ABSTRACT
Traditionally, water supply surveillance generates data on the safety and adequacy of the drinking water supply in order to contribute to the protection of human health. In India, the monitoring of rural water supply is based on simplistic considerations, involving data on the number of households covered by different types of water supply systems and the characteristics of the sources. Now climate has a major bearing on the adverse effect of lack of water for hygiene and environmental sanitation. In arid and semi-arid climates, breeding of water-related insect vectors would be less during hot weather conditions. All these parameters are factored in six broad sub-indices. They are: water supply and use; family occupation and social profile; presence of social institutions and ingenuity; water resource endowment; climate and drought proneness; and financial stability. The MUWS vulnerability index was computed for 100 sample rural households in each of the three villages of Maharashtra.
