MINISTER OF STATEIN THE MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI
(SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA)
(a) &(b) Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has drawn samples of piped drinking water from capital cities and other cities selected for the Smart Cities project across India for testing as per IS 10500:2012. In the first phase, samples were drawn from various locations in Delhi. In the second phase samples were drawn from 20 capital cities across India. In the third phase, samples were drawn from 7 remaining capital cities of the North East Region and 71 of the remaining smart cities which are not covered under capital cities of India.As per the test report of 21 capital cities of various States received so far (except for Mumbai), one or more number of samples drawn from the capital cities have been found non-conforming in one or more parameters with the requirement of the Indian Standard IS 10500:2012.
(c) to(e)Water supply is a State subject and Government of India assists States by providing financial and technical assistance to provide potable water to rural population through centrally sponsored scheme Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). Powers to plan, approve, and implement rural water supply schemes is vested with States.While allocating the funds under JJM to States/UTs, 10% weightage has been given to the population residing in habitations affected by chemical contaminants. The funds provided to the States under JJM can be utilized for taking up schemes in water quality affected areas on priority.
In March 2016, with the recommendation of NITI Aayog, an amount of ? 1,000 Crore was released to various Arsenic & Fluoride affected States for installation of Community water purification plants and commissioning of piped water supply schemes.
Further, in March 2017, National Water Quality Sub-Mission (NWQSM) was launched as a part of National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), which has now been subsumed under Jal Jeevan Mission, to provide safe drinking water to 27,544 Arsenic/ Fluoride affected rural habitations in the country. An amount of ?3690.34 Crores has been released under NWQSM, so far.
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. Central Ground Water Board generates ground water quality data on regional scale during various scientific studies and ground water monitoring throughout the country. Data on ground water quality has been shared with concerned state agencies for awareness and intensive monitoring and remediation of drinking water use.
For Urban areas, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) a Centrally Sponsored Scheme on June 25,2015 with a total central outlay of Rs. 50,000 crore for a period from FY 2015-16 to 2019-20.The Mission focuses is on providing water supply, sewerage & septage management, storm water drainage, green spaces & parks and non-motorized urban transport.
To mitigate the problem in drinking water sector, the water supply component inter alia, provides for rehabilitation of old water supply systems including treatment plants and rejuvenation of water bodies, specifically for drinking water supply and recharging of ground water, and special water supply arrangement for difficult areas, hill and coastal cities, including those having water quality problems (e.g. arsenic, fluoride).
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