Report 2011 - Deepalaya

PUBLIC WATER – SANITATION OF THE WATER
Picture 1: Scheme of a Tube-Well
Safe drinking water supply plays an important role in prevention of intestinal infectious diseases. “As of 2003, it
was estimated that only 30% of India’s wastewater was being treated. Much of the rest—amounting to millions
of liters each day—find its way into local rivers and streams 26 .” Important impacts on human health are to be
considered as unsafe disposal of human excreta (e.g. open air defecation) facilitates the transmission of fecaloral
diseases through water contamination. According to a survey, 89% of the population in India has access to
safe water but, only 28% has access to adequate sanitation to use it 27 . In this way, even if people have access to
safe drinkable water, poor environmental sanitation is one of the main causes of contamination in water that
increases diseases transmission. An important source of drinkable water in rural areas of India is called Tube
Wells as seen in picture 1.
Tube well is a pipe collecting water from the water-bearing stratum of the soil and it is connected with an
mechanic pump at the top. Water automatically flows out when the tube well is activated and is then stored in
a covered tank from which people take water. It is supposed to be bacteriological safe and it is cheaper than
other water supply. Surroundings 15 m area should be exempt of any pollution e.g. excreta, solid or liquid waste
and living animals to avoid contamination. The pump must be functional, cleaned properly and deeply installed
by engineers in the soil. The life of the tube well is limited even with good repairs, varying on different factors.
Because the tube is not always cleaned properly and pooling water sometimes stays there for a long time,
several bacterias and viruses can develop and live in those tube. Washing clothes or animals, dumping waste
and personal ablutions must be forbidden and top of the reservoir should always be covered to avoid
contamination. In the end, good conditions and utilization of the tube well are essential to get water free from
pathogenic agents and harmful chemicals substances, and keep it uncolored and free of odor 28 .
Knowing all possible routes of contamination of a tube well, it is easy to understand that if the tank is removed
from the top of the pump, a safer access to get drinkable and soil-purified water would be available. It
constitutes a hand-pump working with human power. Nevertheless, this way to obtain water is frequently
considered as being really hard because people have to pump it every time they need. Furthermore, if well built
and if the area surrounding (at least 15 meters) it is kept away from any sources of contamination, studies have
shown marked improvement of bacteriological quality of the water 29 . This would be the safest way to obtain
water without any subsequent treatment such as boiling water.
Boiling water is an efficient way to kill pathogenic agents. A rolling boiled time of 10 to 20 minutes is enough to
26 Reference 9- p.13
27 Reference 2- p. 617- Table 1
28 Reference 2- p. 617- Table 1
29 Reference 2- p. 620