Question : Quality of Tap Water under Har Ghar Jal Yojana

(a) whether the Government has taken measures to ensure the quality of tap water being supplied under Har Ghar Jal Yojana;
(b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
(c) the details of the States that have achieved 100 per cent tap water supply under Har Ghar Jal Yojana from 2019 till date, year-wise,;
(d) the number of deaths due to consumption of hazardous quality water supplied in hand-pumps in rural districts from 2019 till present, State and year-wise;
(e) the details of measures being taken to ensure supply of contaminant-free tap water connections to rural areas where there is a higher concentration of poor quality water in view of recent deaths in Uttar Pradesh due to consumption of contaminated water from hand-pumps;
(f) whether medical and financial assistance has been provided to the families of those currently seeking treatment or those who died from consumption of contaminated water; and
(g) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI
(SHRI PRAHLAD SINGH PATEL)

(a), (b) & (e) To make provision of potable tap water supply in adequate quantity, of prescribed quality and on regular & long-term basis to every rural household by 2024, since August, 2019, Government of India in partnership with States, is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) – Har Ghar Jal. Under JJM, while allocating the funds to States/ UTs, 10% weightage is given to the population residing in habitations affected by chemical contaminants. While taking up schemes to make provision of potable tap water supply to rural households, priority is given to quality-affected habitations.
Under Jal Jeevan Mission, as per existing guidelines, IS 10500 is to be adopted for ensuring safe drinking water supply and States/ UTs have been advised to carry out testing of drinking water sources once in year for chemical and physical parameters and twice in a year for bacteriological parameters.
To enable States/ UTs to test water samples for water quality, and for sample collection, reporting, monitoring and surveillance of drinking water sources, an online JJM – Water Quality Management Information System (WQMIS) portal has been developed, which is available in public domain on JJM Dashboard and can also be accessed at:
https://neer.icmr.org.in/website/main.php
This portal also provides automated alerts to concerned authorities in States/ UTs, if the water sample tested is contaminated, to initiate remedial actions. On this portal an individual can also register his sample and choose nearby water quality testing laboratory to get the water sample tested. Thus, testing of water samples and reporting in rural areas, has been made accessible and easy.
States/ UTs have been advised to identify and train 5 persons preferably women in each village from local community viz. ASHA workers, health workers, VWSC members, teachers, etc. to conduct water quality tests using FTKs/ bacteriological vials at village level and report the same on the portal.
(c) Year-wise details of States/ UTs, which have made provision for tap water supply to all rural households, is as follows:

2019 2020 2021 2022
- Goa Telangana -
Haryana
Puducherry
A & N Islands
Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu

(d), (f) & (g) The number of deaths due to contaminated drinking water is not maintained by the Department. Under JJM no direct assistance is provided to any individual.

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