In News:

• According to an assessment report released by the Jal Shakti Ministry, only 62% rural households in the country were found to have functional Tap water connections.
• This survey was commissioned to assess the functioning of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).

What’s in today’s article:

• Jal Jeevan Mission – about, key details, focus activities, performance
• News Summary

In Focus: Jal Jeevan Mission

• Jal Jeevan Mission is envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) by 2024 to all households in rural India.
  • It was launched on August 15, 2019.
• The focus of this mission is on assured and regular potable water service delivery at household level, i.e., water supply in adequate quantity (55 litres per person per day).
• Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti is the nodal institution responsible for implementation of this mission.
• JJM is a decentralized, demand-driven, and community-managed programme that aims to instil a ‘sense of ownership’ among the local community.

Key detail

• The programme also implements source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, such as:
  • recharge and reuse through grey water management, water conservation, rain water harvesting.
• The mission is based on a community approach to water and will include extensive Information, Education and communication (IEC) as a key component of the mission.
• JJM looks to create a jan andolan for water, thereby making it everyone’s priority.

Focus activities

Performance of the scheme

• Goa, Telangana and Haryana have achieved 100% tap connectivity to all households.
• Union Territories like Puducherry, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu, have also provided 100% of their households with tap water connections.
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News Summary:Key Highlights:

• Functional Tap water connections
  • Only 62% rural households in the country were found to have functional Tap water connections.
    • A fully functional tap water connection is defined as a household getting at least “55 litres of per capita per day” of “potable water” all through the “year”.
  • 38% of the total assessed households unable to reach the functionality levels in terms of meeting all 3 parameters of adequate quantity, fully regular supply and quality (potable).
  • Overall functionality of household tap connection in the country increased by 14% in 2021-22 over the previous assessment in 2020-21.
• Top performers
  • The findings show Puducherry at the top with 88% functionality score followed by Tamil Nadu (86%), Himachal Pradesh (82%), Goa (81%) and Telangana (80%).
• Worst performers
  • Rajasthan is at the bottom with the lowest 38% of functionality score.
  • Kerala, Manipur and Andaman & Nicobar Islands (40% each), Tripura (41%), Maharashtra (43%) and Madhya Pradesh (47%) appeared as second, third, fourth and fifth worst state.
• Water quality
  • The survey revealed 95% of households to have within acceptable limits of pH values.
  • However, the report mentions a concerning problem of chlorine contamination.