(a) whether it has come to the notice of the Government that around seventy five per cent of India’s water, both ground and surface water is contaminated; and
(b) if so, the details of the initiatives taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to improve water quality?
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI
(SHRI BISHWESWAR TUDU)
(a) No such information has come to the notice of this Department, however, Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) generates ground water quality data on a regional scale during various scientific studies and ground water quality monitoring throughout the country. These studies indicate the occurrence of Fluoride, Arsenic, Nitrate, Iron and Heavy Metals beyond the BIS permissible limits in isolated pockets in certain parts of the country. State-wise details of contamination of ground water are given at Annexure I.
Further, Central Water Commission (CWC) is monitoring Water Quality (WQ) of rivers at 764 key locations across India. Based on the analysis of data of 688 WQ stations for the period Aug, 2018 to Dec, 2020 with respect to 08 (eight) traces and toxic metals, concentration of certain contaminants were found beyond the acceptable limits of BIS. Details in this regard are given at Annexure II. The status of contaminants including heavy metals and other parameters like pH, electrical conductivity, Ammonia as Nitrogen, Boron, Fluoride, Biological Oxygen Demand (BoD), Coliform etc in rivers can be accessed through web-links http://www.cwc.gov.in/sites/default/files/trace-toxic-metal-report-dec-2021.pdf and http://cwc.gov.in/sites/default/files/hot-spot-report-indian-river-2021.pdf.
(b) Water being a State subject, initiatives on water management, including making available potable water to general public is primarily States’ responsibility, however, various steps have been taken by the Central Government in this regard in the country. Some of them are given at succeeding paras.
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in association with State Pollution Control Boards/Pollution Control Committees (SPCBs/PCCs) is implementing the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control) Act, 1974 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 in the country to prevent and control pollution in water.
Government of India in partnership with States, is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) since August, 2019 to provide potable tap water supply of prescribed quality and on regular & long term basis to every rural household in the country by 2024. Under JJM, while planning water supply schemes to provide tap water supply to house-holds, priority is given to quality-affected habitations. While allocating the funds to States/ UTs in a particular financial year, 10% weightage is given to the population residing in habitations affected by chemical contaminants.
Since, planning, implementation and commissioning of piped water supply schemes 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) in such 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.
Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation had launched a National Water Quality Sub-Mission (NWQSM) on 22nd March, 2017 as a part of National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), which has now been subsumed under JJM, to provide safe drinking water to 27,544 arsenic/fluoride affected rural habitations in the country.
Further, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has launched Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) - 2.0 on 01st October 2021 for the period of 05 years (FY 2021-22 to 2025-26), with the objective of providing universal coverage of water supply through functional household tap connection in all statutory towns in the country.
Guidelines have been notified by Government of India on 24 September 2020 for control and regulation of groundwater extraction with pan-India applicability. The guidelines include suitable provisions on measures to be adopted to control groundwater pollution.
Further, the quality of groundwater can be improved to some extent if concerted efforts are made to improve the groundwater resources through appropriate groundwater recharge/rainwater harvesting. Government of India has taken a number of initiatives in this direction which can be seen at URL: http://jalshakti-dowr.gov.in/sites/default/files/Steps%20taken%20by%20the%20Central%20Govt%20for%20water_depletion_july2022.pdf
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ANNEXURE-I
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1903 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 28.07.2022 REGARDING “PERCENTAGE OF CONTAMINATED WATER”.
States Wise Number of Partly Affected Districts with different Contaminants in Ground Water of India
S.No. State/ UT Salinity (EC above 3000 micro mhos/ cm)
(EC : Electrical Conductivity) Fluoride
(above 1.5 mg/l) Nitrate
(above 45 mg/l) Arsenic
(above 0.01 mg/l) Iron
(above 1mg/l ) Lead (above 0.01 mg/l)
Cadmium (above 0.003 mg/l)
Chromium (above 0.05 mg/l) Uranium (above 0.03 mg/l)
1 Andhra Pradesh 12 12 13 7 12 2 1 8
2 Telangana 9 10 10 1 9 4 1 1 6
3 Assam 17 20 22 5 1
4 Arunachal Pradesh 5
5 Bihar 1 13 27 27 35 6 9
6 Chhattisgarh 1 22 23 4 22 5 1 1 4
7 Delhi 8 7 8 3 1 3 2 5 4
8 Goa 2 1
9 Gujarat 23 24 26 12 11 1 4
10 Haryana 18 21 21 16 19 17 8 3 18
11 Himachal Pradesh 1 7 1 5 1
12 Jammu &Kashmir 2 6 3 10 3 1 1
13 Jharkhand 16 23 2 23 25 4
14 Karnataka 29 30 29 3 22 1 7 8
15 Kerala 4 5 12 1 15 4 1
16 Madhya Pradesh 19 44 51 9 47 16 2 10
17 Maharashtra 28 20 30 24 20 1 3
18 Manipur 1 2 4
19 Meghalaya 4 7
20 Nagaland 3 5
21 Odisha 18 26 28 5 31 4 2 4
22 Punjab 12 19 23 16 13 10 8 10 16
23 Rajasthan 30 33 33 10 33 14 21
24 Tamil Nadu 29 27 33 12 16 6 1 7 10
25 Tripura 3 3 8
26 Uttar Pradesh 14 39 62 36 58 16 2 17 21
27 Uttarakhand 1 4 3 8 7 1
28 West Bengal 9 9 14 11 21 7 2 3 1
29 Andaman & Nicobar 1 3
30 Daman & Diu 1 2 1
31 Puducherry 2 1
Total Parts of 266 districts in 19 states & UTs Parts of 409
districts in 26 states & UTs Parts of 487
districts in 23
states & UTs Parts of 209 districts in 25 states & UTs Parts of 491districts in 29 states & UTs Pb in parts of 176 districts in 21 states Cd in parts of 29 districts in 11states Cr in parts of 62 districts in 16 states U in parts of 152 districts in 18 states
ANNEXURE-II
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1903 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 28.07.2022 REGARDING “PERCENTAGE OF CONTAMINATED WATER”.
Summary of Trace and Toxic metals data in certain rivers of India
Sl. No. Parameters No. of sites/Stations where parameter has exceeded the limits
1. Arsenic only 2
2. Cadmium only 1
3. Chromium only 7
4. Copper only 2
5. Lead only 8
6. Nickel only 61
7. Iron only 240
8. Two or More metals 187
Total WQ Stations with contamination of one or more metals. 508
Total WQ Stations where all toxic metals found within acceptable limits 180
Total Stations studied 688
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