Drinking Water supply System in Rajasthan
A Challenge

This paper was presented by Government of Rajasthan at the '' International Conference on Water Quality Management : South Asian Perspective" , organised by International life Sciences Institute, India, Held in Jaipur, during 11-13 April, 2002

Introduction

Rajasthan has historically been a water deficient state and the reoccurrence of droughts once in 2-3 years and some times continuously one after another has posed a great challenge on Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) to provide drinking water to the state population which constitutes nearly 5% of the nation's population. The water resources  available to the state are just 1% Thus providing water in the right quantity and quality has been  the constant endeavourer  of the public Health Engineering Department. This task has further been aggravated by the increase in human population, their desire for a better living standard, expansion or economic activities in industry and agriculture and over exploitation of the limited ground water which is the primary source for drinking water. Over 90% of the water supply system in the state is based on it. The ground water level is falling fast due to increasing gap between withdrawal and recharge. To fill up this gap, a better understanding of the water management system conservation and sustainable use of water resources is required.

Present Status of Water Supply System

All the 222 towns of the state and 37572 villages out of the total 37889 villages have been fully or partially benefitted by the water supply. Thus 99% of villages have been provided drinking water through different water supply schemes. In addition to it more than 48000 other habitations have also been brought under the water supply system. The details of different water supply schemes as on December 2000 are as under :

1. P&T Scheme  - 3139
2. H.P. Schemes  - 23087
3. Regional Water Supply Scheme  - 9122
4. T.S.S. &J.J.Y - 1942
5. Diggi & Other   - 282
Total    - 37572

The PHED owns 13711 power pumps bore wells and 192909 Hand Pumps. The department is regularly maintaining a repair programme of the Hand Pumps.

Although the achievement of the department with regard to the provision of drinking water has been very impressive but the quality of water of its sources pose a serious threat to Public Health. According to the 91-93 water quality survey, Rajasthan constitutes the major share of villages having ground water of excessive salinity and fluoride. 14415 villages have excess salinity and 16560 villages have excess fluoride in their ground water, which is nearly 42.9 and 51.4% of the total India's quality problem villages respectively. The districts of Jaipur, Tonk, Nagaur, Ajmer, Bhilwara, Sirohi, Pali, Churu, Bharatpur, Barmer and Jhunjhunu are worst affected. To have a fresh assessment of ground water quality a survey of 10% sources of all villages/habitations has been conducted recently. According to this survey 25.17% of villages and habitations have been found to be fluoride affected, 14.23% salinity affected and 21.58% have excess nitrate in their ground water.

Efforts

  • To provide safe drinking in quality-affected villages, the State Government has sanctioned various projects. 34 schemes costing Rs. 174.51 crore have been sanctioned to provide safe drinking water in 1067 fluoride affected villages/habitations. Up to December 2000, 225 villages/habitations have been benefitted. Similarly 53 water supply schemes under Rajeev Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission costing Rs. 347.85 crore have been sanctioned for 1916 villages/habitation affected by salinity. 289 villages/habitations have so far benefitted. A State Fluoride Control Cell has also been constituted for the fluoride mitigation.
  • In view of the continuous depletion in the ground water and deterioration of water quality, the department has sanctioned various projects costing Rs. 1868.67 crore based on surface water sources.
  • With the assistance of Government of Germany (KfW), a project costing Rs. 399.27 crore (revised) has been in execution, which will provide safe drinking water in 378 villages and two towns (Sardar Sahar and Taranagar) of Churu and Hanumangarh districts. 106 villages have been benefited upto December, 2000. The water distribution in these villages is with water and health committee and they are responsible for its use and payment.
  • As per revised guidelines of Rajeev Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM), based on the community participation in operation and maintenance of water supply schemes, three districts namely, Jaipur, Sikar and Alwar of the state have been selected for the sector reform projects. The sanctioned cost of the project is: Jaipur 40 crore, Sikar 21.71 crore and Alwar 40 Crore. Under these projects 10% of the execution cost and 100% of the O and M cost will be borne by the community.
  • Looking to the consecutive drought in the last 3 years, the State Government has taken up a massive programme of Rejuvenation     of traditional of traditional water sources such as wells, baoris, tankas, etc. Which have been abandoned or discarded in the past RGNDWM, Government of India will provide 75% of the amount of the total expenditure. Under this programme, 30646 open wells/baoris were identified upto 19.3.2001 and 16124 works were sanctioned, 4218 works have been completed. Rests are in progress.
  • The department is making special efforts to provide drinking water during summer. Contingency plans are prepared and strict monitoring of emergency works is done so as to make drinking water available to the public in these hard days.
  • The state has invested a total sum of Rs. 4311.25 crore on various water supply schemes from the first five-year plan to December, 2000. The share of urban sector is Rs. 1432.15 crore and rural sector is 2879.10 crore.
  • In the urban sector : 28 urban water supply schemes costing Rs. 70.50 crore have been sanctioned by Government of India Under 10th Finance Commission.
  • The Works on 40 urban water supply schemes is in progress HUDCO has provided a loan of Rs. 218.18 crore for these schemes.
  • A sum of Rs. 27.24 crore has been provided by Government of India under AuWSP for 26 urban towns.
  • LIC has provided financial assistance of Rs. 54.74 crore as loan for 28 urban towns.
  • Jaipur, Bisalpur Water  Supply Project (1st phase) has also been sanctioned which will cost Rs. 1100 crore.
  • Rajveev Gandhi Lift Canal Project (2nd Phase) has also been sanctioned. 729 villages and 3 towns of Jodhpur, Barmer and Jaisalmer districts will be provided drinking water through this project which will cost Rs. 135.05 crore.
  • Efforts are also being made for rainwater harvesting.
3. Water Quality Monitoring and Surveillance.
The Department has already set-up a system of water quality monitoring and surveillance. All the 32 districts of the state have been provided with water testing Laboratories, which include one central laboratory, 9 regional and 22 district level laboratories. One Mobile laboratory is also functioning. All these laboratories are well equipped and have been provided with trained staff. But still the major thrust of WQM&S is limited to the urban areas only. Efforts are in progress to cover the rural areas. A project on '' WQM&S in rural  areas" costing Rs. 61.69 crore has been submitted to Government of India. The project is based on the catchments area approach and WQM&S activities will be carried out at Block Level, Gram-Panchayat and Village Level involving community participation.
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