Question : Drinking Water Problem

(a) whether the Government is aware that the problem of drinking water has arisen in the country due to ground water level depletion;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the details of ground water level across the country, State-wise including National Capital Delhi, North Bengal, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh;
(d) whether the Government has prepared any concrete action plan in this regard;
(e) whether rainwater harvesting system has been implemented or proposed to be implemented to address this problem; and
(f) if so, the details thereof?

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI
(SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA)
(a) & (b) As reported by States/ UTs, as on 14.09.2020, 79.16% rural habitations having 77.69% population have provision of more than 40 litre per capita per day (lpcd) of potable drinking water and 17.89% rural habitations having 19.34% population have service level of less than 40 lpcd potable water, whereas 3.16% rural habitations having 2.97% population with water sources having quality issues;
(c) As per data provided by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), State-wise depth to water level for the period of pre-monsoon 2020 including Delhi, West Bengal, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh is given at Annex – I;
(d) To enable every rural household in the country to have potable water supply through Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) by 2024, Government is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission - Har Ghar Jal in partnership with States at an estimated outlay of Rs. 3.60 lakh crore, out of which Centre share is Rs. 2.08 lakh crore.
(e) & (f) In the year 2019-20, the Government launched the ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan’ to improve the water resources in the country which inter alia include ground water recharge through five major interventions viz., water conservation and rainwater harvesting, revival of traditional water bodies and tanks, bore-well reuse/recharge, watershed development and intensive afforestation.The operational guidelines for implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission(JJM) provides for construction of water harvesting and conservation works including rainwater harvesting through convergence of funds from various schemes.
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