hard way city by city, ferreting out the material fromgovernment offices, which are rarely visited by researchers. The second volume 71 cities:water-excreta survey of the seventh citizens report puts together individual city profiles. Eachcity is mapped to know more about its past, current and future water footprint. Each city is

8/12/2019 water and health ENVIS.docx

6/14

mapped to know more about where the waste generated from such use of water goes. It is ageography lesson thats essential to learn.

It was way back in the late 1990s that environmentalist Anil Agarwal, who conceived and craftedthe State of Indias Environment reports, had said one needs to understand the politicaleconomy of defecation, where the rich are subsidised to excrete in convenience.

Now when we researched for this report, which explains the political economy of defecation, wewere struck by one fact that should make us all angry, really angry. We found countlessinstances when a citys drain, called a nullah today, was actually a river. Delhi residents arefamiliar with the Najafgarh drain, which discharges the citys waste into the Yamuna. But most ofthem do not know that this drain has its source in the lake Sahibi. Now the Sahibi is gone, andwhat has replaced it in living memory is a drain carrying only filth, not water. Worse, NewGurgaon is now dumping its sewage into the same Najafgarh jheel (lake).

Buddha Nullah in Ludhiana is referred to as a drain because it is that full of stench and filth.But not so long ago, the Buddha was called darya (river). It was a clean freshwater stream. Onegeneration has changed its form and name.

The Mithi is the Maximum Citys shame. When floods drowned Mumbai in 2005, the city learnt ithad a clogged drain called the Mithi, marred by encroachments. It did not realise that the Mithihad not shamed the city; the city had shamed the Mithi. This drain, which originates near thecity, is really a river. It was recognised as a river. It flowed like one. But today even the officialenvironmental status report calls this living river a storm water drain. One more city has lost itsriver. These lost rivers are our collective shame.

But should Indians be surprised? Today they take water from their rivers for irrigation, drinkingand hydroelectric plants and give back waste. Water no longer flows in Indias rivers, justloads of excreta and industrial effluent.

Indians should be angry over the loss of rivers. More worryingly, if they do not change theirways, they will lose the remaining rivers, lakes and other water bodies. This generation will thennot just be pitied for losing rivers, but accused of committing deliberate hydrocide. The cominggenerations will forget that the Yamuna, Cauvery and the Damodar were rivers. They will knowthem as drains, only drains.

Source :http://business-standard.com/india/news/sunita-narainexcreta-matters/462540/

8/12/2019 water and health ENVIS.docx

7/14

70% houses in Kerala lack access to safe drinking waterT. NANDAKUMAR, The Hindu, 15 March, 2012

Having a kitchen in the house is a priority foran overwhelming majority of Malayalis, but

safe drinking water remains a dream for morethan 70 per cent of the households in theState while 3.8 per cent still defecate in theopen.

The latest Census figures reveal that Keralapales in comparison with most other States inaccess to piped drinking water. Only 29.3 percent of the houses in the State are servicedby the water supply network and just 23.4 percent get treated water. While Union Territoriesof Chandigarh (96.7) and Puducherry (95.3)

top the list, 19 States have ensured that morethan 50 per cent of their population hasaccess to tap water.

Sixty-two per cent of the households in Kerala depend on wells for drinking water, 1.4 per centof houses rely on springs, 0.2 per cent on rivers and canals and 0.7 per cent on tanks, pondsand lakes, exposing themselves to bacterial and chemical contamination.

While 0.7 per cent use hand pumps to draw water, 3.7 per cent are serviced by tubewells. Thefigures show that 77.7 per cent of households have drinking water sources within theirpremises, 14.1 per cent near the premises and 8.2 per cent away.

As many as 2,93,222 households in Kerala, representing 3.8 per cent of the total, use opengrounds for defecation. Though the figure is relatively very low compared to most other Statesand Union Territories, the fact that it exists is embarrassing for Kerala, a State that claims to bevery high on hygiene and sanitation. While more than 70 per cent of households in Jharkhand,Odisha, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh still resort to open defecation, Chandigarh(3.2), Delhi (3.3) and Lakshadweep (1.8) have a lower percentage than Kerala. Only 12 per centof the houses in Kerala are connected to the piped sewer system, while 50.3 per cent dependon septic tanks and 4.4 per cent on other systems. 0.2 per cent of the households dischargetoilet waste into open drains.

As many as 3,70,385 households, representing 4.8 per cent of the total, do not have a latrinewithin their premises and 1.1 per cent use public latrines.

While 14.2 per cent of houses do not have a bathroom, 4.6 per cent of the population bathe inenclosures without a roof. As many as 53.6 per cent of households has no drainage system forbathrooms and 21.2 per cent have open drainage. The data reveals that 96.7 per cent ofhouseholds in the State have a kitchen, with just 1.5 per cent having to cook in the open.

Source :http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2996919.ece

8/12/2019 water and health ENVIS.docx

8/14

UN-led initiative harnesses partnerships to tackle water and sanitation challengesUN News Centre, 16 March, 2012

A young boy drinks fresh water from a well in a village in Northern Laos. Photo: UNDP/A.

Rogers16 March 2012 The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has facilitated theformation of a global platform to unite local actors to solve water and sanitation challenges,including encouraging water authorities in developed countries to support the improvement ofservices in poorer regions through donations.

The Global Water Solidarity Platform was launched on Wednesday at the World Water Forum inMarseille, France, where 20,000 participants from the private, public and non-profit sectorsgathered this week to address global water challenges.

UNDP led a group of 25 institutions, including local, regional and national authorities,international and multilateral organizations, water operators, non-governmental and privateorganizations, as well as prominent figures to assess, design and constitute the newinternational tool to promote decentralized cooperation in water and sanitation.

This UNDP initiative is important because 11 per cent of the planets population still lacksaccess to potable water, and 2.5 billion people do not have adequate sanitation services, saidUNDP Deputy Director for External Relations and Advocacy Romesh Muttukumaru.

Through the Platform, which is supported by the Governments of France and Switzerland,municipal water authorities in developed countries can, for example, take direct action tosupport the improvement of water and sanitation services in developing nations by contributingone per cent of their revenue or budgets.

8/12/2019 water and health ENVIS.docx

9/14

Together with an active coalition of stakeholders and concrete cooperation mechanisms, localleaders from across the globe are working in solidarity so everyone can access safe water andsanitation services, said Mr. Muttukumaru.

Source :http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41565&Cr=Water&Cr1=Sanitation

Water access must reach rural and marginalized areas in EuropeUN report

UN News Centre, 13 March, 2012

A United Nations report launched today spotlights the need to address unequal water access inEurope, stressing that certain populations such as rural communities and marginalized groupsare still not getting this vital resource.

The report, which was produced by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE),provides guidance on how to address water access disparities, and showcases successfulpolicies that have been implemented by governments, water operators and civil society.

No one left behind: Good practices to ensure equitable access to water and sanitation notesthat access to improved water and sanitation solutions in rural areas in the pan-European regionis 10 per cent lower than for urban areas, and suggests putting investment programmes in placeto help reduce this gap.

In addition, the report underscores that social inclusion policies are needed to be able to providewater access to marginalized and vulnerable groups such as the homeless, disabled, sick, orthose living in unsanitary housing, who are often unable to get access to safe drinking water.

Increasing water prices are also singled out as a key factor for unequal water access inEuropean Union countries, with the report highlighting how tariffs and social protectionmeasures can help consumers cover the costs.

8/12/2019 water and health ENVIS.docx

10/14

UNECE Deputy Executive Secretary Andrey Vasilyev, who presented the report at the WorldWater Forum in Marseille, underlined that political will and strong water governance areneeded to tackle these disparities.

Last week, the UN announced that the goal of reducing by half the number of people without

access to safe drinking water was achieved, ahead of the 2015 deadline for reaching theMillennium Development Goals (MDGs), the globally agreed development targets aimed atridding the world of extreme poverty, hunger and preventable diseases.

However, the target for sanitation has not been met, and nearly one billion people still lackaccess to safe drinking water.

Source :http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41532&Cr=water&Cr1=sanitation

Investing in water, sanitation as important as in defence: JairamK. BALCHAND, The Hindu, 22 February, 2012

Proposes inter-min istry contr ibutio n for priori t is ing the issues

Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has presented a plan to various Centralministries to contribute to the cause of drinking water and sanitation, saying that investment fora healthy population was as important as investing for defence.

Mr. Ramesh, who also holds the Drinking Water and Sanitation portfolio, on Tuesday had hisproposals ratified at the National Drinking Water and Sanitation Council which comprisesrepresentatives of various ministries like agriculture, water resources, environment and forest,science and technology, human resources development and health and family welfare.

You can invest in missiles, tanks and aircraft, but if we don't have clean drinking water andproper sanitation, the population is not going to be healthy.

Highest priority

Intending to write to the Ministers holding these portfolios, Mr. Ramesh correlated how qualitydrinking water and sanitation were critical for a healthy nation.

He said that now is the time to accord highest priority to these sectors and project them as theagenda of the country.

Utilise ASHAs

Wondering why the two issues did not receive any attention under the National Rural HealthMission (NRHM), he underlined the need to utilise the services of Accredited Social Health

Activists (ASHA) appointed by the Ministry of Health as motivators to sensitise people tohygiene and sanitation.

The proposal is to provide incentives to the 8-lakh-strong ASHAs across the country to spreadthe awareness as ultimately there was no distinction between hygiene and sanitation.

8/12/2019 water and health ENVIS.docx

11/14

He added: We are becoming a wealthy people not a healthy one, pressing for a change inattitude towards these two programmes for which he was expecting a 40 to 60 per centbudgetary hike in 2012-13.

Pointing out that water-borne diseases and contamination posed a host of risks like cholera,

diarrhoea and even cancer, Mr. Ramesh said it was a mistake to segregate the Ministries ofHealth and Drinking Water and Sanitation. Cleaner the water, safer the sanitation, healthier thepopulation, he asserted.

Testing water quality

The National Drinking Water and Sanitation Council proposed sharing of water quality testinglaboratories for testing drinking water quality. The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) hasbeen requested to conduct heavy metals and pesticides testing in drinking water and shareinformation with the States.

Mr. Ramesh also intends to write to the Environment and Forest Minister to consider increasing

the rate of cess imposed on industries so as to act as a deterrent and to cover the treatmentcosts of polluted water.

The note pointed out that the cess collected for toxic and non-biodegradable wastes is only 30paise per KL while treatment of this water (through RO) for drinking purposes will cost Rs. 50 toRs. 60 per KL which is about 20,000 time costly.

Proposal to incentiv ise 8-lakh-strong ASHAs to spread awareness on hygiene,

sanitat ion

Minister requested to increase cess on indust r ies to cover treatment cos ts of pol lut edwater

Source :http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2918388.ece

Millennium Development Goals: progress towards the health-related Millennium

Development Goals

May 2011

Key facts

Fewer children are dying. Annual global deaths of children under five years of age fell to 8.1million in 2009 from 12.4 million in 1990.

Fewer children are underweight. The percentage of underweight children under five years old is

estimated to have dropped from 25% in 1990 to 16% in 2010. More women get skilled help during childbirth. The proportion of births attended by a skilled

health worker has increased globally, however, in the WHO Africa and South-East Asia regionsfewer than 50% of all births were attended.

Fewer people are contracting HIV. New HIV infections have declined by 17% globally from20012009.

Tuberculosis treatment is more successful. Existing cases of TB are declining, along withdeaths among HIV-negative TB cases.

8/12/2019 water and health ENVIS.docx

12/14

More people have safe drinking-water, but not enough have toilets. The world is on track toachieve the MDG target on access to safe drinking-water but more needs to be done to achievethe sanitation target.

In September 2000, 189 heads of state adopted the UN Millennium Declaration and endorsed a

framework for development. The plan was for countries and development partners to worktogether to reduce poverty and hunger, tackle ill-health, gender inequality, lack of education,

lack of access to clean water and environmental degradation.

They established eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with targets set for 2015, and

identified a number of indicators to monitor progress, several of which relate directly to health.

All the goals and their targets are measured in terms of progress since 1990. Reporting on

progress towards the MDGs has underscored the importance of producing more reliable and

timely data.

Progress report on the health-related MDGs

While some countries have made impressive gains in achieving health-related targets, others

are falling behind. Often the countries making the least progress are those affected by high

levels of HIV/AIDS, economic hardship or conflict.Detailed updates on the progress

Please note that the following statistics are estimates.

Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the propo rt ion o f people w ho s uffer from hung er (MDG 1,

targ et 1.C)

Children's nutrition has improved. The percentage of underweight children is estimated to have

declined from 25% in 1990 to 16% in 2010. But 104 million children are still undernourished.

Stunting in children under five years old has decreased globally from 40% to 27% over the

same period. However, in the UN Africa Region, the number of stunted children is estimated to

have increased from 45 million in 1990 to 60 million in 2010.

Reduce chi ld mor tal i ty (MDG 4)Annual deaths of children under five years of age in 2009 fell to 8.1 million, down by 35% from

1990. The rate of decline has doubled to 2.7% per year since 2000, compared to the previous

decade (1.3%). The deaths of nearly 3 million children under five each year worldwide can be

attributed to diarrhoea and pneumonia. An estimated 40% of deaths in children under five occur

in the first month of life, so improving newborn care is essential for further progress. The

coverage of infants immunized against measles increased from 73% to 82% from 1990 to 2009.

Impr ove maternal health (MDG 5)

The number of women dying as a result of complications during pregnancy and childbirth has

decreased by 34%from 546 000 in 1990 to 358 000 in 2008. Although the progress is

notable, the annual rate of decline of 2.3% is less than half of the 5.5% needed to achieve the

target. Almost all maternal deaths (99%) in 2008 occurred in developing countries.From 2000 to 2010 just over half of all pregnant women made the WHO-recommended

minimum of four antenatal visits. While the global proportion of births attended by a skilled

health worker has increased, in the WHO regions of Africa and South-East Asia fewer than half

of all births had skilled assistance.

Globally, contraceptive use has been on the rise, annually increasing 0.2% since 2000. From

2000 to 2008 there were 48 births per 1000 adolescent girls aged 1519 globally.

8/12/2019 water and health ENVIS.docx

13/14

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and o ther d iseases (MDG 6)

HIV/AIDS

From 2001 to 2009 new HIV infections worldwide declined by 17%. In 2009, 2.6 million people

contracted the virus and there were 1.8 million HIV/AIDS-related deaths. In 2009, around 53%

of the 1.4 million HIV-positive, pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries received

antiretroviral therapy (ART) to prevent the transmission of HIV to their babies. More than 5million people in low- and middle-income countries were receiving ART by the end of 2009 but

that left more than 9 million untreated HIV-positive people in these countries.

Tuberculosis

Despite a rise in the number of new tuberculosis (TB) cases worldwide due to an increase in

populationmore people are being successfully treated. TB mortality among HIV-negative

people has dropped from 30 deaths per 100 000 people in 1990 to 20 deaths per 100 000 in

2009. However, HIV-associated TB and multidrug-resistant TB are harder to diagnose and cure.

Malaria

Indications are that 42 countries are on course to meet the MDG target for reducing malaria; in

2009 an estimated 225 million cases of malaria caused 781 000 deaths, mostly of children

under five. The supply of insecticide-treated nets increased but need outweighed availabilityalmost everywhere. Access to antimalarial medicines (especially artemisinin-based combination

therapy) increased but it was inadequate in all countries surveyed in 2007 and 2008.

Other diseases

An estimated 1 billion people suffer from neglected tropical diseases. This includes lymphatic

filariasis which in 2009 was endemic in 81 countries. There were over 220 000 cases of cholera

reported in 2009, an increase over the previous year. In 2009, 244 617 cases of leprosy were

reported, down from 5.2 million in 1985. In 2009, only 3190 cases of dracunculiasis were

reported while in the 1989 the estimated number of cases was almost 900 000.

Halve, by 2015, the prop ort ion of people w ithout s ustainable access to safe drinking

water and basic s anitation (MDG 7, target 7.C)

Globally, the percentage of the worldspopulation with access to safe drinking-water increasedfrom 77% to 87%, which is sufficient to reach the MDG target if the rate of improvement is

maintained. In low-income countries, however, the annual rate of increase needs to double in

order to reach the target and a gap persists between urban and rural areas in many countries.

In 2008, 2.6 billion people had no access to a hygienic toilet or latrine and 1.1 billion were

defecating in the open. The slowest improvement has been in the WHO African Region, where

the percentage of the population using toilets or latrines increased from 30% in 1990 to 34% in

2008. Inadequate sewerage spreads infections such as schistosomiasis, trachoma, viral

hepatitis and cholera.

In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provid e access to affordable essential

medicines in developing c ountries (MDG 8, target 8.E)

Although nearly all countries publish an essential medicines list, the availability of medicines atpublic-health facilities is often poor. Surveys conducted in over 40 low-income countries show

that 44% of public sector and 65% of private sector outlets had the listed generic medicines in

stock. Lack of medicines in the public sector forces patients to go without or purchase

medicines from private sector outlets where generic medicines cost on average 610% more

than their international reference price.Source:http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs290/en/index.html

8/12/2019 water and health ENVIS.docx

14/14

Water and Sanitation Related Diseases and the Environment:Challenges, Interventions and Preventive Measures

once we can secure access to clean water and to adequate sanitation facilities for allpeople, irrespective of the difference in their l iv ing condit io ns, a huge batt le against al l

k inds o f diseases

will be won.Dr Lee Jong-wook, Former Director-General, World Health Organization

Written by authorities from the fields of public health, medicine, epidemiology, environmentalhealth, climate change, environmental engineering, and populationresearch, this book presents an interdisciplinary picture of the conditions responsible for waterand sanitationrelated diseases. It examines the pathogens and their biology, morbidity andmortality resulting from lack of safe water and sanitation, distributionof these diseases, and the conditions that must be met to reduce or eradicate them. Thepublication covers access to and the maintenance of clean water, and includes guidelines forthe safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater along with examples of solutions; this ispresented with an emphasis on what is actually achievable in the real world, considering that,currently 2.6 billion individuals have no toilet and 1.2 billion people are exposed to water-relatedillness from their drinking water. Meeting water and sanitation needs, coupled with protection ofthe environment and prevention of pollutants, is essential to every effort to improve the healthand living conditions of billions of people. Meeting these needs is fundamental, not only toeffectively diminish incidence of diseases that afflict a third or more of the people of the world,but also to improve education and economic well-being and elevate billions of individuals out ofvicious cycles of poverty. The preventive measures and solutions presented in this book provideguidance for possible action on the local, national and international levels.Source: http://www.wsscc.org/resources/resource-advocacy-materials/water-and-sanitation-related-diseases-and-environment

Towards drinking water security in India: Lessons from the field A report byWater and Sanitation Program

Source:http://www.indiawaterportal.org/sites/indiawaterportal.org/files/Towards_drinking_water_security_in_India_Lessons_from_the_field_WSP_2011.pdf

Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: JMP Report 2012

Source:http://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/JMP-report-2012-en.pdf

Drinking Water: Equity, Safety and sustainability: 2011

Source:http://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/report_wash_low.pdf