Availability Problem of Drinking Water in an Urban Area - Effects of Family Size and Monthly Income: An Empirical Study

The availability of water is a major problem faced by the urban masses and policy makers. Bridging the gap between the demand for and supply of water is a major policy decision confronted by the urban authorities. The ever-increasing urban population and shift in occupational structure results in the increased demand which confronts with lagging supply of water which needs immediate policy attention. The present study is based on the survey of households in urban areas who have piped water connections in their homes. 600 households were selected at random from the total connections available. The data is analysed using the x2 test. The present study aims at examining the relation between size of the family and income of the respondents with that of severity of availability problem of water and comes to the conclusion that severity problem is not connected with the size of the family size but it is connected with the family income of the consumers.