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EVOLVING
A HEALTH CARING WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION SYSTEM- PUBLIC-PRIVATE
PARTNERSHIPS IN A DEVELOPING ECONOMY
Degaonkar,
Prof. Chaya K. “Evolving A Health Caring Water Supply And
Sanitation System- Public-Private Partnerships In Developing Economy”
in Martin J. Bunch, V. Madha Suresh and T. Vasantha Kumaran, eds.,
Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Environment
and Health, Chennai, India, 15-17 December, 2003. Chennai: Department
of Geography, University of Madras and Faculty of Environmental
Studies, York University. Pages 117 – 126.
Abstract:
The fast phase
of urbanization in many developing countries is associated with
growing environmental inequalities across the urban dwellers.
The urban water supply in India is not only inadequate but also
of very poor quality causing numerous health hazards. Drinking
water and sanitation are the important components of the demand
for urban environment by the people. This paper attempts a review
of the status of urban water supply and its impact on the health
status of the people.
The secondary
data about the existing status of urban water supply and sanitation
in India and Karnataka is collected from secondary sources such
as Census and Government publications. A case of Gulbarga city
is presented here to give the picture at micro level. The data
for Gulbarga City is obtained from the municipal corporation.
To assess the health impact of the existing system, the primary
data is collected from a survey of households in Gulbarga city.
The data on incidence of various diseases is collected from the
Health Department at the district level.
Results show
that the existing water supply arrangements are very inadequate
to meet the demand for it. The parallel location of water supply
and sewage pipes causes water pollution due to frequent breakages
in the pipe- lines. The city has huge quantities of uncollected
garbage. The incidence of water borne diseases such as Cholera,
Typhoid, Gastroenteritis, Jaundice, Diarrhea is on the increase
as revealed from the data for the past 6 years.
Proper management
of water supply and sanitation calls for public, private and NGO
partnerships. The sanitation systems developed by Sulabh International,
the community contract systems in management of solid wastes,
the women’s groups such as DWCUAs in Andhra Pradesh and
the NGO partnership such as Wastewise in Bangalore are the examples
which may help in establishing balanced equations of such partnerships
for, evolving a better system of water supply and sanitation that
is health-caring and environment friendly.
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