Tap water monitoring has started in India - JJM

India is starting quantitative monitoring of water supply for the first time.

 Tap water monitoring has started in India - JJM

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• The story: 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. Why? To understand water consumption patterns and also devise the pricing strategy at a later stage. Note that till now, India has no system of monitoring water quantities supplied in pipelines.
• JJM: The Jal Jeevan Mission promises a 55-litre per capita per day for each rural household and BIS10500 quality of water.

1. 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
2. The ministry is 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.
3. The Jal Shakti Ministry has shortlisted four start-ups 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 in 2020.

• Getting to the right price: 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. The 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.
• Contamination problem: In order to address fluoride and arsenic contamination of water in some states, including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the Jal Shakti Ministry 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.
• Targets: 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. States have been told to plan for piped water supply. The Jal Jeevan Mission was launched on August 15, 2019 by the PM. 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.

 

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