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VISTAS Vol. 7, No. 1, 2018, pp. 129-134 ISSN: 2319-5770, e-ISSN 2394-1138 ‘SAFE DRINKING WATER’- AN ANALYSIS OF IRINJALAKUDA MUNCIPALITY Steffy Joseph Pereira* *Department of Economics, St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous) Irinjalakuda, Thrissur 680121, Kerala, India. ABSTRACT Water is the natural resources without which any living things cannot survive. Its necessity is for various purposes for human life and without it people cannot live a single moment. The geochemical positions of an area also determine the presence of various chemical present in drinking and other types of water in a locality. Even though Kerala receives 3000 mm of annual rainfall, availability of safe drinking water is a problem, especially in summer. Kerala gets average 3000 mm of rain per year but still there is water scarcity. Water scarcity is caused by population growth, environmental change and degradation and unequal distribution of water resources. Water is getting scarce due to rising of population, rapid urbanization and growing industrial demands. In this context, the present study is an attempt to analysis the safe drinking water in Irinjalakuda municipality by taking 50 households as sample. The study also aims to analyses a socio-economic status of the respondents under the study area and also to examine the availability and utilization of safe drinking water by the sample respondents and also to examine the water related health problems among the respondents. INTRODUCTION Water is important to all living organisms, most ecological systems, human health, food production and economic development. The safety of drinking water is an on-going concern within the global village. Although nearly 70% of the earth is made up of water, there is only a limited amount of clean water available for our use. While there is a high percentage of water on Earth’s surface, this number is deceiving as much of the water is not accessible; while there may be an abundance of water on Earth, that which is accessible and available for human use is scarce, of all the water on our planet, “97.5% of it is salt water, virtually useless for most human needs”. Currently, about 20% of the world’s population lacks access to safe drinking water, and more than 5 million people die annually from illness associated with safe drinking water or inadequate sanitation. With an expanding population and increasing demand, the need for clean water is a growing issue in our world today. Water is a basic need for life, from agriculture while the need is equal; access to clean water is far from equal. Nearly 2.5 billion people, almost 50% of the developing world’s population, lacking adequate access to clean water. Drinking water also known as potable water or improved drinking water is water safe enough for drinking and food preparation. Water is essential for life. The amount of drinking water required is variable. It depends on physical activity, age, health issues, and environmental conditions. Globally, in 2012, 89% of people had access to water suitable for drinking. Nearly 4 billion had access to wells or public taps. 1.8 billion People still use an unsafe drinking water source. 130 ● ISSN: 2319-5770 e-ISSN 2394-1138 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Safe drinking water is essential to humans and other life forms even though it provides no calories or organic nutrients. Drinking water is a big problem in coming to the near in every living things. After some years drinking water would become the big crisis of human being. Therefore, there should be a dire need to tackle the problems of drinking water shortage. Even though there are many facilities getting water is not easy one. It is being a problem in our day- to-day life due to increasing population, growth of large industrial houses etc. One article was able to sum up the importance of the safe drinking water as “One thing will never change: people need water for survival” (Napier 30). Water is life; it is a necessity that cannot be substituted by anything. Water Availability and Accessibility As our world is already facing a shortage of clean water around the globe, it is expected to only get worse with population growth and an increase in demand unless something is done. In a recent study by the International Water Management Institute it was shown that an estimated 1.2 billion people on Earth “live in areas experiencing ‘physical water scarcity,’ or insufficient supplies for everyone’s demands …Another 1 billion face ;economic scarcity’ in which ‘human capacity or financial resources’ cannot provide adequate water.” The amount of water available per person in India has decreased steadily. According to the Ministry of Water Resources, it is expected to decrease further in 2050. India already faces an alarming situation. Its fragile water resources are stressed and depleting while various sectorial demands are growing rapidly even as about 200 million people in the country do not have access to safe drinking water. Due to these reasons it is interesting to analyses the safe drinking water of Irinjalakuda municipality by stressing the water availability and utilization considering the health problems of people in the study area. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The objectives of the study are the following: 1. To analyses the socio-economic status of the sample households of Irinjalakuda municipality. 2. To examine the availability and utilization of safe drinking water by the sample respondents. 3. To assess the water related health problems of sample families. METHODOLOGY The validity of any research is based on the systematic method of data collection and analysis. The present study is based on both primary and secondary data. The primary data are collected from the 50 households from 21st ward of Irinjalakuda Municipality. The households selected randomly and conducted survey to collect the data. And the details were tabulated and consolidated for analysis. The secondary data are collected from economic reviews, Kerala Development Report, Economic and political weekly, Census of India 2011, Kerala water authority reports, articles, VISTAS Vol. 6, No. 1 ● 131 bulletins related to natural resources were used to analysis the major objectives with the help of percentage methods, graphs and diagrams. DATA ANALYSIS Table 1: Size of the family of sample population Nature of family consists of joint family and nuclear family. In this sample population number of nuclear families is more. The following table illustrated the nature of family Size of family Number of Households Percentage Joint family 8 16 Nuclear family 42 84 Total 50 100 Source: Field survey Table2: Classification on sample respondents based on income level. The economic status of family income. The sample beneficiary households are classified on the basis of monthly income. Monthly income Number of persons Percentage Below 5000 33 66 5000-10000 6 12 10000-15000 4 8 15000-20000 6 12 Above 20000 1 2 Total 50 100 Source: Field survey Table 3 (a) providers of water resources Authorities Number of Households percentage Govt water Authority 50 100 CBO/NGO Nil Nil Private operator Nil Nil Others Nil Nil Total Nil Nil 132 ● ISSN: 2319-5770 e-ISSN 2394-1138 Source: Field survey Table 3 (b) Daily water consumption Daily use of water (in Number of households Percentage Lts) Below- 200lts 15 30 200 - 400lts 17 34 400 - 600lts 9 18 600 - 800lts 6 12 800 - 1000lts 2 4 Above 1000lts 1 2 Total 50 100 Source: field survey Table 4 (a) water related diseases among the sample respondents Series No: Number of respondents percentage Water-borne diseases Nil Nil Vector-borne diseases Nil Nil No diseases 50 100 Total 50 100 Source: field survey FINDINGS OF THE STUDY The major findings emerged from the study on safe drinking water in Irinjalakuda municipality were as follows: - ❖ Regarding the socio-economic profile, it is found out that 40% of the respondents belonged to the group above 60 years and 12% of the respondents belonged to below 30 years. About14% of the respondents belongs to 30-40 years and 20% of respondents belong to 40-50 years and 14% of respondents belong to 50-60 years. ❖ 32% of the number of respondents are males and while 68% of respondents are females. ❖ Out of the sample households 42 were nuclear families and 8were joint families. ❖ It was clear from the study that 66% persons gets monthly income below 5000 Rs., and only 8%persons get income between Rs 10000-15000 and about 2% VISTAS Vol. 6, No. 1 ● 133 persons income level was above20000 and 12% of families had an income level in between Rs 5000-10000. ❖ The economic status of sample respondents revealed that there were 14% of APL families and 86% of the BPL families. ❖ Educational status of respondents showed that 64% belongs to the group below SSLC, 18% have SSLC and14% belongs to pre degree level and 4% were degree holders. There was no single post graduate. ❖ Majority of the respondents nearly 56% are Hindus, 38% of the respondents are Christians and 6% of the respondents are Muslims. ❖ Marital status shows that unmarried number of respondents is 4%, 70% of the respondents are married and 26% of the respondents are widows. ❖ Occupational status shows that 74% respondents are manual labour, 2% are business workers and only 12% are private workers and about 12% are employed in government services ❖ From our study it was focused that about 86% of the respondents had their own houses and almost 4% lived in rent houses. ❖ Major findings related to the second objective, i.e., the availability and utilization of water sources from Irinjalakuda water authority was that 80% of the sample households depends on the pipe line connection and 12% households depends on public taps.

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