The centre has asked the states to prepare a 'village water security plan' before taking up installation of water supply system for rural households and said women should be involved in management of such schemes.

Issuing guidelines in this regard, the ministry of rural development has said that inputs from state ground water board, state water resource department, irrigation department and public health and education department (PHED) will be required to collect micro-level data.

To understand the water and sanitation disease problems and remedial measures, coordination with village level functionaries of the National Rural Health Mission is "highly essential", it added.

The ministry has also sought to involve women in the programme asking the states to appoint one person, preferably a woman from village water supply committee (VWSC), for data collection at the household level.