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Many nations have implemented policies to improve drinking water quality, but challenges arise from overexploited or contaminated groundwater-based sources. This paper aims at examining the aspects of water scarcity, security, and sustainability within an Indian village context. We attempt to compare two rural water supply sources in Nagla Chandi village in Uttar Pradesh, India: (a) untreated groundwater sourced from bore wells and (b) treated water from a reverse osmosis (RO) plant. We observed that subterranean minerals are the primary pollutants of unprocessed water drawn from borewells, which form the main source of drinking water. Even though water from the RO plant meets all the quality parameters of potability, frequent breakdowns of the plant due to improper management force the villagers to drink untreated water from the dug wells fitted with hand pumps, affecting their health. We also found a high incidence of water-borne diseases. The case analysis suggests enhancing village water treatment projects by training local artisans in system repair and increasing Panchayat staff to include trained engineers for technical advice and maintenance. The paper proposes reducing water testing cost in rural areas to make it possible Q4 for local organizations to regularly assess water quality and implement corrective actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Swachh Bharat Mission-Rural (SBM-R) is a flagship programme aimed at ending open defecation in rural India. In this paper, we study institutions and processes using Amartya Sen's conception of justice. We review the outcomes by assessing agencies, actions and processes involved in the implementation of the SBM-R programme. The findings are analysed using the Sanitation Well-being Framework. Sanitation well-being is achieved when an individual is able to experience the sanitation life cycle stages of acceptance, construction, utilisation and maintenance of safe disposal, which are part of the framework. The capability factors grouped under personal, cultural, structural, environmental and service elements of the framework determine the sanitation environment facilitated by the state. Failure in experiencing one of the life stages leads to slippage in sanitation, where people resume open defecation, despite possessing toilets. The paper presents a review of literature on the political, technological and structural issues in programme implementation, followed by an analysis of 42 interviews and 12 focused group discussions of state and non-state actors conducted in rural Shravasti, Uttar Pradesh, India. We found that slippage is prevalent in the field site and identified 26 capability factors (expansion and constraints) that led to slippage in sanitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]