Lok Sabha Question No. 125 (STARRED), answered on 2018-07-26
Subject: Safe Drinking Water
Ministry: DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION
Asked by: DEVENDRA (ALIAS) BHOLE SINGH SINGH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 125 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.07.2018

## Safe Drinking Water

†*125. SHRI DEVENDRA SINGH BHOLE:

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

- (a)  the  names  of  districts  in  Uttar  Pradesh  where  the  citizens  are  falling  victims  to  various diseases due to consumption of toxic underground water;
- (b)  the  details  of  arsenic  and  other  toxic  elements  detected  in  water  along  with  the  details  of provisions made for safe drinking water in these districts, district-wise;
- (c) the details of programmes implemented by the Government for tackling drinking water crisis in Uttar Pradesh including the amount of funds spent in this regard during each of the last three years and the current year; and
- (d) the number of areas benefited and the target fixed for future in this regard?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION (SUSHREE UMA BHARTI)

(a) to (d)   A Statement of reply is laid on the Table of the House.

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## Statement referred to in the reply to Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 125   due for reply on 26.07.2018

(a) to (c): As reported in the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) of this Ministry, as  on  31/03/2018,  748  habitations  in  17  districts  are  affected  by  arsenic  contamination  in underground water. These are Ambedkar Nagar(10), Azamgarh (2), Bahraich (538), Balia (107), Balrampur (1), Basti (7), Deoria (8), Gorakhpur (8), Kheri (23), Kushi Nagar (19), Lucknow (1), Maharajganj (3), Mau (8), Sambhal (1), Sant Kabeer Nagar (6), Siddharth Nagar (5), Sonbhadra (1).

This  Ministry  supplements  the  efforts  of  the  State Governments for  improving  rural  drinking water supply coverage, which is a State subject, by providing technical & financial assistance through centrally sponsored National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). Additionally this Ministry has launched the National Water Quality Submission (NWQSM) under NRDWP to tackle arsenic and fluoride contamination in over 28,000 habitations in the country, including in Uttar Pradesh.

The Government of Uttar Pradesh has additionally been providing safe drinking water through Sanitation  Project  for  Low  Income  States  (RWSSP-LIS)  and  Community  Water  Purification Plants (CWPP). Government of Uttar Pradesh has reported spends of Rs.1317.08 crore in 201516;  Rs.891.96  crore  in  2016-17;  Rs.990.60  crore  in  2017-18;  and  have  proposed  to  spend Rs.1240 crore in 2018-19.

Some of the measures taken up by the State Governments to tackle water quality problems are: (i)  Provision  of  safe  drinking  water  from  safe  surface  water  based  drinking  water  sources.(ii) Piped  Water  supply  by  tapping  the  deeper  safe  aquifers  duly  capping  the  arsenic/chemically contaminated aquifer.(iii)Installation of community water purification plants, (iv) Tapping safe underground aquifer and providing safe drinking water through stand posts, and (v) Replacement of public shallow hand pumps with India Mark-II hand pumps wherever arsenic is not found.

- (d):     Increase in coverage/benefit is a continuous process. The coverage/benefit as measured in terms of rural habitations categorized as fully covered (getting at least 40 litres per capita per day of safe drinking water), partially covered (getting less than 40 lpcd) and quality affected (water affected by chemical contamination) in Uttar Pradesh are 98.57%, 0.90%  and  0.53% respectively.

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