Abstract
Sustainable rural drinking water is a widespread aim in India, and globally, from the household to district, state, and national scales. Sustainability issues in the rural drinking water sector range from increasing water demand to declining groundwater levels, premature deterioration of village schemes and services, inadequate revenues for operations and maintenance, weak capacity of water operators, frequently changing state and national policies, and destabilizing effects of climate change. This paper focuses on the special role of district-scale drinking water planning, which operates at the intersection between bottom-up water demand and top-down water programs. After surveying the challenges associated with bottom-up and top-down planning approaches, we present recent efforts to strengthen district and block drinking water planning in the state of Maharashtra. A combination of district interviews, institutional history, village surveys, GIS visualization, and planning workshops were used to advance district planning goals and methods. Results assess bottom-up processes of water demand; top-down water programs and finance; and intermediate-level planning at the district and block scales. Discussion focuses on potential improvements in district planning methods in Maharashtra.
Highlights
Sustainable rural drinking water is a widespread aim in India, and globally, from the household to village, district, state, and national scales
This paper presents the results of research on district rural drinking water planning in Maharashtra
These five topics help assess the sustainability of drinking water systems, patterns of slipback, and criteria for designing more sustainable systems
Summary
Sustainable rural drinking water is a widespread aim in India, and globally, from the household to village, district, state, and national scales. In December 2019, the Government of India launched the Jal Jeevan Mission to provide functional household tap connections for all by 2024 [1]. As of July 2021, only 40.1% of rural households nationwide had taps, though that number is growing rapidly [2]. It varies greatly among states, from a high of 100% to a low of 10.6% (Figure 1). It has been reported that 64.3% of rural households have tap connections, albeit with considerable variability across districts that ranged from 38.3–100% coverage (Figure 2)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
