Question : SCARCITY OF DRINKING WATER

(a) whether the Government is aware the scarcity of drinking water especially in the rural areas of the country;

(b) if so, the details of the per capita requirement and availability of drinking water in the country including the habitations/villages fully covered/partially covered in respect of drinking water;

(c) whether supply of safe drinking water lags behind demand in various States if so, the reasons therefor and the steps taken by the Government to increase the supply of safe drinking water;

(d) the details of the drinking water projects/proposals submitted by various States during each of the last three years and the current year, State-wise and the follow-up action taken thereon; and

(e) the details of financial and technical assistance provided to the States for ground water surveys and mapping of potable water?

MINISTER FOR DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION ( SHRI BIRENDER SINGH )

(a) to (e) A Statement is laid on the table of the House.

Statement referred to in the reply to Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 50 (10thPosition) due for answer on 26/02/2015

(a) to (e ) Yes , Madam. At present under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) guidelines, the per capita norm for drinking water is 40 litres per capita per day (lpcd). The States may however, fix their own higher norms based on water availability, demand , capital cost involved , affordability etc.

As per the data entered by the States on the Integrated Management Information (IMIS) of the Ministry ( as on 23.2.2015) there are 12,95,984 fully covered habitations i.e. those habitations where supply of drinking water is more than 40 litres per capita per day (lpcd) 3,31,422 partially covered habitations i.e. habitations where supply of drinking water is less than 40 lpcd .

Of the partially covered habitations there are 67,125 habitations ( as on 1.4.2014) where the population are getting water less than 25% of the existing norm (i.e. 40 lpcd) which can be categorized having scarcity of drinking water .

Drinking Water Supply is a State subject. Under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) , this Ministry only provides financial and technical assistance to States to supplement their efforts to provide adequate safe drinking water to rural population.The execution of the rural drinking water supply schemes are done by the State Governments. The State Governments are vested with powers to select, plan and implement drinking water supply schemes under the NRDWP.

(e) In order to identify the correct locations for siting sustainable structures including groundwater recharge structures and to find out locations for sustainable production wells , the Ministry has engaged the services of National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) , Indian Space Research Organization , Government of India for generating 4898 Hydro Geo- Morphological Maps (HGMs) which have been given to all States in the country. So far the Ministry has provided Rs.64.75 crores to NRSC in this regard.