Challenges in the implementation of a national programme on drinking water

Provision of safe drinking water is a challenging problem requiring immediate attention. The skewed distribution of rainfall, inefficient use of water, presence of a variety of contaminants, such as fluoride, arsenic, iron and salinity, in most of the sources, and pollution by various economic activities have been the factors responsible for inadequate resources against the increasing demand due to growth in population, agriculture and industrial activities. The conflicting demand for a variety of uses of water, high volume requirements, problems in distribution and operating economics have compounded the problem. Being an essential requirement for the survival of living beings no effort can be spared in addressing the problem and implementing a viable and sustainable solution. A multi-pronged approach synergising the technology, financial aspects, public awareness and user participation is the need of the hour. This paper is an attempt to analyse the issues to evolve an implementable model.