Since August 2019, Government of India is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) – Har Ghar Jal in partnership with States including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to make provision of tap water supply to every rural household. Since launch of JJM, additional 9.45 Crore rural households have been provided tap connections. Thus, as on 31.07.2023, out of 19.42 crore rural households in the country, provision of tap water supply has been made to 12.69 Crore (65.33%) rural households.

As reported by the States of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, the progress of tap water connections made under JJM, as on 31.07.2023, is as under:

 

To implement the JJM in the whole country, a number of steps have been taken inter alia, which includes joint discussion and finalization of annual action plan (AAP) of States/ UTs, regular review of implementation, workshops/ conferences/ webinars for capacity building and knowledge sharing, field visits by multi-disciplinary team to provide technical support, etc. For online monitoring, JJM–Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) and JJM–Dashboard has been put in place. Provision has also been made for transparent online financial management through Public Financial Management System (PFMS).

Under JJM, to ensure the quality of works the provision has been made in the operational guidelines of JJM to involve third party inspection agencies (TPIAs) for all water supply works. The provision has also been made to maintain oversight of community in planning, monitoring and O&M of water supply systems. The installation of transparency board and handing over of the work completion certificate and subsequent passing resolution in Gram Sabha regarding ‘Har Ghar Jal’, certifying that all households, schools and anganwadis in the village have tap water, is mandatory before village is certified as ‘Har Ghar Jal’.

In addition, the National WASH (Water sanitation and hygiene) experts have been deployed to assist the States/ UTs to provide technical assistance at field level and carry independent assessment of village. The reports of National WASH experts are also put up in public domain.

For the assuring the quality of the water, the States/UTs have been advised to undertake testing of water quality on a periodic basis i.e. once in year for chemical and physical parameters, and twice in a year for bacteriological parameters and take remedial action wherever necessary, to ensure that the water supplied to households is of prescribed quality.

As reported by States/UTs, as on 31.07.2023, there are 2,087 drinking water quality testing laboratories at different levels viz. State, District, sub-division and/ or block level in the country. To encourage water quality testing to ensure potable drinking water supply, States/ UTs have opened water quality testing laboratories to general public for testing of their water samples at a nominal rate.

To enable States/ UTs to test water samples for water quality, and for sample collection, reporting, monitoring and surveillance of drinking water sources, an online JJM – Water Quality Management Information System (WQMIS) portal has been developed. As reported by States/UTs on WQMIS, more than 62.81 lakh water samples have been tested in the water testing laboratories and 107.92 lakh water samples using Field Testing Kits, during 2022-23. The State–wise details of water quality test reported through WQMIS are available in public domain on JJM Dashboard and can also be accessed at:

https://ejalshakti.gov.in/WQMIS/Main/report

Provisions have been made in the Operational Guidelines of JJM regarding smart technologies like Internet of Things (IoT). The Government of India has also issued advisory to all States/ UTs to consider sensor based IoT solutions to measure and monitor water supply in rural areas. States have been allowed to utilize Support funds of JJM for all such activities.

To encourage States/ UTs for promoting usage of IoT sensors, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation in collaboration with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) conducted an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Grand Challenge wherein IoT sensors were deployed at 100 locations across the country. These sensors have been integrated with JJM dashboard and provides real time data of water service delivery. States like Goa, Gujarat and Bihar have taken a lead in deployment of IoT sensors in drinking water supply infrastructure.

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

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PK

(Release ID: 1945408)