Lok Sabha Question No. 330 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-02-25
Subject: RO Plants for Safe Drinking Water
Ministry: DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION
Asked by: JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL, OM PRAKASH YADAV, SANTOSH AHLAWAT, SUMEDHANAND SARASWATI

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DRINKING WATER & SANITATION

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 330 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.02.2016

## RO Plants for Safe Drinking Water

330. SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL: SHRI OM PRAKASH YADAV: SHRIMATI SANTOSH AHLAWAT: SHRI SUMEDHANAND SARSWATI:

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

(a) whether the Government has any proposal for providing Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants for  safe  drinking  water  in  the  areas  where  the  quality  of  water  is  not  as  per  approved standards; (b) if so, the details thereof, State/UT wise especially in Bihar; (c) the number of RO plants installed as of now, State/UT-wise; and (d) the details of guidelines for sanctioning RO plants in the country?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DRINKING WATER & SANITATION

## (SHRI RAM KRIPAL YADAV)

(a) to (d) The Ministry has informed all the States to commission surface water based piped water supply  schemes  in  all  water  quality  affected  habitations  as  a  long  term  sustainable  solution. However, since these projects may take a long gestation period (say 3-5 years) and the rural people cannot  be  put  to  risk  of  consuming  contaminated  water,  all  States  have  been  advised  to  install community water purification plants, especially in arsenic and fluoride affected habitations, as a short term immediate measure for providing 8-10 lpcd (litre per capita per day) of safe water for drinking and cooking purpose only. The technology for community water purification plant has to be selected by the States depending upon the local conditions. Reverse Osmosis (RO) is one of the technologies of water purification. The Ministry has issued Operational Guidelines for community water purification  plants  to  the  States  on  13.11.2014.  Many  States  have  not  updated  the  factual position of commissioning of RO Plants into the online Integrated Management Information System of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. However, based on review meetings, discussions with State officials, video conference, IMIS data, so far 7,368 RO plants have been commissioned by the States. Bihar State has reported installation of only one RO Plant.  The State-wise information of installation of RO plants is at Annexure.

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Annexure referred to in the reply to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 330 due for reply on 25/2/2016

State-wise list of number of Reverse Osmosis (RO) Plants installed by the States

| S.No   | Name of the State   |   No: of Community water purification plants installed |
|--------|---------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| 1      | Kerala              |                                                     27 |
| 2      | Puducherry          |                                                     24 |
| 3      | Jharkhand           |                                                    100 |
| 4      | Punjab              |                                                   1824 |
| 5      | Karnataka           |                                                   1502 |
| 6      | Haryana             |                                                    121 |
| 7      | Gujarat             |                                                    126 |
| 8      | Andhra Pradesh      |                                                     26 |
| 9      | Telangana           |                                                    938 |
| 10     | Rajasthan           |                                                    850 |
| 11     | Tamil Nadu          |                                                     17 |
| 12     | Maharashtra         |                                                    180 |
| 13     | Madhya Pradesh      |                                                   1278 |
| 14     | Uttar Pradesh       |                                                      4 |
| 15     | Chhattisgarh        |                                                      5 |
| 16     | West Bengal         |                                                    330 |
| 17     | Bihar               |                                                      1 |
| 18     | Assam               |                                                     15 |
|        | Total               |                                                   7368 |