Lok Sabha Question No. 844 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-04-28
Subject: Drinking Water Scarcity
Ministry: DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION
Asked by: LALLU SINGH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DRINKING WATER & SANITATION

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 844 TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.04.2016

## Drinking Water Scarcity

## 844.     SHRI  LALLU  SINGH:

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

- (a)  whether  there  is  heavy  scarcity  of drinking water in the country due to drought and people  of  many  States  are  forced  to bring  water  from  far away  places  and animals are  dying  due  to  non-availability of  drinking  water  and  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- (b)  the  details  of  levels  at  which  the rain-water  is  being  harvested  for  using  it for drinking purpose;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  has  taken  steps  to  store  the  rain-water  and  if  so,  the  details thereof; and
- (d) the amount of funds released by the Government  during  each  of  the  last  three years  to store  rain-water  to  deal  with  the crisis of drinking water?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION (SHRI  RAM KRIPAL  YADAV)

- (a) The scarcity of drinking water in the country has occurred due to less rainfall in many parts of the country during the last two years which has resulted in the depletion of ground water table due to inadequate recharge. As most of rural drinking water supply schemes are based on groundwater source, this has resulted in failure of many such schemes.  In  addition,  inadequate  rain  has  resulted  in  depletion  of  water  in  major storage  reservoirs  in  the  country  and  this  has  compounded  the  problem  of  water availability for drinking purpose.

The Ministry takes immediate steps to tackle the drought like situation and scarcity of drinking water  arising  out  of  deficient  monsoon  if  there  is  a  forecast  regarding  the same as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

As per the Census 2011, 22.1% of the rural households have to fetch drinking water from a distance of more than 500 meters in rural areas. The percentage will increase in case of drought like situations.

- (b)  &  (c)  Ministry  has  been  asking  all  the  State  Governments  to  make  optimum  use  of available water while implementing rural drinking water supply schemes. To increase the

availability  of  drinking  water,  the  Ministry  has  suggested  all  States  to  adopt  water conservation measures like roof top rainwater harvesting, erecting sustainability structures for water conservation etc. For creating such sustainability structures, 10% of National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) fund is provided on 90:10 basis for  North  East  and  Himalayan  States  and  on  60:40  basis  for  other  States.  As  per information  provided  by  States  on  the  Ministry's  online  portal  Integrated  Management Information System (IMIS), a total of 8600 sustainability structures have been created by States which includes Pits and Trenches, Check Dams, Percolation Tanks, Point Source Recharging Structures, Dug Wells/Injection Skimming Wells, Oranies / Village Ponds / Traditional Water Bodies, Roof Top Rainwater Harvesting Structures etc. Moreover Hydro Geomorphological Maps (HGM) are being used for accurately locating new drinking water sources in the field. Government of India is taking steps to cover rural habitations  and  households  with  adequate  safe  drinking  water  supply  on  a  continuous basis . The  focus  of  the  Ministry  now  is  to  move  towards  rural  water  supply  schemes based  on  safe  &  perennial  surface  water  sources  to  ensure  long  term  sustainability  of source and drinking water security in the event of crisis including drought.

- (d) This Ministry does not release funds to States / UTs separately for rain water harvesting. However, under NRDWP, States may utilize up to 10% of the funds for sustainability of drinking water sources  which inter-alia includes rain water harvesting.