Lok Sabha Question No. 126 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-02-02
Subject: Chemicals in Ground Water
Ministry: DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION
Asked by: AJAY (TENI) MISRA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DRINKING WATER & SANITATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.126 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.02.2017

## CHEMICALS IN GROUND WATER

†126. SHRI AJAY MISRA TENI:

Will the Minister of DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION be pleased to state?

(a)       whether  it  has  been  found  during  the  study  of  quality  of  drinking  water  that  the depleting ground water level is the cause of scarcity of safe drinking water and if so, the details thereof;

(b)     whether the Government has identified the areas, where arsenic and fluoride affected contaminated drinking water is being supplied and if so, the details thereof;

(c)       the  schemes  formulated  by  the  Government  to  provide  safe  drinking  water  to  the people of said areas;

(d)      whether additional funds have been provided or proposes to be provided to States to enable them providing safe drinking water to areas where the water quality is not upto the mark along with maintaining the ground water level so as to provide safe drinking water; and

(e)      if so, the details thereof along-with the monitoring mechanism put in place to ensure proper utilization of funds?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DRINKING WATER & SANITATION (SHRI RAMESH CHANDAPPA JIGAJINAGI)

(a) As per the Annual Report 2014-15 published by Central Ground Water Board, out of 6607 assessed blocks, 1071 have been reported over exploited. That is annual ground water draft exceeds the annual replenishable ground water resources which indicates Ground Water is depleting. 85% of rural habitations are dependent on ground water sources. Drinking water sources when gets depleted, it not only reduces in volume but also gets contaminated.

- (b) State-wise number of arsenic and fluoride affected habitations in rural drinking water sources  as  reported  by  the  States  into  Integrated  Management  Information  System (IMIS) of the Ministry as on 30/01/2017 is furnished at Annexure-I.
- (c) & (d) The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation assists the States technically and financially in providing safe drinking water through the centrally sponsored National Rural Drinking Water Programme. Upto 67% of funds provided to the States under NRDWP can be utilized for coverage and tackling water quality problems with priority to  arsenic  and  fluoride  affected  habitation.   Further,  up  to  10%  of  NRDWP  funds allocated  to  States  could  be  utilized  for  sustainability  of  drinking  water  sources through artificial recharge of ground water and other methods, which inter alia may also dilute the level of contamination in aquifers.

Further on recommendation of NITI Aayog, the Government of India had released Rs 800  crore  in  March'  2016  to  provide  community  water  purification  plants  in  all remaining arsenic and fluoride affected habitations by March' 2017 so that 8-10 litres per  capita  per  day  of  safe  drinking  water  is  made  available  in  these  arsenic  and fluoride  affected  habitations  for  drinking  and  cooking  purposes,  as  short  term measures. In addition, funds to the tune of Rs.100 Crore each are also provided for tackling arsenic and fluoride problems in West Bengal and Rajasthan respectively for the last mile connectivity in commissioning surface water based piped water supply schemes.  State-wise release of funds is given in Annexure-II.

- (e) The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation assists the States financially through the centrally sponsored National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), State Governments are required to upload the details of expenditure regularly into Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) of the Ministry for monitoring of utilization of funds.

## Annexure -I referred in the reply to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 126 due for reply on 02/02/2017

State-wise Number of arsenic and fluoride affected habitations as reported by the States into IMIS of the Ministry as on 30/01/2017

| S.No.   | Nameof the State / UTs   | Contamination Wise Number Of Habitations   | Contamination Wise Number Of Habitations   |
|---------|--------------------------|--------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
|         |                          | Fluoride Habs                              | Arsenic Habs                               |
| 1       | ANDAMAN and NICOBAR      | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| 2       | ANDHRA PRADESH           | 447                                        | 0                                          |
| 3       | ARUNACHAL PRADESH        | 0                                          | 343                                        |
| 4       | ASSAM                    | 155                                        | 3726                                       |
| 5       | BIHAR                    | 1013                                       | 1077                                       |
| 6       | CHANDIGARH               | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| 7       | CHATTISGARH              | 75                                         | 0                                          |
| 8       | DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI     | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| 9       | DAMAN & DIU              | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| 10      | GOA                      | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| 11      | GUJARAT                  | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| 12      | HARYANA                  | 197                                        | 45                                         |
| 13      | HIMACHAL PRADESH         | 0                                          | 157                                        |
| 14      | JAMMU AND KASHMIR        | 0                                          | 7                                          |
| 15      | JHARKHAND                | 997                                        | 130                                        |
| 16      | KARNATAKA                | 962                                        | 21                                         |
| 17      | KERALA                   | 73                                         | 3                                          |
| 18      | LAKSHADWEEP              | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| 19      | MADHYA PRADESH           | 109                                        | 418                                        |
| 20      | MAHARASHTRA              | 93                                         | 1                                          |
| 21      | MANIPUR                  | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| 22      | MEGHALAYA                | 0                                          | 1                                          |
| 23      | MIZORAM                  | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| 24      | NAGALAND                 | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| 25      | ODISHA                   | 62                                         | 2                                          |
| 26      | PUDUCHERRY               | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| 27      | PUNJAB                   | 282                                        | 492                                        |
| 28      | RAJASTHAN                | 6589                                       | 3                                          |
| 29      | SIKKIM                   | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| 30      | TAMIL NADU               | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| 31      | TELANGANA                | 1041                                       | 0                                          |
| 32      | TRIPURA                  | 0                                          | 1                                          |
| 33      | UTTAR PRADESH            | 200                                        | 262                                        |
| 34      | UTTARAKHAND              | 0                                          | 0                                          |
| 35      | WEST BENGAL              | 1039                                       | 8066                                       |
| Total   | Total                    | 13334                                      | 14755                                      |

Annexure -II referred in the reply to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 126 due for

## reply on 02/02/2017

State-wise No. of Arsenic and Fluoride Affected Habitations and Total Population Affected (as per IMIS of Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation) as on  13 th December 2015 and Funds Released by the Government to the States in March 2016 on the recommendation of the NITI Aayog

| Sl. No.   | Name of State   | Arsenic                           | Arsenic                   | Fluoride                          | Fluoride                  | Total Release (Rs. in Crores)   |
|-----------|-----------------|-----------------------------------|---------------------------|-----------------------------------|---------------------------|---------------------------------|
| Sl. No.   | Name of State   | Total no. of affected habitations | Total affected population | Total no. of affected habitations | Total affected population | Total Release (Rs. in Crores)   |
| 1         | Assam           | 288                               | 102147                    | 109                               | 50645                     | 11.57                           |
| 2         | Bihar           | 34                                | 65007                     | 442                               | 236504                    | 22.83                           |
| 3         | Karnataka       | 7                                 | 11762                     | 1044                              | 779213                    | 59.90                           |
| 4         | Punjab          | 175                               | 210349                    | 254                               | 309242                    | 39.35                           |
| 5         | Uttar Pradesh   | 39                                | 55594                     | 143                               | 121148                    | 13.39                           |
| 6         | West Bengal     | 784                               | 1224568                   | 1002                              | 584134                    | 236.98                          |
| 7         | Andhra Pradesh  | 0                                 | 0                         | 394                               | 280655                    | 21.26                           |
| 8         | Chhattisgarh    | 0                                 | 0                         | 50                                | 13803                     | 1.05                            |
| 9         | Gujarat         | 0                                 | 0                         | 5                                 | 11772                     | 0.89                            |
| 10        | Haryana         | 0                                 | 0                         | 10                                | 35185                     | 2.66                            |
| 11        | Jammu & Kashmir | 0                                 | 0                         | 1                                 | 6227                      | 0.47                            |
| 12        | Jharkhand       | 0                                 | 0                         | 10                                | 1975                      | 1.50                            |
| 13        | Kerala          | 0                                 | 0                         | 95                                | 260499                    | 19.73                           |
| 14        | Madhya Pradesh  | 0                                 | 0                         | 358                               | 130113                    | 15.85                           |
| 15        | Maharashtra     | 0                                 | 0                         | 179                               | 468707                    | 24.08                           |
| 16        | Odisha          | 0                                 | 0                         | 147                               | 26375                     | 2.00                            |
| 17        | Rajasthan       | 0                                 | 0                         | 6904                              | 4374419                   | 431.29                          |
| 18        | Telangana       | 0                                 | 0                         | 866                               | 1195168                   | 94.58                           |
| 19        | Uttarakhand     | 0                                 | 0                         | 1                                 | 8126                      | 0.62                            |
| Total     | Total           | 1327                              | 1669427                   | 12014                             | 8893910                   | 1000                            |