In J&K, the UT administration has achieved yet another feat with J&K Jal Jeevan Mission(JJM) achieving a coverage of 70% rural households in terms of drinking water supply through tap connections. J&K has also attained a rank of No. 2 at the national level in term of water quality monitoring and surveillance.
So far under the mission, 13.16 lakh (70%) out of 18.68 lakh rural households have achieved coverage under Tap Water Connections thereby moving fast in achieving the saturation.
Jal Jeevan Mission is a flagship programme of the UT aimed to provide each and every rural household with Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) within the premises, capable of supplying water at a minimum service level of 55 liters per capita per day and quality confirming to BIS 10500.
According to a press handout of the Department, out of 6600 work components, more than 5000 components (76%) like Tube wells, Bore Wells, Rapid Sand Filtration Plants, Over Head Tanks, Ground Service Reservoirs and pipe networks have started. Similarly more than 3000 schemes are under execution across all the districts of the UT with involvement of about 1700 contractors executing the works. This has also resulted in massive employment generation in rural areas.
Concurrently, while executing the works on such a scale and speed, a robust management and monitoring mechanism has been put in place at different levels in the shape of District Level Project Management Units (DPMUs), UT level teams of Consultants/ Experts and Third Party Monitoring Agencies (TPIAs) who are playing a vital role in efficient planning, quality assurance, coordination of efforts, use of appropriate/ alternate construction technology and materials to achieve the desired results in a time bound manner without affecting the basic design and serviceability requirements.
With the help of the UT level team of consultants and the technical advices provided by experts from National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM), various cost effective and technically viable solutions have been adopted. Slow Sand Filtration Plants, based on the level and occurrence of turbidity in the sources, have been designed with optimum utilization of space which otherwise was a constraint in their construction.
Similarly, to achieve economy and speed in some areas, construction of SMC-GFRP panel water storage tanks and laying of HDPE pipe distribution system have been opted which is being used in other parts of the country like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Ladakh etc.
To monitor the quality of water being supplied to the rural areas, about 1.50 lakh water samples have been tested through 98 Water Testing laboratories setup all across the UT. Besides 10 district laboratories have already been accredited by NABL and the process for accreditation/ recognition of remaining laboratories is at an advanced stage. Also, under the JJM about 32000 women across all the villages have been trained for using Field Testing Kits (FTKs) to test the water samples at their own level and report the test results on the WQMIS portal. Under Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance, J&K has been ranked at 2nd place at national level on the basis of performance in water quality testing.
With the picking up of the pace of implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission from last one year, the UT expects to achieve the drinking water security for all of its rural populace for next 30 years.
It may be recalled that the JJM registered around nine thousand activities during its outreach fortnight in August this year during which a massive awareness and outreach in rural areas across J&K was conducted.
