Water quality monitoring

 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 Assam by providing technical and financial assistance.

As per operational guidelines for the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission up to 2% of the allocation to States/ UTs under JJM can be utilized for carrying out water quality monitoring and surveillance activities. The water quality monitoring and surveillance is done through testing of water samples in Labs as well as testing through field testing Kits (FTKs) by community.

As reported by States/UTs, so far 2,118 drinking water quality testing laboratories (including 83 laboratories in Assam) at different levels viz. State, regional, district, sub-division and/or block level, have been set up in the country. To encourage water quality testing to ensure potable drinking water supply, these laboratories have also opened for 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)/ bacteriological vials at village level and report the same on the WQMIS portal. So far, as reported by States/UTs, more than 22.98 lakh women (including 1.08 lakh in Assam) have been trained for testing water using FTKs.

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. As reported by States/UTs on WQMIS portal, as on 30/01/2024, more than 60.93 lakh water samples have been tested in the water testing laboratories and more than 99.99 lakh water samples using Field Testing Kits, during 2023-24. As reported by Assam, as on 30/01/2024, more than 2.23 lakhs water samples have been tested in water testing laboratories and more than 10.04 lakh water samples using Field Testing Kits, during 2023-24.

Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, priority is accorded to make provision of tap water supply in drought-prone & desert areas, water quality-affected habitations, villages in Aspirational & JE–AES affected districts, Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) and SC/ ST majority villages. Under JJM, 0.5% of annual allocation is earmarked to States having Japanese Encephalitis-Acute Encephalitis Syndrome affected districts. Due to priority given to JE-AES affected districts (61), the tap water supply to households has increased from 8.01 lakh (2.71%) HHs in August 2019 to 216.04 lakh (72.99%) as on 30.01.2024.