The Hindu : National : Drinking water, toilet facilities for schools by 2005: Raghuvansh

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Thursday, Nov 25, 2004

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Drinking water, toilet facilities for schools by 2005: Raghuvansh

By Our Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 24. The Union Rural Development Minister, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, has said the Government will make all efforts to ensure drinking water and toilet facility for every school by March 2005. The Ministry will shortly launch a nation-wide programme on water quality monitoring and surveillance in collaboration with the Union Health and Welfare Ministry.

Mr. Singh was speaking at the concluding session of a two-day conference of the State Secretaries on initiatives relating to rural drinking water supply programme of the national common minimum programme (NCMP). The NCMP gives top priority for providing drinking water to all sections in urban and rural areas, he said, with particular attention to habitations in hilly terrains and cities in southern States.

Major concern

Mr. Singh said water quality was an issue of major concern and that there was an urgent need to launch a water quality monitoring and surveillance programme. He called upon State Governments to ensure that the proposed water-monitoring programme was put into operation without delay.

Mr. Singh said it must be recognised that the challenge before the country today was to ensure both source and system sustainability. Certain fully covered habitations occasionally "slip-back" into partially covered or non-covered category due to depletion of ground water. "This is often the result of inadequate recharge of ground water due to drought or excessive withdrawal of ground water, which needs to be addressed. For this, schemes of recharging of ground water, which forms the source for at least 85 per cent of rural water supply schemes, by rainwater harvesting need to be taken up on priority,'' he said.

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