ANNOUNCEMENTS
Across the globe the scarcity of water poses threat to the existence of human life. India is no exception, as the highest number of households without drinking water at their premises are reported to exist in India burdening the economy with the cost of 600 million dollars in a year. India has made significant improvement in the water supply infrastructure catering to urban population but the same is not true for rural population as 42.9% population residing in rural areas use hand pump as their main source of water. According to Census 2011, rural Boudh an administrative district of Odisha have only 1.11% of population with the piped water supply system. In the absence of sufficient, reliable and potable supply of drinking water households in this district engage in coping activities. This study investigates the coping activities practiced by households to fulfil their daily requirements of drinking water. For this purpose survey was conducted in three villages of each block namely Basudevpali Village, Dhalpur Village and Tatarkila Village. This investigation presents high dependence of households on water collection and water storage activities. In the presence of these activities households have to incur an associated cost burden. With this insight the investigation of this study attempts to identify the major coping activities adopted in a rural setting of India along with the estimation of the financial cost burden faced by households. The results of this exercise reports annual average total coping costs of households to stand at ₹736 which in turn is impacted by demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the households. Household size, education level, water quality perception and income of households act as significant determinants of total coping cost in these villages.
Keyword: Drinking Water, Coping Cost, Rural Boudh.
