A STUDY OF WATER SCARCITY IN SMALL TOWNS: A CASESTUDY OF DEOGHAR, JHARKHAND

NISHANT KUMAR

M2013CODP019

SYNOPSIS SUBMISSION UNDER THE GUIDANCE OFREKHA MAMMEN

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK

TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCINCES

MUMBAI

INTRODUCTION

Water is the most critical resource and is expected to become highly scarce in future withincreasing demand from household, industries and agricultural sectors. This is one of themost important sources for development in country. In recent years many parts of thecountry are undergoing through severe water crisis. Jharkhand is one such state wherewater problem has reached to a level from where it needs urgent attention both from thegovernment and non-government sectors.During summer temporary measures are taken by governments to keep their constituentshappy. But little sustained effort has been made to deal with the root of the problem: theoveruse of precious groundwater and the inadequate measures taken to replenish it. As aresult, water levels have fallen precipitously in many districts. Not only is there much lesswater available but what exists is also undrinkable.Several studies on water scarcity have been conducted on big and metro cities-theeconomic hubs of the country from where the policy emerges but very few studies arethere to highlight the situation of water scarcity on small towns of India. Access to waterfor the urban poor living in the towns and cities of Jharkhand is a major issue that needs tobe addressed. The failure to ensure potable water to the urban poor in Jharkhand raises animportant issue in water rights.Water problem in Jharkhand especially in urban areas are increasing year by year and inpast 20 years the groundwater level has decreased to a level, from where the both ruraland urban community is finding it extremely difficult to have access to water for daily use.While the crisis in urban areas can be felt by community people both in domestic andindustrial sector, in rural areas the crisis is directly affecting the agricultural sector. Thegrowth and development of agriculture and allied sectors in Jharkhand face seriousproblems due the scarcity of ground water.

This research has been conducted with an intention to study the issue of water scarcity insmall towns in India by conducting a case study in Deoghar town of Jharkhand. Deoghar is asmall city in North Jharkhand and is suffering from acute water shortages throughout theyear especially in the month of summers. This research will try to understand the reasonsfor water crisis in Jharkhand. Simultaneously it will make an attempt to understand thewater distribution system of Municipal Corporation of Deoghar and various steps taken bydistrict government to deal with the issue of water scarcity. It will study the difference inaccess to water across the town with respect to varying socio-economic background of thepeople and the impact of water scarcity on population of Deoghar.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The problem of water scarcity is emerging as a critical challenge to sustainabledevelopment in the 21st century. It’s a global issue now. To understand the problem thereis a need to explore the relationship between urbanization of cities and water management.In 2013, the Ministry of Water Resources revealed the fact that in 158 districts, there areareas where the groundwater is now saline. There is excess fluoride in parts of 267districts, nitrate levels are beyond permissible levels in 385 districts, groundwater iscontaminated with arsenic in 53 districts and in 270 districts there are areas where thewater has high levels of iron.A study conducted by Karen L. O’Brien and Robin M. Leichenko of World Bank gives data ofHouses with water connection in India. The report says that only 69 % houses of largecities have legal household water connection. The condition is even worse in small citiesand rural areas with 45% and 9% household connection respectively. According to UnitedNations normal Requirement of water per capita per day in urban area is 135l. Most of thesmall and medium cities are unable to meet this demand. No major Indian city has a 24hour supply of water, with 4 to 5 hours of supply per day being the norm.Rainwater conservation is considered as an important source to replenish groundwater.Since the formation of Jharkhand as a separate state from Bihar in 2000, the population hasincreased rapidly and several multi-storey buildings have come up. These buildings go fordeep boring and as a result all the ground water is being pumped out from the ground.Every inch of land is being used up to build concrete structures and buildings. Therefore,there is no place left for the rainwater to seep into the ground, so the water level is noteven being recharged as much as it should. On the other hand "Extensive deforestation,urbanization and industrialization have led to uneven spread of rainfall which has affectedthe ground water table.

Constructing water recharge pits is considered as an important way to conserve rainwater.It is very easy. If every household makes a recharge pit in their premises, the rain waterwill reach the ground water thus increasing the level. There is even a provision under theMunicipal Act of Jharkhand, which says that the map of a multi-storey building will bepassed only if it has an effective recharge pit but very few buildings in the city are followingthis rule. If we look at the distribution of these recharge pits in Jharkhand, currently 3/4thof the available recharge pits are located in Ranchi-the capital city of Jharkhand. Newlysanctioned pits are also located more in capital city than small towns. This clearly showsthe focus to develop the big cities and a very little or no attention on small towns.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To understand the water management distribution in the city

To understand differences in access to water across the population of Deoghar town

To assess the impact of water scarcity on population of Deoghar Town.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH DESIGN

The research has adopted a mixed method model for data collection. Depending on given

research problems and objectives, a mixed method model has to be put in operation. The

research is explanatory in nature so as to assess the nature of the water scarcity of the town. The

tools for data collection were finalized after thorough review of literature and the first visit of the

universe of study. Qualitative method which includes in-depth interviews and focused group

discussions was used to assess the nature of water scarcity in the city and to know the water

management and water distribution across the city while quantitative method which included

survey forms were used to know the difference in access to water across the city and the impact

of water scarcity on the population of Deoghar. Interviews were conducted with the officials of

the district municipal corporation to get the valuable data. FGDs were conducted with the local

community members and shopkeepers of the town to know about the problems. The presence of

the Baidyanath Dham temple attaches a valuable importance to the city and hence an attempt

was made to understand the water administration of the temple through interview schedule and

FGDs.

The mixed method has its own advantage as it gives researcher an opportunity to explore the

issue through different lenses using different research tools.

RESEARCH METHODS AND TOOLs

The tools were finalized according to the objectives of the research. The first objective was to

understand the water management and distribution in the city and hence interviews were

conducted with the public works department engineers of Municipal Corporation of the city and

the chief executive officer of the Deoghar municipal corporation. To understand the water

distribution in temple premise interviews were conducted with officials of the temple

administration, contractors of the private water suppliers, project manager of the Punasi Dam

project and FGDs were held with the local residents of the Kunda Thana and local shopkeepers.

To know about the other two objectives i.e. to understand the differences in access to water

across the population of Deoghar town and to assess the impact of water scarcity on population

of Deoghar town, survey forms were distributed across six wards of the city covering 45

households. The whole city has been divided into thirty-five wards and sample size of six wards

including 45 households were selected keeping in mind the socio-economic factors of the

respondents and the degree to which the wards of the city face water scarcity. The selected six

wards represent localities which has severe problems of water scarcity. This was known after

pilot study of the universe of study and discussion with few permanent residents of the town. The

number of households in each ward has been selected according to population distribution in

each ward. The city is growing rapidly to include sub urban areas into its ambit so two wards

representing such areas were also selected to know the problems faced by the newly residents of

the city.

SAMPLING

The researcher has used three different localities where survey forms were distributed through

purposive sampling. Purposive sampling is a method where researcher has an idea while

choosing his sample method that who would be appropriate for the study. The six different areas

are represented by separate wards and an attempt has been made to compare the access to water

at two levels i.e. at difference in access within a ward and difference in access across six wards.

SAMPLE SIZE

Table 1: Sample size

Sr. No. Locality with Ward No. Sample size

1. Karnibag ( Ward No - 19) 15

2. Vilasi Town (Ward No –23,28,29,30) 15

3. Castair’s town ( Ward No – 34) 15

Two of the wards selected for the study i.e. ward No. 19 and ward No. 34 are the biggest wards

of the city and has maximum population hence sample size were kept as 15 for each of the ward.

The whole of Vilasi town has been fragmented into smaller wards and includes ward no. 23, 28,

29 and 30 and hence a sample size of 15 were fragmented into 4, 4, 4 and 3 in the ward no. 23,

28, 29 and 30 respectively. Survey forms were filled up after taking the consent of the

respondents and they were informed about the purpose of the study.

FIELD RESEARCH (EXPLANING THE STRUCTURE OF DATA COLLECTION)

The data was collected from various stakeholders that can be classified as following:-1. Deoghar Municipal Corporation – Deoghar is a Municipal Corporation city thedistrict of Deoghar. The Deoghar city is divided into 35 wards for which electionsare held every five years. It has population of 203,123 of which 107,997 are maleswhile 95,126 are females as per report released by Census of India 2011. DeogharMunicipal corporation administers over 36,768 households and it looks after theissues of basic amenities like water and sewerage. It is also authorized to buildroads within Municipal corporation limits and impose taxes on properties comingunder its jurisdiction.It takes care of the water distribution across the city and there is a chief executiveofficer appointed to look after the smooth functioning of the corporation. The datacollected from the Municipal Corporation were helpful to understand the watermanagement in the city. The study includes interviews from PWD engineers toknow the pattern.2. Temple administration – The Baidyanath temple administration which comes underdirect control of the office of the district collector was an important informant as faras to know the water administration in the temple is concerned. There are twowings for the temple administration-one headed by the officers of the cityadministration and another by elected members of Panda Samiti. Interviews weretaken from the members of both the wings in order to know the wateradministration in the temple premise is concerned.3. Punasi Dam project – Punasi reservoir scheme is located in village Punasi in thedistrict of Deoghar. The scheme consists of Dam across river Ajay. The scheme hasone main canal of length 77.94 km, branch canal and distributaries. The scheme will

provide irrigation in 24290 ha land of Deoghar district. But the project has drawnseveral criticisms with it as the construction has led to displacement of hundreds ofhouseholds resulting in the protest from their side. The rehabilitation process hasnot been finished yet and not even half of the displaced households have been givenadequate compensation and alternate source of livelihood. The interviews wereconducted with the project head of Punasi dam in order to know both positive andnegative impact of the project on population of Deoghar city.4. Community Members – Local community members were the biggest source ofinformation. People with different socio-economic background from different wardswho are living in the city since long were contacted and FGDs were conducted withthem to know the ground level situation and the impact of water scarcity on thehouseholds. An attempt was made to know the alternate source of water connectionavailable and measures taken by them during acute water shortage in summers. Theinformation was collected using both survey forms and FGDs.

FINDINGSThe study was based in Deoghar district of Jharkhand, India. The district was formed on 1stof June 1983 by separating Deoghar sub-division of the erstwhile Santhal Parganas district.Deoghar district is located in the northern Jharkhand and is an important Hindu pilgrimagePlace with the Baba Baidyanath temple being one of the twelve Shiva Jyotirlingas. Deoghardistrict is one of the major tourist destinations in Jharkhand and attracts tourists from allover the world. The holy month of Shravana as considered by Hindu religion attracts lakhof devotees from all parts of the country. It lies between 87°4' E to 96°9' E longitude andbetween 24°5' N to 25°5' N latitude. It has a total area of 2479 Sq Kms. A population of203,116 lives in this District which makes it 5th populous District in Jharkhand. Malesconstitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Deoghar has an average literacy rate of66.34%, lower than the national average of 74.4%. Male literacy rate is 79.13% and female52.39%. Important rivers flowing in the district are the Ajay, the Patro etc. The climatecondition of the district is generally dry and Deoghar is also considered a health resort. Themonsoon generally breaks during the month of June.Deoghar has a huge religious significance in the local areas of Bihar and Jharkhand and as aresult lakh of people arrive in the district which aggravates the water problem more inmonth of summer. People in Deoghar are dependent mostly on wells and bore wells forextracting water for household use. The city is facing an acute water shortage. Groundwater level is sinking. A study done by the state’s groundwater directorate says that: watertable of Deoghar has dropped by an average of three meters between 2009 and 2012, from17 meters to 20 meters. Eight years ago, the decline in water table levels before and afterthe monsoon was in centimeters. Now it is in meters.

THE DEBATE OF ECONOMIC Vs. PHYSICAL WATER SCARCITY

According to United Nations there are two type of water scarcity- Physical water scarcityand economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is a condition where there isinadequate amount of water in an area to meet the demand of the people. It is often causedby less rainfall which results in the groundwater depletion. On the other hand economicwater scarcity is a situation when the area instead of having adequate amount ofgroundwater faces water problem due to inability to fetch groundwater. The inability canbe in the form of underdeveloped infrastructure or lack of fund to extract groundwater. Amap issued by United Nations projects Deoghar town under economic water scarcity.After the interviews were conducted with the CEO of Deoghar Municipal Corporation andPWD engineers who are involved in water management it appears that Deoghar city issuffering from physical water scarcity unlike UN projection of the city being suffering fromeconomic water scarcity i.e. it is fast becoming a dry region and if not met with urgentattention from the government policies, it will lead to migration of original residents to theother cities.Although the UN data projects Deoghar under economic water scarcity zone i.e. it says thatthe region have water but due to lack of infrastructure and inability to fetch undergroundwater, the problem of water scarcity arises but in reality same is not the case. Deoghar cityis suffering from physical water scarcity i.e. it is becoming a dry region. As explained byPWD engineers underground water source are of two types - stock zone and fracturedzone. Stock zone have stored water and they get exhausted after a period of continuous usewhile fractured zone have flow of water between two huge rocks inside the earth. Thestock zone may be considered as a pond under the ground and a fractured zone is likeUnderground river which keeps on flowing. The data released by Municipal Corporation ofDeoghar in form of official bore well dug in last 10 years shows that 90% of area ofDeoghar comes under water stock zone and not fractured zone. This they claim by usingour recent GPS system. This is the reason why most of the bore well in the city is notsuccess. In some cases even if the bore well finds water, it gets exhausted after a point of

time and hence people go on to dip two-three bore wells. UN data doesn't go with thatmuch detail while dividing regions under different type of scarcity zone. They simply seewhether underground water is available or not. Of course water is there available inDeoghar but it is in the form of stock zone (pond) and not fractured zone and as a resultWater is getting exhausted in the city. Thus using the municipal data and the past 10 yearsbore well trend it can be claimed that Deoghar comes under physical water scarcity zone.The problems behind the scarcity are manifold. The single most factor is decreasinggroundwater level in the city. In most of the areas ground water level has decreased rapidlyand has gone down by 1metre – 2metre. Due to this reason bore well has been banned byMunicipal Corporation. It would not be wrong to say that the city administration has failedto deal with the water problems in the town. To start with, when bore well was banned inthe city in 2006, 60% of houses had no water connection and hence they went on to digbore well which further deteriorated the groundwater situation. Data revealed by theMunicipal Corporation shows that more than 60% of these bore well were not successfuland were not able to fulfill the water demands of the people. As a result people startedpracticing deep bore well which goes deep inside the earth up to 600-700metre. But thiswas very expensive for middle class populations so they went on to dig 2 or 3 bore wells inthe same plot of land. So basically with new constructions of houses and expansion of thecity, water issue remained in the lowest priority for the government. Most of the areas inDeoghar city like those of Panda Gali and Vilasi town have water problems throughout theyear while other residential areas like Castair’s town, William’s town, Belabagan faceproblems in summers mainly in the month April, May, June.

Understanding the water management and distribution of Deoghar town

With respect to first objective that was to understand the water management and

distribution system in the city, interviews were conducted at various levels in the

municipal corporation.According to Deoghar Municipal Corporation, the whole city has been divided into 35wards. The number of wards has been increased after the city became a Nagar Nigam in2010. Prior to 2010, the city was divided into wards based on 1982-83 division which wasmade immediately after the formation of Deoghar district. These 35 wards have beendivided into two zones for the purpose of water supply. 40% of houses come under zone 1which has water supply and rest of the 60 % houses come under zone 2 where currentlythere is no water supply however the work is going on and it is expected to get complete by2016.Water infrastructure in zone 1 was made way back at the time of the formation ofdistrict i.e. in 1983. Later when Deoghar became a nagar nigam, a whole new plan wasmade to divide the city into two zones. Zone 2 has mainly newly constructed houses.Although deep boring has been banned by the district administration due to decreasinggroundwater level but local residents are practicing digging bore well because as of nowdistrict administration is not capable of providing them any alternative source of water.The sources of water are rivers flowing through the periphery of the city i.e. Ajay andDharbha. Both are seasonal rivers but for the purpose of water supply MunicipalCorporation is heavily dependent on these two rivers. But as the city face immenseproblems in summers especially in the month of April, May and June as these rivers go dryso the administration has started looking at the alternate source for water supply. Besidethese two rivers, DMC have various water supply plans known as yoznas situated in themiddle of city that are being used for water supply in populated areas. They conduct deepboring to supply water from these centers. These are the areas which are denselypopulated and come under ward No. 29, 30, 32 and several other wards.

The various Yoznas are Hanskup Jalapurti Yoznas situated in ward no. 24. There is anotherone situated at Bazaar Samiti i.e. in the centre of the city. There is also one at Rohini jalasayyozna which is used to supply water in Rohini. Earlier the area of Rohini was not underdirect jurisdiction of Deoghar. When Deoghar became a Nagar Nigam in 2010 , 44 villagesincluding Rohini village came under Deoghar municipal corporation. Except Rohini village,all these areas are yet to get water supply as the corporation is working on creatingadequate infrastructure. Rohini already had a common water source but now that is underDMC jurisdiction.But the most important of all is new Punasi dam which is under construction. It is anambitious plan which is expected to solve all the water related problems. According toDMC, after its completion they will be in position to supply water to houses of both thezones. It will be one of the biggest dam in Jharkhand and the plan was initiated afterkeeping in mind the ongoing water crisis.There was a controversy in the initial phase as those whose land was taken for the projectwere protesting against the construction but the district administration has settled theissue now. The top officials of district administration along with Member of ParliamentNishikant Dubey visited the place and made sure that all of the local residents should begiven appropriate compensation and an alternate source of livelihood as the land which gotaccumulated by state was arable. This was followed by another clash between NishikantDubey (MP of Godda) and Mayor of the district Ramnarayan Khaware . But finally theadministration has been successful in settlement of all the issues and work for the damconstruction is going smooth now.The findings in the form of interview says that Deoghar is not yet ready for privatization ofwater as far as making service available to the people is concerned. However in Jharkhandthere are some cities like Jamshedpur and Ranchi where a portion of water managementhas been given to private bodies and such districts are yet to know the outcome of suchpractice in small towns but as of now there is no such possibility in Deoghar town.

THE ISSUE OF CORRUPTIONAt a time when it is confirmed that the city is fast becoming a dry region, it was decided bythe district administration to construct few ponds in the outer area of the city from all sidesand simultaneously increasing the depth of existing ponds. The attempt to increase thedepth of existing ponds and lakes has its own problems. What is happening now is that inthe process of deepening existing ponds, the concerned departments consisting of Publicworks department (PWD) make estimates prior to deepening the pond. The MGNREGASworkers are employed for the task under the supervision of private contractors. Theprivate contractors for their benefit and in a hurry to finish the project have discovered anew loophole. To quote one example what happened in one of the pond in Kunda thana isthat a contractor was asked to deepen the pond level by 9 feet down the earth. Theyemployed MGNREGA workers and dug 3 feet and the soil taken from these 3 feet depthwere kept aside thus making a heap. As the estimates were made prior to the task, theprivate contractor made it a measurement of 9 feet and gave it to government official. Thusthe actual goal to deepen the pond was not achieved. This type of loophole is rampanteverywhere and hence diminishing the credibility of Public works department.Keeping in mind the water scarcity issue and to deal with it, the state government law saysthat the map of multi-storey building in all the district of the state will be passed only if ithas an effective mechanism to construct recharge pits in the households. The law is hardlybeing followed by people in Deoghar. As far as constructing recharge pits are concerned, ithas altogether a different story to tell. In 2006 rainfall had worst impact in the city andpeople had to suffer a lot. Given in this backdrop, government decided to construct fewrecharge pits in several areas of the city. After that PWD went on to dig deep bore well inorder to fulfill supply water demand. Several of these deep boring were not success. Nowgovernment bodies’ especially top officials from Municipal Corporation have ordered toconvert these deep bore well into water recharge pits to be used for rainwaterconservation. But it is not possible because water recharge pits have completely differentstructure and it is wastage of both time and money to take an attempt to construct waterrecharge pits in 600 feet deep boring. Government at the same time has taken no steps toconstruct new recharge pits since its promise in 2006.

WATER MANAGEMENT IN TEMPLE PREMISEBaidyanath dham is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas in the country and the history of templegoes back to Treta Yug at the time of Lord Rama. Being a holy city the place attracts lakh ofdevotes throughout the year. The administration of the temple since historically was in thehands of local priests who used to administer the temple affairs with the help of donationsreceived by the devotees. With the increase in number of devotees in successive years andwith the city becoming a district in 1983, the temple administration drew attention ofdistrict administration and hence a separate office was set up in the temple premise toadminister the temple services and to look after the needs of devotees. Next few yearswitnessed more direct involvement of city administration when 24 hours police serviceswere deployed in the temple to help the devotees. The temple premise has been expandedsince then and few rest houses have been constructed for the devotees. Recently a flyoverwas made which starts from Shiv Ganga lake and reaches directly to the temple premise.As far as administration related to water facility is concerned, since historically there is awell in the temple premise that is being used for various purposes but in the 90s when thenumber of devotes started growing, administration felt the need to construct water tanksto be used for purposes like drinking water, sanitation and for cleaning purpose. Since then5 big tanks have been constructed and water points have been made in the several placesin the temple. The tanks have proper water supply connection and it gets water from deepwell boring in Bara Bazaar. Deoghar Municipal corporation is directly involved in theconstruction and maintenance of tanks and water points. However the problems occur inthe month of summer and hence there were attempts to dig few deep well borings in thetemple premise itself but that was not feasible and met with opposition with local pandas.As a result a deep boring was dug outside the temple premise but it failed. These days theadministration is planning to find alternatives as the current source which is located inBara Bazaar is highly unreliable. The number of devotes are increasing every year andhence the issue of water has to be met with urgent attention from the city administration.

There was a time in 80s and 90s when the Hanskup well located in the premise was theonly source of water in the temple but now the well remains dry for the most of period in ayear. The water of the well is considered sacred and is used strictly only by the devotees tooffer prayer to god. The water of the Hanskup well is not used for any other purpose.A devotee needs water from drinking purpose to taking a bath or for sanitation purpose.But as most of the visiting devotees take bath in the Shiv Ganga Lake situated nearbytemple as that is considered sacred, the temple administration have to take care primarilyabout the drinking water and sanitation facility. Two public toilets have been constructedoutside the temple premise for that purpose. One major other area where the temple needswater is for cleaning purpose. The temple is supposed to be cleaned twice everyday by thecleaning workers and we need a lot of water for that purpose.

DATA ANALYSISThrough the use of various tables, the researcher has tried to analyze the data and co-relatewith the research objectives.As stated earlier the whole city has been divided into 35 wards however if one assess thecity with area wise distribution the city has been divided into 9-10 big localities also knownas Mohallas in the local term. If a Mohalla comprises of larger area it has been furtherdivided into several smaller wards for effective distribution. In this research, three biglocalities have been selected by the researcher as his sample size. These are Karnibagwhich comes under ward no. 19, Castair’s town which comes under ward no. 34 and Vilasitown which has been divided into four wards i.e. ward no. 23, 28, 29 and 30. Vilasi town isa bigger area and hence it has been divided into smaller wards for effective administration.These areas are selected because of their large population and continuous water shortageissue throughout the year. 15 houses were selected from each Locality.Table 1: Sample size

Sr. No. Locality with Ward No. Sample size

1. Karnibag ( Ward No - 19) 15

2. Vilasi Town (Ward No –23,28,29,30) 15

3. Castair’s town ( Ward No – 34) 15

Name oflocality withWard no. No. ofHouseholdsSurveyedAveragesize offamily Average annual Income of HouseholdsBelow 1lakh (InRs.) 1 lakh-3lakh (InRs) 3-5 lakh(In Rs.) Over 5lakh (InRs.)Karnibag,Kunda Thana(Ward no. 19) 15 6 0 2 4 9

Vilasi Town(Ward no.23,28,29,30) 15 6 0 6 9 0

Castair’s Town,Bajla Chowk(Ward 34) 15 5 0 0 8 7

Table -2The table given below shows the average size of the family and family income of thehouseholds in each of three wards. The table also shows the socio-economic background ofthe people selected for the study. The average size of the family in Karnibag (Ward no. 19)is 6. While the average size of the family in Castair’s town and Vilasi town are 5 and 6respectively.When one talks about Karnibag, none of the households selected for the study has averageannual income less than Rs. 1 lakh. Two houses have annual family income between Rs. 1 to3 lakh, 4 houses between Rs. 3-5 lakh and a total of 9 households having annual familyincome of more than 5 lakh which shows that area is economically well.When it comes to Vilasi town, none of the households selected for the study have annualfamily income less than Rs. 1 lakh. The No. of households with annual family income of Rs.1-3 lakh and Rs. 3-5 lakh are 6 and 9 respectively. None of the households have annualfamily income more than Rs. 5 lakh.In Castair’s town none of the households have annual family income of less than Rs. 3 lakh.A total of 8 households are earning between Rs. 3-5 lakh annually and 7 households overRs. 5 lakh.A comparative study of these wards tells us that Karnibag is most affluent area in economicterms followed by Castair’s town and Vilasi town.

Name oflocality withWard no No. ofHouseholdsSurveyed NO. ofhouseshaving watershortagesNo. of houseshavingaccess topublic sourceof water incase ofshortage

No. of housesinvolved inConflict dueto commonsource ofwaterNo. of housesborrowingwater fromprivatesource

Karnibag,KundaThana( Wardno. 19)15 14 11 7 5

Vilasi Town(Ward no.23,28,29,30) 15 15 13 8 2

Castair’sTown, BajlaChowk (Ward no-34)15 9 5 3 5

Table -3The above table reveals the four very important information i.e. number of houses havingwater shortage, number of houses having access to public source of water in case of watershortage, number of houses involved in any kind of conflict due to common source of waterand number of houses borrowing water from private sources.A total of 14 households out of 15 households surveyed are suffering from water shortagein Karnibag. In Vilasi town all the households surveyed are having water shortage issue.While in Castair’s town only 9 households are having water shortage issue.While all the areas are having serious water shortage issue, the problem is most prevalentin Vilasi town followed by Karnibag and Castair’s town respectively.When it comes to the number of households having access to public source of water in caseof water shortage, it is most prevalent in Vilasi town where a total of 13 households arehaving access, followed by Karnibag with 11 households out of 14 houses suffering fromwater shortage having access to public source of water. In Castair’s town only 5 householdsout of 9 households suffering from water shortage are having access to safe drinking water.

This shows the critical condition of Castair’s town where despite having water shortageissue, very few public water source have been installed by government. Vilasi town hasmost public water source followed by Karnibag and Castair’s town.Water shortage issue also results in people borrowing water from private bodies. The datashows that 5 out of 14 households suffering from water shortage issue borrow water fromprivate body in Karnibag. 2 out of 9 households suffering from water shortage borrowwater from private bodies. While the number of households in Castair’s town borrowingwater from private source stands at 5 out of 9 household suffering from water shortageissue. Most of the people who opt for private water source are from Castair’s town followedby Karnibag and Vilasi town. Only 2 households in Vilasi town borrow water from privatebodies. This also shows an interesting fact that only those households who areeconomically well and are capable to borrow water from private bodies are doing so withmaximum number of people belonging from Castair’s town followed by Karnibag.When several people have access to common source of water, it very often leads to conflictamong the community members. Sample survey shows that in almost all the areas peopleare involved in some kind of conflict due to common source of water. 7 out of 11households having common source of water are involved in conflict in Karnibag. While thenumber stands at 8 out of 13 and 3 out of 5 in Vilasi town and Castair’s town respectivelywho are involved in conflict.The findings of several FGDs conducted in the crowded area of panda Gali in Vilasi towntells an altogether picture about people’s initiative for water management. Panda Gali isknown for its narrow street having congested houses and deep water scarcity issues. Thereare few bore wells at a distance of 1 km (approx) but only few of them works thus makingthe working ones crowded. There are wells also but most of them are dry. There are veryfew wells which contain water throughout the year and hence people of that area have torely heavily on a single source. Since there are number of families dependent upon a singlesource of water, it often leads to conflict among the people. As a result they have found asolution to the conflict in which they divide the time of 48 hours i.e. 2 days among morethan 20-25 households in which every household gets a time of around 2 hours to extractwater from the well. This they do by fixing water pump machine in the well. So once if ahousehold extract water for two hours, their turn will come only after 2 days.

Name of the locality withWard No. No. ofhouseholdsSurveyedNo. of Houseshaving access tosafe drinkingwater

Karnibag, Kunda Thana(Ward no. 19) 15 14Vilasi Town(Ward no. 23,28,29,30) 15 8Castair’s Town, Bajla Chowk( Ward no.- 34 15 13Table - 4The table given above shows the number of Houses having safe access to water or thehouses using water filter in their home. According the survey, Karnibag has most of thehouseholds having access to safe drinking water with 14 out of 15 houses surveyedfollowed by Castair’s town with 13 houses. In Vilasi town only half of the people surveyedare having access to safe drinking water.If we compare this table with previous table showing economic status of the areas, it isobvious that access to safe drinking water is directly related to economic status of thehouseholds.

Name of the locality withWard No. No. ofhouseholdsSurveyedNo. of houseshaving waterrecharge pitsKarnibag, Kunda Thana(Ward no. 19) 15 0

Vilasi Town(Ward no. 23,28,29,30) 15 0Castair’s Town, Bajla Chowk( Ward no.- 34 15 0Table - 5Rainwater conservation is considered as in important way to deal with water scarcityissues and finds a place in the law also where every multi-storey building is supposed toconstruct an effective mechanism for water recharge pits in order to get its map passed byMunicipal Corporation. The rule is hardly followed by anyone. Further, it is bound toapplicable for multi-storey buildings only thus keeping most of the households outside theambit of the law. A survey conducted in the Deoghar city says that not even a singlehousehold out of 45 households surveyed have water recharge pits in their home nor theyhave any such plans to build it in future.

Name of the locality withWard No. No. ofhouseholdsSurveyedNo. of houseshaving watersupplyconnectionKarnibag, Kunda Thana(Ward no. 19) 15 8

Vilasi Town(Ward no. 23,28,29,30) 15 15Castair’s Town, Bajla Chowk( Ward no.- 34 15 10Table -6The city has been divided into two zones for water supply and at the time of the surveyonly 40% of households coming under zone 1 has water supply connection. The abovetable says that only half of the households in Karnibag have proper water supplyconnection. Vilasi town is one of the oldest areas in the city and hence all the householdssurveyed have water supply connection. 10 out of 15 households in Castair’s town havepiped water supply connection. The table shows that figure is worst in Karnibag, Also tonote that the availability of water supply connection doesn’t ensure that the house isgetting regular water from Municipal corporation. This is illustrated through other tablegiven below.

Name of the locality withWard No. No. ofhouseholdshaving waterconnectionAverage time anhousehold getswater in a day ( Inminutes)Karnibag, Kunda Thana(Ward no. 19) 8 36

Vilasi Town(Ward no. 23,28,29,30) 15 30Castair’s Town, Bajla Chowk( Ward no.- 34 10 40Table – 7While calculating the average time, the table includes only those households who havepiped water connection of Municipal Corporation. The average time of water availability inany of the ward doesn’t exceed 1 hour. Vilasi town has lowest duration of water availabilityof just half an hour per day. In Karnibag 8 households having water connection get watersupply for 36 minute in a day on an average. In Castair’s town 10 households having waterconnection get water supply for 40 minutes in a day on an average.Name of the locality withWard No. No. ofhouseholdsSurveyed No. of watersources used byhouseholds(Average)Karnibag, Kunda Thana(Ward no. 19) 15 2

Vilasi Town(Ward no. 23,28,29,30) 15 3Castair’s Town, Bajla Chowk( Ward no.- 34 15 2Table - 8

Due to water shortage in the month of summers, people have to rely either on public watersource or they go on to construct another source of water in their households. Most of thehouses opt for constructing an alternative source of water in their home to avoid publicsource of water which is known for frequent conflict and burden of carrying water fromcertain distance. However not all of them are capable to doing so because of economicconstraint. The data shows that out of the 15 households surveyed in Karnibag, everyhousehold are having at least two source of water on an average while in Vilasi town everyhousehold have constructed 3 source of water on an average. In Castair’s town also theaverage number of water sources used by each household stands at two.

Locality with wardno. NO. ofHouseholds No ofhouseholdsstoring waterin their homeNo. of Houseshaving regularhealth issuesdue to waterissuesKarnibag, KundaThana( Ward no. 19) 15 12 13

Vilasi Town(Ward no.23,28,29,30) 15 15 12Castair’s Town, BajlaChowk ( Ward no.-34 15 7 5Table -9

The water shortage issue in the households often compels people to store water in theirhome resulting in range of issues. The foremost of them being the health issues due tocontamination of water has come to the picture. When people use a pubic source of water,they very often get a time of two hours in a day or two day and hence they try to store asmuch water as they can in tubs and utensils of their home with a purpose of using it for thenext two days. The above table shows the health impacts in three areas due to waterstorage in their homes for long time. A total of 12 households out of 15 surveyed storewater in their homes and 13 households suffer from health issues due to watercontamination which means that water storage alone is not the reason for health issues andit may depend on other factors as well.In Vilasi town all the 15 households out of 15 surveyed are storing water in their homesand 12 households out of 15 have some kind of health issues. In Castair’s town 7 out of 15households surveyed are storing water in their homes and 5 households are suffering fromhealth issues.The table shows a clear picture that health issues are prevalent in those households wherepeople store water in their home. The issue of health due to water contamination will bediscussed in detail in analysis chapter.