Abstract
According to a report by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, Government of India (Composite water management index: a tool for water management. https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2019-08/CWMI-2.0-latest.pdf, 2019), nearly 600 million people in India face extreme water stress. The problem is exacerbated in the hot summer months, when slum dwellers in particular face formidable challenges in accessing and storing water for meeting their basic needs, with women typically bearing the brunt of these burdens. The purpose of this study was to assess the challenges, short-term measures, and coping mechanisms in regard to water access, and to suggest ways of improving water accessibility during the summer seasons for the slum population living in the city of Indore, India. Qualitative methods such as field observation and interviews and/or focus group meetings with female slum residents, municipal authorities, and frontline health workers were utilized in achieving these objectives. The findings revealed that the slum population has a high dependency on private water sources, as well as on other informal and local mechanisms for accessing and storing water during the summer. The study also highlighted different ways in which the slum communities negotiate with municipal authorities and private players for gaining accessibility to water. In the light of increasing water scarcity, as evident in India and other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the findings herein should be of use to civil society organizations, municipal authorities, academics, and other stakeholders as they work to develop equitable water provisions for the slum communities.
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Notes
- 1.
In this research, we had to confine our focus to the non-drinkable water supplied by the government for general use (e.g., washing, bathing, etc.), as the drinking water supply has not yet evolved to an extent that can be studied in the slums of Indore. The term “general use water” will be used throughout the paper as a means to reiterate this crucial distinction.
- 2.
Names have been changed to protect the privacy of the respondents.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the slum residents who shared their experiences actively with us and provided an insight into their lives dealing with water scarcity during summers. We are thankful for the support provided by Neha Mandloi and Ankush Rathore of UHRC’s Indore team. The insight gained through interaction with elected Ward-level politicians, Zonal Officer, Government frontline health functionaries such as Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), Anganwadi workers, Anganwadi Helpers, Auxiliary Nurse midwives (ANMs), and Sector Supervisors vastly informed the manuscript. The authors are thankful to Valliyil Govindankutty, Assistant Professor, at the Department of Geography, at Govinda Pai Memorial Government College Manjeswaram for preparing the map of Indore with the ten slums geo-referenced. The authors are grateful to Prof. Debnath Mookherjee, Professor Emeritus, Washinton State University, United States of America, Prof. Le Thi Thu Huong, Senior Lecturer|Sustainable Urban Development master study programme (SUD), Vietnamese German University, Binh Duong, Vietnam, for their insightful comments. The authors are thankful to Professor George Pomeroy at the Geography – Earth Science Department, Shippensburg University for meticulous editing and for improving the GIS map of study areas.
Financial Support
This research partially received support through an AXA Research Fund grant and partly through Urban Health Resource Centre’s general domestic funds.
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Agarwal, S., Kothiwal, K., Verma, S., Verma, N., Vishvakarma, K. (2023). Perseverance in the Face of Water Scarcity in Hot Summer Seasons: A Case Study of Slum Communities in Indore, India. In: Mookherjee, D., Pomeroy, G.M., Huong, L.T.T. (eds) Urban Transformational Landscapes in the City-Hinterlands of Asia. Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8726-7_11
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