1 importance of safe water supply system

safe water

1. Importance of a safe water supply system
Water is a basic need for every human being. Most of the world population still does not
have centralized water supply with connections to individual households. According to the
World Health Organization (WHO), roughly 2.4 billion of the world’s population does not
have access to an improved sanitation facility and about 1.1 billion people does not have
access to safe drinking water. The provision of safe and adequate drinking water to the
burgeoning urban population continues to be one of the major challenging tasks for any state.
Water constitutes one of the important physical environments of man and has a direct bearing
on the health and hygiene of mankind. There is no denying the fact that the contamination of
water leads to numerous health hazards. Water is precious to man and therefore WHO refers
to “control of Water supplies to ensure that they are pure and wholesome as one of the
primary objectives of environmental sanitation”.
Safe water is one of the most important felt needs in public health in developing countries in
the twenty first century. The year 2005 marked the beginning of the “International Decade for
Action: Water for Life” and renewed effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goal
(MDG) to reduce by half the proportion of the world’s population without sustainable access
to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015.
The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, known as
the JMP, reports every two years on access to drinking water and sanitation worldwide and
on progress towards related targets under Millennium Development Goal (MDG). MDG
drinking water target, which calls for halving the proportion of the population without
sustainable access to safe drinking water between 1990 and 2015, was met in 2010, five years
ahead of schedule. However, the report also shows why the job is far from finished. Many
still lack safe drinking water, and the world is unlikely to meet the MDG sanitation target.
Continued efforts are needed to reduce urban-rural disparities and inequities associated with
poverty.
Water is a good carrier of disease germs. If water is not made safe against disease germs, it
may become responsible for so many diseases and epidemics. Diseases such as typhoid,
cholera, dysentery, etc are the direct causes of defective water supply. Water is a also a very
good solvent. If water contains excessive amounts of minerals or poisonous dissolved

2. substances, it will again cause so many difficulties to the public. Therefore, water which is
used by the public should be wholesome and must be free from disease producing bacteria,
poisonous substances and excessive amount of minerals, and organic matter. Therefore, it is
very important that water works must remove all the impurities and bacteria from water and
make it wholesome.
The issue of potable water has been attracting attention of the government and the
international agencies. The United Nations initiative in the water sector at the global level,
Vancouver Habitat 1977 Conference, International Drinking Water and Sanitation Decade
Programme, UN Resolution regarding safe water by 2000 AD etc., bear testimony to the
interest, that the inland government and agencies abroad are taking in this regard. Back home,
the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM) under the auspices of the
Ministry of Rural Development has been implementing the programmes of potable water
supply to the population in rural areas. Thus, there is great need for the improvement in the
provision of drinking water, being a basic amenity and it deserves the highest priority in the
development efforts of most of the countries which have large gap between the demand of
water and of actual availability.
India has a large population and also high rate of growth, and it is very difficult for the
government to provide adequate drinking water supply within limited resources. The
distinctive feature of the Indian rural water supply scenario was a Mission Approach with
appropriate combining of technological, social and organizational innovation.
Technologically more efficient water supply systems, including regional pipe water supply
schemes on the one hand and dug-wells with energized pump-sets on the other, have been
brought in on a large scale. Bhore Committee constituted in 1944, was the first body to draw
attention to safe-drinking water supply at the national scale. During the pre-independence
period, this Committee laid emphasis on the safe-drinking water supply. In 1947, Madras
Government followed the course by appointing a committee. The state government was
interested in the formulation of some new policies regarding urban and rural areas in the
entire state.
The Environmental Hygiene Committee was appointed in 1948-49 by the Union
Government. This committee was the first agency for an overall assessment of the country-
wide problems in the entire field of environmental hygiene and it made notable
recommendations in the broader field of environmental hygiene and urged for greater

3. activities in this direction. This committee recommended particularly a broad plan to provide
water supply and sanitation amenities for 90 per cent of the people within a period of 40
years and also advised a scheme of priorities for certain areas.
The city or town should be given the benefit of water supply scheme, wherever possible. Any
water supply project grants the following advantages:
 The growth of new industries for various pipe appurtenances such as air
valves, etc. takes place in the locality granting employment opportunities.
 The industries which require pure water for their working are saved from the
expenditure of installing their own water purification plant.
 The installation and maintenance of the water supply scheme grant
opportunities of employment to the local people.
 The public in general gets treated reliable water for consumption and other
uses.
 The sanitation of the area is considerably improved by the adequate water
supply
 There are less chances of water borne diseases to occur resulting in saving of
human lives and working hours.
 The available water in the locality is used in the best possible manner and its
misuse and wastage are avoided to a considerable extent.