MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT(MS. AGATHA SANGMA)
(a) No Sir.
(b)&(c) State Governments and or its agencies responsible for rural water supply carry out testing of drinking
water sources from time to time and furnish the information of water quality affected habitations in the online
Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) of the Department. As reported by the States, as on 1.4.2009,
there were about 1.8 lakh rural habitations in the country having water quality problems. State-wise and
contaminant-wise details of the same are annexed.
(d) Such information is not collected/ maintained by the Department.
(e)& (f) Rural drinking water is a State subject. The Government of India provides financial and technical
assistance to States through the centrally sponsored scheme National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) to supplement their efforts in providing potable drinking water in rural areas. Powers to plan, approve
and implement water supply schemes/ activities under NRDWP also vest with the States. As per NRDWP
guidelines, upto 20% of funds allocated to States can be utilized for providing potable drinking water in the
quality-affected habitations. In addition, as a measure of flexibility, States can also utilize NRDWP (coverage)
component funds for tackling drinking water quality problems. Therefore, upto 65% of the NRDWP funds at the
state level can be utilised for providing potable drinking water in the quality-affected habitations.
(g)&(h): 5% of the NRDWP funds are earmarked for Support activities that, inter alia, include awareness
generation, capacity building, research & development, water quality monitoring & surveillance, setting up of
water quality testing laboratories, monitoring & evaluation, etc. States carry out awareness campaigns on various
aspects of safe drinking water including use of arsenic free water for drinking and cooking purposes utilizing
funds available under NRDWP (Support) component. To facilitate the same, detailed Information, Education &
Communication (IEC) guidelines have been issued.
Annex
Annex referred to in the reply to part (b) and (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.
4885 to be answered on 26/4/2010
State-wise and contaminant-wise number of water quality-affected habitations reported as on
1/4/2009
S.No. State Name Contaminant wise number of Habitations Total Fluoride Arsenic Iron Salinity Nitrate
1 ANDHRA PRADESH 1,097 791 0 0 306 0
2 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 274 0 0 274 0 0
3 ASSAM 26,589 517 810 25,262 0 0
4 BIHAR 34,909 5,957 2,510 26,442 0 0
5 CHHATTISGARH 8,379 51 12 8,158 158 0
6 GUJARAT 948 450 0 1 274 223
7 HARYANA 179 173 0 0 6 0
8 HIMACHAL PRADESH 88 0 8 8 72 0
9 JAMMU AND KASHMIR 6 0 0 0 6 0
10 JHARKHAND 815 83 0 730 1 1
11 KARNATAKA 8,559 4,152 21 3,127 1,203 56
12 KERALA 1,879 172 0 1,291 335 81
13 MADHYA PRADESH 5,385 4,720 0 178 481 6
14 MAHARASHTRA 3,989 1,415 0 922 442 1,210
15 MANIPUR 5 0 0 5 0 0
16 MEGHALAYA 107 1 0 106 0 0
17 NAGALAND 157 0 0 157 0 0
18 ORISSA 23,676 700 2 20,255 2,667 52
19 PUDUCHERRY 4 0 0 4 0 0
20 PUNJAB 864 54 0 51 759 0
21 RAJASTHAN 37,658 11,775 66 103 24,787 927
22 TAMIL NADU 637 0 0 557 80 0
23 TRIPURA 7,102 0 0 7,102 0 0
24 UTTAR PRADESH 5,911 1,768 873 2,800 455 15
25 UTTARAKHAND 9 2 7 0 0 0
26 WEST BENGAL 10,773 582 5,195 4,339 657 0
Total: 1,79,999 33,363 9,504 1,01,872 32,689 2,571
