Drops and Hot Stones: Towards Integrated Urban Planning in Terms of Water Scarcity and Health Issues in Leh Town, Ladakh, India
Ecological Health: Society, Ecology and Health
ISBN: 978-1-78190-323-0
Publication date: 16 August 2014
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter studies the link between urban planning and health. Access to safe drinking water is already a very serious issue for large urban populations in fast-growing economies such as India. Water availability is further being impacted by climate change, leading to the drastically increased spread of water-related diseases.
Design/methodology/approach
Leh Town, which is located in an ecologically vulnerable semi-arid region of the Himalayas in Ladakh, has been considered for this study because it is undergoing large-scale transformation due to rapid growth in its tourism industry. In 2012–2013 our interdisciplinary group comprising researchers from Germany and India conducted field surveys, including geographic information system-based (GIS) mapping of point sources of water pollution, questionnaire surveys of 200 households and 70 hotels and guesthouses and semi-structured interviews. We also reviewed secondary medical data.
Findings
We found that diarrhoeal incidence has increased in the local population in Leh in the past decade, which may be linked to water pollution: Further, we found that rapidly increasing water consumption coupled with a lack of adequate water and sanitation infrastructure is causing serious water pollution.
Research limitations/implications
Further, data is needed for causal connections between water pollution and health impacts to be conclusively drawn.
Practical implications
This study discusses the use of GIS to support a call for the need for more integrated urban planning and decision-making that holistically addresses water and health challenges in Leh and advocates the development of a decentralized or hybrid sanitation system to support water resources conservation as a central dimension of an integrated health management approach.
Social implications
GIS is also a very useful platform for supporting participatory urban planning in Leh.
Originality/value
With such an integrated urban planning approach, Leh would be a lighthouse example for other towns in the region.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
We thank our research partner Ladakh Ecological Development Group (LEDeG), Leh, India, for organizing and carrying out data collection. We thank the editor and three anonymous reviewers for their very valuable comments. This research is supported by a Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant within the 7th European Community Framework Programme (PIRG06-GA-2009-256555) and the German Research Foundation (DFG) (KE 1710/1-1), and is conducted in collaboration with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
Citation
Gondhalekar, D., Akhtar, A., Keilmann, P., Kebschull, J., Nussbaum, S., Dawa, S., Namgyal, P., Tsultim, L., Phuntsog, T., Dorje, S., Mutup, T. and Namgail, P. (2014), "Drops and Hot Stones: Towards Integrated Urban Planning in Terms of Water Scarcity and Health Issues in Leh Town, Ladakh, India", Ecological Health: Society, Ecology and Health (Advances in Medical Sociology, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 173-193. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1057-6290(2013)0000015012
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013 Emerald Group Publishing Limited