Over 37.7 million people in India are affected by water-borne diseases due to contaminated drinking water supply and an estimated 1.5 million children die of diarrhoea each year, according to newly available statistics [1].
Compiled through collaboration between the government and the NGO WaterAid the new figures belie official claims that 94 percent of rural and 91 percent of urban populations now have access to safe drinking water.
According to WaterAid the difference is that until now there has been no mention in official statistics of the quality of water supplied to these populations, or of its sustained year-round supply.
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In WaterAid’s experience the main sources for India’s polluted water-supply remain open defecation, lack of sanitation, over-exploitation of groundwater resources and chemicals leaching into water sources.
The most serious victims of this pollution are India’s rural villages, constituting nearly 70 percent of the country’s population.
Arsenic and fluoride contamination from over-used groundwater [...] is another serious health hazard facing rural communities. A newly-emerging cause of anaemia, especially in women and children in rural communities, is now thought to be related to fluoride contamination.
[1] Khurana, I. and Sen, R. (2008). Drinking water quality in rural India : issues and approaches : background paper. 31 p. Download PDF file here.
Source: Keya Acharya, IPS, 18 Apr 2008
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