Talk:Water supply and sanitation in India

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 9 November 2021 and 10 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Odiallo3. Peer reviewers: Trueedits1009.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 12:44, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Discussion of possible bias in the lead section
Hi there,

Sorry if I removed a few references from the article (I thought I re-added them). I was just trying to combat the POV claims that the user Lalit Jagannath has introduced in a lot of India-related articles (i.e. dumping a whole lot of negative information that has no flow in the lede of the article.) Ofcourse, this doesn't actually help the article and instead of making it easier to read makes it harder to read. In addition, since most of it is poorly written it usually needs extensive re-write.

Anyways, happy editing! Vedant (talk) 22:20, 15 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Hi Vedant, thank you for your edits. However, I did not see any POV claims and no edits by a user called Lalit Jagannath in this article, so I do not see why something that is not there needs to be "combated". While I agree that the lead of the article should be balanced and have a good flow, one should be careful not to overshoot and remove negative information from the lead or to replace it with unreferenced positive information. For example, the information on open defecation that was in an earlier version of the lead section is well referenced and undisputed. However, the information that investment levels in water and sanitation in India are "relatively high" (relative to what?) is not referenced and is, in my view, difficult to substantiate if one compares them with other developing countries on a per capita basis, and probably also as a share of GDP. Only if one compares planned investment levels with past investment levels, that statement would be correct. I suggest that you rephrase that sentence.--Mschiffler (talk) 12:06, 16 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi Mschiffler, I've taken a look at the article and your edits and for the most part we are in agreement. I understand that the lede should be balanced and should present a fair assessment of the situation but it seemed like the introduction was just clumping a lot of negative information into the first 4 sentences of the article. I have no objection to the issues of open defecation and sanitation being discussed but I just addressed them in their respective sections. I do agree however that India's investment in this sector seems to be insufficient and low by international standards and that this should be mentioned in the lede as it is a significant bit of information. At the same time however, I think it should be pointed out the significant improvements made in the field (in 1980, rural sanitation coverage was 1%, 4% by 1988 and 22% in 2001). This link by the Indian Planning Commission provides some information on the current situation with regards to water supply and sanitation as well as strategies being taken to improve conditions.Vedant (talk) 06:22, 23 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi Vedant. I agree that there was a lot of negative information in the lead section (not from me, by the way). Please go ahead and make further changes as you see fit.--Mschiffler (talk) 12:52, 23 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I found another source that gives a more up to date assessment of the situation but I'm still trying to figure out where it can be integrated into the article. Nevertheless, the source is here.Vedant (talk) 16:39, 26 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I looked at this article and found some new information, although not much. For example, I did not know about the National Rural Drinking Water Programme. I googled it and found the following description of its functions:http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/content/national-rural-drinking-water-programme-movement-towards-ensuring-people%E2%80%99s-drinking-water-se. A summary of this description could go into the section "policy and regulation". Another new (for me) piece of information is about the low share of house connections in rural areas. The article says that the figures in the report by the parliamentary committee are disputed. In such a situation, it is good to go to the primary sources, which the article does not name. A good source for water and sanitation coverage estimates it the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation by WHO and UNICEF, which - by the way - is the source for the access figures you quote from the WHO Core Health Statistics. The JMP in turn relies on national representative surveys and censuses carried out by national statistical agencies. In the case of India, the latest figures and their sources can be found here. Since the last census in India was apparently carried out in 2001, the more recent data are from (less comprehensive) 2006 demographic and health survey and the 2008 district level health survey. If access figures for rural areas and for different service levels (house connections etc.) should be introduced in the article, I would quote them from there instead from the article on livemint.com. Finally, the article quotes someone as saying "The Union government in the past few years had tried to do lots of innovative things around drinking water to reform the sector." While the article is not specific on this, I believe that the section on innovative approaches in the Wikipedia article provides some specific information on demand-driven approaches in rural water supply instead of traditional supply-driven approaches. So there may not be too much to add there. I may have missed one or two other things that could be of interest. My suggestion would be to start by including information about the functions of the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (irrespective of mudslinging about its performance, which may well be politically motivated) and about  rural coverage figures for house connections. One last word:How about if we move this discussion from my talk page to the talk page of the article where it probably fits better?--Mschiffler (talk) 19:31, 28 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Sorry for the delay in my response. Sure, we can move it to the article's talk page so that more users can engage in collaboration. I'll do some work on integrated the sources you mentioned above into the article. I think that the two most important things to include are the progress and functions of the NRDWP and also the approaches being taken to improve rural water/sanitation coverage in India as they are the biggest areas of concern in the country. Vedant (talk) 02:48, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

Update in 2010
This article has last been comprehensively updated in 2010, with some updates in 2012. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mschiffler (talk • contribs) 15:10, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

24 X 7 Water Supply By Using Existing Resources
24 x 7 water supply is possible by using existing resources. The small supply of water in the bore wells can be used effectively. The existing pumps can be used with one regulator to adjust the capacity of pump/speed as per the supply of water in the bore wells which will maintain the continuity of flow; thereby the main principle of getting maximum water from the bore can be achieved i. e. Q outlet ≤ Q inlet. All the bore wells which are not in use because of its small supply of water will also start to function as per their capacities of inlet discharge. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sidramappa shivashankar dharane (talk • contribs) 15:05, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

Removed Water Aid source from lead
I took this content from the lead.

A study by Water Aid estimated as many as 10 million Indians, or 5 percent of Indians living in urban areas, live without adequate sanitation. India comes in first place globally for having the greatest number of urban-dwelling inhabitants living without sanitation. India tops the urban sanitation crisis, has the largest amount of urban dwellers without sanitation, and the most open defecators(urban) with over 5 million people.

Reasons for my removing this are as follows:
 * this report is a summary of other reports, and we could cite those
 * I have limited trust for the organization because they have a lot of link rot in their publications. I am unable to find this 2016 report on their website.
 * I found their 2017 report, and while I think it is useful for narrative prose of the problem, this organization seems better at storytelling than presenting hard facts
 * I am wary of presenting a Western organization prominently in an article for India

 Blue Rasberry  (talk)  16:52, 18 February 2020 (UTC)

Adding about faecal sludge management
I am planning to add the ongoing developments with regards to implementation of FSM in numerous towns in the section titled 'innovative approaches'. This will also entail adding 'Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation' in the list of external cooperation. Sparsh85 (talk) 13:40, 15 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Sounds good to me, thanks Sparsh85. EMsmile (talk) 00:45, 28 April 2021 (UTC)

Have added content about rainwater harvesting
I have just added some content about rainwater harvesting, moved from the article on rainwater harvesting. This could now be updated and expanded with further information. Also link better with Irrigation in India, I guess. EMsmile (talk) 00:45, 28 April 2021 (UTC)

Possible groundwater content
I've just deleted this from the groundwater article as I felt it was poorly sourced and not suitable for a high level article. Maybe it can be used here? +++++++ The groundwater regulation is controlled and maintained by the central government and four organizations; 1) Central Water Commission, 2) Central groundwater, 3) Central groundwater Authority, 4) Central Pollution Control Board.

Laws, regulations and scheme regarding India's groundwater:


 * 2019 Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal groundwater scheme), a 5 years (2020-21 to 2024-25) scheme costing INR 6 billion (US$854 million) for managing demand side with village panchayat level water security plans, was approved for implementation in 8,350 water-stressed villages across 7 states, including Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
 * 2013 National Water Framework Bill ensures that India's groundwater is a public resource, and is not to be exploited by companies through privatization of water. The National Water Framework Bill allows for everyone to access clean drinking water, of the right to clean drinking water under Article 21 of 'Right to Life' in India's Constitution. The bill indicates a want for the states of India to have full control of groundwater contained in aquifers. So far Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal, Telangana, Maharashtra, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli are the only ones using this bill.
 * In 2012, National Water Policy was updated, which had previously been launched in 1987 and updated in 2002 and later in 2012.
 * In 2011, the Indian Government created a Model Bill for Groundwater Management; this model selects which state governments can enforce their laws on groundwater usage and regulation.
 * 1882 Easement Act gives landowners priority over surface and groundwater that is on their land and allows them to give or take as much as they want as long as the water is on their land. This act prevents the government from enforcing regulations of groundwater, allowing many landowners to privatize their groundwater instead accessing it in community areas. 1882 Easement Act's Section 7(g) states that every landowner has the right to collect within his limits, all water under the land and on its surface which does not pass in a defined channel. EMsmile (talk) 13:37, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

EMsmile (talk) 13:37, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Global Poverty and Practice
— Assignment last updated by FlowerandFeast (talk) 18:05, 12 May 2023 (UTC)