Sustainable

Drinking Water
General Science Group Project
Index
Slide 3:- Water water Lifeline
Slide 4:- What Does Water Do?
Slide 5:- Current Situation
Slide 6:- Rainwater Harvesting
Slide 7:- Types Of Water Harvesting
Slide 9:- Advantages Of Rainwater Harvesting
Slide 10:- Sustainable Development Goals On Water(SDG)
Slide 11:- India And SDG 6
Slide 12:- Declination Of Water Level And GroundWater Level
Slide 13:- Groundwater
Slide 14:- Awareness About Clean Drinking Water
Slide 16:- Initiatives by NGOs
Slide 18:- Solutions By Indian Government
Slide 19:- Our Solution; A Rain Garden!
Slide 21:- Bibliography
 Water: Our Lifeline
Water is essential for socio-economic growth and forms
the basis of sustainable development. It is essential
for enhancing population health, welfare, and
productivity as well as lowering the global burden of
disease.

Only when properly handled is it renewable.

Water management can be a major enabler in enhancing

the resilience of social, economic, and environmental
systems in the face of rapid and unpredictable change,
even if water can present a serious obstacle to
sustainable development. The current statistics do not
take into account the safety and dependability of
water supplies, and 748 million people still do not
have access to an improved supply of drinking water.
Why Water is Necessary?
Water is the basic necessity for the functioning of
all life forms that exist on earth. It is safe to say
that water is the reason behind earth being the only
planet to support life. Life cannot exist without
water since it is necessary to -
● regulates the body temperature
● protects your tissues, spinal cord, and joints
● helps excrete waste through perspiration,
urination, and defecation
● helps maximize physical performance
● improves blood oxygen circulation
Current Situation
At least 2 billion people throughout the world consume water that has been tainted with
feces. The biggest threat to the safety of drinking water is microbial contamination
brought on by feces contamination.

Arsenic, fluoride, and nitrate pose the greatest chemical dangers in drinking water,
but new contaminants such as pesticides, medicines, and polyfluoroalkyl substances
(PFASs), and microplastics also cause public concern.

Drinking water that has been tainted by microorganisms can spread diseases like
diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and polio.

The good news is, 74% of the world's population, used a drinking-water service that was
safely managed, on-site, readily available, and uncontaminated in 2022
Tried and tested solutions:
Rainwater Harvesting
Rainwater harvesting is the
collection and storage of rain,
rather than allowing it to run off.
Rainwater is collected from a roof-
like surface and redirected to a
tank, cistern, deep pit, aquifer, or
a reservoir with percolation, so
that it seeps down and restores the
ground water.
Different types of water harvesting

Water Butt
Water Butt is the most basic and
universal form of rainwater
harvesting This is the collection
of rainwater in a container
directly or that falls from the
roof. It is mainly used for
washing and gardening.
7
 Directly Pumped
The most commonly used system of rainwater
harvesting, it is mainly used for domestic
purposes. In this, the rain water is stored in an
underground tank and then it is pumped for direct
use or to containers to be be used later.

Indirect Gravity
In this system, the harvested rainwater is first
pumped to a tank placed at an elevated level. The
water is then allowed to flow to taps and other
water supply outlets. In this system pumping is
required only when the tank placed at the higher
level requires filling.
Advantages of Rainwater Harvesting
1. Helps in reducing the water bill.
2. Decreases the demand for water.
3. Reduces the need for imported
water.
4. Promotes both water and energy
conservation.
5. Improves the quality and quantity
of groundwater.
6. Does not require a filtration
system for landscape irrigation.
 Sustainable Development Goals on
Water (SDG)
The Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) is to ensure availability and sustainable
management of water and sanitation for all. Water and sanitation are at the core of
sustainable development. SDG 6 on water and sanitation, adopted by United Nations at
the 2015 UN Summit as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In recent decades overexploitation, pollution, and climate change have led to severe
water stress in locales across the world. Today, 1.7 billion people lack access to
safely managed drinking water
Climate change is exacerbating the situation, with increasing disasters such as floods
and droughts. 80 percent of wastewater in the world flows back into the ecosystem
without being treated or reused, and 70 per cent of the world’s natural wetland extent
has been lost, including a significant loss of freshwater species.
India and SDG 6
The overall proportion of Indian households with access
to improved water sources increased from 68% in 1992-93
to 89.9% in 2015-16. However, in 2015-16, 63.3% of rural
households and 19.7% of urban households were not using
improved sanitation facilities.

According to the World Bank, more than 520 million in

India were defecating in the open – the highest number
in the world. This figure is expected to have reduced
significantly given that improving sanitation is a key
priority of the government which has introduced several
flagship programmes including the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
to clean India, the National Rural Drinking Water
Programme, and Namami Gange, which aims at the
conservation of the River Ganga.
Declination of Water levels
Globally, many of the water systems that keep ecosystems
thriving and feed a growing human population have become
stressed. Rivers, lakes and aquifers are drying up or
becoming too polluted to use. More than half the world’s
wetlands have disappeared.
Agriculture consumes more water than any other source
and wastes much of that through inefficiencies. Climate
change is altering patterns of weather and water around
the world, causing shortages and droughts in some areas
and floods in others. At the current consumption rate,
this situation will only get worse. By 2025, two-thirds
of the world’s population may face water shortages. And
ecosystems around the world will suffer even more.
 Groundwater
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces
and in the fractures of rock formations
Throughout history, and throughout the world, groundwater has been a major source of
water for sustaining human life. Use of this resource has increased dramatically over
the last century.
Many parts of India face acute water shortage at particular periods every year.
Depleting groundwater levels have severe implications spanning from water scarcity to a
gradual decline in agricultural production. Thus, the issue needs to be addressed with
prompt actions to prevent India and the entire world from groundwater depletion which
has grave consequences for human civilization. Groundwater depletion is becoming an
alarming issue day by day.
Awareness about clean drinking water
Access to safe drinking-water is important as a
health and development issue at national, regional
and local levels.The public awareness of drinking
water safety is relevant to promotion of household
water treatment, to household choices over
drinking water sources, and to the prevention of
water contamination accidents.
A better understanding of the factors that
influence public awareness of drinking water can
contribute to improvements in water management,
consumer services and water pollution accident
prevention and control.
The awareness of water quality and risk resulted from a complex interaction of diverse factors
including water taste, odor, clarity, socio-economic characteristics, demographic
characteristics, water treatment, geographic location in the distribution system and
information provided by the local media.
Less than 50 per cent of the population in India has access to safely managed drinking water.
Chemical contamination of water, mainly through fluoride and arsenic, is present in 1.96
million dwellings.
In 2015, India achieved 93 per cent coverage of access to improved water supply in rural areas.
However, with the shift from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) the new baseline estimates that less than 49 per cent of the rural
population is using safely managed drinking water. The global goals for water also moved beyond
targets for basic access to water and sanitation to addressing the more
difficult challenges of achieving universal access to safe water and improved sanitation,
protection of water resources, ensuring sustainability of water use and reaching the poorest
and most vulnerable.
Initiatives by NGOs
To improve the situation in the sector
reforms huge resources and time are needed.
Water is a basic need for every day life and
people cannot wait till the reforms will be
implemented.
The local and national NGOs concerned with
issues such as water, sanitation and the
environment are the important stakeholders
group mainly working in the region to improve
the citizens’ access to safe water and proper
sanitation.
Today the NGOs, working in many countries have accumulated an important and valuable
capacity of practical knowledge about the local situations, developed the experience
of independent research of local water and health problems.
The consumer has to have the needed actual information about water quality and other
aspects of drinking water to make a correct decision on which water to drink.
Environmental NGOs play an important role in improving the public access to the
proper information about the local problems, including drinking water quality and the
water related risks for human health.
NGOs organize the seminars and workshops on water problems for the communities and
local authorities, multi- stakeholders debates on water supply and sanitation sector
development and technical solutions needed for improvement of the situations, public
hearings of the water and sanitation action plans at local and national levels. Many
education and information materials on different water and health problems are
published and disseminated among the broad public by NGOs.
Solutions by Indian Government
The Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act, 1974 (the "Water
Act") has been enacted to provide for the prevention and control of
water pollution and to maintain or restore wholesomeness of water in
India.
Orissa River Pollution Act, 1953
This Act was formulated with the view of regulating the disposal of
waste and effluents into the river by the factories and enabling
maintenance of the streams and water bodies .
One initiative is swajal, which seeks to enable communities to self
manage safe water sources within their habitation .
Our Solution: A Rain Garden!
A rain garden is a sunken
landscape that uses native
plants, local soil, and mulch
to remove pollutants from
water, and allows it to
percolate into the ground. It’s
easy to create, looks good all
year-round and has a positive
impact on the environment.
Here’s how to make a rain
garden in your own backyard.
Check the slope of your yard with a level and a long, straight board. You'll need
a minimum slope of 1 in. in 4-1/2 ft. (2 percent) for water to flow into your rain
garden. If you don't have this slope, you'll have to do major landscaping, both to
create the slope and to improve drainage.

● Locate your rain garden where rainwater will feed into it from downspouts,
driveways or low points in your yard.
● Lay attractive river rock (1-1/2 in. diameter and, if desired, larger
decorative rocks) or run an underground 4-in. PVC pipe to channel water from
a downspout to your garden. U
● Place your rain garden at least 10 ft. away from your home. Otherwise, water
may saturate the soil close to the foundation or even back up against it. If
you already have water pooling close to your home, channel it with an
underground PVC pipe to the garden. This may mean tunneling under a walkway
or other obstruction.
● Create an overflow zone, a slightly lower area on one side with stones that
will channel water away once the garden fills.
● Do not locate the garden over a septic tank or underground utility lines.
Bibliography
1. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ ,
https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/water-scarcity ,
2. https://india.mongabay.com/2018/06/indias-groundwater-cris
is-fueled-by-intense-pumping-needs-urgent-management/
3. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-23576-
9_2

4. https://sdgs.un.org/topics/water-and-sanitation
5. https://in.one.un.org/page/sustainable-development-goals/c
lean-water-sanitation-sdg-6/
 Thank You
Thank You