Jal Jeevan Mission starts to monitor tap water supply

After launching into its next phase of measuring and monitoring water supply at 11 locations, the Jal Jeevan Mission is expanding the coverage of its sensor-based systems to 100 villages across nine states, a senior government official said. This would help in understanding water consumption patterns and also devise the pricing strategy at a later stage.

The Jal Jeevan Mission promises a 55-litre per capita per day for each rural household and BIS10500 quality of water. The IOT — internet of things-based sensors and flowmeters are being deployed on the field in 100 villages across nine states — Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Ladakh — a senior government official said.

The ministry is also training five women in each village to test water quality and upload the data online. The test is done through a simple and easy-to-use kit and it provides indicative results. If there is indication of contamination, then the team of women can flag it and the government would look further into the matter. The Jal Shakti Ministry has shortlisted four startups for developing the smart water supply measurement and monitoring system. The start-ups took part in a grand challenge organised by ministries of Jal Shakti and electronics and information technology last year.

The four companies taking part in the field trials include GLOBALM, Greenvironment Innovation & Marketing India Pvt. Ltd., Rydot Infotech Private Limited and consortium of Eyenetaqua Solutions Pvt. Ltd and Ilonnati Innovations Pvt. Ltd.

Devices are installed on overhead tanks to enable capturing and transmission of data. The Centre wants to decide the pricing of water for the rural households in consultation with states. “Our objective is cost optimisation. It must be available at a reasonable cost. Pricing has to be affordable and will be decided by the Centre and states together,” the senior official added.

In order to address fluoride and arsenic contamination of water in some states, including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the Jal Shakti Ministry has asked the state governments to instal community water purification plants.

“This problem of arsenic and fluoride contamination arises in riverine belts. Without these, plants providing safe piped water connection can take 18 to 24 months,” the senior official said.

While the initial target of constructing these plants was March 31, 2021, the work was delayed due to the pandemic. According to the new deadline, all states are expected to have these plants up and running by the end of December 2021. “It takes only 2-3 months, so it is an achieveable target,” the senior government official added.

States have also been told to plan for piped water supply. The Jal Jeevan Mission was launched on August 15, 2019 by the Prime Minister. At the time, 17 per cent of the rural households had tap water connection, which has increased to 41 per cent in the last two years. Goa, Telangana, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry are among states that claim to have achieved 100 per cent tap connections in rural areas.