Piped Water Connection by 2024

• 18 Jun 2019

The Prime Minister has recently said that the government will provide piped water to every household in the next five years i.e. by 2024.

• This is the 12^th time that India has set a deadline to take water at the household-level.

Challenges

• It would be an enormous exercise:
  
  • Some 8.43 million households, currently without drinking water facilities, have to be connected to piped water in the next five years.
  • Some 4,620 households would have to be added to the network every day for the next five years, at the rate of 40 litres per day.

• India remains haunted by what is known as the “slippage” problem. It means villages/habitations covered with safe drinking water facilities slip back to 'not-covered' status due to various reasons that include drying up of the source or collapse of the facilities due to non-maintenances.
  
  • Currently, India is facing a water stressed situation, two major reasons being, drying reservoirs and dipping groundwater levels.
  • It is to be seen from where the piped water supply scheme would draw water as currently the country is going through a water crisis situation.
• The quality of water sources — both surface and ground sources — is hardly suited to drinking. According to NITI Aayog, nearly 70 per cent of all of the country’s fresh water sources are contaminated.
• Water, being a state subject, the scope of the centre's intervention is therefore limited.

Way Forward

• There is an urgent need to create awareness among the people for the conservation of water.
• The Jal Shakti Ministry needs to work with states to ensure piped water to every household in the country.
• The sources as well as the quality of water in the country needs to be maintained on an urgent basis.