No state has below 30% household coverage of tap water connection: Official

No state has less than 30 per cent household coverage of tap water connection in rural India and there is no habitation in the country which does not have portable drinking water at least to the extent needed for cooking and drinking, a senior official said.

Addressing the 16th Civil Services Day, Secretary, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation Vini Mahajan said more than 8.54 crore rural households with more than 40 crore people have benefitted under the programme.

"This is more than the population of the US, almost twice that of Brazil and Nigeria," she added.

"No state has below 30 per cent household coverage of tap water connection in rural India. No habitation in country which does not have portable drinking water at least to the extent of 8-10 lpcd needed for cooking and drinking," Mahajan said.

According to the Jal Jeevan Mission data, West Bengal has the lowest coverage of tap water connections at 32 per cent among states while Lakshadweep has the lowest coverage among union territories at 0 per cent.