The India Water Project addresses the clean drinking water needs of rural families living in the southern and eastern portions of the country. India’s huge and growing population is putting a severe strain on all of the country’s natural resources, including water. As a result, the major problem with access to clean water in rural India is not just the quality of the water, but the scarcity of it. Traditionally, rural families take their drinking water from surface water sources such as rivers, springs, and aquifers. However, surface water sources quickly dwindle with even a modest shortfall of rain. In addition, many of the surface water sources are contaminated by sewage and agricultural runoff. The poor quality water available to those in rural India results in increased cases of water-related illness and disease. Borehole wells equipped with hand pumps or submersible electric pumps provide a sustainable supply of clean drinking water and circumvent the scarcity and contamination issues associated with the surface water sources. The India Water Project is implemented at the point of need through a partnership with Serve the Women and Poor (SWAP) Trust.
India is a country of great diversity, with a population of more than one billion people living in an area slightly larger than one-third the size of the United States. A parliamentary democracy, India’s 28 states and 7 territories make up the world’s twelfth largest and one of its fastest-growing economies, posting a 7 percent annual growth rate. Exports include software services and software workers along with manufactured goods, tea, and coffee. In spite of India’s rapidly growing economy and high-tech work force, many of its rural people still struggle with poverty. India faces the challenges of growing demand and industrial run-off and poor sanitation in its efforts to provide safe, uncontaminated water for its people.
