Findings from the baseline suggest the youth group (15-29 years) is the major population across all Mandals. There is an increasing percentage of women’s population within youth group. A higher percentage of landless farmers belong to SC, ST social caste groups. Most of the households are involved in agriculture – as agriculture labourers or cultivators. Housing conditions across the villages are semipucca (69.5 percent) and on average there are 2.8 rooms. Majority of the sample households do not have separate room for Kitchen. The lower social caste groups are the most that spend on meeting their health care needs.

The local institutions (Water Testing Labs, local government and Civil Society Organizations) lack resources/ knowledge/ capacity on the issues and opportunities to address water quality. Systemic challenges caused by lack of awareness on water quality, weak local institutions and water politics makes safe drinking water supply ever challenging. The Water Quality Project is implemented in partnership with State Government of Telangana with the support of Water Aid India. The Project attempts to plug the gaps in the existing National Rural Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Program (NRDWQMSP) in the State of Telangana and activate the dormant systems and institutions at local level for sustainability. This project is implemented across 16 villages of Nizamabad.

The Project aimed:

• To assess the gaps in NRDWQMSP (Scheme) implementation,
• To assess the performance of Water Quality Testing Laboratories at district, division and sub-division levels in the State, 
• To enable Government institutions to develop pilot villages and influence State government to replicate the models to streamline water quality monitoring in the state. 
• To revive the defunct Village Water and Sanitation Committee (VWSCs) to sustain access and delivery of water supply and sanitation services.