(a) whether the Government has prescribed minimum quality standards for potable water to all households across the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the steps taken by the Government to provide safe drinking water to all the households as per the said prescribed quality standard?
MINISTER OF STATEIN THE MINISTRY OF DRINKING WATER & SANITATION(SHRI RAM KRIPAL YADAV)
(a) to (c) The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation administers the Centrally sponsored programme called National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) to assist the States technically and financially in providing safe drinking water in adequate quantity to the rural population of the country. Under NRDWP guidelines, water is defined as safe if it is free from biological contamination and within the permissible limits of chemical contamination as prescribed by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in its IS:10500 standard for drinking water specification. Under NRDWP, States can spend upto 67% of the releases made to them for coverage and/or tackling water quality problems. Further 5% of NRDWP funds are earmarked and allocated to those States facing problems of chemical contamination in drinking water and with Japanese Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (JE/AES) affected high priority districts. Through the State Departments dealing with rural drinking water supply, the Ministry monitors the quality of drinking water by providing 3% NRDWP funds on 100 per cent Central assistance basis to States for water quality monitoring and surveillance activities, which inter alia include setting up of new or up-gradation of State/district/sub-divisional water quality testing laboratories.