Question : Testing of Ground Water

(a) whether the Government has set up any new laboratories for testing the quality of ground water and if so, the number of such new laboratories set up during each of the last three years and the current year, State-wise;
(b) whether there is any monitoring mechanism for ensuring safe drinking water in the country and if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the steps taken by the Government to deal with the problem of polluted drinking water and to provide safe drinking water in various parts of the country including Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, State-wise?

MINISTER OF DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION
(SHRI RAMESH CHANDAPPA JIGAJINAGI)


(a) Yes Madam. As reported by the States into the online Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) of the Ministry, the details of new laboratories established by the States for testing of quality of water including ground water used for drinking water in rural area during last three years and the current year is given in the Annexure-I.

(b) In order to streamline the mechanism of testing quality of drinking water, the Ministry has published the Uniform Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Protocol and widely distributed to all the States upto the district level. As per the guidelines State level laboratory shall focus on monitoring specific contaminants like heavy metals, pesticides and conduct virological examination if bacteriological contamination is very high. The District and Sub-district laboratories should monitor twice a year every source for bacteriological parameters and once a year for chemical parameters. The test results are being captured in Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) of the Ministry as a monitoring mechanism.

(c) Rural drinking water supply is a State subject. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India assists the States technically and financially in providing safe drinking water in the rural areas of the country through the centrally sponsored National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). This Ministry by organizing various workshops, exhibitions and field visits shares / showcases various technologies / best practices to officials of States for benefitting them in implementation of Rural Water Supply Schemes. In addition to this, the Ministry through a high level expert committee suggest various innovative technologies to the States for selection by them as per their requirement. Also, in collaboration with National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), this Ministry had got prepared Hydro-Geo-Morphological (HGM) Maps (Ground Water Prospect Maps) and these maps can be effectively used to drill down to correct locations both for production wells as well as artificial ground water re-charge sites.


States have been advised to prioritize coverage of all arsenic & fluoride affected habitations with safe & perennial surface water based piped water supply schemes as the permanent & sustainable solution. Under NRDWP, upto 67% funds released to the States could be utilized for coverage and tackling water quality problems.

Further on recommendation of NITI Aayog, the Government of India had released Rs 800 crore in March’ 2016 to provide community water purification plants in all remaining arsenic and fluoride affected habitations by March’ 2017 so that 8-10 litres per capita per day of safe drinking water is made available in these arsenic and fluoride affected habitations for drinking and cooking purposes, as short term measures. In addition, funds to the tune of Rs.100 Crore each are also provided for tackling arsenic and fluoride problems in West Bengal and Rajasthan respectively for the last mile connectivity in commissioning surface water based piped water supply schemes. State-wise release of funds is given in Annexure-II.


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