Water being a State subject, steps for augmentation, conservation and efficient management of water resources, including rural drinking water supply, are primarily undertaken by the respective State Governments. To supplement the efforts of the States for rural water supply,    Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), a centrally sponsored scheme, is being implemented in partnership with States, since August, 2019 for provisioning of potable tap water supply to every rural household of the country, by 2024.

At the time of announcement of Jal Jeevan Mission, 3.23 Crore rural households were reported to have tap water connections. So far, 6.70 Crore households have been provided with tap water connections in last 35 months. Thus, as on 02.08.2022, out of 19.11 Crore rural households in the country, around 9.93 Crore (51.96%) households are reported to have tap water supply in their homes. Further, as reported, out of around 16.99 lakh rural habitations in villages across the country, 16.73 lakh (98.46%) habitations have provision of potable drinking water with sources at a reasonable distance. However, 0.26 lakh (1.54%) rural habitations are reported to have water quality issues in drinking water sources.

Water availability per person (capita) is dependent on population of a country and the per capita water availability in the country is reducing due to increase in population. The average annual per capita water availability in the years 2001 and 2011 was assessed as 1816 cubic meters and 1545 cubic meters respectively which would have further reduced to 1486 cubic meters in the year 2021 as per projected population projections. Further, the average annual water availability of any region or country largely depends on hydro-meteorological and geological factors and the availability of drinking water in rural areas is also affected by many factors which include, inter alia, depletion of ground water level, contamination of surface water sources, drying up of ponds & wells, deficient rainfall leading to insufficient recharge of water bodies etc..

To control water depletion and promote rain water harvesting/ conservation, details of major initiatives taken by the Government are available at:

http://jalshaktidowr.gov.in/sites/default/files/Steps_to_control_water_depletion_Feb2021.pdf

This information was given by the Minister of State, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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AS

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