The right to access to clean drinking water is fundamental to life and is the duty on the state to provide clean drinking water to its citizens. The State is duty bound not only to provide adequate drinking water but also to protect water sources from pollution and encroachment. Though water is a state subject, the low priority given by the central government to this vital sector is reflected in the low allocations despite more than four-fold increase in urban population. It is ‘inequitable distribution which causes real problems’ than the lack of water and that the ‘water supply system is unequal and unjust, being highly biased in favour of the rich’ in Indian cities.
