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This chapter defines the key strategies for India to overcome the stress induced by climate variability and changes that affect water resources and water-related services. In the case of services, the focus is on irrigation and drinking water security. The analysis of water availability-demand situations and specific proposal for interventions that are aimed at reducing climate risk are made for distinct rainfall-climate zones. The spatial variation in geohydrology and topography is also factored in while doing the analysis. The chapter will also discuss the key institutional and policy reforms that are required to manage water resources and water-related services on a sustainable basis under climate extremes. The focus is on improving irrigation and drinking water security.

This chapter will provide the overall context and setting for the volume. Based on available empirical data, it will discuss the issue of variability in rainfall and other climatic parameters in India. It will illustrate the need for assessing the impact of climate variability on water resources, by discussing its implications for the design of water management systems vis-a-vis the stress they induce on water flows and alterations they affect in the demand for water in various sectors, including domestic sector. It will also discuss the need for assessing the climate-induced risk in WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene systems), particularly due to extreme climatic conditions and events, for designing water supply and sanitation systems that are climate-resilient, risk informed and sustainable. The chapter will also present the objectives and scope of the book, and the outline of individual chapters.

This chapter discusses the specific action plans to improve the climate resilience of Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) in two arid districts, viz., Barmer and Sirohi in western Rajasthan, that were found to be facing high WASH-related risk. The interventions take into account the variation within each district in the natural, physical, socio-economic, and institutional factors that affect WASH system performance. These factors included rainfall and its variability; temperature; frequency of flood-occurrence and drought proneness; geology of the area; water table conditions; groundwater salinity, presence of fluorides in groundwater; availability of surface water including imported water; characteristics of the dominant water supply system; percentage households (HHs) having access to water supply in the dwelling premise; percentage HHs having access to improved sanitation facilities; and percentage households having access to toilets with water supply connections. The institutional capacity building and policy reforms needed to affect the design and implementation of climate-resilient WASH are also analysed and discussed.

This chapter discusses the water supply and sanitation situation in Rajasthan, particularly the spatial variation in the characteristics of the water supply systems. It describes the natural, physical, socio-economic and institutional environment which influences the access to drinking water sources and use of water, and access to and use of improved sanitation facilities in Rajasthan. It also reviews the existing policies and norms pertaining to rural water supply in the state to know as to what extent they address the public health concerns associated with climate variability in the state. It then maps the climate-induced WASH risk in all the districts of Rajasthan using a modified analytical framework for assessing climate risk, and validates it using data on public health status, with respect to incidence of water-borne diseases across the state. The WASH risk index was estimated to be varying from a lowest of 0.20 for Jaisalmer District to 0.40 for Sirohi District. The key factors contributing to high climate risk in certain districts and very low risks in certain other districts are identified.

Arsenic (As) rich groundwater in alluvial aquifers is a worldwide problem (Nriagu JO, Bhattacharya P, Mukherjee AB, Bundschuh J, Zevenhoven R, Loeppert RH, Arsenic in soil and groundwater: an introduction. In: Bhattacharya P, Mukherjee AB, Bundschuh J, Zevenhoven R, Loeppert RH (eds) Arsenic in soil and groundwater environment: biogeochemical interactions, health effects and remediation. Trace metals and other contaminants in the environment, vol 9 (Ser Ed Nriagu JO). Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2007). Elevated arsenic concentrations have long been detected in Southeast Asia (e.g. Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao), India, Bangladesh, China, Mongolia, Nepal and Pakistan (Smedley PL, Kinniburgh DG, Appl Geochem 17:517–568, 2002). Recent reports of discovery of arsenic (As) enrichment in groundwater of the Brahmaputra river basin (Bhattacharya P, Mukherjee A, Mukherjee AB, Arsenic contaminated groundwater of India. In: Nriagu J (ed) Encyclopedia of environmental health. Elsevier B.V, Amsterdam, 2011) has exposed a significantly large population inhabiting in the river valley to serious health threats, although the actual distribution and extent of the As affected groundwater in the aquifers are yet to be established. Because of its vicinity to the highly As rich groundwater regions of Bengal basin (Bangladesh and West Bengal state of India), the extent of the polluted areas within the Brahmaputra basin may be much wider than what is initially understood. Groundwater arsenic contamination in the Brahmaputra basin aquifers in Assam, a state in the northeastern part of India, has started gaining attention relatively recently. Singh (Arsenic contamination in groundwater of North Eastern India. In: Proceedings of 11th national symposium on hydrology with focal theme on water quality. National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, 2004) reported maximum groundwater arsenic concentrations in Jorhat district (Fig. 4.1), located in the southern bank of the Brahmaputra river in Assam (maximum groundwater As concentration ranges between 194 and 657 μg/L), with relatively lower concentrations in the northern bank like Lakhimpur district (50–550 μg/L). Based on studies conducted in Darrang and Bongaigaon districts located in the northern bank (Fig. 4.1) of the Brahmaputra river in Assam, Enmark and Nordborg (Arsenic in the groundwater of the Brahmaputra floodplains, Assam, India—Source, distribution and release, mechanisms. Retrieved from the url: www2.lwr.kth.se/Publikationer/PDF_Files/MFS_2007_131.pdf, 2007) reported the concentration of arsenic in the two districts between 5 and 606 μg/L. In a study conducted in 2010 (Mahanta C, Pathak N, Bhattacharya P, Enmark G, Nordborg D, Source, distribution and release mechanisms of arsenic in the groundwater of Assam floodplains of Northeast India. In: Proceedings of the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress sponsored by Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 2008), concentrations beyond 50 μg/L have been confirmed in 72 blocks out of 214 blocks in 22 districts of Assam. A study by Chetia M, Chatterjee S, Banerjee S, Nath MJ, Singh D, Srivastava RB, Sarma HP (Environ Monit Assess 173:1393–1398, 2011) in the Golaghat district reported As concentration ranging between 1 and 128 μg/L in six blocks of the district. These studies so far have remained spatially limited and a comprehensive picture is yet to emerge. To comprehensively evaluate the extent of As contamination in the region, a blanket rapid assessment study was undertaken in large parts of the Brahmaputra basin in Assam. This paper reports the preliminary assessment of arsenic distribution in the Brahmaputra basin in Assam based upon results from 56,180 public groundwater wells, tested during the rapid assessment programme.