Tag: water

Swachh Jal Se Suraksha Campaign Report Under Jal Jeevan Mission

The Union Minister For Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat today released the report on progress under the Jal Jeevan Mission: Swachh Jal se Suraksha (SJSS) Campaign which was organised from 2nd October, 2022 to 31st March, 2023 to impress upon the States/ UTs to make concerted efforts towards taking up water quality monitoring and surveillance activities as ‘Supply of Safe Water’ has been one of the key considerations under JJM. Under the campaign, several activities had been taken up including Testing of PWS sources in all villages for chemical parameters and bacteriological parameters (post monsoon); Water quality testing at household level in villages; Water quality testing in Schools and Anganwadi Centres; Remedial action taken for contaminated samples; and Training of women for water quality testing using FTK/ H2S vials at village level.

As a result of concerted efforts made by States/ UTs for water quality monitoring and surveillance during campaign period and progress reported on WQMIS portal, the activity-wise overall progress is as under:

Water quality testing has been reported in 5.39 lakh (89.69 %) villages for chemical and in 4.47 lakh (74.46 %) villages for bacteriological contamination (post monsoon).

Drinking water samples were tested in 6.58 lakh (67.63 %) schools and 7.16 lakh (67.43 %) anganwadi centres.

21.80 lakh women have been trained from 4.59 lakh (76.41 %) villages for water quality testing using Field Testing Kits (FTKs).

Remedial action has been taken for 90.34% of contaminated sample reported.

Performance of states/UTs was also measured during the Campaign. The states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh emerged as the best performing states during the Campaign.

Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) was announced by Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on 15 August, 2019 to make provision of potable tap water supply in adequate quantity, of prescribed quality on regular & long-term basis to every rural household. Access to assured and safe drinking water is a basic life need. The Objective of the campaign was to ensure drinking water quality and create awareness among representatives of the Panchayati Raj institutions and rural communities about quality of drinking water in their respective villages, water quality issues, water borne diseases & health impacts and avoiding use of water from quality-affected sources.

The desired outcome of the campaign was wide participation at Village, district and State level for water quality testing, building confidence and create awareness among people about quality of water being supplied through piped water supply. States/ UTs PHE/ RWS Department, being ‘Nodal Department’ implemented Swachh Jal se Suraksha campaign in respective States/ UTs by actively involving all the stakeholders viz. Gram Panchayat and/ or its sub-committees/ local community to take up water quality monitoring and surveillance and awareness activities.

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Desalination : Maharashtra new mantra to solve water scarcity.

Desalination is seen as one possible answer to the problem of water scarcity. Recently, Maharashtra government has announced setting up of desalination plant in Mumbai, becoming fourth state to do. So, what is desalination process and what is its feasibility ?

What are desalination plant ?

A desalination plant convert salt water generally seawater into drinking water. The most common  used technology used for the process is reverse osmosis where an external pressure is applied to push solvents from an area of high-solute concentration to an area of low-solute concentration through a membrane. The microscopic pores in the membranes allow water molecules through but leave salt and most other impurities behind, releasing clean water from the other side. These plants are mostly set up in areas that have access to sea water.

How widely is this technology used in India?

Desalination has largely been limited to affluent countries in the Middle East and has recently started making inroads in parts of the United States and Australia. In India, Tamil Nadu has been the pioneer in using this technology, setting up two desalination plants near Chennai in 2010 and then 2013. The two plants supply 100 million liters a day (MLD) each to Chennai. Two more plants are expected to be set up in Chennai. The other states that have proposed these plants are Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh

What is the need to set up a desalination plant in Mumbai?

According to the BMC’s projection, the population of Mumbai is anticipated to touch 1.72 crore by 2041. In 2007, a state government-appointed high-level committee had suggested setting up desalination plants in Mumbai, however, over the years the authorities have avoided building the project claiming that the cost is enormous. However, with the city’s water problems on the rise owing to burgeoning population, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Monday has given the BMC the go ahead for project. It will take about two and a half to three years to complete.

Is it ecologically safe?

The high cost of setting up and running a desalination plant is one reason why the Maharashtra government has over the last decade been hesitant in building such a plant. Desalination is an expensive way of generating drinking water as it requires a high amount of energy. The other problem is the disposal of the byproduct highly concentrated brine ( very high concentration of salt water) of the desalination process. While in most places brine is pumped back into the sea, there have been rising complaints that it ends up severely damaging the local ecology around the plant