“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 by 2024.
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 of bulk water transfer based on safe water sources such as surface water sources or alternative safe ground 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 Jal Jeevan Mission, as per existing guidelines, Bureau of Indian Standards’ IS:10500 standard is to be adopted for ensuring safe drinking water supply. And 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.
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 55.62 lakh water samples have been tested in the water testing laboratories and 91.12 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 from every village to conduct water quality testing using FTKs/ bacteriological vials at village level and report the same on the WQMIS portal. So far, as reported by states/UTs, about 20.02 lakh women have been trained.
In consultation with various stakeholders, ‘Drinking Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance Framework’ has been released for guidance to States/ UT’s officials and local village level functionaries to expand the water quality testing and reporting, surveillance of drinking water sources, sanitary surveys, setting up of laboratories, etc. As per Drinking Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance Framework, States/ UTs have been advised to undertake water quality testing using Field Test Kits (FTKs) at least once every month, at village level, for all drinking water source(s) as well as two delivery points at tail end.
Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation has launched “Swatch Jal Sae Suraksha” Campaign from 2nd October,2022 to 31st March,2023 to ensure quality of drinking water. Under campaign, quality of water to be tested at Lab/ using FTKs for chemical and bacteriological parameters at village level. As on date, out of 6 lakh villages water quality testing has been reported in 5 lakh villages for chemical parameters and 3.96 lakh villages for bacteriological parameters.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.