Provision of safe drinking water is a basic necessity. Planning Commission mandates 40 lpcd (litres per capita per day) of safe drinking water within a walking distance of 1.6km in rural areas. Poor quality of water, inadequate availability, increasing operations costs are issues that need immediate attention. In order to address drinking water issues, the rural water supply programme and guidelines have been revised past April 2009 as the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP).

Extent of the problem

Objective

The NRDWP is one of the six components of Bharat Nirman aiming to provide basic amenities to the rural India. NRDWP envisages a progressive improvement in service levels with a gradual improvement from unprotected sources to wells to Hand wells to Household connections. The programme seeks to ensure permanent drinking water security in rural India. It also aims to improve water quality by developing the capability of preliminary water testing at the gram panchayat level.

Framework for Implementation

The NRWDP works at 3 levels- National, State and District Level. Following table highlights the various agencies which perform various functions.

Following itemized list highlights the function of these agencies

=> Department of Drinking Water Supply (DDWS) providing policy guidance and monitoring of the implementation and impact of the rural water supply programme in the State;

=> The National Technical Support Agencies (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Labs, Indian Institute of Technology) assist the DDWS and Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (Which are line departments at State level) by advising on emerging science and technology issues.

=> At State level, Public Health Engineering Departments (PHED) are primary executing agencies.

=> The State Technical Agencies will be used to fill be used to fill up gaps in technical needs of RWSS/PHED. They would include reputed technical institutions such as National Institute of Technology (NITs), IITs, etc.

=> State Level Scheme Sanctioning Committee (SLSSC) should ensure that all the approved projects are entered on the central online MIS for accounting of habitations addressed/covered during the year and should invariably review the functioning/performance of existing water supply schemes

=> Water and Sanitation Support Organization (WSSO) acts as a facilitating agency acting as a bridge between the RWSS/ PHE Department and the Community Organizations at the village level (Village Water and Sanitation Committees/ Panchayat Raj Institutions). It will also take up MIS and Computerization programmes, GIS mapping and online monitoring systems.

Components

At the state level, the NRDWP has 5 components. Operation and Maintenance includes expenditure on running, repair and replacement costs of drinking water supply projects. The allocation meant for Sustainability will be used to encourage states to achieve drinking water security through sustainable sources and systems. Sustainability is the maintenance of desired quantity and acceptable quality standard of water supply services throughout the design life of the water supply systems. Projects under this component include Construction of Sub-Surface Dykes (to control groundwater flow and raise water table), installation of Solar Energy based dual pump piped water supply, etc. Coverage entails provision of safe and adequate drinking water to unserved or partially served habitations. The Quality component allocation will be used to improve potable drinking water quality. Support Activities include – setting up district and sub-divisional water testing labs, provision of hardware and software support for MIS at district and sub-divisional level and awareness generation and training activities taken up by the state.

The states will be asked to prepare district-wise Drinking Water Security Plans to take up sustainability structures by convergence with MGNREGA, Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) and fund the gaps in the plan from the Sustainability component of NRDWP. This component will be implemented in a decentralized, community managed, demand-driven form as per the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution, the responsibility for drinking water may be devolved to the Panchayat raj institutions (PRIs). In many States, rural drinking water schemes have been transferred to PRIs for operation and maintenance.

Role of Elected Representatives

Modifications in NRDWP

Programmatic Reforms?

=> Adequate water supply received by all household instead of a mere installation of a water source will be considered as a criterion for fully covered habitation.

=> Change the lpcd (litres per capita per day) standard as a mean of measuring availability of water, but look at larger and various indicators of water security, such as Economic water security (measures the estimated need of water for sustained economic growth in the food production, industry, and energy sectors of the economy); the Environmental water security (assesses the health of rivers and measures progress on restoring rivers and ecosystems to health on a national and regional scale).

=> In order to encourage the States of North-East and J&K, that have limited resources, the fund sharing pattern for them has been liberalized from the existing 50:50 (Centre to State) to 90:10 (Centre to State).

Management Reforms

=> Focus on planning to be ensured through preparation of village water security plans and household level water budgeting.

=> Planning and water budgeting should be done by Gram Panchayats or their sub-committees.

=> Introduction of an incentive of 10% of the NRDWP allocation for the States that transfer the management of rural drinking water schemes to the Panchayati Raj Institutions(Rural population managing drinking water supply schemes).

=> Conjunctive use of surface and groundwater and focus on rainwater harvesting for recharge. For old and new ground water schemes, recharge mechanisms will be made mandatory. They must be incorporated in the village water security plans.

=> Revival of traditional systems of water conservation such as Tankas, Khadins, Vavdis, and introduction of catchment protection schemes for surface water.

Institutional Reforms

=> Convergence with National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) call for health based targets as an improvement in water supply. The Primary Health Centres will be utilized for source testing to ascertain water quality. The ASHA functionary under NRHM will also do inspection of water sources will try to spread awareness on sanitation issues.

=> Linkage of National Rural Drinking Water Programme with the Jalmani guidelines for implementation of Standalone drinking water purifications systems in rural schools. Jalmani programme is implemented by State Governments through Gram Panchayats but flexibility is given to involve other stake holders, such as SHGs, Mahila Mandals, etc.

POINTS TO REMEMBER:-

1. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India submitted its report on ‘National Rural Drinking Water Programme’ on August 7, 2018.  National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) was launched in 2009.  It aims to provide safe and adequate water for drinking, cooking and other domestic needs to every rural person on a sustainable basis.  The audit was conducted for the period 2012-17.  Key findings and recommendations of the CAG include:

2. Underperformance of the scheme: By 2017, NRDWP aimed to achieve certain objectives.  However, by December 2017, these objectives were not completely attained.  It aimed to provide all rural habitations, government schools, and anganwadis access to safe drinking water.  Of this, only 44% of rural households and 85% of government schools and anganwadis were provided access.  It also aimed to provide 50% of rural population potable drinking water (55 litres per capita per day) by piped water supply.  Of this, only 18% of rural population was provided potable drinking water.  It also sought to give household connections to 35% of rural households.  Of this, only 17% of rural households were given household connections.

3. Planning and delivery mechanism: The CAG noted deviations from the programme guidelines in the planning and delivery framework established at the centre and states.  21 states had not framed water security plans.  Deficiencies were found in the preparation and scrutiny of annual action plans such as: (i) lack of stakeholder and community participation, (ii) non-inclusion of minimum service level of water in schemes, and (iii) absence of approval of State Level Scheme Sanctioning Committee for schemes included in the plans.  The apex level National Drinking Water and Sanitation Council set up to co-ordinate and ensure convergence remained largely non-functional.  State level agencies important for planning and execution of the programme, such as the State Water and Sanitation Mission, State Technical Agency, and Block Resources Centres were either not set up or were under-performing.

4. The CAG recommended that the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation should review the feasibility and practicality of the planning and delivery mechanisms to ensure that they serve the intended purposes. It also suggested that the water security plans and annual action plans must be prepared with community participation.  This will ensure that schemes are aligned to community requirements and utilise water resources in an optimum and sustainable manner.

5. Fund management: Between 2012-17, total allocation of Rs 89,956 crore (central share of 43,691 crore and state share of Rs 46,265 crore) was provided for the programme.  Of this, Rs 81,168 crore (90%) was spent during this period.  The availability of funds declined during 2013-14 and 2016-17 due to reduced central allocation and inability of states to increase their own financial commitment.  The CAG noted delays of over 15 months in release of central share to nodal/implementing agencies in states.  It recommended that allocation of resources should be dynamic and based on a clear assessment of requirements and achievements under each component of the scheme.

6. Programme implementation: NRDWP failed to achieve its targets due to deficiencies in implementation, such as: (i) incomplete, abandoned and non-operational works, (ii) unproductive expenditure on equipment, (iii) non-functional sustainability structures, and (iv) gaps in contractual management, with a total financial implication of Rs 2,212 crore.

7. There was inadequate focus on surface water based schemes and 98% of the schemes, including piped water schemes continued to be based on ground water resources. The CAG also noted that operation and maintenance plans were either not prepared in most states or they had deficiencies in them.  This led to schemes becoming non-functional.  The CAG recommended that focus should be placed on effective works and contract management to ensure that works are completed in time as per the contractual terms.  Delays attributable to contractors should be penalised and accountability should be enforced.