COMMUNITY CARE
- SCARCITY OF WATER ONE OF MUMBAIS WORST PROBLEM
Water as we all know is a fundalmental right under the Indian Constitution.
In the month of April 2005, Navjeet launched as investigation into the nature and complexity of the water problems facing people living in eight slum areas where it operates.
The study was conducted by an external Managment Student from SP Jain Institute, along with the NAvjeet Social workers and Health Workers.
 |
A combination of personal interviews and written questionaire were used for the reserach, there were door to door visits and group discussion at the local Mahila Mandals. From the Responses whihc were obtained, the Following Data emerged:
WATER SUPPLY: Assuming that 25 buckets per day is thje everage water requirement of the family, it was found that 21% of the respondents face a daily shortage of water.
SOURCES OF WATER: 36% of the respondents have installed water taps at home, while 43% had accessed to common water taps in area, which they shared with 10 to 20 other families.
A further 9% used commonly shared hand pumps, while the remaining 12% had to go outside their area of residence to collect water.
REGULARITY AND TIMINGS: On an average all areas get water supply for around 3 to 4 hours per day. the timing vary widely and range from 4 a.m to 11 p.m.
QUALITY OF WATER: 83% of respondents perceived the quality of water to be good, except for the initial few minutes when the water tends to be muddy and have a fouls smell.
17% pereived the quality of water to be bad, the reason could be the poor condition of the underground supply of water pipes.
METHOD OF PURIFICATION OF DRINKING WATER: Only 8% of the respondents boiled water for drinking, the remaining are equally divided into those who filter 46%, and those who do not filter the drinking water again 46%.
The common method of filtration is to strain the water through a piece of cloth.
WATER BORNE DISEASE IN THE FAMILY: 68% of the respondents did not have any history of water borne disease in theie families in the recent past 3 - 4 years.
Of the remaining affected respondent the most most common disease was Jaundice (79.5%), Followed by Loose motion (10%), typhiod (7%) and Fever (3.5%).
CONCLUSION: The slum dweller faced shortage of water and, due to its poor quality, 32% had health problems.
Follow-up action is planned for improving water connections in the target community.
