Lok Sabha Question No. 1221 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-09
Subject: Water Conservation in Cities
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: Bhavana Gawali (Patil), Krupal Balaji Tumane

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI, DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. †1221

ANSWERED ON 09.02.2023

## WATER CONSERVATION IN CITIES

## †1221. SHRIMATI BHAVANA PUNDALIKRAO GAWALI SHRI KRUPAL BALAJI TUMANE

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

(a)  whether the Government is formulating any policy for water conservation in the cities across the country where water shortage is on the rise;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether any survey has been conducted in this regard;

(d) if so, the details thereof along with the details of the cities in Maharashtra where water shortage is continuously increasing as per the survey conducted;

(e)  whether  the  Government  is  implementing  any  programme  to  create  awareness  among  the  people about water conservation; and

(f) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI

( SHRI BISHWESWAR TUDU )

(a)  &  (b) Water  being  a  State  subject,  efforts  to  conserve  water  including  rainwater  harvesting  is primarily States' responsibility. However, National Water Policy (2012) formulated by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, inter-alia, advocates conservation, promotion and protection of water and highlights the need for augmenting the availability of water through rain water harvesting, direct use of rainfall and other management measures. The National Water Policy (2012) has been forwarded to all State Governments/UTs and concerned Ministries/Departments of Central Government for adoption.

(c) & (d) CGWB has prepared a report entitled 'Groundwater Situations in Select Cities in India'. The report provides the demand and water supply information collected from the respective water supply department in the city and also analyses the groundwater situations in these cities. However, the cities of Maharashtra have not been taken up for the report preparation. A summary of the report, as provided by CGWB, is Annexure.

(e) & (f) Jal  Shakti Abhiyan was conducted in 2019 in 1592 blocks out of 2836 blocks in 256 water stressed districts of the country and was expanded as 'Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain' (JSA:CTR) in 2021 with the theme 'Catch the Rain - Where it Falls When it Falls' to cover all the blocks of all districts  (rural  as  well  as  urban  areas)  across  the  country.   'Jal  Shakti  Abhiyan:  Catch  the  Rain' (JSA:CTR)  -2022  campaign,  the  third  in  the  series  of  JSAs,  was  launched by  Hon'ble  President  on 29.03.2022   in  all  districts  (rural  as  well  as  urban  areas)  of  the  country  for  implementation  from  29 March, 2022 to 30 November, 2022 - the pre-monsoon and monsoon period.

The focused interventions of the campaign include (1) water conservation and rainwater harvesting; (2) enumerating, geo-tagging & making inventory of all water bodies; preparation of scientific plans for water  conservation  based  on  it  (3)  Setting  up  of  Jal  Shakti  Kendras  in  all  districts  (4)  intensive afforestation and (5) awareness generation.

NWM tied up with Department of Youth Affairs to spread awareness to cover 31,150 villages in 623 districts on JSA: CTR campaign using the vast network of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) and its youth clubs. The awareness generation drive by NYKS, started in December 2020, formed the foundation of the massive involvement of the people in the JSA: CTR campaign. NYKS have engaged over  3.82  crore  people  in  36.60  lakh  activities  in  the  campaign  through  activities  like  rallies,  Jal Choupals, quizzes, debates, slogan writing competitions, wall writings etc. The power of the youth of the  country  is  being  tapped  by  involving  Nehru  Yuva  Kendra  Sangthan  (NYKS)  to  sensitize  the populace on different aspects of water management.   Involvement of NYKS is extended in the JSA: CTR 2022 also to carry out their activities through their vast network in the country.

Also, the Information Education Communication activities are undertaken by the Ministry of Jal Shakti to disseminate the message of water conservation among the people. The social media team of the Department regularly creates informative posts regarding the water conservation and highlights the programmes/schemes  of  the  Ministry  on  social  media  handles  of  the  Department  like  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and KooApp. Further, press release on important events of Ministry is also shared regularly with Press Information Bureau (PIB).

## ANNEXURE

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (c) & (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  1221  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  09.02.2023  REGARDING  'WATER CONSERVATION IN CITIES'.

A summary of the report entitled 'Groundwater Situations in Select Cities in India' by CGWB:

1. Water demand has been computed based on the projection of population of 2011 census and per capita  requirement  varying  from  135  to  155  LPCD,  as  per  the  norms  adopted  by  different agencies. The water supply is made either from surface water or groundwater or from both the resources.
2. Presently, water supply is from only surface water sources in Ajmer city. However, in six cities the water supply will be shifted to only surface water sources in future. These cities are Ajmer (Currently also), Gurugram (2028), Indore (2031), Amritsar (2035), Bikaner (2031), &Hyderabad (2050)
3. Presently  water  supply  is  from  only  groundwater  in  six  cities  (Amritsar,  Jalandhar,  Patiala, Ludhiana,  Faridabad  &Yamunanagar)  and  in  future  only  in  three  cities,  water  supply  is envisaged to be provided only by groundwater sources (Jalandhar, Faridabad &Yamunanagar)
4. In rest of the cities, water supply is made from both surface water and groundwater sources.
5. As indicated by the water supply departments, there is no gap in water supply and demand in 14 cities  in  2021  (Gandhinagar,  Ambala,  Faridabad,  Yamunannagar,  Indore,  Ratlam,  Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Bikaner, Chennai, Vellore, Ajmer & Ghaziabad). By 2041 also 14 cities will not have any gap and Ajmer & Ghaziabad having no gap in 2021 will face gap in water supply, while Patiala & Hyderabad will not have any gap due to augmentation in surface water sources.
6. Stage of Groundwater Extraction (SoE) more than 100% (Groundwater extraction exceeds the annual  replenishment)  in  13  cities(Delhi  (360%),  Faridabad  (269%),  Gurugram  (300%), Bengaluru  (141%),  Amritsar  (363%),  Jalandhar  (472%),  Ludhiana  (290%),  Mohali  (212%), Patiala  (312%),  Bikaner  (239%),  Chennai  (100%),  Hyderabad  (294%),  Ghaziabad  (245%)), while  it  is  between  90  &  100%  in  01  city  (Agra  (93%),  between  70  &  90%  in  08  cities (Gandhinagar  (88%),  Ambala  (72%),  Yamunanagar  (74%),  Indore  (84%),  Ratlam  (77%)  , Jailsalmer  (74%),  Jaipur  (90%),  Jodhpur  (87%))  &  less  than  70%  in  02  cities  (Ajmer  (33%), Vellore (55%).
7. The cities, in which groundwater is envisaged to be the only source for water supply for future also, are already under severe stress (Jalandhar (SoE-472%), Faridabad (269%) &Yamunanagar (74%)) and alternate source of water supply is urgently required to regulate the already stressed aquifer.
8. In most of the area, whenever, there is a shortage, the individuals extract groundwater through wells to meet the demand, but may not be accounted for in the groundwater statistics. This is also reflected in the declining of water level at many places across the country.
9. Groundwater is replenishable resources and gets replenished every year on account of recharge from rainfall and other sources.
10. Recycle and Reuse have already been introduced in some cities and have to be made part of all master  plan  so  as  to  make  a  system  for  supply  of  recycled  water  for  uses  other  than  human consumption and also simultaneously use IEC activities to bring in the changes in the mind set of people for the use of recycled water.
11. Waste  disposal  for  liquid  and  solid  waste  in  all  urban  and  rural  areas  should  be  made mandatorily  scientific  to  reduce  the  contamination  of  both  surface  and  groundwater  sources. CETP & STP should be made functional effectively, which will go long way in cleaning the rivers across the country.
12. Rainwater Harvesting to be made mandatory and it can augment the groundwater system either through recharge or through conservation (when harvested rain is used instead of groundwaterwater conserved is water saved) but cannot be seen as replacement for storm water drains.
13. Master  Plan  for  Artificial  Recharge  to  Groundwater-  2020  has  been  prepared  by  CGWB  in consultation with States/UTs which is a macro level plan indicating various structures for the different terrain conditions of the country including estimated cost. The Master Plan envisages construction of about 1.42 crore Rain water harvesting and artificial recharge structures in the country to harness 185 Billion Cubic Metre (BCM) of monsoon rainfall. The Master Plan for Artificial  Recharge  to  Groundwater-  2020  has  been  circulated  to  all  the  States/UTs  for implementation and also hosted at the website of CGWB (http://cgwb.gov.in/Master%20Plan%20to%20GW%20Recharge%202020.pdf

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