Question : Safe Drinking Water on Permanent Basis

(a) whether the Government has any scheme to provide safe drinking water on permanent basis in the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Government has identified the areas with polluted water in the country and if so, the details thereof;
(d) whether the Government has taken any action for purity and supply of safe drinking water in various States including Uttar Pradesh and fixed any time-limit in this regard;
(e) if so, the details thereof; and
(f) if not, the reasons therefor?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI
(SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA)

(a) & (b) Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti administers centrally sponsored National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) through which the department provides technical and financial assistance to states for improving coverage of drinking water in rural areas.
In addition, as announced in the Union Budget Speech 2019-20, it has been envisaged to ensure piped water supply to all rural households by 2024 under the Jal Jeevan Mission. This Mission, under the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, will focus on integrated demand and supply side management of water at the local level, including creation of local infrastructure for source sustainability like rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and management of household wastewater for reuse in agriculture.
(c) Yes Sir, as reported by States in the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) of this Ministry, the State-wise and Contamination-wise details of water quality affected rural habitations are placed at Annexure.

(d) to (f) Drinking water supply is a State subject. For improving the coverage of safe drinkingwater to rural population, this Ministry supplements the efforts of the States byproviding them with technical and financial assistance through the centrally sponsoredscheme National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). It is the StateGovernments who plan, design, approve, execute, operate & maintain the schemes forproviding safe drinking water to rural population.The funds provided to the States under NRDWP can be utilized for taking up schemes in water quality affected areas on priority including fluoride affected areas.
During March 2016, with the recommendation of NITI Aayog, an amount of Rs. 1000 crores was released to various Arsenic & Fluoride affected States/UTs for installation of
Communitywater purification plants. An amount of Rs. 13.39 Cr. was provided to Uttar Pradesh.

In addition to this, this Ministry had launched theNational Water Quality Sub-Mission (NWQSM) on 22ndMarch 2017 under NRDWPtoprovide safe drinking water to 27,544 Arsenic / Fluoride affected rural habitationsinthecountry. An amount of Rs. 49.95 Cr. has been released to Uttar Pradesh so far.


***