This thesis explores water use in agriculture and for domestic purposes in India. Efficiency in groundwater use and sugarcane production is examined at the plot level from a primary survey of sugarcane growing farmers in North India. Farmers are found to be technically inefficient with buyers' plots being the least efficient and thus having the highest potential income gains from a redistribution of inputs. Likewise, all farmers are found to underutilise water due to water rationing arising from an erratic and discontinuous power supply. Using secondary data from a national survey, diarrhoeal health impacts in children from different drinking water sources and sanitation facilities is also examined. The analysis shows that disease-specific awareness of the mother has the largest impact on reducing diarrhoea in children. Further, higher diarrhoeal incidence in children in piped water households indicates that infrastructure needs to be supported by continuous and good quality drinking water supply