Jal Choupal for Household Water Security in rural areas - SDG goal 6.1

Abstract

India is facing unprecedented challenges to water security and economic development. NITI Aayog
(Policy Commission) mentioned in its 2018 report that India is facing its ‘worst’ water crisis in
history and that demand for potable water will outstrip supply by 2030 if steps are not taken. Nearly
600 million Indians faced high to extreme water stress and about 2, 00,000 people died every year
due to inadequate access to safe water. Twenty-one cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and
Hyderabad will run out of groundwater by 2020, affecting 100 million people, the study noted. If
matters are to continue, there will be a 6% loss in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by
2050, the report says.

To ensure rural water security in context of household water supply, WaterAid India started a
process of democratisation of water using Jal Choupal at village, Gram Panchayat, Block, District,
state and national levels from 2016-18 in a project based on transboundary water governance and
water security in Ganga Basin supported by The Asia Foundation . These Jal Choupal used the
modules on water budgeting, gender for water and climate change adaptation for water for preparing
people centric water security plans for six Gram Panchayats situated in six blocks of Kanpur and
Fatehpur districts along the Ganga River.
This paper presents the key learnings from these Jal Choupal and Water Security Plan and action
which might be hugely relevant to inform National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP)
policy and action.
The key learnings include the focus on source sustainability through use of rain water surface water
and ground water based on understanding of water quality needed for different purposes,
interconnected ness of ground water and surface water, reducing time taken in fetching water to
reduce drudgery and integrated approaches towards water sanitation, hygiene and health for
sustainable water security.