A question on sustainability of drinking water supply: a district level analysis of India using analytic hierarchy process

The subject of drinking water supply falls under the legislative jurisdiction of the State governments in India. States have their own mechanism of drinking water supply through urban and rural local bodies. Drinking water supply itself is a multidimensional phenomenon of sources, quality, accessibility, sufficiency, etc. This study combines various aspects of drinking water supply at the district level, by assigning weights through analytic hierarchy process, to result in a drinking water supply index. The spatial pattern of drinking water supply index is not in favor of the areas having abundant natural water endowment. Areas which are low in the natural endowment of water are better in drinking water supply, while areas which have abundant natural water are not able to manage the available water and are low on the drinking water supply index. Among various socio-economic-political factors, water governance is most important in the wake of water supply being the function of urban and rural local bodies.