Journal articles on the topic 'Indian rural drinking water utilities'

Abstract: The most valuable natural resource for human life is groundwater. It is certainly required in all parts of life and wellbeing for energy generation, food production, industrial activities, maintenance of the environment and enhances sustainable development for future generations. Fresh groundwater has become a popular subject in recent years. Water is continuously contaminated in all nations. India is no special case to this marvel. In India, over 80% of the rural population depend on groundwater. People face a barrier in getting safe, portable drinking water since groundwater quality is impacted by public activity and utilities. The frequent monitoring of sources of groundwater and its quality helps to create and develop public awareness of groundwater resources. The area having high contamination of ground water is selected named as Vatva located in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat, due to urbanization and the presence of many chemical refineries and pharmaceutical firms in the vicinity. During the investigation, the most impacted pollutants, such as TDS, Nitrate, Chloride and Sulphate were valuated. QGIS is used to do a spatial distribution study of all of these parameters. Ground water quality index graphs are also generated using the IS 10500: 2012 drinking water quality standard as a reference. Keywords: Ground Water Contamination, Spatial Distribution, QGIS, TDS, Nitrate, Chloride, Sulphate

Two typical rural water utilities in Beijing, China were chosen to describe the principles and applications of water safety plans (WSP), to provide a methodological guide for the actual application and improve the quality of rural drinking water quality, and to establish an appropriate method for WSP applied in rural water supply. Hazards and hazardous events were identified and risk assessment was conducted for rural water supply systems. A total of 13 and 12 operational limits were defined for two utilities, respectively. The main risk factors that affect the water safety were identified in water sources, water processes, water disinfection systems and water utility management. The main control measures were strengthening the water source protection, monitoring the water treatment processes, establishing emergency mechanisms, improving chemical input and operating system management. WSP can be feasibly applied to the management of a rural water supply.

Agricultural runoff into surface water is a problem in Australia, as it is in arguably all agriculturally active countries. While farm practices and resource management measures are employed to reduce downstream effects, they are often either technically insufficient or practically unsustainable. Therefore, consumers may still be exposed to agrichemicals whenever they turn on the tap. For rural residents surrounded by agriculture, the link between agriculture and water quality is easy to make and thus informed decisions about water consumption are possible. Urban residents, however, are removed from agricultural activity and indeed drinking water sources. Urban and rural residents were interviewed to identify perceptions of agriculture's impact on drinking water. Rural residents thought agriculture could impact their water quality and, in many cases, actively avoided it, often preferring tank to surface water sources. Urban residents generally did not perceive agriculture to pose health risks to their drinking water. Although there are more agricultural contaminants recognised in the latest Australian Drinking Water Guidelines than previously, we argue this is insufficient to enhance consumer protection. Health authorities may better serve the public by improving their proactivity and providing communities and water utilities with the capacity to effectively monitor and address agricultural runoff.

Unlike the private concession model applied in urban zones, rural water sanitation services in Chile are managed by rural drinking water (RDW) committees or cooperatives, under a community governance model. This article seeks to understand the tensions and conflicts faced by RDW community governance in the peri-urban territories of regional capitals, which are at the frontier of the private drinking water management model. Based on a political ecology and hybrid governance approach, this research proposes the hypothesis that, on facing urban expansion and water scarcity, the neoliberal institutional framework tends to favour drinking water market governance in peri-urban territories. With this aim, and through semi-structured interviews and participatory observation, focusing on three RDW cases located in the peri-urban zone of Talca, this study develops a critical discourse analysis of community managers and government regulators, identifying their perceptions and positions on current socio-ecological transformations, and community governance tensions. Consistent with the proposed hypothesis, from discourse analysis, it is possible to infer the potential risks of privatization, derived from the implementation of Law No. 20,998, which regulates rural water sanitation services.

Winter Storm Uri of February 2021 left millions of United States residents without access to reliable, clean domestic water during the COVID19 pandemic. In the state of Texas, over 17 million people served by public drinking water systems were placed under boil water advisories for periods ranging from one day to more than one month. We performed a geospatial analysis that combined public boil water advisory data for Texas with demographic information from the 2010 United States Census to understand the affected public water systems and the populations they served. We also issued a cross-sectional survey to account for people’s lived experiences. Geospatial analysis shows that the duration of boil water advisories depended partly on the size of the public water system. Large, urban public water systems issued advisories of intermediate length (5–7 days) and served racially diverse communities of moderate income. Small, mostly rural public water systems issued some of the longest advisories (20 days or more). Many of these systems served disproportionately White communities of lower income, but some served predominantly non-White, Hispanic, and Latino communities. In survey data, “first-generation” participants (whose parents were not college-educated) were more likely to be placed under boil water advisories, pointing to disparate impacts by socioeconomic group. The survey also revealed large communication gaps between public water utilities and individuals: more than half of all respondents were unsure or confused about whether they were issued a boil water advisory. Our study reinforces the need to improve resilience in public water services for large, diverse, urban communities and small, rural communities in the United States and to provide a clear and efficient channel for emergency communications between public water service utilities and the communities they serve.

Proper hygiene leading to good health, in urban as well as rural communities, requires that the consumption of drinking water is raised to acceptable levels (UN organizations put it at 40 liters/cap/day). The increase of water availability necessitates the provision of sewage drainage facilities. Urban areas are normally provided with sewerage schemes (sewer lines, treatment plants, etc.). However, it is unrealistic and not cost feasible to construct such sophisticated systems in villages. This is due to limited resources of public funds available to the responsible government agencies. In rural areas, the provision of utilities to drain sewage in a safe way lags behind the provision of water for household activities, including drinking water. This creates severe contamination to the environment of the various villages and reduces the impact of water on the improvement of health. An appropriate wastewater treatment/reuse system, called the Subsurface Drainage Technique (SDT), is described here which was successfully applied, by Save the Children/USA, in several villages on the Israeli Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The system is applicable for individual households with land available in their immediate vicinity. It consists of a watertight septic tank, where primary treatment occurred, followed by a subsurface drainage field in which the secondary treatment took place. The treated wastewater in the drainage field allowed indirect irrigation (below ground level) for surface plants. Local materials were adopted for the construction of the SDT. Villagers themselves were trained to build the various units and therefore were able to maintain their efficient performance. Ongoing monitoring of the plants grown in the drainage field and the testing for bacteriological contamination ensures the safe performance of the technology.

The case talks about Spring Health Water India Private Limited (referred as SH), a social enterprise delivering safe drinking water to the millions who are earning less than $2 per day. Chairman of Spring Health Paul Polak, took up for-profit business venture as a measure to ensure health and poverty alleviation in rural areas. The idea is to provide affordable drinking water through decentralized delivery and utilizing local resources and grassroot entrepreneurs to keep the drinking water prices low. This venture provided extra income to some of the villagers — as entrepreneurs, business assistants, delivery boys, masons and plumbers, etc. Many innovative methods are adopted in the process to reach out to all social groups, in least possible time and at highly affordable prices. Effort is made to maximize customer base by using marketing techniques which are culturally and socially sensitive. Technology used in the process of chlorination is simple and with little knowledge/experience a villager can handle it too. It is a low cost technology and hence utilizes less resources, which are easily available and do not require high costs of handling and managing. The target is to reach 200 million people in the coming years covering East Indian states of Odisha, Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Jharkhand. To reach such scale, it requires concerted efforts on the part of company and a lot of funding support. Launch at each new village is a new challenge. Convincing rural masses on safe drinking water is a challenge and selling water with a price tag is not readily accepted in rural areas. Chairman Paul Polak and CEO Kishan Nanavati have a challenging situation of convincing people to buy safe drinking water and to mobilize funds for further expansion.

The present study identifies the multiplicity of issues and challenges faced by dalit women in accessing water from common, often distant sources of water, across five Indian states. Their reality of poor availability of drinking water was worsened by limited access to common resources due to their caste identity. On account of their social exclusion, dalit women suffer from physical as well as mental anguish. Discrimination against them is rampant on account of untouchability, and verbal and physical abuse accompanied with violence, which is a very real part of their everyday lives.

When calculating the balance of water supply, the purpose for which water is intended should be taken into account. Depending on them, the water quality parameters may vary. Rural and agricultural water demand covers the basic types of water demand, including the population's living and economic needs, animal husbandry, the needs of public utilities, the needs related to the operation of vehicles and machinery, workshops, machines and other purposes, including the own needs of the water pipes, fire-fighting etc. The level of demand is also closely related to the factors influencing the level of individual water consumption. Taking into account the deficiencies in formal and legal regulations, the binding regulations concerning the operation of water supply systems in special conditions have been presented so far. Elements of the benchmarking study on unit water demand indicators in normal and special conditions in rural areas have also been taken into account, guided by the principles and numerical indicators for the calculation of water demand for drinking and business purposes.

The paper reports the main findings of a study, designed to develop a better understanding of institutional variations in working with the demand responsive approach (DRA) in rural water supply in the state of Odisha in India. Data for the paper were collected from twelve village communities, where water is being supplied either through their community based institution or through the local government institution of the Gram Panchayat. The findings suggest that the two types of institutions performed differently in implementing the DRA. It depicted that the DRA under the broader rubric of institutional reforms in the water sector has failed to address the question of social inequality, and rather had reinforced and extended the already existing inequity of Indian society to access to safe and secure drinking water in rural areas. The study highlights that participation, cost recovery, full operation and management transfer may be an efficient proposition, but not sustainable in the long run without proper investment in institution building and support from the state, especially in provisioning of basic services like drinking water to rural poor.

Intermittent water supply (IWS) is a relatively common phenomenon across the world as well as in rural and peri-urban areas across China, though there has been little IWS-focused research from China published to date. IWS consumers typically adopt a range of strategies to cope with insufficient water supply, poor drinking water quality, and associated inconveniences. In this study, we collected a range of data from small-scale utilities and households in two IWS systems and two continuous water supply (CWS) systems, as well as from comparison groups, in Shandong and Hubei provinces. Data collection included water quality testing, interviews, and surveys on behavioral adaptations, coping strategies, water-related health perceptions, and other metrics of consumer satisfaction. Overall, we found that the IWS coping strategies employed in northern China (Shandong) were associated with generally safe, but inconvenient, water access, whereas adaptation strategies observed in southern China (Hubei) appeared to improve convenience, but not water quality. Compared to the CWS comparison groups, we did not observe significant differences in water- and sanitation-related behaviors in the IWS groups, suggesting interventions to increase adaptive and protective behaviors at the household level might further improve safe water access for households living with IWS. Overall, although the water supply infrastructure in these study areas appeared to be in relatively good condition, in contrast to reported data on IWS systems in other countries, we observed multiple risk factors associated with the water treatment and distribution processes in these IWS systems. Among policy recommendations, our results suggest that the implementation of Water Safety Plans in China would likely improve the management of drinking water treatment and, by extension, safe drinking water supply under conditions of IWS.

India categorizes the water situation of more than one-quarter of its governmental units as over-exploited, critical, or semi-critical. Unsustainable water extraction, inefficient use of resources, and the large water demand of the agricultural sector (more than 90%) are among the causes of the worsening state of water resources. In order to assure the access to clean drinking water, the Indian Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation initiated the National Rural Drinking Water Security Pilot Project in 2011. To analyze the costs and benefits of this pilot project, we follow the pretest–posttest control group study design comparing two points in time and two groups (study group and control group). In total, 12 sample villages (consisting of 3,265 households and 20,767 individuals) in two different areas were included. Costs and benefits were captured if they were directly and causally linked with the project. This includes financial and economic costs for individuals and the government, as well as benefits in four major fields: health, economy, environment, and time savings. We found total benefits ranging between USD 420,000 in low performing sites and USD 480,000 in high performing sites. Corresponding costs were between USD 40,000 and 45,000. Adjusted to per capita values, benefits vary between USD 54 and USD 300 and costs between USD 5 and USD 28. Adjusting a 99% confidence interval, the net benefits will vary between approximately USD 150 and USD 400 in the high performing sites and between USD 30 and USD 70 in the low performing sites. The expected benefit-to-cost ratios are 11 in high performing sites and 10 in the low performing sites. Due to the large social return in high as well as in low performing study sites, this paper recommends prolonging and upscaling the interventions evaluated in the pilot project sites.

A boil water advisory (BWA) informs the public that there is an increased level of risk associated with their water and that they should boil it before consuming. Studies show that small communities in Canada are particularly likely to experience repeat and long-term BWAs. Climate change has led to changes in precipitation and temperature patterns, leading to region-specific impacts such as increased frequency, severity, or variance in floods, forest fires, droughts, freezing rain, and sea water intrusion. Academic and non-academic “grey” literature was reviewed to establish the most likely impacts of climate change on water treatment and infrastructure. Anonymized data from public drinking water systems in Canada was analyzed to determine the most common causes of BWAs between 2005 and 2020. Most BWAs reported were related to breakdowns/malfunctions along the distribution, though inadequate disinfection residual and turbidity or coliforms in the treated water were also common. Furthermore, statistical analysis of the data showed seasonal trends in some of these parameters. The results of this study suggest that increased precipitation, flooding, permafrost degradation, and forest fires are likely to have significant impacts on water safety in Canada. Highlights: Climate change effects are expected to worsen many current water challenges. Climate change will disproportionately impact small, rural, and remote water utilities. Water distribution systems are the main source of water safety risk in Canada. Groundwater-supplied systems experience a disproportionate number of BWAs. Seasonal trends in BWA reasons provide opportunities for targeted mitigation.

The main causes of premature destruction of the pipeline network of water supply and drainage within the territory of Ukraine are the following: factory (metallurgical) defects of pipes, assembly defects (as a rule, they occur during installation work directly on the object), corrosion damage and destruction of the pipe body and welded connection, natural and deformational aging of metal, external loads and internal excess stresses, lack of high-quality anti-corrosion protection, long (exceeding normative) service life of pipelines that are in direct contact with a corrosive-aggressive environment, etc. Analysis of the general condition of centralized water supply and centralized water drainage systems for 2021. Carried out for 19 regions and the city of Kyiv. Based on the analysis, the following conclusions were drawn: centralized water supply covers 98.7% of cities (absent in 4 cities), 90.3% of rural settlements (absent in 46 rural settlements), and 23.5% of rural settlements, 67.4% of rural settlements and 1.5% of rural settlements. To ensure the development and reconstruction of systems of centralized drinking water supply and centralized water drainage in populated areas of Ukraine and to provide the population with quality drinking water in sufficient quantity, the Ministry of Regions has developed the State-wide target program "Drinking water of Ukraine", which provides for the implementation of more than 1,747 infrastructure projects in the regions during 2022-2026 years In addition, the following measures are recommended for the development of water supply and drainage enterprises: the creation of effective response systems in case of emergency situations, in particular, a logistics chain for the supply of the necessary welding and assembly resources (materials, equipment, labor, etc.); attraction of investments for the modernization of water supply and treatment facilities of the central drainage system; carrying out scientific and research works for the purpose of modernization of engineering facilities for wastewater treatment; modernization of pipeline structures and treatment facilities with the involvement of modern welding and assembly technologies and materials. In addition, in order to increase the reliability of water supply and sewage networks, it is now necessary to carry out certification and inspection of pipelines. Knowing the degree of wear and tear of the pipe wall and the service life, you can calculate the nominal pressure of the pipeline and make a decision about its replacement or rehabilitation. Using the failure criterion for "critical" points, it is possible to predict the complications of network operation, model redundancy for them, and optimize their operation. It is proposed to equip specialized mobile laboratories on the basis of water utilities, which allow network diagnostics and emergency cleaning of pipelines and water disinfection. Specialists of the Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine carried out systematic work on assessing the technical condition of water supply networks. The materials officially provided by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine served as the basis for such works. The curator of this work was the State Enterprise "Scientific-Research and Design-Technological Institute of Urban Economy" (Kyiv).

Lakes are the natural habitat of aquatic animals and plants. At the same time, it ensures the recharge of groundwater storage and also caters to the recreational and aesthetic requirements of people. A Lake can control surroundings temperature by keeping it fairly constant, this, in turn, can facilitate to support life forms. Balanced ecosystem enabled by lakes promotes not only healthy plants and animal communities but their clean water increases the security of animal nesting and resting places along with the livelihood of humans in its vicinities. Some of the losses (environmental degradation, extinction of species, etc.) occur through intentional exploitation of resources. Lakes are of value to humans in form of drinking water, agriculture, industry, livestock and energy generation; they become storage for flood water; sinks for sediment and contaminants to protect downstream areas and habitat for flora and fauna. Therefore, Lakes experience pressure of high population growth owing to human dependence on them. Economic uses, depleting factors and stewardship of urban and rural lakes are different. This study is a comparative assessment of economic and other utilities, factors of depletion and strategies for stewardship of Ramgarh (urban) and Chilua (rural) lakes of Gorakhpur. The study is based on primary data collected from the surrounding dwellers of both lakes and supported by secondary data collected from different offices and laboratory-based investigations related to lakes.

Health officials often lack information about characteristics that predict which water systems are most likely to be placed on and to persist on drinking water advisories (e.g. health warnings offering advice or information). This study uses data collected by the Interior Health Authority in British Columbia to characterize water systems on advisory for microbiological threats and to identify the variables associated with advisory status and length. By systematically extracting key characteristics, this study explores advisory status by examining associated variables: water systems size, administrative area, governance structure, water source, treatment level, and service type (e.g. residential or commercial systems). Results show residential and commercial water systems have different characteristics associated with advisory status and length. For residential systems, certain governance structures are more likely to be placed on and to stay on advisory, especially the cooperative governance structures not operated by local governments. For commercial systems, administrative area and system size were associated with advisory status, but not advisory length. The overall results highlight the influence of governance structure and support the need for targeted interventions to improve residential small water systems not operated by local governments or utilities. Lastly, these results show how health officials can use administrative data for program planning and evaluation.

The inadequacy in supply and the shortage of clean potable water has taken centre stage in recent times. The first half of the year 2016 is already witnessing huge water scarcity in many part of the country. High growth of population coupled with rapid industrial developments in Indian subcontinent resulted in shortage of clean drinking water for people living in rural areas and remote villages especially in desert. In urban and rural areas surface or ground water is polluted due to industrial waste or rampant use of chemicals in agriculture (e.g. insecticides, pesticide and chemical fertilizers). Other dimension to the problem is acute shortage of power supply for running traditional water cleaning systems such as reverse osmosis. One of the prominent economical methods of converting the saline water to potable water is solar desalination. It distils the saline water by evaporation and condensation the way nature makes rain. Here in this paper, the goal is to provide an overview of conventional as well as solar desalination technologies available at present.

The population and industrial growths are demanding for sustainable and safe drinking water and waste disposal in rural and urban belts. Deficiency and lack of fresh water supply and sewage disposal/treatment affects the health and hygiene of household, community dwellers and local/regional environment. The paper highlights the problems around Farukh Nagar of Gurgaon District in Haryana and suggests for scientific and technological study to address the issue. Preliminary field visit and study show the gravity of problem and possible reasons. However, detailed study is required adopting scientific and technological viable strategy including methodology, questionnaire based interaction with beneficiaries and agencies to collect stratified socio-economic and technical primary and secondary details/records, people perceptions and experiences, Ground water details (level, yield, point source and quality fluctuations), Surface water source, rainfall, water supply system/parameters, population and growth, waste water and sludge production, treatment and disposal system, recharge and outfall zone in the study/nearby areas, etc. Further, analysis of data employing hydrological/hydraulic software, testing/verification of quality parameters with Indian and international standards, physical models, workshops among beneficiaries and user agencies addressing the points of innovation to implement viable and sustainable water supply and sewage disposal plans are needed.

Open defecation and contamination of drinking and bathing water has been an endemic sanitarily problem in India in 2014 India was the country with the highest number of people practicing open defecation around 530 million people. Swachh Bharat mission campaign launched on 2 October 2014. 0n birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi aim to eradicated open defecation by 2 October 2019. The 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi by constructing 90 million toilets in rural India. At projected cost of 1.96 lack crore (us$2). The national campaign spanned 4,041statutory cities and town. Conceived in March 2014 a sanitation conference organized but UNICEF India and the Indian institute of technology. As part the laager totals sanitation campaign which the Indian government launched in 1999.

The small portion of available fresh water for human consumption is being contaminated by various anthropogenic sources at a very alarming rate. Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities. Water pollution is one of many types of pollution which results from contaminants being introduced into the natural environment. Pollution causes adverse change. Pollution of groundwater can occur from on-site sanitation systems, landfills, effluents from wastewater treatment plants, petrol filling stations, leaching sewers, or over-application of fertilizers in agriculture. With this view, an attempt was made to assess the quality of groundwater in the rural area near Vijayawada by examining various physicochemical parameters such as colour, turbidity, odour, pH, total dissolved solids, alkalinity, hardness, chloride, fluoride, iron, and magnesium to check the suitability of water for human consumption. In this work, samples of water were collected and various parameters regarding the water quality were analysed &compared with Indian Standards: 10500 (Drinking water specifications) to check the acceptability of water for drinking purposes. Further, an attempt is also made to design a low-cost groundwater purifier that works on the process of adsorption using naturally available materials. Keywords: Water purifier, chloride, adsorption,

The present study investigates the socio-economic problems of the labors in Brick Kilns which are situated in the vicinities of district Hyderabad (Rural). Eighty three respondents from twenty five brick kilns were selected for interview. It is found that majority of the respondents was illiterate and never visited educational, technical and religious institutions. The economic categorization of the labors revealed that majority was categorized as ‘poorest of poor’ (living below poverty line),having semi-pacca houses,earning less than 10,000 rupees per month to manage their entire family. Due to very low income they spent least amount on education and health while more on food and utilities. The general problems reported by the labors are: poor quality of drinking water, no shelter at work place, child labor, low and late payment of wages, long working hours etc. Besides these,both male and female labors informed about misbehave and use of abusive language by the owner/manager, even few of them also complained about physical abuse. Stomach problem was found as common disease in men followed by Anemia whereas in women Anemia was ranked first followed by Backache.

Background: The relation of water quality indicators and water borne diseases (WBD) is not properly studied in tropical countries like India. Most of the studies done were cross sectional which reported only point prevalence. This tends to under-estimate and is not adequate to explain the relation. In this context to assess the incidence of water born diseases in relation to household drinking water quality, a longitudinal prospective study was conducted.Methods: The study was conducted in a South Indian state, in a rural area among the members of 300 households by weekly data collection for one year. Water samples were collected and analysis was done thrice corresponding to the climate. Bacterial quality indicators - Total coliform count (TCC), Faecal coliform count (FCC) and E. coli were estimated. The data were processed and analyzed.Results: From 300 households, total 1459 persons were enrolled. During the 12 months period, 72 episodes of WBDs were recorded with incidence rate of 49/1000 person years. Proportional morbidity due to WBD was 11.9%. The WBD reported were ADD, dysentery and hepatitis A. Up to 30% water sources contained E. coli in summer and winter samples and more than 60% in rainy samples. Faecal coliform count was >10 MPN/100 ml in all the seasons in more than 60% water sourcesConclusions: Most of the main water source wells were contaminated. Contamination was more in rainy season. Incidence of WBD has no correlation with water quality indicators in all the seasons (p≥0.05).

This study investigates the engagement of communities with little or no GIS expertise in the use of publicly available spatial data for self-education in the protection of drinking water sources. A traditional administrative top-down approach to assisting communities in getting or using spatial information was replaced in the study with a bottom-up approach based on the principles of social cybernetics. The study investigated how communities used spatial datasets provided by the state to facilitate public participation in creating maps for water resource protection. Nine rural communities in the State of Idaho within the Nez Perce Indian Reservation participated in a field study from 2001–2002. Results included "map archetypes" developed by the communities and a validation of the bottom-up approach stressing community control over the process of using spatial data.

The inadequate supply and the shortage of water has been taken centre stage in recent times. High expansion of population coupled with rapid industrial development in Indian subcontinent resulted in shortage of clean drinking water for people living in rural areas and remote villages especially in desert. Main components of concentrated solar power can be used in the form transparent cover, Absorber Plate, Heat transport system including fluid and Insulating Material. Besides these, tilt angle and direction with respect to Sun is also very important. Different materials available for all these components must be compared for their properties and configurations in various designs. Present study is review of various component material options improvement techniques. Current study deals with the concentrated solar power application with a case study in a metro station.

Abstract India hosts two-thirds of the global population defecating in the open and faces a worrying trend of districts declared ‘water scarce’. This paper aims to assess the costs and health benefits of sanitation interventions undertaken by the National Rural Drinking Water Security Pilot Project in India between 2012 and 2015. To achieve this goal, a pretest–posttest control group study was undertaken in two study areas located in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh states. Full software and infrastructure costs were included as well as health endpoints, sourced from primary health centers. In Karnataka, latrine coverage of households increased from 16% to 59% in villages with high level of interventions, and from 7% to 18% in villages with lower levels of intervention. In Uttar Pradesh, coverage increased from 33% to 70% in high intervention villages and from 27% to 39% in the low intervention villages. We found health-related net benefits of USD 13 and USD 10 per person per year and benefit/cost ratios of 2.5 and 5.0 in Karnataka Uttar Pradesh, respectively. Given the positive economic returns on the intervention in culturally heterogeneous sites of southern and northern India, this intervention has potential for bringing significant benefits to the Indian population.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the quality of tubewell water (TW) in Barasat-I (Community Development Block) under North 24 Parganas District of Lower Gangetic Plain (LGP), West Bengal, India with respect to suitability for drinking purpose. This is the first micro-level ground water related study in this region. In total twenty (20) groundwater (GW) samples from tube-wells at different locations of nine (09) Gram Panchayats (GP) were collected and analyzed. The results have been compared with the Indian standard (IS) for drinking water based on eight parameters, such as pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solid (TSS), conductivity, total alkalinity (TA), total hardness (TH), chloride (Cl), and arsenic (As). Moreover, TDS (50%) and Total Hardness (TH) (90%) were found to be above the desirable limit. However, pH, Chloride, has been found to be within the permissible limit. This micro-level study revealed that high contamination with arsenic of GW has been identified on the middle to eastern side of Barasat-I. As is found to be above acceptable limit at 70% sampling points. Therefore, rural people of the eastern side of the Barasat-I are prone to a higher risk of black-foot disease due to higher level of As. Overall, the groundwater in this block is not suitable and fit for direct drinking. It needs treatment to minimize pollution or contamination, where regular monitoring and analysis is recommended to determine the extent of contamination in the other parts of LGP. The findings of this study will be beneficial to manage and control ground water vulnerability in micro-level for water scientists, policy makers, and researchers as well in sustainable way and must be achieved by 2030.

The rural areas of developing countries are not only underdeveloped in terms of their physical infrastructure but also contain a larger proportion of the poor population as compared to the urban areas reflecting the underdeveloped social infrastructure. A majority of the rural population does not have access to the limited social services and amenities, such as safe drinking water, education, electricity, and health services, and is thus struggling for survival. After the Second World War, some of the East Asian countries launched poverty alleviation programmes and attempted to reduce unemployment and underemployment by promoting the ruralbased industries. Their experience reveals that the rural economy cannot grow only through agriculture grOWth. Sustainable growth requires the creation of non-farm job opportunities that will raise the level of employment and income and, consequently, the standard of living. In the absence of such activities, farm unemployment increases and a large proportion of the jobless labour force tends to seek jobs in the urban informal sector, which creates problems of slums, poverty, and crime in the urban areas. Comprehensive field surveys are generally required to identify the areas which lie in the lower strata of the development ladder and to suggest effective targeting of welfare measures for alleviating poverty.

<div><p><em>The vital role groundwater plays as a decentralized source of drinking water for millions rural and urban families cannot be overstated. In India, where groundwater is used intensively for irrigation and industrial purposes, a variety of land and water-based human activities are causing pollution of this precious resource. There are no estimates of the public health consequences of groundwater pollution as it involves methodological complexities and logistical problems. The groundwater behavior in the Indian sub-continent is highly complicated due to the occurrence of diversified geological formations with considerable litho-logical and chronological variations, complex tectonic framework, climato-logical dissimilarities and various hydro-chemical conditions. Once contamination starts, very little can be done to check it except a total ban on pumping. But this is very difficult, as millions of rural families in India depend on groundwater for sustaining irrigated agriculture and livelihoods. Manufacturing and service industries have high demands for cooling water, processing water and water for cleaning purposes. Groundwater pollution occurs when used water is returned to the hydrological cycle. Haryana is fast emerging as one of the most favoured investment destinations in India. The State has taken lead in terms of planned industrial and urban growth compared to neighboring States, which has resulted in development of vibrant urban and industrial complexes. They dump the wastes in the rivers which results in water pollution. Management of groundwater resources in the Indian context is an extremely complex proposition as it deals with the interactions between the human society and the physical environment. Unplanned depletion of non-renewable groundwater reserves can undermine and potentially erode the economic and social vitality of any community. Hence, there is need to plan the exploitation of non-renewable groundwater resources and guide their utilization with a view to making communities better prepared socio-economically to cope with increasing water stress as aquifer storage is depleted.</em></p></div>

Hydrogeochemical surveys were conducted in parts of the Proterozoic Shillong basin in Meghalaya to locate the unconformity-related uranium deposits, related alteration patterns, and the influence of the rock formations on the groundwater solute chemistry. Shillong Basin comprises Proterozoic metasediments and felsic volcanics of Tyrsad Formation, undeformed arenaceous Barapani Formation with intrusive granites, and metabasic sills and dykes. The groundwater quality is determined for drinking, and domestic-agro-industrial utilities using hydrogeochemical tools and physicochemical parameters. The water is acidic to slightly alkaline and has an oxidizing redox environment, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Dissolve Solids (TDS), and major ions fell below the World Health Organization (WHO) and Indian Standards Institute (ISI) acceptable limits except for Zn, Fe, and SiO2 showing higher concentrations.The sequences of abundance of major cations and trace elements are Fe>Zn>SiO2>Ca2+>Na+ >Mg2+>K+ >U and anions as HCO3>Cl- >SO4 2- .Groundwater character was assessed by ion exchange, simple dissolution, and unusual dissolution mechanisms. The area has dominant CaHCO3, NaHCO3, and restricted CaMgHCO3 type water. Plagioclase dissolution and high SiO2 and cation exchange of Ca for Na were identified. The groundwater indices of Sodium Percent, Kelley’s Index, Sodium Adsorption Ratio, Magnesium Ratio, Electrical Conductivity, TDS, USSL, and Wilcox index were found suitable for agro-industrial uses. Permeability Index is found to be suitable in most areas and the Corrosivity Ratio shows the areas of galvanized pipes and PVC pipes to be used for water supply. AHC analysis shows three distinct groups of water types, as well as the factor analysis, also shows the three prominent factors of water types defining the dimensionality of water types. Magnesium metasomatic alteration zones and Zn anomalous zones are delineated.

A ‘Smart Village’ will provide long-term social, economic, and environmental welfare activity for village community, which will enable and empower enhanced participation in local governance processes, promote entrepreneurship and build more resilient communities. At the same time, a ‘Smart Village’ will ensure proper sanitation facility, good education, better infrastructure, clean drinking water, health facilities, environment protection, resource use efficiency, waste management, renewable energy etc. There is an urgent need for designing and developing ‘Smart Village’, which are independent in providing the services and employment and yet well connected to the rest of the world. The Smart Village concept will be based on the local conditions, infrastructure, available resources in rural area and local demand as well as potential of export of good to urban areas. The present paper examine motivation behind the concept on ‘Smart Village’ is that the technology should acts as a catalyst for development, enabling education and local business opportunities, improving health and welfare, enhancing democratic engagement and overall enhancement of rural village dwellers. In the Indian context, villages are the heart of the nation. So we can achieve socio economic development of the Nation by enlarging the concept of smart villages on improving pattern.

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> In India, there have been only few published studies of Parkinson’s disease (PD) showing a wide range of prevalence. We conducted this study to determine the prevalence of PD in the rural population of Gujarat, in the western region of India. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in the villages of Anand, a district of Gujarat, India, between September 2019 and February 2020. This study used a multistep approach including a screening questionnaire and video recording followed by clinical examination by a neurologist, laboratory evaluation, and brain imaging to evaluate patients with PD. <b><i>Results:</i></b> A total population of 18,896 was screened. The overall crude prevalence of PD was 42.3 per 100,000, and the prevalence over the age of 60 was 308.9 per 100,000 which showed the trend of increasing disease prevalence with age. Their mean duration of illness was 39.3 ± 27.3 months, and more than half of patients with PD had multiple associated nonmotor symptoms and nearly one-third had comorbid anxiety or depression. Environmental factors are important in the pathogenesis of PD, but there was no clear association between patients with PD and certain variables including consumption of well water, exposure to pesticides or other toxins, smoking cigarettes, and drinking alcohol or coffee in our study. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> The present study showed the current epidemiological data of PD from Gujarat, in western India. Further studies across different regions in India need to be encouraged for better understanding of PD prevalence in the Indian population.

With the uncertainties of climate change and the persistence of droughts in the Southwestern US, finding additional renewable water resources is crucial to ensure safe drinking water and attain food security in rural and tribal communities. Rainwater harvesting (RWH), the practice of centralizing, collecting, and storing rainwater for later use, has the potential to help alleviate some water stresses in these communities. Although RWH is not a new concept, it has not been widely practiced in arid and semi-arid environments in the United States. This study assessed the feasibility of rooftop RHW at a small scale, in Peach Springs, Arizona, on the Hualapai Indian Reservation. Working alongside the Federally Recognized Tribal Extension Program (FRTEP) agent for the Hualapai Tribe, this study considered RWH from four prospective buildings to supplement irrigation practices for food production. Due to high standard deviation and coefficient of variation values, annual precipitation amounts were classified into normal, dry, and wet years to assess variability over the last 40 water years. An average total of ~29,285 L could be collected from one of the buildings considered for RWH during the growing season of April to September during a classified normal year. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) AquaCrop model was used to determine the area that can be cultivated with four staple crops, maize, tomatoes, dry beans, and sunflowers, which are currently being grown in the community garden, solely using the captured rainwater. Cultivable areas range from 8.7 m2 to 71 m2 depending on the catchment size, crop, and classified precipitation year—a wet, dry, or normal precipitation year. A total of 81.2 kg of dry corn could be harvested during a normal precipitation year, solely using the collected rainwater from one of the buildings.

This article attempts to measure the equality of opportunity among children in India at state level based on two waves (2004–2005 and 2011–2012) of data from Indian Human Development Survey. The measurement of access to basic services adjusted for differences associated with circumstances and commonly known as the Human Opportunity Index (HOI) is used following the World Bank methodology. This article also adopts multidimensional framework and modifies the HOI to account for access to multiple services to individuals and thus terms it as Multidimensional Human Opportunity Index (MHOI). The change in the MHOI between the two periods, 2004–2005 and 20011–2012, has been decomposed into scale effect and distribution effect. The findings show that the opportunities to access services are quite low and inequitable at all-India level, except in access to safe drinking water. Over the period of seven years, there is an increase in MHOI and much of it is due to the scale effect and not so much due to the distribution effect. Among the circumstance variables, location of residence and per capita expenditure were found to be crucial in influencing equitable access to basic services. Most of the BIMARU states had low and inequitable access to opportunities. Further, the location of residence (rural/urban) was an important factor in influencing access to services at the state level, with low levels of access in rural areas compared to urban areas. In the light of empirical findings, policy options are suggested.

In India, around 43% of its children under the age of five are malnourished or undernourished. Malnutrition is more common in India than in sub-Saharan Africa. It is estimated that one in every three malnourished children in the world live in India. The Millions of Indian children are deprived of their right to survival, health nutrition, education and safe drinking water. It is reported that 63% of them go to bread hungry, 53% suffer from malnutrition. Deaths in children constitute more than 34% of total deaths in India. Seven out of ten of these deaths are due to respiratory infections, diarrhoea and malnutrition. There is high under five morbidity and mortality in India. hence a study was conducted from 06Feb. 2019 to 17June 2019 to assess the Impact Of Structured Educational Programme On Knowledge Regarding Malnutrition& Its Prevention Among Mothers of Under Five Children Residing In Selected Rural Area At Sikar City (Rajasthan). A pre-experimental, one group pre-test, post-test design was used without a control group on 400 Mothers of under Five Children. The technique used in the study is Non probability convenient sampling technique and result hows that knowledge regarding malnutrition & its prevention among mothers of under five children who have participate in the study in which 263(65.8%) had Poor knowledge score, 119 (29.8%) had Average knowledge score, and 18 (4.5%)had Good knowledge score. After the implementation of Structured Educational Programme, there is a significant increase level of knowledge of mothers of under five children regarding malnutrition & its prevention.

Abstract Adolescent girls in India carry a disproportionate burden of health and social risks; girls that do not finish secondary education are more likely to have an earlier age of sexual initiation, engage in risky sexual behavior, and consequentially be at greater risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes. This paper presents a comparison of girls in school and girls not in school from 665 participants in rural West Bengal, India. The social cognitive theory (SCT), a comprehensive theoretical model, was used as a framework to describe the personal, behavioral, and environmental factors affecting the lives of these adolescent girls. There were significant differences between girls in and out of school in all three categories of the SCT; girls in school were more likely to have heard of sexually transmitted diseases or infections than girls not in school (p<0.0001). Girls in school were also more likely than girls not in school to boil water before drinking (p=0.0078), and girls in school lived in dwellings with 2.3 rooms on average, whereas girls not in school lived in dwellings with only 1.7 rooms (p<0.0001). Indian adolescent girls who are not in school are disadvantaged both economically and by their lack of health knowledge and proper health behaviors when compared with girls who are still in school. In addition, to programs to keep girls in school, efforts should also be made to provide informal education to girls not in school to improve their health knowledge and behaviors.

Half of the population of our country is women. Therefore, the overall development of the country cannot happen without the participation of women. In India from time immemorial women worked side by side with men in every walk of life. Indian women have been making useful contributions in every field of national life, in the fields, barns, factories, offices, hospitals, apart from handling the entire household chores. Whether it is a campaign to spread literacy in the villages, or to provide employment to the youth of the village, the problem of drinking water in the village or to protect the crops from diseases, all these tasks are done by rural women with mutual cooperation and everyone's participation in the development works. Sure, you can. Only women can contribute and lead in the direction of prevention of increasing population, protection of environment, providing nutritious and balanced diet to children and above all achieving maximum self-reliance of local resources. Therefore, women have an important role in Panchayati Raj institutions as well. Abstract in Hindi Language: हमारे देश की जनसंख्या का आधा हिस्सा महिलाएं हैं। अतः देश का समग्र विकास महिलाओं की भागीदारी के बगैर नहीं हो सकता। भारत में अनादि काल से जीवन के हर क्षेत्र में महिलाओं ने पुरुषों के साथ मिलकर काम किया। भारतीय महिलाएं घर-गृहस्थी का पूरा काम-काज निपटाने के साथ-साथ राष्ट्रीय जीवन के हर क्षेत्र में खेतों, खलिहानों, कल-कारखानों, दफ्तरों, अस्पतालों में उपयोगी योगदान करती आई हैं। चाहे गांवों में साक्षरता के प्रसार का अभियान हो, या गांव के युवकों को रोजगार उपलब्ध कराने का मामला हो, गांव में पीने के पानी की समस्या अथवा फसलों को बीमारियों से बचाना हो यह सब कार्य ग्रामीण महिलाएं ही आपसी सहयोग और विकास कार्यों में सबकी भागीदारी सुनिश्चित करके कर सकती हैं। बढती आबादी की रोकथाम, पर्यावरण की रक्षा, बच्चों को पौष्टिक व संतुलित आहार देने और इन सबसे बढ़कर स्थानीय संसाधनों की अधिकाधिक आत्मनिर्भरता प्राप्त करने की दिशा में महिलाएं ही अपना योगदान और नेतृत्व दे सकती हैं। अतः पंचायती राज संस्थानों में भी महिलाओं की अहम् भूमिका हैं। Keywords: पंचायत, ग्राम राज, महिलाओं, संस्थानों

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> A majority of Indians living in rural areas still primarily depend on agriculture for their sustenance. The water requirement is thus constantly high with groundwater being the most widely used source for domestic, agricultural and industrial use. More than 90% of the rural and nearly 30% of the urban populations depend on groundwater for meeting their drinking and domestic requirements causing an ever-rising demand for groundwater resources, resulting in an increase of the stress on these reservoirs and their consequent pollution. Water resources development occupies a key place in India because of its role in stabilizing the Indian agro-economy. Groundwater is a dynamic and replenishable natural resource but in hard rock terrain availability of groundwater is of limited extent.</p><p>This work attempts to present an overview of groundwater utilisation in the different blocks of Puruliya district, West Bengal and particularly within Puruliya Town (Municipality). Being a semi-arid district, Puruliya experiences hot and dry summers. Groundwater in the district occurs at shallow depths within the weathered mantle, fractural zones of hard rock, and narrow zones of unconsolidated sediments which are utilized by developing dug wells. During the peak of long and harsh summers, most of these openings dry out and there occurs a severe scarcity of water.</p><p> The objectives are:</p><ul><li>Block-wise assessment of groundwater fluctuation (recharge &amp;amp; utilization), types of irrigation structures and present utilization status.</li><li>To examine the groundwater abstraction and use in Puruliya town – the district headquarter.</li><li>Remote sensing studies for locating weak zones and for understanding factors influencing groundwater movement in different geomorphologic setup.</li><li>To highlight the problems associated with groundwater use and investigate possible solutions.</li></ul><p> The following study is mostly done based on secondary data collected from various Central and State Government offices. The various data used and their sources are as follows:</p><ol><li>District level groundwater reports from Central Groundwater Board, Eastern Region, Kolkata.</li><li>District and ward level administrative, land use and land cover, geomorphology and groundwater maps and statistics from Puruliya Town Municipality.</li><li>Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission Digital Elevation Model (SRTM DEM data for preparation of elevation and drainage maps along with Survey of India topographical maps (73E, 73I, 73J – R.F. – 1&amp;thinsp;:&amp;thinsp;250,000) for preparing several base maps.</li><li>Lineament extraction and mapping using SRTM DEM to show possible fracture zones that might be used for future groundwater abstraction.</li><li>Collating different reports together and preparing thematic maps to show the groundwater utilisation status of the different blocks in Puruliya district.</li></ol><p>The work analyzes the correlations between the physiography, geomorphology, geology, hydrogeology, soils, climate and land use &amp;ndash; land cover of the region with the groundwater zones. The present level of groundwater utilization in the district is mapped. Amount and quality of groundwater extracted, the levels of groundwater abstraction development block-wise are examined along with the different types of mechanical structures related to this. The nature of groundwater level fluctuation throughout the district at the Block level, in the Pre-Monsoon and Post-Monsoon season is also depicted and the long term terns of the peizometric surface behaviour analysed from these maps. The Block level utilisation as well the ward level utilisation of groundwater in the District Headquarter, Puruliya Town is mapped. A small attempt is also made to delineate some potential groundwater zones through lineament mapping and correlation with the earlier mapped variables. Problems faced in groundwater exploitation here and its ambient quality is also examined.</p>

Modern sociology has a special look at the three associated variables of environment, water and energy. The three variables are not in a harmonial state in many parts of the globe. Some have access to two, or not sufficient to one. Only a few countries are in an equilibrium state of the three. For example, many African countries are in short fall of water and energy. What sociologists suggest is to bring about resources enough as far as the three parts are concerned. In the past, the threefold relationship was less considered and measured, but currently with the heavy weight of population over 7.8 billion world over (WPDS, 2020), balance between the three is inevitable. While population all over the world has increased considerably, water resources have not increased in the same way. Moreover, in the past, population dependency on energy was not that much. But, in the industrial age of today, man is highly in need of energy of different types to maintain life. However, waste and wastewater have become problematic in current age and in most parts of the world. The emerging situation is polluting environment, seas and water streams. It is more observable in less developed world than the developed world. Therefore, the water and energy crisis is wide and ongoing. It is discussed elaborately in the present article. However, national security could be accessible only if water-energy policies are there (Bauer et el. 2014). Introduction The threefold relationship of environment, water and energy is very important from a sociological point of view. Although in the past these three variables were less considered, and their relationship with each other has been less measured, at the same time, following the comprehensive development of modern societies, the tripartite relationship of these variables is inevitable today. To have a healthy environment, enough water resources and enough energy, you must always invest in it. While energy is highly dependent on water, the supply and transfer of water, and the disposal and transfer of wastewater also require energy. Therefore, water and energy, while being necessary for each other, also ensure the health and safety of individuals. Existence of lakes, dams and other similar sources generate energy through and with the power of these elements. At the same time, energy itself transports water resources from one region to another. It also happens with the energy power of the waste disposal system or system. Otherwise, the health of individuals and the health of society in general will face irreparable risks. In the past, when such facilities were less available, many health problems arose that eventually led to an increase in mortality. Therefore, in order to have a healthy environment, providing water and energy resources is very vital and inevitable. Likewise, drinking water itself needs energy for purification and purification operations, and re-pumping to consumers. This means that any interaction regarding the sanitation of water, its purification, its displacement, etc., is itself highly dependent on energy. These conditions ultimately lead to greater well-being, health and security. While developed societies have more or less achieved these possibilities over the last century or so, non-industrial societies have recently been able to implement such schemes; That is, a strategy that leads to better health for them. Where there is a shortage of clean drinking water, and water has to be transported over long distances, having energy is extremely important. Countries generally do not have the same amount of water resources for different uses. As a result, in many cases they have to move water from long distances to other places. This kind of movement requires sufficient and sustainable energy, and this makes agricultural exploitation, agricultural prosperity, access to more resources and products, and the like, more practical and achievable. One of the most significant challenges in this regard is within African countries; That is, areas that are generally short of energy, and the aforementioned losses have made it impossible for such communities to make good use of their potential resources (agricultural land); As a result, poverty and scarcity are widespread in such societies. Method of ResearchMethodology used in the present article is of qualitative type. In that, various paradigms have been used to find out about the facts regarding pandemics during the history. Qualitative research usually studies people, events or areas in their natural settings. In finding facts for the research, the researcher engaged in careful data collection and thoughtful analysis of what was relevant. In the documentary research applied for the present research, printed and written materials were widely regarded. The research was performed as a qualitative library-type in which the researcher had to refer to the relevant and related sources. In the current research, various documents were thoroughly investigated, and the needful inferences were made. The data fed by the investigator in the present article is hopefully reliable. Though literature on pandemics is very limited, yet the author tried to investigate many different resources in order to elicit the necessary information to build up the text. Energy and waterMany of the problems of the society will be reduced if all the people of a society have adequate access to energy and water. It means the safety of water for drinking and sanitary consumption (UNDP: 2015). Access to water and energy also greatly contributes to improving the quality of life. At the same time, access to these resources greatly contributes to the health of the environment, its preservation and maintenance. Today, many less developed communities face increasing population, population density, and mass migration to urban areas. They face water and energy constraints. This has caused the environment to be directly and indirectly affected, and in a negative way. Overpopulation in urban areas, on the one hand, and water scarcity, on the other, put many green space resources at risk of extinction. Therefore, urban environmental planners must always adjust and consider the relocation and resettlement of the population in accordance with water and energy resources. This statement can be applied to all human societies, and it means that energy and water are inseparable. For example, energy is inevitably needed to cool biofuels (hydropower) or water-based power plants, and so on, to access water sources or safe water. In other words, to transfer water from one area to another, or to pump water for change or desalination, we need sufficient and appropriate energy. Therefore, countries should always pay enough attention to these two sources in their planning path. However, many traditional water sources such as springs, aqueducts and the like are being destroyed in many communities. Likewise, following the general warming of the earth, water scarcity is felt more than ever in different communities. On the other hand, following the consumption of more and more population, the need for water directly and indirectly is always increasing. Given this scenario, environmental planners must always take new practical measures to meet the growing needs of their citizens. From a sociological point of view, basic human needs cannot be met without energy and water. That is, it provided food for the growing population, and sustained economic growth. Many societies today need more food, even than in previous years. In other words, more per capita should be considered for them in terms of food, services, agricultural resources and the like. This means that as the quality of life improves, so does the expectation of consumption. In such circumstances, the community in question needs more water resources. While many societies are in such a situation. Future consumption needs are less predictable. Rising prices for food and consumables around the world in recent years are evidence of this claim. That is, many societies around the world over the past decades have not paid attention to the current years (decades) of the 21st century. At the same time (today) (1.3 billion) 1.3 billion people in the world do not have access to electricity, and about 800 million people get their water from unhealthy sources. These conditions lead to many diseases, health problems, personal and social threats and other deprivations. Therefore, considering the natural trend of population growth, which is generally 2% per year or more in developing countries, the forecast and increase of water and energy resources is of crucial importance. As noted, nearly one-seventh of the world's population is now forced to use polluted water resources, which threatens the health of current and even future generations. Therefore, environmental sociologists must always measure and predict population growth index and water resources index together. Many African countries today are in such a situation. That is, a situation whose unhealthy conditions can be transferred to other communities. It's about the same billion people suffering from poverty, hunger and deprivation, and over the next thirty years the demand for food and energy will increase at an unprecedented rate. However, a high proportion of the population, or in other words one-seventh of the world's population, faces food deprivation. While by 2050 the world population will increase from the current 7.2 billion (2013) to more than 9.2 billion, during this time the expectations of individuals, their way of life and the different needs of citizens in different societies will also increase. . These conditions will further exacerbate food and energy problems. Therefore, social planners should distribute their urban and rural population in proportion to their water and energy resources. If more population pressure is applied to urban areas, it will put additional pressure on water and energy resources. However, many human societies today still rely on the same water resources to sustain their lives, economic growth and their environment. In a situation where the share of the population is increasing, effective and productive sources of agricultural and food production. That is, water and energy resources must also increase, otherwise many products. Food production, agricultural production and the like are more or less failing. Under such circumstances, more migration will inevitably occur, which in itself has a negative impact on the environment. This trend is more related to less developed countries than industrialized and developed countries. Improving communities and ecosystemsPutting water and energy on the agenda (from a systemic point of view). How it was developed and managed must be pursued at the local, national, regional and global levels. Water and energy as two influential and vital factors today should be regularly included in development plans, sufficient budgets should be allocated to them, and as mentioned, they should be pursued at different levels and in a participatory manner. In this way, water and energy supply can be achieved to some extent. Likewise, specialized departments, in partnership with other institutions, must make the necessary predictions in proportion to time and place. Therefore, water, energy and food supply will play a central role in the importance and environmental health of communities. Due to increasing population, urban population density, population growth, and changing lifestyles, the need for water, energy and food is felt more than ever in the past. Today, however, a significant portion of the world's population cannot easily meet these needs. Therefore, countries, both independently and in partnership with other communities, must meet the growing needs for water, energy and food as much as possible. In this way, the quality of life in these communities also improves. Many Third World countries, and African countries in general, face severe restrictions in the water, energy and food sectors. The issue of energy and water in general is important in two ways. That is, in terms of the opportunities and challenges of society, and the elimination of many of the growing needs in different societies. Water and energy, while creating opportunities, on the other hand, and in conditions of scarcity or scarcity, water inevitably brings challenges and limitations. Opportunities mean that in the conditions of having sufficient water and energy, economic-agricultural development takes place in its desired form. That is, a movement that itself provides more added value. With the opportunity in question, this situation will lead to more investment, more income, and ultimately more per capita GDP. That is, what leads to an improvement in the quality of life. Few countries have achieved this today. However, many developing societies today and in the years to come will face a water and energy crisis. The problem itself requires more studies, more investment and more international cooperation. Population, economy and energy and water demandThe production and use of energy and water in its national form is a significant necessity in order to meet the basic needs and develop opportunities for the people. Energy supply means access to clean, reliable and revenue-generating energy services for cooking, heating, lighting, communications and productive uses (United Nations: 2010). The supply of water resources and the production of energy required due to the growing needs, today is the first level of importance in different countries. The provision of these resources in its national and global form must be considered, otherwise uncontrolled migration from places without water and energy to other places will inevitably take place. That is, the flow that ultimately leads to environmental problems in various forms. This process leads to housing constraints, transportation problems, and many socio-economic disadvantages. Therefore, social planners, environmental sociologists, and economists must always have adequate oversight and effective forecasting in the water and energy sectors. Water and energy themselves provide food security. It means providing and accessing adequate, healthy and nutritious food that meets the daily nutritional needs and nutritional preferences for a healthy and active life (FAO: 1996). In any case, both energy and water cross national borders in some cases, thereby facilitating international cooperation. Today, following the need of countries for these two factors, new relations have emerged between countries. Whereas in the distant past, water currents flowed easily from one country to another, today for this movement. Contracts and treaties are concluded. Similarly, while countries today need more energy (for example, electricity), cooperation and areas of trade and transmission of electricity between countries are taking place. In this way, the fields of economic cooperation between countries have increased. That is, it provides conditions that improve agriculture, improve the environment, and provide more food, and so on. Cooperation between neighbors in this way provides benefits sharing, profitability, access to more food and water-related products. As the population of countries has increased in recent decades, and on the other hand, the need for food has increased, this has made the connection between countries more and more in terms of water and energy transmission. Is. Improved global water, energy and food supply conditions can be achieved through a cohesive policy. It means adopting a method in terms of management and administration, integrated in all sections and scales (WWF Retrieved). At the international level, ongoing crises such as energy, food, financial issues, and the like indicate systemic interdependence. If the needs related to the mentioned indicators such as energy, water and food are not met in an adequate level, the society will face various crises. Under such circumstances, the standard of living declines. That is, comfort, access to the required material goods, income, employment, domestic products, and inflation are all affected by the declining trend in living standards (Retrieved: 2011). For example, in the absence of energy and water, many villagers migrate to urban areas. That is, a movement that itself leads to crises such as environmental pollution, transportation, population density, destruction of the urban environment and the like. Such crises also lead to greater challenges to personal and social health. Therefore, the water and energy crisis poses many and ongoing challenges. Sociologists in general and environmental sociologists in particular evaluate and predict these conditions. Developing countries face serious challenges in achieving their Millennium Development Goals by 2015, and their close and intimate relationships with water, energy and food need to be re-examined to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Developing countries must always anticipate their coming years by turning to water and energy resources. That is, such facilities that lead to the provision of food. However, such countries face unforeseen challenges and problems due to their increasing population on the one hand, and their extensive migration to urban areas on the other hand. Sociologists have always advised that greater individual and social health be achieved through access to adequate sources of water and energy, otherwise there will be many challenges in the lives of different strata. Likewise, the emergence of new injuries endangers individual and social health in various forms. Energy and water balanceEnergy and water are two important factors in urban development. Any industrial development and access to more industrial products, and more processing itself requires more energy and water resources. In the absence of these two sources, urban communities are largely exposed to economic stagnation, unemployment, and consequently economic inflation. This also leads to a decline in quality of life. Therefore, in proportion to the capacities related to their water and energy resources, they should welcome urban development. Today, many developing communities are facing this problem (restrictions on water and energy resources) in urban areas due to the general increase in their population, and migration from rural to urban areas. Fast-growing cities are heavily dependent on energy and water supply. But at the same time, they must reduce water demand, manage relevant trade, and make good use of their water resources. That is, through the reuse of water, the recycling of water and the production of energy from waste and the like. In a coherent and coordinated manner for industrial development, the use and reuse of energy and water is essential, in order to increase scarce resources and save costs. That is, during the production and management of waste, the motivation for social-environmental responsibility should be strengthened as much as possible through sustainable production. The relationship between energy and water is not only quantitative, but also water quality, water pollution, water pollution and the like must be considered. Different countries and societies, given their growing needs on the one hand, and the scarcity of water resources on the other hand, must always make multiple uses of the available water resources. It means recycling a lot of used water and reusing it in other fields and the like. Otherwise, the limitation and shortage of water resources will lead to food shortages. Therefore, continuous monitoring of its water resources to a large extent ensures the health and quality of life in urban and rural areas as much as possible. The connection between water and energy is inseparable, especially in urban areas. That is, city life depends on these two elements (Sustainca: 2015). Disseminate information on water and energyAccess to information and dissemination of data in the field of energy and water resources, or in other words, management of water resources, etc., is itself a major challenge in most societies today. Many countries, especially in less developed societies, do not have enough information about their water resources, water needs, future water resources, and water management in general. Therefore, based on estimates, such communities will sooner or later face challenges and problems due to water shortages. Therefore, from the sociological point of view of the environment, these communities should prioritize studies and information gathering in this regard as part of their plans, given the increase in their population and water consumption. Green infrastructure facilities, and nature conservation, provide significant services in protecting communities from floods and overheating, dust control, etc. It means strengthening green infrastructure (Benedict: 1947). The complexity of energy and water development decisions often requires some kind of modeling (or hybrid model), based on which an integrated support system is developed and maintained. To meet their water needs, countries must use newer and more advanced methods and models. Likewise, the link between less developed and more developed countries, in order to benefit from their experiences, can itself help in making decisions about energy and water development in less developed societies. Otherwise, the scope of the crisis will expand further in the coming years. Such developments include water and energy economics, their ecological impacts, social criteria, and economic tools that can be measured through choices. In other words, calculating and measuring their water and energy resources as effective methods help these countries in providing water resources. In general, today water and energy resources in its scientific form should be evaluated, measured and predicted. The bridge between science, politics and peopleDialogue or science, politics and people in the field of energy and water based on knowledge and education (literacy), indicates that energy and water need improvement and development. That is, effective efforts must be made in this regard. Innovations in technology, management and the like. In this way, a bridge between science, politics and people can be created. By creating such a tripartite relationship, energy and water resources can be fundamentally managed. At the same time, science and technology must be aligned with, and aligned with, energy and water policy.Otherwise, the challenges and shortcomings of energy and water constraints will become more and more widespread. In a situation where the global population has increased to more than 7.2 billion people today, and at the same time social, economic, service and similar needs have increased more than ever in the past, the use of science and technology to Providing as much energy and water as possible is inevitable. This connection can also be explained by the fact that human beings are inseparable from nature. As any damage to nature by man, man himself is subsequently harmed (Rights of Mother Earth: 2011). As far as developing countries are concerned, such efforts should be made to expand capacities at all levels. By creating such connections or putting them on the agenda, the necessary coordination between the environment, water and energy is achieved. Therefore, capacity building at different levels, including urban and rural areas, industrial and agricultural capacity, human capacity, both men and women, each play a role in providing resources related to water, energy and a healthy environment. ConclusionSociologically speaking, basic human needs cannot be met without energy and water. Currently, over 1.3 billion people in the world do not have access to electricity, and over 800 million people get their water from unhealthy sources. Such conditions lead to many diseases, health problems, personal and social threats, and other deprivations. As noted earlier, one-seventh of world's population is currently forced to use polluted water resources which threatens the health of generations. Therefore, environmental sociologists must always measure and predict the population growth index and water resources index together. However, many human societies still rely on the same water resources to sustain their lives, their economic growth and their environment. Water and energy as two influential and vital factors should be regularly included in development plans, and sufficient budgets need to be allocated to them. Eventually, it must be noted that water, energy and food supply play a central role in the environmental health of communities. References: Bauer, D.; et al. "The Water-Energy Nexus: Challenges and Opportunities". US Department of Energy. 2014. Benedict, M.A.; et al. Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes and Communities. 1947. California Sustainability Alliance, Cynthia, Truelove, Senior Water Policy Analyst, California Public Utilities Commission. FAO. Rome Declaration on World Food Security and World Food Summit Plan of Action, World Food Summit 13-17, November 1996, Rome. Nexus Resource. Right of Mother Earth, Bolivia UN, Bolovian.net, Retrieved 2011. Standard of Living Definition, Investopedia.com, Retrieved 2011. UNDP: Millennium Development Goals, Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability. 2015. UN Secretary General's Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change (AGECC), Summary Report and Recommendations, 28 April 2010, P.13. World Population Data Sheet, Population Reference Bureau, Washington DC. 2020.

Abstract Household reverse osmosis (RO)-based water purifiers have gained popularity in India due to concerns about the quality of tap water. However, the widespread adoption of these systems has significant impacts on water pricing and the environment. The objective of this study was to assess the techno-economic performance and life cycle assessment (LCA) of household RO-based water purifiers in Srinagar city of North India. Our results demonstrate that household ROs reduce the concentration of important dietary minerals such as fluoride and magnesium in drinking water by 50%. In addition, the average total water cost from a household RO is three to four times more than what is being paid for tap water. Two different scenarios were compared in LCA. The first scenario was safe drinking water from a conventional drinking water treatment plant (scenario 1), while the second scenario was water from a household RO system (scenario 2). The results showed that the environmental impacts of abiotic depletion, acidification of water bodies, eutrophication, global warming and ozone depletion in scenario 2 were higher than in scenario 1. The findings infer that water utilities should encourage citizens to rely on conventional tap water as a cheaper and environmentally friendly option compared to household ROs.

Ensuring a continuous water supply (CWS) for households is beneficial for the current global drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene agenda. Despite improvements in water supply, intermittent water supply (IWS) remains prevalent in rural areas. To determine the factors that lead to different water supply modes for villages, we select 38 village-level water utilities covered by the Chinese Safe Drinking Water Project for fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis to identify causal configurations (‘pathways’) that lead to IWS or CWS across systems. Six configurations of water supply mode are identified on the basis of the outcomes of each case. Among these, three configurations for adopting CWS are determined. Configuration 1 features water utility with government subsidy and bills using a water meter. Configuration 2 features water utility with small population coverage, government subsidy, and villager participation in the management. Configuration 3 features a water utility collectively managed and owned by a rich village and water-saving initiatives. Configurations that lack meter-based bills, government subsidies, and water-saving initiatives are the main paths for IWS. Results highlight the uniqueness of the configurational approach in understanding different water supply patterns across various cases and emphasise the importance of government subsidies, villager participation, water-saving programmes, and water meter-based billing to achieve CWS.

Access to civic amenities improves the quality of life as well as helps to overcome various health-related problems. The focus of the present study is to examine the caste-based premarket discrimination concerning access to civic amenities and healthcare facilities in rural Punjab. The primary data, collected from 12 villages of Punjab during the year 2015–2016, is analysed applying the univariate analysis technique. The analyses prove that the Scheduled Castes (SC), compared with non-SC households, have low access to the basic civic amenities of safe drinking water, drainage and toilet facility. A similar disadvantageous position of SC vis-à-vis non-SC households exists in rural Punjab so far as the ownership of the durable household assets of entertainment, household utilities, tools of information and communication technology, and means of transportation are concerned. The SC and non-SC were found to have equal access to the available healthcare facilities; nevertheless, both caste groups received different treatment from the medical staff.

Abstract The present study was carried out to assess the water availability, hygiene practices, and sanitary conditions in the households of open defecation-free (ODF) villages after achieving ODF status. Monitoring was conducted from 360 households of 9 ODF villages from 3 blocks of the Kurukshetra district of north India, using a questionnaire. The results interpreted that 78.33% of the surveyed population were using water supplied from government borewells and 65.55% of respondents agreed that their water is safe for drinking as they did not have any water-related diseases. Many respondents (57.2%) replied that someone in their family had suffered from waterborne disease in the preceding year. About 42.8% of households were treating their drinking water at the house level through methods like boiling, chlorination, and reverse osmosis systems. 90.8% of respondents said that they have access to a functional latrine facility. However, 5% population responded that they still prefer fields for open defecation (OD). Logistic regression results showed that the presence of garbage or litter and the stagnant water near the household were associated with an increased risk of disease occurrence among the households. The findings suggested that people should maintain good sanitation and hygiene in their household surroundings to avoid health problems.

AbstractBacterial antibiotic resistance is an important global health threat and the interfaces of antibiotic resistance between humans, animals and the environment are complex. We aimed to determine the associations and overtime trends of antibiotic resistance between humans, animals and water sources from the same area and time and estimate attribution of the other sources to cases of human antibiotic resistance. A total of 125 children (aged 1–3 years old) had stool samples analysed for antibiotic-resistant bacteria at seven time points over two years, with simultaneous collection of samples of animal stools and water sources in a rural Indian community. Newey–West regression models were used to calculate temporal associations, the source with the most statistically significant relationships was household drinking water. This is supported by use of SourceR attribution modelling, that estimated the mean attribution of cases of antibiotic resistance in the children from animals, household drinking water and wastewater, at each time point and location, to be 12.6% (95% CI 4.4–20.9%), 12.1% (CI 3.4–20.7%) and 10.3% (CI 3.2–17.3%) respectively. This underlines the importance of the ‘one health’ concept and requires further research. Also, most of the significant trends over time were negative, suggesting a possible generalised improvement locally.

Introduction: Of all natural resources, water is one of the most essential and precious resources. It forms 70% of our body weight and acts as a necessary vehicle for all metabolic processes in the body. Water is exposed to various contaminants animal wastes, human wastes, etc. which affect the biological quality of water. So, water quality monitoring becomes an essential component for formulating measures and addressing the issues to safeguard public health. Aim: To assess the bacteriological quality of drinking water in a rural tertiary healthcare institute in Haryana. Materials and Methods: This descriptive, record-based, retrospective study was conducted in Bhagat Phool Singh Government Medical College for Women Khanpur, Kalan, Sonepat, Haryana, India (rural tertiary healthcare institute), from 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2018. The water samples were collected, transported, and analysed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for drinking water quality assessment and the Indian Council Medical Research (ICMR). Incomplete records with respect to inadequate samples and reporting issue were excluded from the study. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. Results: Out of a total of 422 tested water samples 244 (58%) were found satisfactory while 178 (42%) unsatisfactory i.e. unfit for human consumption. From March to mid-June (summer season) 56 (31%) and from mid-June to mid-September (rainy season) 74 (42%) of water samples were found unsatisfactory while, 63 (26%) water samples were observed fit for human consumption in mid-September to mid-December (postmonsoon season) and 76 (31%) in mid-December to February season (winter season). Seasonal variations were recorded for water quality reporting. Conclusion: Comprehensive planning and feasible approach are to be followed prior to hot weather and rainy season for the provision of safe and potable drinking water

Large scale migration of people from rural areas (villages) to cities is creating Socio – economic problems in both the places including environmental degradation. Major contribution is from inadequate garbage removal system and indiscrete use of fossil fuels. Typical examples are cities Delhi and Bangalore. Setting up suitable industries in rural locations will reduce migration of rural population to cities and reduce the environmental pollution there. Besides agro based industries, recycling of used packaging to produce new products has been suggested in this article due to growing consumption of the same, availability of raw material from waste collection, as well as, other pertinent aspects including economic, social and other benefits. Also, by collection and recycling discarded packaging, the volume of garbage and hence environmental pollution will be reduced. The benefits and necessity of replacing fossil fuels by renewable sources like Solar and biofuels has also been discussed. The industries will provide “on the job “training to the local population and contribute to skill development. This will be of help in operating and maintaining modern farm machinery and equipment. Also, as part of their social responsibility, the units will contribute to development of the locality by promoting hygiene, education, sports and cultural activities, providing clean drinking water etc. Mahatma Gandhi’s idea to develop the Indian society was based on his understanding of the rural society and hence based on the village system. Talking about the importance of village, he wrote in 1936, “I would say if the village perishes, India will perish too. It will be no more India” which is more relevant today than it was at his time.

Ferðaþjónusta er ört vaxandi atvinnugrein á Íslandi. Hún eykur álag á marga innviði samfélagsins þar með talið stóraukið álag á vatnsveitukerfi í dreifbýli. Í þessari rannsókn var örveruástand hjá 444 minni vatnsveitum greint úr gagnagrunni um reglubundið eftirlit frá 7 heilbrigðiseftirlitssvæðum á Íslandi. Rannsakað var hvernig neysluvatn uppfyllir reglugerð varðandi heildargerlafjölda, kólígerla, og E.coli. Niðurstöðurnar sýna að minnstu vatnsveitur í dreifbýli sem þjóna ferðamönnum hafa mun meira af örverum en aðrar í sama stærðarflokki og enn meiri munur er þegar borið er saman við vatnsveitur sem þjóna fleirum en 500 manns. Ástæður þessa eru líklega meðal annars erfiðleikar við að ráða við breytilegt árstíðabundið álag, takmörkuð þjónusta á afskekktum stöðum, og óljós ábyrgð. Tourism is a rapidly growing industry in Iceland, which increases pressure on the society infrastructure, including greatly increased stress on water supplies in rural areas. In this research microbiological condition at 444 small water utilities was analyzed based on data from regular surveillance from 7 Local Competent Authorities in Iceland. Compliance with the Icelandic drinking regulation with regard to Heterotrophic Plate Counts, Total coliform and E.coli was studied. The results show that the water supplies in rural areas that serve tourists have far more microbes than others in the same size class and there are even greater differences when compared to water supplies that serve more than 500 people. The reasons for this are likely to include an inability to cope with variable seasonal loads, limited service in remote locations, and unclear accountability.

Populace blast combined with urbanization has raised the interest for water bringing about its shortage. With industrialization, the quantum of waste water produced too has taken off up justifying proper measures for use of the equivalent. We are here putting a stage forward to use the mechanical effluents in development industry. Practically all businesses dismiss there effluents either into rural terrains or into normal water bodies. We are thinking about the gushing waste water which is being placed in rural terrains from sugarcane businesses. Since the use of sugarcane modern waste water was not successfully done as such far, we accepting this task as a test. We gathered water tests and tests were directed to know its qualities. We directed tests to know pH and the outcome was contrasted and the Indian guidelines IS 10500 (2012) for drinking water. As the water utilized for drinking reason that the sugarcane modern waste water can be used for development purposes. As a second step we need to cast lab scale solid squares of M20 grade and ought to be tried for different new concrete and solidified solid tests. The side-effects of sugarcane like bag gash, press mud are utilized as substitutions of totals; we without a doubt accept that our venture will become achievement. With the ebb and flow water shortage in India there is a need to search for interchange hotspot for solid creation. By doing this undertaking we can move the solid business towards zero release office, and in this manner decreasing the wastage of a valuable normal asset.

Increasing demand for water from agriculture, industrial and domestic sectors, resulted in stress on the water resources both from quantity and quality perspectives. Due to urbanization many of the dyeing units have shifted from urban to nearby rural areas. Here safe disposal of untreated effluent from the dyeing units is a challenge and is often let into nearby water bodies. Pandravedu Lake, located in Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu, India is one such case were the present study is carried out. Water samples were collected from twelve locations during pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, in pre-cleaned polyethylene cans and analyzed for physico-chemical parameters like pH, total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, total alkalinity, total hardness, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, nitrate, chloride, fluoride and sulphate following the standard analytical procedures recommended by American Public Health Association (2005).The analytical results indicated that 40% to 70% of samples exceeded the drinking water quality standards prescribed by Bureau of Indian standards (BIS, 2012). Water quality index computed indicate that both the bore wells that supply drinking water to the village falls in very poor category (101 – 150) across three seasons. Correlation analysis indicated that seasonal changes in correlation among the parameters are linked to the fluctuations of wastewater discharge and its characteristics.

Abstract Background Clean water and sanitation are global public health issues. Safe drinking water and sanitation are essential, especially for children, to prevent acute and chronic illness death and sustain a healthy life. The UN General Assembly announced the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets for the 2030 Agenda on 25 September 2015. SDG 6 is very important because it affects other SDG (1, 2,3,5,11,14 and 15). The present study deals with the national and state-wise analysis of the current status and to access deficiency of India's achievement towards SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation for all) for the 2030 agenda based on targets 6.1, 6.2,6.4,6.6 from 2012 to 2020. Materials and methods Data of different indicators of SDG 6 are collected from different secondary sources—NSS 69th (2012) and 76th (2018) round; CGWB annual report 2016–2017 and 2018-2019; NARSS (2019–2020); SBM-Grameen (2020). To understand overall achievement towards SDG 6 in the 2030 agenda, the goal score (arithmetic mean of normalised value) has been calculated. Major findings According to NSS data, 88.7% of Indian households had enough drinking water from primary drinking water sources throughout the year, while 79.8% of households had access to toilet facilities in 2018. As per the 2019–2021 goal score for States and UTs in rural India based on SDG 6 indicator, SDG 6 achiever States and UTs (100%) are Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Conclusion Drinking water and sanitation for all ensure a healthy life. It is a matter of concern for the government, policymakers, and people to improve the condition where the goal score and indicator value of SDG 6 are low.