See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/234093720

Water Supply and Sanitation: An Overview

Conference Paper · January 2011

CITATION READS
1 15,428

3 authors, including:

Venu Gopal Madhav Annamdas

Nanyang Technological University
77 PUBLICATIONS   949 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Wireless Sensing View project

Metamaterials View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Venu Gopal Madhav Annamdas on 28 May 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Cite As :
Gaayam T, Vinnakota S S and Annamdas V G M (2011) “Water Supply and
Sanitation: An Overview” IPWE 2011, Proceedings of 4th International Perspective
on Water Resources & the Environment, January 4-6, 2011, National University of
Singapore (NUS), Singapore. Poster on: Water Supply and Sanitation, No: 1c

WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION: AN OVERVIEW

Tejaswini Gaayam1 Smarita Vinnakota 1 and Venu Gopal Madhav Annamdas2*

1Civil Engineering Department, JB Institute of Engineering & Technology,

Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, 500075, Hyderabad, India

2Department of Civil Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology & Science [BITS],

Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, Jawaharnagar, Shamirpet, Hyderabad, 500078, India
*Email: annamdas@ntu.edu.sg, FAX (091) 040-66303998

ABSTRACT

Water is an indispensable part of human existence. Despite the continuous

efforts by various governments more than 12 billion people do not have proper access
to pure drinking water and hygienic sanitation is unavailable for more than 3.1billion
people across the globe .especially the developing nations such as India, China, South
Africa, Venezuela, Cuba, Tunisia, Zimbabwe etc are being effected at an alarming
rate. The rural water supply systems play a vital role in the evaluation of the
prevailing systems as the major share of the population in the developing countries
dwell in rural areas. Life expectancy and mortality rate of a country are majorly
dependent on its water supply and sanitation system. This paper gives an over view of
the existing water supply and sanitary systems in India highlighting the burning issues
and major challenges faced by the country today.

Key words: Water supply, hygienic sanitation, unsafe drinking water.

INTRODUCTION

Approximately 70% of the earth’s surface is covered with water. The oceans
constitute 98% of this water, thus implying, only 2 % of the water is fresh. Of this
fresh water 1.6% becomes inaccessible due to its existence in the form of polar ice
caps and glaciers. The groundwater, further, constitutes of only 0.36%. Hence only
0.036% of water is available in the lakes and rivers, for direct consumption. This
meager amount of water is put to use by the human kind for various purposes, such
as, domestic, industrial and trade, agricultural, public, etc. [Wikipedia 2010]
The transportation of water from source to the point of consumption with
minimum losses is known as water supply. An effective water supply system is one
which maintains a continuous, coherent, safe and regular supply of water. The

1
supplied water should maintain a prescribed quality and quantity. Hence a good water
supply system should be capable of the following such as; it should meet all the
necessary demands such as, domestic, industrial and trade, public, etc, it should
maintain an adequate pressure under continuous consumption, it should convey the
treated water up to the consumers with a prescribed degree of purity, it should also be
capable to supply the necessary amount of water for the emergencies such as fire
fighting, it should also be reliable and safe against any future pollution and the system
should be efficient with minimum losses.

The term water supply goes hand in hand with the term sanitation. Agriculture
takes up the major portion of the supplied water. The remaining portion is utilized for
domestic and industrial purposes. Domestic utilization is generally categorized as
Drinking and Sanitary purposes. The drinking water constitutes of only a minor part
of the domestic consumption in contrast to the household and sanitary purposes.
Sanitation is the process of safe disposal of human, animal and other wastes without
effecting the life on the earth. The various sanitary works include the following such
as Collection works, Treatment works and Disposal works [Birdie and Birdie 2010]
India, with its 3.29 million square kilometer landmass and a population
crossing one billion, forms a mosaic of pluralistic diversity. India being a country
with many rural and urban areas has always emphasized hugely on the development
of its water supply and sanitation system. This was also made a national agenda in the
first five year plan (1951-1956). In the past 5 decades of independence, India has
improved phenomenally in the sector of water supply and sanitation. The water
supply and sanitation in India is mainly categorized as: Class 1 cities, Rural areas and
Class 2 towns. [India Assessment 2002]
The majority of population in India, dwell in rural areas, hence the
development of the water supply and sanitation facilities in these areas had to be
given maximum consideration. According to the 1990 census, only 55.54%
population had access to an improved water source. This further improved to 74.39%
of fully covered and 14.64% partially covered rural habitation. [Government of India
planning Commission 2007].
The urban areas are being developed parallel to the rural areas. From a
percentage of 78 in 1980, the percentage of population covered with water supply
increased to an overwhelming 91% in 2004. The burning issues in the urban water
supply and sanitation is about the expansion of the sewerage and sanitation facilities
in accordance to the available finances. [Atkins 1957; Mavalankar and Shankar,
2004; Seetharam and Geoffrey 2010; Misra 2007]

CASE STUDY 1: WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION IN BENGALURU,

INDIA

The responsibility of water supply, sewerage collection and disposal, of the

Bengaluru Metropolitan area lies with the Bengaluru water supply and sewerage
board. The board has come up with various schemes, such as the Cauvery Water
Supply Scheme Stages I, II, III, to ensure adequate water supply in the city. A total
supply of 753 million litres per day is derived from the city’s major sources of

2
Cauvery and Arkavathi rivers. The major share of the supplied water is reliably
derived from the river Cauvery and hence the phase I of the stage IV of the Cauvery
Water Supply Scheme is being implemented for further augmentation of the waters
by 270 million liters per day for the future utilization of the city. The board is also
maintaining 5850 bores over the city. The per capita supply of the city amounts to
100-110liters per day. 35-40% of this per capita supply is lost due to pipe leakages
and corrosion in pipes, as the supply system dates back from 50-100 years. Hence the
city water supply and sanitation board has proposed a “Master Plan” for the city with
an objective of covering 1200 square kilometers by 2025. The plan also involves the
improvement of capacity of the distribution system, provision for an efficient
sewerage system and environmental sanitation. The distribution losses have been
sought to minimize through the Unaccounted for Water project. [Wikipedia 2010;
Rural and Urban Wter Supply and Sanitation 2003; Zérah 2006; Saleth and Sastry
2004]

Table 1. Sources of Water Supply and Potential in Bangalore

(Courtesy by: http://parisara.kar.nic.in/PDF/Rural_Urban_WSS.pdf)

The sewage system in Bengaluru covers only about 38.6 percent of the total
area, out of which some of the sewers are in dire need of replacement. Approximately
528 million litres of waste water is generated per day which amounts to 80% of the
supplied water.66 kilometers (km) length of sewers were found to be defective and in
need of restoration. There are 7 sewage treatment plants out of which 5 are extended
sludge tanks and the remaining 2 are up flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor
(UASB). [Smitha 2005; Jenna Davis et al. 2008; Khatri and Vairavamoorthy 2007;

3
Sastry 2004a, 2008; Urban Water Supply and Sanitation 1999]

CASE STUDY 2: WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION IN RURAL WEST

BENGAL, INDIA

A dearth in the supply of drinking water has been continuously observed in

the rural Bengal. For every 900 people there exists less than one source of safe
drinking water. To overcome this scarcity the Government of West Bengal has
undertaken numerous projects and allocated a special amount in the budget every
year, for the construction of tube wells, surface wells and masonry wells. An amount
of Rs.12 lakh is being spent every year since 1947 for the development of water
supply and sanitation systems in the rural Bengal. A rapid development had been
observed from 1947 to 1952. a total of 8600 tube wells and 350 surface wells have
been sunk during this period.
At present a total of 22,446 tube wells are functioning in this area. In the
districts of Birbhum, Bankura, Midnapur and Burdwan, the soil has a crystalline
formation and hence the tube wells cannot be sunk into the ground. In these areas the
water supply majorly depends on the masonry wells and the earthen ring wells.
Hence, the tube wells of 0.0381-0.0508 metres (1 ½ -2 inches) in diameter form the
ideal sources for safe water supply in the rural Bengal. In other areas were the tube
wells are unsuccessful the infiltration wells on the river banks and surface wells form
the source for the water supply. The objective of setting up a safe water source for
every 400 persons is being achieved by doubling the existing water sources. [Bose
1954; Butterworth and Soussan 2000; Government of West Bengal Annual 2002;
Rural Water Supply and Sanitation 1999]
The rural sanitation in West Bengal was taken upon by the Ramakrishna
Mission Lokasiksha Parishad (RMLP) under the guidance of UNICEF. The NGO
catalyzed the incentive of large scale construction of very low cost single and dual
latrine pit construction in the Midnapur district of West Bengal with the help of local
panchayats and other governing bodies. This program brought about a considerable
increase in the quality of rural life and thereby improving the general heath of the
rural population. The program also created and spread awareness about the various
sanitation related diseases. The program resulted in a total coverage of 60% of house
holds by sanitary latrines in 2001 from five percent 1991. [Shipra Saxena 2003;
RGNDWM 2000; Khurana and Sen 2008; Gopal, et al. 2009; Prasain 2003]

CASE STUDY 3: WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION IN KAKINADA

TOWN, INDIA

The Godavari river forms the major source of safe water supply for the
Kakinada. The town had a well planned municipality even before India achieved
independence. The water supply system was governed by “Victoria Water Works”
commissioned in 1909. This water works system has been continued even after
independence. The system supplies water to 12000 domestic taps, 200 street posts
running continuously for 2 to 3 hours a day. The system is catered by 6 elevated
supply reservoirs (ELRS) and a treatment plant of capacity of 18 million litres per day

4
(4.7 million gallons per day) working 24 hours a day. The water for this supply is
drawn from eastern delta canal system at Samarlakota from the Samarlakota canal
and Aratlakatta of the Kakinada canal. The supply is drawn from the source using a
10km long pipe.
Sambamurthy reservoir was constructed by the Victoria Water works to cater
for the population of 1, 25,000 as anticipated by 1981. The water supply system of the
town was planned in three stages. The first stage involves the intake of 4542 litres
(1200 gallons) of water from Aratlakatta situated 12km from the water treatment
plant. The second stage involves the construction of elevated reservoirs at
Jagannaickpur and Pratapnagar along with the construction of filtration plant of
capacity of 12 million litres per day (3.1 million gallons per day). The third stage
comprised construction of S.S.Tank at Aratlakatta with a capacity of 1.580 litres of
capacity(346MG capacity) and raw water collection tank well at S.S.Tank. Thus the
total installed capacity is 17791436 litres per day (47, 00,000 gallons per day). [NIH
2000; Moe and Rheingans 2006]

Figure 1. Schematic flow diagram of Kakinada water supply

(Curtsy: Evaluation of water supply system of Kakinada town in Andhra Pradesh by

NIH (1999-2000))

CONCLUSION:
The various categories of the Indian water supply and sanitation systems have been
discussed briefly in this paper. The merits and demerits of the existing systems in the
various classes of Indian society have also been illustrated. The statistics of the
various treatment and filtration plants have also been elaborately discussed.

REFERENCES

Atkins,C.H. (1957). “Development of the National Water Supply and Sanitation

5
 Program in India, Am J Public Health Nations Health, Vol 47(10), pp 1257-
1264.
Birdie,G.S., and Birdie, J.S. (2010). “Water Supply and Sanitary Engineering”.
Dhanpat Rai publishers, ISBN:81-87433-31-0.
Bose,P.C. (1954). “Water-Supply Systems in Rural Areas of India, West Bengal, Bull
World Health, Vol 10(2), pp 292-298.
Dileep Mavalankar and Manjunath Shankar. (2004). “Sanitation and Water Supply,
The Forgotten Infrastructure”, Chapter 13 in India Infrastructure Report 2004,
pp 315-335, Oxford University press.
Government of West Bengal. (2002). “Annual Administrative Report (2001–2002),
Department of Panchayats and Rural Development”, Chapter 13 in Rural
Development, pp 232 -254.
Government of India planning Commission. (2007).“Report of the Steering
Committee on Water Resources for eleventh five year plan(2007-2012)” Vol 1
Indira Khurana and Romit Sen. (2008). “Water Aid, Drinking water quality in rural
India, Issues and Approaches”, accessed online 15thJuly at
www.waterawards.in/suggested-reading/wateraid-drinking-water-quality.pdf
Jenna Davis, Gary White, Said Damodaron and Rich Thorsten. (2008). “ India,
Microfinance for Water and Sanitation Infrastructure Development”, IWA
publishers, pp 87-91.
John Butterworth and John Soussan. (2000). "Water Supply and Sanitation and
Integrated Water Resources Management”, pp 1-16, accessed online 19th
August at
www.nri.org/projects/WSSIWRM/Reports/Working_papers/WHIRL%20work
ing%20paper%202_final.pdf
Khatri.K.B., and Vairavamoorthy,K. (2007). “Challenges Urban Water Supply and
Sanitation in The Developing Countries”, Discussion Draft paper pp 1-18.
Marie- Hélène Zérah. (2006). “Urban Water and Waste Water”, Chapter 7 in India
Infrastructure Report 2006, pp 131-159.
Maria Saleth,R., and Sastry,G.S. (2004). “Water supply and sanitation sector of
Karnataka, India: status, performance and change”, Water Policy 6, pp 161–
183,IWA publishers, accessed online 15th August at http://lepii.upmf-
grenoble.fr/IMG/pdf/texte_Sastry_WP-2004-KN-Paper.pdf
Moe,C.L., and Rheingans,R.D. (2006) “Global challenges in water, sanitation and
health. J Water Health; 4 Suppl 1: pp 41-57.
National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) (1999-2000). “Evaluation of Water Supply
System of Kakinada Town in Andhra Pradesh”, CS/AR-27/99-2000,pp 1-25.
Planning Commission Government of India; India Assessment (2002). “Water Supply
and Sanitation”, accessed online 21st September,
www.planningcommission.gov.in/reports/genrep/wtrsani.pdf
Prasain,J.N. (2003). “Development of Water Supply and Sanitation Facility in The
Rural Areas of Nepal”, pp 105-127.
Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM). (2000). "Compendium
of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Research Projects”, Vol 1, pp 1-138.
Rural and Urban Water Supply and Sanitation. (2003). "State of The Environment
Report”,pp 57-70, accessed online 13th September

6
 parisara.kar.nic.in/PDF/Rural_Urban_WSS.pdf
Sastry,G.S. (2008). “Pattern of Urbanisation in Karnataka:Issues and Policy, Urban
India, Vol 26(1), pp 33-63.
Seetharam,K.E., and Geoffrey. (2010). “Bridges, Helping India Achieve 24x7 Water
Supply services”, Technical Note 1, pp 1-8, accessed online 20th July
http://www.adb.org/water/knowledge-center/Books/Helping-India-24x7.pdf
Shipra Saxena. (2003). “Success in Rural Sanitation”,pp 1-15 accessed on 19th
Septemberddws.gov.in/casestudy_kharoudi.pdf
Smith,K.C. (2005). “Urban Governance and Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage
Board (BWSSB) Unit, Bangalore, I.S.E.C, accessed online 1st August at
www.isec.ac.in/Urban%20Governance.PDF
Smita Misra. (2007). "India Water Supply & Sanitation India Sanitation,acceessed on
13th July at
www.siteresources.worldbank.org/INTINDIA/Resources/SmitaMisra-
UrbanWSSPresentationFebruary2007.pdf"
Srila Gopa, Rajiv Sarkar, Kalyan Banda, Jeyanthi Govindarajan, Harijan,B.B.,
Jeyakumar,M.B., Philip Mitta, Sadanala,M.E., Tryphena Selwyn, Suresh,C.R.,
Thomas, V.A., Pethuru Devadason, Ranjit KumarDavid Selvapandian,
Gagandeep Kang and Vinohar Balraj. (2009). “Study of water supply &
sanitation practices in India using geographic information systems, Some
design & other considerations in a village setting” ,acccessed on 17th August
at http://icmr.nic.in/ijmr/2009/march/0304.pdf
Urban Water Supply and Sanitation. (1999). “South Asia Rural Development Series,
accessed on 25th July at
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INDIAEXTN/Resources/Reports-
Publications/366387-1140691677823/WorldBank_BG_Urban_20Feb06.pdf
Wikipedia, "Water supply and sanitation in India”, accessed on 06th September at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_India"
Wikipedia, "Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board. accessed on 06th
September at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangalore_Water_Supply_and_Sewerage_Board
"

Cite As :
Gaayam T, Vinnakota S S and Annamdas V G M (2011) “Water Supply and
Sanitation: An Overview” IPWE 2011, Proceedings of 4th International Perspective
on Water Resources & the Environment, January 4-6, 2011, National University of
Singapore (NUS), Singapore. Poster on: Water Supply and Sanitation, No: 1c

View publication stats