Lok Sabha Question No. 4057 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-12
Subject: Drinking Water Quality Tests
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: Rakesh Singh, Bheemrao Baswanthrao Patil, Dinesh Chandra Yadav

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT OF DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4057 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.12.2019

## Drinking Water Quality Tests

## †4057.  SHRI RAKESH SINGH: SHRI B.B.PATIL: SHRI DINESH CHANDRA YADAV:

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

- (a) whether tests for drinking water quality have been conducted recently in the major cities of the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the quality of drinking water was not found as per the laid down norms during the test;
- (c) whether any scheme has been worked out by the Government to tackle it and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to conduct test of quality of drinking water in all the urban and rural areas in the country; and
- (e) if so, the details of the measures being taken by the Government to provide safe drinking water to the common people of the country?

## ANSWER 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 201920.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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