Page 204 - economic review

SOCIAL SERVICE176

of water resources in one season and shortage in the next season. Moreover, due to the undulating
topography with steep terrain, rainwater is quickly discharged into the sea.

4.166 In terms of sources for drinking water, Kerala depends on both surface water and ground
water. Surface water sources include rivers, canals, streams, ponds, lakes, reservoirs etc. Kerala
has 41 west-flowing and 3 east-flowing rivers originating from the Western Ghats. As per the national
classification, none of these are major rivers. Four of them are medium rivers, whose combined
discharge is less than half of that of river Krishna. The remaining 40 are minor rivers, and their
combined discharge is only about one third of that of Godavari. The total annual yield of all these rivers
together is 78041 Million Cubic Meters (MCM) of which 70323 MCM is in Kerala. The total storage in
reservoirs of completed projects is 1133.76 Mm3. It is estimated that Kerala has approximately 995
tanks and ponds having summer storage more than 15000 Mm³. It needs to be noted that, 67.29%
of the surface water area of 3.61 lakh hectares is constituted by brackish water lakes, backwaters
and estuaries.

4.167 Groundwater has been the main source for meeting the domestic needs of majority of the
population besides, fulfilling a large portion of the irrigation needs of agriculture. In contrast to our
neighbouring states, the availability of annual replenishable ground water and extraction of potential
ground water are low. The availability of annual replenishable ground water in Kerala is 6840 MCM.
The net ground water availability in Kerala is 6229.03 MCM, of which 59.25 per cent is utilized for
irrigation purpose and 40.74 per cent is used for domestic and industrial purpose. Present drinking
water demand is at 645 million litres / day. The projected water requirement by 2021 in the industrial
sector is 4270Mm3 and for domestic requirement is at 3230 Mm3. The potential utilization of available
ground water resource in Kerala is 43.24 per cent. Open well density in Kerala is perhaps the highest
in the country with 200 wells per sq.km in the coastal region, 150 wells per sq.km in the midland and
70 wells per sq.km in the high land. Natural springs occurring in the highland regions of Kerala state
have the potential to be developed as good sources for drinking water supply and also for limited
small scale irrigation, especially in remote and under developed areas.

Drinking water in Kerala – Access and Safety

4.168 Based on the distance of water source available, Census of India 2011 has classified water
availability of households into three categories - Within the premise, Near the premise and Away
from premise. In Kerala, 78 percent of the people availed drinking water from their own premises, 14
percent from sources Near the premises and 8 percent from sources Away from the premises. Efforts
are to be targeted towards the provision of drinking water to households from sources which are as
close as possible to their household.

4.169 An analysis of the district wise figures bring out some significant facts. Idukki district has the
largest percent of the people depending on sources Away from the premises (27%). Significantly, it is
also the district with the largest percent of households depending on sources Near the premise (31
%) and least percent of households having access to sources within their premises (41%). Similarly
the district of Wayanad has a large percent of households depending on sources Away from premises
(16%) and Near the premises (24%). Both Idukki and Wayanad are hill districts, and require special
attention with regard to access to drinking water. Source wise Drinking Water availability in the
Districts of Kerala are given in Appendix 4.72

Kerala State Planning Board