The urban water supply mission under the Jal Jeevan Mission announced in the Budget would include rejuvenation of water bodies as well as 20% of supply from reused water.
Access to safe drinking water has been a grave problem for India, especially in rural areas where lack of usable water has resulted in decades-old sanitation and health problems.
Jal Jeevan Mission
- Jal Jeevan Mission, a central government initiative under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, aims to ensure access of piped water for every household in India.
- The mission’s goal is to provide to all households in rural India safe and adequate water through individual household tap connections by 2024.
- The Har Ghar Nal Se Jal programme was announced by FM in Budget 2019-20 speech.
- This programme forms a crucial part of the Jal Jeevan Mission.
- The programme aims to implement source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, such as recharge and reuse through greywater management, water conservation, and rainwater harvesting.
Urban component of the mission
- The mission is meant to create a people’s movement for water, making it everyone’s priority.
- There are an estimated gap of 2.68 crore urban household tap connections that the Mission would seek to bridge in all 4,378 statutory towns.
- The Mission would also aim to bridge the gap of 2.64 crore sewer connections in the 500 cities under the existing Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).
- The mission would include rejuvenation of water bodies to boost the sustainable freshwater supply and the creation of green spaces.
