Piped water provided to 29.2% households is untreated. But more households get piped water now than before.
More than 29% of the total number of households in Gujarat receive untreated (though piped) drinking water, reveals the data collected during Census 2011.
The total number of households in the state (including those that do not have access to piped drinking water) is 1,21,81,718 (1 crore, 21 lakh, 81 thousand and 718). If every household has, on an average, five members, it means more than 1,75,00,000 (1 crore, 75 lakh) people are getting untreated water for drinking and cooking through their taps. This comes to nearly 30 percent of the total population of Gujarat.
The data further reveals that the state government has undoubtedly been successful in increasing the number of households provided piped drinking water. The number of such households has gone up from 46.5 percent in 2001 census to 64 percent in 2011 census.
In absolute terms, more than 35 lakh households in the state have to make do with untreated (though piped) drinking water. This is 29.2 percent of the total number of households in Gujarat. Further, the number of households receiving treated tap water as their main source of water for drinking and cooking comes to only 39.8 percent of the total number of households in the state.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working to make safe drinking water available to all have their own concerns about the situation prevailing in the state. The dark side of the picture is that, according to Census 2011 data, the state ranks among the top 5 states/union territories in providing untreated drinking water to their households.
Further, the urban-rural divide in availability of treated and untreated drinking water is significantly wide. Out of more than 54.16 lakh urban households in the state, 68.8 percent get treated tap water and 16.8 percent get untreated drinking water.
The situation in rural Gujarat is the very opposite of this. There are more than 67.65 lakh households in the rural areas of the state, of which only 16.7 percent get treated water while 39.7 percent households have to manage with untreated drinking water.
Ami Mankad, coordinator of the NGO, Pravah, which works in the area of availability of drinking water, said it had been noticed that government schemes are introduced mainly in urban areas because of the high density of population.
“Further, city people are more vocal about their needs, as is apparent from incidents of women causing ruckus in municipality or ward offices whenever there is a breakdown in supply of drinking water. Such awareness is missing in rural areas. People in rural areas don’t know that they have a right to clean drinking water,” Mankad said.
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