Provisioning Safe Drinking Water in Water Quality Affected Habitations

Government of India is committed to make provision for safe & potable tap water supply in adequate quantity, of prescribed quality and on a regular & long-term basis to all rural households in the country. Towards this end, the Government of India launched the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), being implemented in partnership with states, since August 2019.

The Department has developed a web based integrated management information system (JJM-IMIS) to capture the data of water quality affected habitations, where States/UTs provide status of habitation that have contamination in their ground water sources including those in the State of Rajasthan. As per JJM-IMIS none of the States/ UTs have reported any habitation to be affected by mercury contamination.

For the provision of safe water to households, significant progress has been made in the country since the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission. At the start of Jal Jeevan Mission in August 2019, only 3.23 Crore rural households were reported to have tap water connection. So far, as reported by States/ UTs as on 13.12.2023, around 10.56 Crore additional rural households have been provided with tap water connections under JJM. Thus, as on 13.12.2023, out of 19.24 Crore rural households in the country, about 13.80 Crore (71.72%) households are reported to have tap water supply in their homes.

Under JJM, while allocating the funds to States/ UTs, 10% weightage is given to the population residing in habitations affected by chemical contaminants (includes Arsenic affected habitations). States/ UTs have been advised to plan and implement piped water supply schemes based on alternative safe water sources for the villages with water quality issues on priority.

It was envisaged that planning, implementation and commissioning of piped water supply scheme based on a safe water source in such habitations may take time, therefore, purely as an interim measure, States/ UTs have been advised to install community water purification plants (CWPPs) especially in Arsenic and Fluoride affected habitations to provide potable water to every household to meet their drinking and cooking requirements. The details of habitations affected with Arsenic, Fluoride as on 13.12.2023 and status of CWPP provided in such habitations is provided in Annex I.

The details of the habitations facilitated with safe drinking water that have been affected due to the contamination of drinking water with arsenic, Fluoride during the last three years, State/UT-wise have been Annex II.

Drinking Water is a state subject, and hence, the responsibility of planning, approval, implementation, operation, and maintenance of drinking water supply schemes, including those under the Jal Jeevan Mission, lies with State/UT Governments. The Government of India supports the States by providing technical and financial assistance. A number of steps have been taken to ensure to maintain the quality of the data, 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. The data of habitations affected with chemical contamination, status of testing is provided in public domain and can be accessed using weblink:   https://ejalshakti.gov.in/jjmreport/JJMIndia.aspx

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

Annex-II

State/ UT-wise number of Arsenic-affected habitations and population

 Source: JJM-IMIS accessed on 13.12.2023

Note: Safe water for drinking and cooking purposes, to the extent of 8-10 liters per capita per day is being made available if all of the above habitations through the Community Water Purification Plants (CWPPs)

Annex II contd.

State-wise number of Fluoride-affected habitations and population

S. No.	State	No. of Fluoride affected habitations and population as on
		01.04.21		01.04.22		01.04.23		13.12.23
		Habitation	Population	Habitation	Population	Habitation	Population	Habitation	Population
	Andhra Pradesh	86	40,358	-		-		-
	Bihar	1	699	-		-		-
	Chhattisgarh	154	61,430	159	47,255	-		-
	Haryana	1	1543	-		-		-
	Jharkhand	49	23572	2	1155	2	1155	2	1155
	Kerala	5	9442	5	9442	4	7543	4	7543
	Madhya Pradesh	75	58745	1	1004	-		-
	Maharashtra	3	1569	3	1557	-		-
	Odisha	46	13831	41	12992	31	8713	20	6888
	Punjab	180	2,11,478	182	2,12,694	176	206485	176	206485
	Rajasthan	237	1,56,036	165	107735	113	70797	112	67780
	Uttar Pradesh	53	73,764	38	45800	27	39479	-
	West Bengal	131	1,19,651	42	39294	40	43940	37	41394
Total		1,021	7,72,118	638	478568	393	376112	351	3,31,245

Source: JJM-IMIS accessed on 13.12.2023

Note: Safe water for drinking and cooking purposes, to the extent of 8-10 liters per capita per day is being made available if all of the above habitations through the Community Water Purification Plants (CWPPs)

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AS

(Release ID :251150)

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