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Water Problems in Urban areas

Water is one of the major problems of urbanization. No town exist without it. World’s urban population has gone up from 300 million to more than 4 billion during the last four decades. The tremendous increase of cities has given rise to number of problems like the lack of essential amenities of life. Acute among the various problems, water problem in cities recently has become very serious. As many as 2 billion people do not have ready access to clean water.
In India, water supply is State subject. Constitutional provisions enable both, the Centre & the State, to perform a crucial role in planning & managing water resources & financing water supply. The states may give the responsibilities in urban areas, called Urban Local Bodies (ULB). Historically in Post-independence era, water supply was entrusted to be delivered by Urban Local Bodies in many states across the country.
Causes of Water Pollution in India’s Urban Areas:
      i.         Rapid Urbanization: India is a growing economy & hence its urban centres are witnessing huge pressure from the movement of rural population into urban areas. This movement has led to failure of municipal infrastructure that is responsible for shortage water supply & shortage drinking water. 
     ii.         Unchecked Urbanization: Industries are another major problem of fresh water supply in India. Industrial waste are released into fresh water. As a results water are polluted.
   iii.         Congregation of Population: In urban areas due to congregation of population, huge rush of traffic especially during day time ejects such a huge amount of Carbon monoxide, Obnoxious gases & solid wastes that they are polluting the sources of ground water in urban areas.
   iv.         Untreated Sewage: Discharge of untreated sewage is the single most important source of pollution of surface & ground water in India. 
     v.         Domestic Waste Water: In India, domestic & human waste water is most problematic. This waste led to water pollution in urban areas.
Impact of Poor Water Quality in Urban Areas:
The World Bank & WHO have estimated that in India 21% of all communicable diseases are related with poor quality of water. 
The specific diseases are diarrhoea, trachoma, intestinal worms, hepatitis & the ‘tropical cluster’ of diseases. 
It is estimated that every year 1.5 million children under 5 years, die in India of water-related diseases. 
The following Table, makes it clear that enough of burden, about 30.5 million of DALYs (Disability Adjusted Life Years), has to be born in India because of water-related diseases.
Table: Disability Adjusted Life Years
Sl. No.
Disease
Persons Affected (in DALYs millions)
1.
Diarrhoea
28.01
2.
Intestinal worms 
2.09
3.
Trachoma 
0.11
4.
Hepatitis
0.31
Total
30.51
Source: World Dev. Report, 1995
Imagine, every year in our country 30.51 million of life years are lost because of poor water quality, sanitation & hygiene.
Steps Taken by the Government to Solve the Problem:
The first Central level efforts to provide drinking water in cities & towns were undertaken through the Integrated Development for Small & Medium Towns (IDSMT, 1979) & Accelerated Urban Water Supply Programme (AUWSO, 1992).
Some scheme taken by the Government to solve the problem of water pollution:
Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation (AMRUT): 
AMRUT, focussing on water supply & sewage improvement. 
Under AMRUT, the state-level plans of INR 77,640 crore for 500 cities have been approved.
Water supply contracts for 494 projects worth INR 19,428 crore have been approved for 500 cities.
Smart Cities Mission (SCM): 
Aimed to developing smart solutions for selected urban areas.
The list of 99 smart cities in India have been identified.
Water related topics to be addressed & implemented include smart meter management, leakage identification, preventive maintenance, & water quality modelling.
SBM – Urban:
Focussed on waste management & sanitation.
SBM guideline refers to adequate water arrangements to be made for proper functioning of toilets.
HRIDAY:
Focussed on development of heritage cities.
The scheme is being implemented in 12 heritage cities with a total outlay of INR 500 crores focusing on service delivery, including drinking water facility & taps.

Due to be completed in November 2018, only 48% projects have been completed till May 2018.

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