Lok Sabha Question No. 1903 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-28
Subject: Percentage of Contaminated Water
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: S. Jagathrakshakan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI,

## DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1903

ANSWERED ON 28.07.2022

## PERCENTAGE OF CONTAMINATED WATER

## 1903 SHRI S. JAGATHRAKSHAKAN

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

(a) whether it has come to the notice of the Government that around seventy five per cent of India's water, both ground and surface water is contaminated; and

(b)  if  so,  the  details  of  the  initiatives  taken/proposed  to  be  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  water quality?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI

( SHRI BISHWESWAR TUDU )

(a) No such information has come to the notice of this Department, however, Central Ground Water Board (CGWB)  generates  ground  water  quality  data  on  a  regional  scale  during  various  scientific  studies  and ground water quality monitoring throughout the country. These studies indicate the occurrence of Fluoride, Arsenic, Nitrate, Iron and Heavy Metals beyond the BIS permissible limits in isolated pockets in certain parts of the country. State-wise details of contamination of ground water are given at Annexure I.

Further,  Central  Water  Commission  (CWC)  is  monitoring  Water  Quality  (WQ)  of  rivers  at  764  key locations across India. Based on the analysis of data of 688 WQ stations for the period Aug, 2018 to Dec, 2020 with respect to 08 (eight) traces and toxic metals, concentration of certain contaminants were found beyond  the  acceptable  limits  of  BIS.  Details  in  this  regard  are  given  at Annexure  II. The  status  of contaminants including heavy metals and other parameters like pH, electrical conductivity, Ammonia as Nitrogen,  Boron,  Fluoride,  Biological  Oxygen  Demand  (BoD),  Coliform  etc  in  rivers  can  be  accessed through web-links http://www.cwc.gov.in/sites/default/files/trace-toxic-metal-report-dec-2021.pdf and http://cwc.gov.in/sites/default/files/hot-spot-report-indian-river-2021.pdf.

(b) Water  being  a  State  subject,  initiatives  on  water  management,  including  making  available  potable water to general public is primarily States' responsibility, however, various steps have been taken by the Central Government in this regard  in the country. Some of them are given at succeeding paras.

Central  Pollution  Control  Board  (CPCB)  in  association  with  State  Pollution  Control  Boards/Pollution Control Committees (SPCBs/PCCs) is implementing the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control) Act, 1974 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 in the country to prevent and control pollution in water.

Government of India in partnership with States, is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) since August, 2019 to provide potable tap water supply of prescribed quality and on regular & long term basis to every rural household in the country by 2024. Under JJM, while planning water supply schemes to provide tap water supply to house-holds, priority is given to quality-affected habitations. While allocating the funds to States/ UTs in a particular financial year, 10% weightage is given to the population residing in habitations affected by chemical contaminants.

Since, planning, implementation and commissioning of piped water supply schemes based on a safe water source may take time, purely as an interim measure, States/ UTs have been advised to install community water purification plants (CWPPs) in such habitations, to provide potable water to every household at the rate of 8-10 litre per capita per day (lpcd) to meet their drinking and cooking requirements.

Department  of  Drinking  Water  &  Sanitation  had  launched  a  National  Water  Quality  Sub-Mission (NWQSM) on 22 nd March, 2017 as a part of National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), which has now been subsumed under JJM, to provide safe drinking water to 27,544 arsenic/fluoride affected rural habitations in the country.

Further,  Ministry  of  Housing  &  Urban  Affairs  has  launched  Atal  Mission  for  Rejuvenation  and  Urban Transformation (AMRUT) - 2.0 on 01 st October 2021 for the period of 05 years (FY 2021-22 to 2025-26), with  the  objective  of  providing  universal  coverage  of  water  supply  through  functional  household  tap connection in all statutory towns in the country.

Guidelines have been notified by Government of India on 24 September 2020 for control and regulation of groundwater  extraction  with  pan-India  applicability.   The  guidelines  include  suitable  provisions  on measures to be adopted to control groundwater pollution.

Further,  the  quality  of  groundwater  can  be  improved  to  some  extent  if  concerted  efforts  are  made  to improve  the  groundwater  resources  through  appropriate  groundwater  recharge/rainwater  harvesting. Government  of  India  has  taken  a  number  of  initiatives  in  this  direction  which  can  be  seen  at  URL: http://jalshakti- dowr.gov.in/sites/default/files/Steps%20taken%20by%20the%20Central%20Govt%20for%20water\_depleti on\_july2022.pdf

*****

## ANNEXURE-I

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1903 TO BE ANSWERED  IN  LOK   SABHA  ON  28.07.2022  REGARDING  'PERCENTAGE  OF  CONTAMINATED WATER'.

States Wise Number of Partly Affected Districts with different Contaminants in Ground Water of India

| S.No.               | State/ UT                                | Salinity (EC above 3000 micro mhos/ cm) (EC : Electrical Conductivity)   | Fluoride (above 1.5 mg/l) Nitrate (above 45 mg/l)   | Arsenic (above 0.01 mg/l)   | Iron (above 1mg/l )                     | Lead (above 0.01 mg/l)   | Cadmium (above 0.003 mg/l)   | Chromium (above 0.05 mg/l)   | Uranium (above 0.03 mg/l)      |
|---------------------|------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------------------|--------------------------|------------------------------|------------------------------|--------------------------------|
| 1 Andhra Pradesh    | 12                                       | 12                                                                       | 13                                                  | 7                           | 2                                       | 12                       |                              | 1                            | 8                              |
| 2Telangana          | 9                                        | 10                                                                       | 10                                                  | 1                           | 9 4                                     | 1                        |                              | 1                            | 6                              |
| 3Assam              |                                          | 17                                                                       |                                                     | 20                          | 5                                       | 22                       |                              | 1                            |                                |
| 4 Arunachal Pradesh |                                          |                                                                          |                                                     |                             |                                         | 5                        |                              |                              |                                |
| 5Bihar              | 1                                        | 13                                                                       | 27                                                  | 27 35                       | 6                                       |                          |                              |                              | 9                              |
| 6Chhattisgarh       | 1                                        | 22                                                                       | 23                                                  | 4 22                        | 5                                       |                          | 1                            | 1                            | 4                              |
| 7Delhi              | 8                                        | 7                                                                        | 8                                                   | 1                           | 3                                       | 2                        |                              | 5                            | 4                              |
| 8Goa                |                                          |                                                                          |                                                     | 3                           | 2                                       |                          |                              | 1                            |                                |
| 9Gujarat            | 23                                       | 24                                                                       | 26                                                  | 12                          | 11                                      | 1                        |                              |                              | 4                              |
| 10Haryana           | 18                                       | 21                                                                       | 21                                                  | 16                          | 19                                      | 17                       | 8                            | 3                            | 18                             |
| 11 Himachal Pradesh |                                          | 1                                                                        | 7                                                   | 1                           | 5                                       |                          |                              |                              | 1                              |
| 12 Jammu &Kashmir   |                                          | 2                                                                        | 6                                                   | 3                           | 10                                      | 3                        | 1                            | 1                            |                                |
| 13Jharkhand         |                                          | 16                                                                       | 23                                                  | 2                           | 23                                      | 25                       |                              |                              | 4                              |
| 14Karnataka         | 29                                       | 30                                                                       | 29                                                  | 3                           | 22                                      | 1                        |                              | 7                            | 8                              |
| 15Kerala            | 4                                        | 5                                                                        | 12                                                  | 1                           |                                         | 15 4                     |                              | 1                            |                                |
| 16 Madhya Pradesh   | 19                                       | 44                                                                       | 51                                                  | 9                           | 47                                      | 16                       | 2                            |                              | 10                             |
| 17Maharashtra       | 28                                       | 20                                                                       | 30                                                  |                             | 24                                      | 20                       | 1                            |                              | 3                              |
| 18Manipur           |                                          | 1                                                                        |                                                     | 2                           | 4                                       |                          |                              |                              |                                |
| 19Meghalaya         |                                          | 4                                                                        |                                                     |                             |                                         | 7                        |                              |                              |                                |
| 20Nagaland          |                                          | 3                                                                        |                                                     |                             |                                         | 5                        |                              |                              |                                |
| 21Odisha            | 18                                       | 26                                                                       | 28                                                  | 5                           | 31                                      | 4                        |                              | 2                            | 4                              |
| 22Punjab            | 12                                       | 19                                                                       | 23                                                  | 16                          | 13                                      | 10                       | 8                            | 10                           | 16                             |
| 23Rajasthan         | 30                                       | 33                                                                       | 33                                                  | 10                          | 33                                      | 14                       |                              |                              | 21                             |
| 24Tamil Nadu        | 29                                       | 27                                                                       | 33                                                  | 12                          | 16                                      | 6                        | 1                            | 7                            | 10                             |
| 25Tripura           |                                          | 3                                                                        |                                                     | 3                           | 8                                       |                          |                              |                              |                                |
| 26 Uttar Pradesh    | 14                                       | 39                                                                       | 62                                                  | 36                          | 58                                      | 16                       | 2                            | 17                           | 21                             |
| 27Uttarakhand       |                                          | 1                                                                        | 4                                                   | 3                           | 8                                       | 7                        |                              | 1                            |                                |
| 28 West Bengal      | 9                                        | 9                                                                        | 14                                                  | 11                          | 21                                      | 7                        | 2                            | 3                            | 1                              |
| 29 Andaman Nicobar  | & 1                                      |                                                                          |                                                     |                             | 3                                       |                          |                              |                              |                                |
| 30 Daman& Diu       | 1                                        |                                                                          | 2                                                   | 1                           |                                         |                          |                              |                              |                                |
| 31Puducherry        |                                          |                                                                          | 2                                                   | 1                           |                                         |                          |                              |                              |                                |
|                     | Parts of 266 districts in 19 states &UTs | Parts of 409 districts in                                                | Parts of 487 districts                              | Parts of 209 districts      | Parts of 491districts in 29 states &UTs | Pb in parts of 176       | Cd in parts of 29            | Cr in parts of 62            | U in parts of 152 districts in |
| Total               |                                          | 26 states &UTs                                                           | in 23 states& UTs                                   | in 25 states& UTs           |                                         | districts in 21 states   | districts in 11states        | districts in 16 states       | 18 states                      |

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1903 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 28.07.2022 REGARDING 'PERCENTAGE OF CONTAMINATED WATER'.

## Summary of Trace and Toxic metals data in certain rivers of India

| Sl. No.                                                                 | Parameters                                                              |   No. of sites/Stations where parameter has exceeded the limits |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1.                                                                      | Arsenic only                                                            |                                                               2 |
| 2.                                                                      | Cadmium only                                                            |                                                               1 |
| 3.                                                                      | Chromium only                                                           |                                                               7 |
| 4.                                                                      | Copper only                                                             |                                                               2 |
| 5.                                                                      | Lead only                                                               |                                                               8 |
| 6.                                                                      | Nickel only                                                             |                                                              61 |
| 7.                                                                      | Iron only                                                               |                                                             240 |
| 8.                                                                      | Two or More metals                                                      |                                                             187 |
| Total WQ Stations with contamination of one or more                     | Total WQ Stations with contamination of one or more                     |                                                             508 |
| Total WQ Stations where all toxic metals found within acceptable limits | Total WQ Stations where all toxic metals found within acceptable limits |                                                             180 |
| Total Stations studied                                                  | Total Stations studied                                                  |                                                             688 |

*****