India faces several drinking water crisis whereas Arsenic and Fluoride are the two major water quality challenges in India threatening 100 million people as a whole in more than 20 states. Diseases such as Arsenicosis and Fluorosis are causing severe bone deformities, disabilities, cancer, and skin diseases, apart from numerous nutritional deficiencies such as anaemia, stunting in children, mental retardation and pregnancy problems in women. According to an estimate 18.8% of India’s total populations are drinking arsenic contaminated water every day. The two water quality networks Arsenic Knowledge and Action Network secretariat by SaciWATERs and Fluoride Knowledge and Action Network secretariat by INREM Foundation are involved in a European Union supported initiatives which aim to leverage the Water Quality Networks for effectively connecting the needs of the most vulnerable and at risk water quality affected rural populations to the National Water Quality Mission(NWQM) and related programs for enabling basic human right of access to safe drinking water and health. In continuation and legacy of the earlier works, SaciWATERs has been carrying out the arsenic related works in Assam (Jorhat and Nalbari District) and Bihar (Buxar and Bhagalpur District) however INREM foundation has been working in fluoride affected areas of Rajasthan (Dungarpur District), Karnataka(Chikballapur District), Telangana (Nalgonda District) and Odisha (Balasore District).

The project specially aims at establishing District level people centric platform and empowers and strengthens the capacity of them at the district level for addressing the safe water needs of vulnerable community. The district platform also emphasizes to bridge the gap between community level water quality challenges and would enable the convergence between different government and non government stakeholders along with ensuring the local citizen’s involvement is maximized. It will emphasize on sustainable solutions that are ecologically sound and address the most marginalized people. Broadly, the initiative in Bihar and Assam would cater to around 600 habitations which will in turn lead to different models for improving access to safe drinking water which then can be scaled up within the respective districts and beyond too.

Duration and Funding

The duration of the project is for four years (2018-22) with the funding support from European Union.