BHUBANESAWR: PEOPLE in rural areas of the State need more quantity of drinking water and this fact has finally dawned on the Orissa Government which has changed its supply norms.
The Government has raised the per capita provision to 70 litre a day, against the earlier level of 40 litre per capita per day (lpcd).
In its last meeting, the highest policy making body, State Level Scheme Selection Committee of Rural Development Department, approved the raise considering the benchmark set by the Centre at 70 lpcd.
In fact, the whole of 70 lpcd will not be available at the doorstep but only at the source.
As per new State norm, only 55 lpcd will be available at doorstep while an additional quantity of 15 litre has been set aside for other kinds of activities. The SLSSC has earmarked 10 per cent for schools, hospitals, other institutions, floating population while another 10 per cent is for compensating the treatment and transmission losses.
The change in norm means the per capita water availability will reflect in the schemes of the State Government accordingly.
Although water is a state subject, bulk of the funding for water supply comes from the Centre under Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM). Usually, the share from the Centre is 50 per cent and more for different projects.
Under the Mission, the Centre had prescribed that the drinking water availability be raised to 70 lpcd at doorstep though the State has put it at 55 litre.
The State Government has also come up with new provisions for smaller habitations which were not covered under the pipe water supply. Now, reserve forests (RFs) where habitations are identified will be provided with drinking water as per the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
Similarly, the norm for spot sources has been changed too. Earlier, 50 families comprised a new or scattered habitation but this has now been brought down to 10. The recent history of cholerarelated deaths in the tribal areas of the State seems to have prompted the change since availability of safe drinking water was an issue with hamlets of Rayagada and Kalahandi.
The SLSSC has also approved four pipe water schemes aiming to mitigate the fluoride problem in Nuapada district. The projects are estimated at ` 20 crore.
A plan has been laid out for two mega pipe water projects in Ganjam as well as Puri district where salinity is an issue. The projects, estimated at ` 103 crore, are targeted at Ganjam, Krushnaprasad and Brahmagiri blocks.