Page 2 - Clean Drinking Water

Kashmir Valley endures unusual, severe dry spell amid harsh winter

Reduced snowfall and precipitation levels have prompted worries about potential water scarcity and its far-reaching impacts on the environment and daily life

Arsenic and fluoride in groundwater: NGT issues notices to 24 states, 4 UTs

The National Green Tribunal has issued notices to 24 states and four Union Territories in a matter regarding the presence of arsenic and fluoride in groundwater. The green panel observed that the presence of these metals or chemicals are "very serious" and requires "urgent preventive and protective steps". The panel was hearing a matter in which it had taken suo motu (on its own) cognisance of a media report that highlighted the presence of arsenic and fluoride beyond permissible limits in groundwater in some pockets of various states and Union Territories. The report stated that arsenic was detected in groundwater in parts of 230 districts across 25 states while fluoride was found in some pockets of 469 districts in 27 states, the tribunal noted in a recent order. A bench of Judicial Member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Expert Member A Senthil Vel said the Central Ground Water Authority had submitted a report in which it admitted the presence of arsenic and fluoride in the districts

California approves new rules for turning wastewater into drinking water

When a toilet is flushed in California, the water can end up in a lot of places: An ice skating rink near Disneyland, ski slopes around Lake Tahoe, farmland in the Central Valley. And coming soon kitchen faucets. California regulators on Tuesday approved new rules to let water agencies recycle wastewater and put it right back into the pipes that carry drinking water to homes, schools and businesses. It's a big step for a state that has struggled for decades to secure reliable sources of drinking water for its more than 39 million residents. And it signals a shift in public opinion on a subject that as recently as two decades ago prompted backlash that scuttled similar projects. Since then, California has been through multiple extreme droughts, including the most recent one that scientists say was the driest three-year period on record and left the state's reservoirs at dangerously low levels. Water is so precious in California. It is important that we use it more than once, said

How to choose the best water purifier for your home: Things to know

To choose the best water purifier, you need to know the quality of water at your home, besides several other important factors

Bisleri to scale up manufacturing, strategic distribution network

Packaged drinking water company Bisleri International is scaling up its manufacturing and strategic distribution network for easier and cost-effective placement of products and market gains, its Vice-Chairperson Jayanti Khan Chauhan said on Thursday. The company, currently, has 128 manufacturing plants and is looking to increase it to 150. The expansion would be through plants owned by Chauhan promoted company and its co-packers, which are exclusive to Bisleri. Bisleri is also expanding its offerings into CSD (carbonated soft drinks), premiumise through the brand Vedica Himalayan Spring Water, besides its mainstay of packaged drinking water business with an innovative approach. When asked about the outlook, Chauhan told PTI: "We are definitely going to increase our distribution, scale up on distribution and manufacturing for CSD for Bisleri. This strategic placement of manufacturing units and distribution networks will make it easier and cost-effective for us to get our products to

'PM took initiative to ensure every rural household gets 55 ltr of water'

Union Minister Prahlad Patel on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the initiative to ensure every rural household in the country gets 55 litres of drinking water per person per day. Speaking at a gathering in Sihora here as part of the Bharatiya Janata Party's 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra', he said the PM also took the initiative to link Ken and Betwa rivers to ensure water supply to people in rural areas. "A survey report of 1950 said 18 per cent of the world's population resides in India, while only 4 per cent of drinking water was available. Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took this initiative to ensure every household in rural areas gets potable water," he said. The Union government, in partnership with states, is implementing the Jal Jeevan Mission to make provision of potable tap water supply to every rural household of the country at the service level of 55 litre per capita per day by 2024. The Jan Ashirwad Yatra mass outreach initiative of the BJP, whi

130 mn rural households get tap water connections under Jal Jeevan Mission

Goa, Telangana, Haryana, Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands have reported 100 per cent coverage

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 amo

Kerala lags in providing tap water to rural households: Union Min Shekhawat

Kerala is much behind the national average in providing fully functional tap water connections to rural households, Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, said here on Wednesday. The minister, after meeting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and reviewing the progress made in the area with the officials, said the state needs "more pace, more synergy, and more spending" in the key sector to achieve the central government's ambitious target of providing clean drinking water for every household by 2024. Addressing a press conference, Shekhawat said the pan-India average is more than 60 per cent and "we were able to provide more than 8.5 crore connections over the period of the last three years, but the state of Kerala is much behind the national average." Kerala has so far provided tap water connections to around 47 per cent of households. The minister said that though the total number of houses in the state is 70 lakhs, only 34.17 lakh houses have piped water ...

Setting up clinics to assess drinking water quality in coastal areas: CMFRI

A Central government institute on Wednesday decided to set up water clinics in the coastal region of Kerala to ensure regular and large-scale water quality checks in the wake of a recent study that found an alarming level of E coli contamination in the Vembanad lake. Some strains of the E coli bacteria can cause serious food poisoning. The ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) said it would set up water clinics in the coastal region of the state to maintain the quality of drinking water resources. "At a time when climate change continues to fuel storm surges and resulting coastal flooding, the proposed clinics are aimed at assessing the quality of drinking water resources in coastal communities," said Dr A Gopalakrishnan, Director of CMFRI. He was speaking at an awareness workshop on climate change among the fishermen residing in Chellanam and Puthuvypu in Ernakulam district held at CMFRI. "The new initiative is in line with the 'One Health' concept that aims to

Water charges collected belong solely to the community: Drinking water secy

In a Q&A, Vini Mahajan says the Jal Jeevan Mission is now moving at a frenetic pace that they are taking it one day at a time

Chennai's Rs 4,400 cr water desalination deal given to Wabag group

It is South East Asia's largest such order for treating water meant for public use

Wabag bags Rs 4,400 cr seawater desalination project in Tamil Nadu

Water treatment company Va Tech Wabag (WABAG) has bagged a Rs 4,400-crore seawater reverse osmosis project in Tamil Nadu which after completion would be the largest sea-water desalination project in the South East Asia region. The project has been bagged in a joint venture with Metito Overseas Ltd and will be implemented on a design, build, operate (DBO) model, the Chennai-based company said in a statement on Friday. "WABAG with JV partner Metito Overseas wins a seawater reverse osmosis project from Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board. The Rs 4,400-crore is South East Asia's largest ever sea water desalination with capacity of 400 MLD project funded by JICA," it said. This DBO order includes the scope of design, engineering, procurement, construction, installation, testing and commissioning of the 400 MLD (million litres day) SWRO desalination plant and the associated seawater intake system over a period of 42 months followed by 20 years of operation & maintenance

UN chief Guterres urges 'game-changing' commitments on clean water

The United Nations chief urged the first world conference on water in over 45 years on Wednesday to address the 21st century emergency that is wasting the world's most important resource and has left billions of people without clean water and basic sanitation. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the opening session that water is humanity's lifeblood and a human right, but the world is draining it through vampiric overconsumption and unsustainable use and evaporating it through global heating. In a challenge to all nations and the broader international community, he said the three-day conference must represent a quantum leap in recognition of the vital importance of water and the need for action to ensure its sustainable use. Guterres called for game-changing commitments toward U.N. goals, including ensuring that all people have access to drinking water and sanitation by 2030. The U.N. World Water Development Report, issued on the eve of the conference, says 26% of the world's .

26% of world lacks clean drinking water, 46% basic sanitation: UN

A report released on the eve of the first major UN conference on water in over 45 years says 26 per cent of the world's population doesn't have access to safe drinking water and 46 per cent lacks access to basic sanitation. The UN World Water Development Report 2023, issued Tuesday, painted a stark picture of the huge gap that needs to be filled to meet UN goals to ensure all people have access to clean water and sanitation by 2030. Richard Connor, editor-in-chief of the report, told a news conference that the estimated cost of meeting the goals is between USD 600 billion and USD 1 trillion a year. But equally important, Connor said, is forging partnerships with investors, financiers, governments and climate change communities to ensure that money is invested in ways to sustain the environment and provide potable water to the 2 billion people who don't have it and sanitation to the 3.6 million in need. According to the report, water use has been increasing globally by roughly 1 per

Over 10 mn Pakistanis lack safe drinking water after 2022 floods: Unicef

More than 10 million people, including children, still lack access to safe drinking water after the catastrophic floods hit Pakistan from June to October last year, the Unicef said

26% of world lacks clean drinking water, 46% sanitation, says UN report

A new report launched Tuesday on the eve of the first major UN conference on water in over 45 years says 26 per cent of the world's population doesn't have access to safe drinking water and 46 per cent lack access to basic sanitation. The UN World Water Development Report 2023 painted a stark picture of the huge gap that needs to be filled to meet UN goals to ensure all people have access to clean water and sanitation by 2030. Richard Connor, editor-in-chief of the report, told a news conference that the estimated cost of meeting the goals is somewhere between USD 600 billion and USD 1 trillion a year. But equally important, Connor said, is forging partnerships with investors, financiers, governments and climate change communities to ensure that money is invested in ways to sustain the environment and provide potable water to the 2 billion people who don't have it and sanitation to the 3.6 million in need. According to the report, water use has been increasing globally by roughly 1

Himachal signs MoU with French Agency to improve drinking water, sanitation

Under the project, Rs 612 crore would be provided by AFD, whereas the State Government would provide Rs. 204.85 crore, said the Chief Minister

Over 95% people have access to potable water in rural areas: Govt report

A government survey has revealed that 95 per cent of people in rural areas and 97.2 per cent in cities are having access to improved sources of drinking (potable) water during 2020-2021. According to the report based on the Multiple Indicator Survey (MIS) of the National Sample Survey (NSS) 78th round, about 56.3 per cent of the persons in the rural areas and about 76.3 per cent of the persons in the urban areas used improved source of drinking water located in the household premises, which was sufficiently available throughout the year. The primary objective of the MIS was to collect data for generation of some important national indicators of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The survey was initially planned to be conducted during January-December 2020, but due to Covid-19 pandemic, the data collection was continued up to August 15, 2021 for ensuring completeness of survey operation in terms of its coverage. For the central sample, the survey was spread over 14,266 first stag

Clean tap water to over 100 mn rural homes: Jal Shakti ministry highlights

Clean tap water connections to over 10 crore rural households and open defecation free-plus status for 1.42 lakh villages were among some key achievements for the Jal Shakti Ministry this year. While rural households in seven states and Union territories had 100 per cent coverage of tap water connection, as many as 10 states and Union territories had less than 50 per cent coverage. Jharkhand (24 per cent) and Lakshadweep (0 per cent) had lowest coverage in the country. In 2022, as many as 2,12,38,629 households got clean water tap connections bringing the total number of such rural households to 10,78,51,019. The government has promised 100 per cent tap water connections to all rural households by 2024. A total of 19,36,06,464 rural households have been identified in rural India. Also, 1,42,799 villages have declared themselves ODF plus. Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha are the top five performing states with maximum number of ODF plus declared ...