Safe and readily available water is one of the momentous felt needs in public health whether it is used for drinking, domestic use, food production or recreational purposes. Improved water supply and better management of water resources can boost countries economic growth and can contribute greatly to poverty reduction. According to WHO in 2017, 5.3 billion people used safely managed drinking-water services and about 785 million people lack even a basic drinking-water service [1].

It has been estimated that diarrheal morbidity can be reduced by an average of 6-20 per cent with improvements in water supply [2].

India has about 17.74 per cent of the world’s population as compared to 4% of its water resources. With the current population of about 1.33 billion, the average annual per capita water availability in the year 2011 was assessed as 1545 cubic meters [3]. As per Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, 135 litre per capita per day (lpcd) has been suggested as the benchmark for urban water supply. For rural areas, a minimum service delivery of 55 lpcd has been fixed under Jal Jeevan Mission [4].

The water supply in India has increased greatly from 1980 to present and numbers are commendable but when data is looked at in more detail, it is clear not all have benefitted equally. Till now only two cities in India - Thiruvananthapuram and Kota get continuous water supply [5].

Shimla– the capital city of the state of Himachal Pradesh with a population of 169,578 [6] its geographical location is Longitude 77°10′20″ East and Latitude 31°6′12″ north. Due to uneven topography, altitude of the city varies from 1507 to 2454 m above mean sea level. The average annual rainfall is 1577 mm with average 84 rainy days. Over the period of time, the city grew both geographically and demographically and water demand increased manifold resulting in expansion of the Shimla water supply system into seven independent water supply schemes [7].

Shimla has a total of seven water sources however the two main sources of water, Ashwani khad and the Nauti khad have witnessed significant reduction in water level.8 Depleting ground water table, deteriorating ground water, increasing population quality are threatening the sustainability of both urban and rural water supply in many parts of India and there are not enough studies relating to water supply and consumption pattern.

Therefore, the aim of the present study was to analyze the water supply and consumption pattern of residents of Shimla city, Himachal Pradesh, India.

Objectives of the Study

To do the situation analysis of water supply and consumption in Shimla city.

• Study Design: Cross sectional survey

• Study Area: Shimla city of Himachal Pradesh

• Study Period: 4 months July 2020 through October 2020)

• Study Population: Population residing in all 34 wards under Municipal corporation area of Shimla City

Sampling Design

Stratified random Sampling was done for the selection of Households for survey. We equally divided the households in all 34 wards of Shimla city (18-19 households per municipal ward in Shimla city). First household of the ward was selected randomly and then every 10th household was selected to complete the sample size in the respective ward. An effort was made to have a balance of males and females, as well as to involve some younger persons as respondents, but this was dependent on cultural and other sensitivities when the household members are approached

Data Collection

The data collectors obtained consent from the head of Family and Pretested Standardized Questionnaire administered in every selected household, and the respondents (who willing to participate) were asked questions regarding water supply and consumption. Only one adult member per household was selected for data collection. 

The data was collected to obtain information on following parameters:

• Knowledge about water supply 

• Perception about water quality and quantity

• Practices for Water consumption

Inclusion Criteria

Any adult person (only one per household) in selected household who was willing to participate in the study and had given consent.

Exclusion Criteria

Person who didn’t give consent and decline to answer the questions was excluded in the study.

From the sample, 93.1% had pipe line water connection to their households, 2.2% had public tap and 4.7% use bowri/handpump for drinking water purposes (Table 1).

49.2% of respondent had more than 35 liters of water per capita per day in their households, 56.7% had 500-1000 liter of water for whole family, 93.8% found to had adequate water for their need, 15.8% had leakages in their water pipelines and 10.3 % had to go outside to collect the water (Table 2).

68.3 of respondents called the complaint no., 29.7 contacted plumber whereas 1% fixed it by themselves and 1% do nothing.

Whereas, some 93.8% respondents were satisfied with the quality of water supply of Shimla city.

Table 1: Distribution of the participants according to main source of drinking water

Table 2: Distribution of the participants according to Water quantity available

Table 3: Practices of people for leakage in water network

Table 4: Perception about water quality available

Table 5: Distribution of the participants according to Water quality(physical)

Table 6: Limit water usage

Table 7: Practices to save water

In the present study, main source (93.1%) of drinking water supply was IPH (Irrigation & Public Health) which was household piped water supply while 4.7 % study participants used natural sources like bowri/ handpump and 2.2 % used public tap for drinking water supply. Our study finding was similar to the study done by Pachori in rural area of Tamil Nadu [9].

Per capita water availability (more than 35 litres) in present study was 49.2% and 56.7% had 500-1000 liter of water for whole family which is similar to the study done by Singh et al. named, A survey of household domestic water consumption patterns in Haryana [10].

According to 93.8% of the resident, water supply was adequate for whole of the family. This finding was similar to study done by Kuberan et al. in Thandalam village, Chennai, India where Majority of the participants (98%) reported meeting the daily need of water quantity [11].

In the present study 93.8%  respondents were satisfied with the quality of water supply this finding is contrary to study done by Khalid et al. in District Vehari, Pakistan where 48.6% respondents disagreed about good water quality. The reason for dissatisfaction among remaining participants may be due to the presence of high chlorine level which can lead to bad taste or turbid water in rainy season. Only 1% of the respondents complained about bad taste and muddy colored of water supply which was contrary to findings of Samina Khalid et al. where 43% reported bad taste and 25% reported bad color [12]. Present study showed that only 15% respondents had leakage in their water pipelines and about more than 3/5 of them get corrected it by calling the helpline no. provided to them. About 65% of the participants limit their water usage to ensure they have sufficient water.

About half of the households were having less than 35 liters per capita water availability, Majority of people were satisfied with the quality and quantity of water they are getting from municipal corporation Shimla. Government should take appropriate measures to ensure adequate per capita water availability for whole year to each household of Shimla city.

Limitation

This study is based on self-reporting by the participants, so subject    to     there     may    be   some reporting biases.

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10. Singh, Omvir and Sushila Turkiya. "A survey of household domestic water consumption patterns in rural semi-arid village, India." GeoJournal, vol. 78, no. 5, 2013, pp. 777–790, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10708-012-9465-7.

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12. Khalid, Samina et al. "Assessment and public perception of drinking water quality and safety in District Vehari, Punjab, Pakistan." Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 181, no. 6, 2018, pp. 224–234.