Only 35% Indian households get quality piped water, says survey

Only 35 per cent Indian households surveyed say they get quality piped water from local bodies, says the latest report.

To make it safe for consumption, 65 per cent of households were using some kind of modern filtration mechanism, says the latest survey by Localcircles, a community social media platform, on piped drinking water supply to individual households.

The survey said when asked the public to rate the quality of piped water that received from the local municipal/water department or panchayat, 12 per cent said very good, 23 per cent said good, and 36 per cent rated average. Break up of data shows 15 per cent said poor and 5 per cent said very poor. Total 5 per cent said they do not get piped water at their home, said the report.

“On an aggregate basis, only 35 per cent of Indian households surveyed rate the quality of piped water they get from the local body as good,” said the survey report.

When asked about the purification of water at home for drinking, cooking, etc, total 34 per cent said they use a water purifier, 31 per cent said they use a RO system, 1 per cent use chlorination, alum other minerals, 14 per cent said boiling, 5 per cent use clay vessels, and 2 per cent use other ways.

2 per cent respondents said there is no need to purify water as water is pure. There were 7 per cent of Indian households who don’t purify water and get bottled water instead of drinking/cooking”, and 2 per cent said they don’t purify water currently and consume as it comes.

To improve this situation, the government must consider forming mandatory standards for potable water supply to be followed by all local bodies, and give them a few years to comply, said the survey report.

The survey received over 22,000 responses from households located across 311 districts of India. 65 per cent respondents were men while 35 per cent were women. 42 per cent of the participants were from metro or tier 1 locations, 33 per cent were from tier 2 locations and 25 per cent were from tier 3, 4 and rural locations, it said.