Lok Sabha Question No. 2792 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-08-08
Subject: Arsenic Contamination
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: Shri Ravindra Shukla Alias Ravi Kishan, Dr. Nishikant Dubey

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI

## DEPARTMENT OF DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. - 2792

ANSWERED ON - 08/08/2024

## ARSENIC CONTAMINATION

## 2792.  DR. NISHIKANT DUBEY:

## SHRI RAVINDRA SHUKLA ALIAS RAVI KISHAN:

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

- a) the steps taken by the Government to collect data of people affected by arsenic, fluoride, iron salinity  and  Nitrate  contaminated  water  in  the  country  so  far,  State-wise  particularly  in  Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, district-wise;
- b) the number of households that are consuming arsenic or fluoride-contaminated drinking water, State and district-wise; and
- c) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to provide safe drinking water in areas  having  arsenic,  fluoride  contaminated  drinking  water  in  various  States  of  the  country including Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI (SHRI VEERANNA SOMANNA)

(a) to (c) Government of India, in partnership with States, is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) since August, 2019 to provide potable tap water supply in adequate quantity, of prescribed quality and on regular & long-term basis to every rural household in the country. Drinking Water being a state subject, the responsibility of planning, approval, implementation, operation, and maintenance of drinking water supply schemes, including those under the Jal Jeevan Mission, lies with State/UT Governments. The Government of India supports the States including Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand by providing technical and financial assistance.

The Department has developed a web based integrated management information system (JJMIMIS) to capture the data of water quality affected habitations, where States/UTs provide status of habitation that have contamination in their drinking water sources.

Under JJM, while planning water supply schemes to provide tap water  supply to households, 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  including  Arsenic,  Fluoride,  Iron,  Salinity  and  Nitrate.  Under  JJM, contamination in drinking water sources in rural areas is monitored on habitation wise. The Statewise number of habitations affected with Arsenic, Fluoride, Iron, Salinity and Nitrate as reported by States on JJM-IMIS, as on date, is annexed .

As reported by States/ UTs, as on date, there are 316 Arsenic and 265 Fluoride affected rural habitations in the country that are yet to be provided piped potable water. Provision of safe drinking water for cooking and drinking requirements has been made in all these 316 Arsenic-affected and 265 Fluoride-affected habitations through Community Water Purification Plants (CWPPs).

Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, as per existing guidelines, Bureau of Indian Standards' BIS:10500 standards are adopted as benchmarks for ensuring the quality of water being supplied through the piped water supply schemes. As per the Operational Guidelines, States/ UTs can utilize upto 2% of  their  annual  allocation  of  funds  under  JJM  for  Water  Quality  Monitoring  &  Surveillance (WQM&S) activities inter alia which includes setting up and strengthening of water quality testing laboratories, procurement of equipment, instruments, chemicals, glassware, consumables, hiring of  skilled  manpower,  surveillance  by  community  using  field  test  kits  (FTKs),  awareness generation, educational programmes on water quality, accreditation/recognition of laboratories, etc.

To enable States/ UTs to test water samples for water quality, and for sample collection, reporting, monitoring  and  surveillance  of  drinking  water  sources,  an  online  JJM  -  Water  Quality Management Information System (WQMIS) portal has been developed. The State-wise details of water quality test reported through WQMIS are available in public domain on JJM Dashboard and can also be accessed at:

## https://ejalshakti.gov.in/WQMIS/Main/report

As reported by States/UTs, as on date, there are 2,165 drinking water quality testing laboratories at different levels viz. State, district, sub-division and/ or block level in the country. To encourage water  quality  testing  to  ensure  potable  drinking  water  supply,  States/  UTs  have  opened  water quality testing laboratories to general public for testing of their water samples at a nominal rate.

In order to empower the communities to monitor the water quality States/ UTs have also been advised to identify and train 5 persons, preferably women, in every village to conduct water quality testing using Field Testing Kits (FTKs at village level and report the same on the WQMIS portal. So far, as reported by States/UTs on WQMIS, as on date, more than 24.64 lakh women have been trained for testing water using FTKs.

A 'Citizen Corner' was also developed on the JJM Dashboard. The corner included display of water quality test results in the public domain to further create awareness and build confidence among people about the quality of water supplies through the PWS in rural areas

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## Annex  referred  in  the  reply  to  Lok  Sabha  unstarred  Question  No.  2792  for  reply  on 08.08.2024

## State-wise number of Arsenic, Fluoride, Iron, Salinity and Nitrate affected habitations

( as on 05.08.2024 )

| S. No.   | State       | Number of quality-affected habitations   | Number of quality-affected habitations   | Number of quality-affected habitations   | Number of quality-affected habitations   | Number of quality-affected habitations   | Number of quality-affected habitations   | Number of quality-affected habitations   |
|----------|-------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
|          |             | Fluoride                                 | Fluoride                                 | Arsenic                                  | Arsenic                                  | Iron                                     | Salinity                                 | Nitrate                                  |
|          |             | Total                                    | Covered with CWPP                        | Total                                    | Covered with CWPP                        |                                          |                                          |                                          |
| 1.       | Assam       | -                                        | -                                        | -                                        | -                                        | 2,465                                    | -                                        | -                                        |
| 2.       | Bihar       | -                                        | -                                        | -                                        | -                                        | 51                                       | -                                        | -                                        |
| 3.       | Jharkhand   | 1                                        | 1                                        | -                                        | -                                        | -                                        | -                                        | -                                        |
| 4.       | Kerala      | 1                                        | 1                                        | -                                        | -                                        | 55                                       | 16                                       | 7                                        |
| 5.       | Odisha      | 18                                       | 18                                       | -                                        | -                                        | 915                                      | 9                                        | 5                                        |
| 6.       | Punjab      | 119                                      | 119                                      | 258                                      | 258                                      | -                                        | -                                        | 11                                       |
| 7.       | Rajasthan   | 89                                       | 89                                       | -                                        | -                                        | 4                                        | 7,927                                    | 382                                      |
| 8.       | Tripura     | -                                        | -                                        | -                                        | -                                        | 170                                      | -                                        | -                                        |
| 9.       | West Bengal | 37                                       | 37                                       | 58                                       | 58                                       | -                                        | -                                        | -                                        |
| Total    | Total       | 265                                      | 265                                      | 316                                      | 316                                      | 3,660                                    | 7,952                                    | 405                                      |

Source: JJM-IMIS