“Water” being a state subject, planning, approval and implementation of drinking water supply schemes, lies with state/UT governments. Water Supply/ Water & Sanitation/ Public Health Engineering Departments and/or parastatal organization of respective State Government/ UT Administration, are responsible for making provision of water supply and ensuring quality of water supplied in their respective State/UT.
Government of India is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) – Har Ghar Jal, since August, 2019, in partnership with States, to make provision of potable tap water supply in adequate quantity, of prescribed quality and on regular & long-term basis to every rural household. Under JJM, while allocating the funds to States/ UTs, 10% weightage is given to the population residing in habitations affected by chemical contaminants.
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. Since, planning, implementation and commissioning of piped water supply scheme based on a safe water source may take time, 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 at the rate of 8–10 litre per capita per day (lpcd) to meet their drinking and cooking requirements.
Under JJM, contamination in drinking water sources in rural areas is monitored on habitation wise. As reported by States, as on date, 648 rural habitations are affected with Arsenic contamination beyond permissible limit in drinking water sources. Provision of potable drinking water for cooking and drinking requirements has been made in all these 648 Arsenic–affected habitations. State-wise details is as below:
(As on 23.03.2023)
|
S. No. |
State |
Number of Arsenic-affected habitations |
Covered with short term measures/ CWPPs |
|
|
1. |
Punjab |
441 |
441 |
|
|
2. |
Uttar Pradesh |
107 |
107 |
|
|
3. |
West Bengal |
100 |
100 |
|
|
Total |
648 |
648 |
||
|
|
Source: JJM-IMIS |
|||
Under Jal Jeevan Mission, as per existing guidelines, Bureau of Indian Standards’ IS:10500 standard is to be adopted for ensuring safe drinking water supply. It specifies ‘acceptable limit’ and ‘permissible limit in the absence of alternate source’ for various physio-chemical and bacteriological parameters for drinking water quality. The limit specified for Total Arsenic is 0.01 mg/l.
States/UTs have been advised to carry out testing of water quality on a periodic basis, i.e. once in a 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.
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, as on date, more than 56.68 lakh water samples have been tested in the water testing laboratories and 93.59 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
As reported by States/UTs, as on date, there are 2,078 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.
States/ UTs have been advised to identify and train 5 persons, preferably women, in every village to conduct water quality testing using Field Testing Kits (FTKs)/ bacteriological vials at village level and report the same on the WQMIS portal. So far, as reported by states/UTs, about 20.29 lakh women have been trained for testing water using FTKs.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
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AS