Thursday 31 May 2012

Availability of Quality Water

With a view to meet the growing demands of water, various measures are taken by the respective State Governments for bringing the available water resources within the category of utilizable resources to the maximum possible extent which include creation of storages, restoration of water bodies, rainwater harvesting, artificial recharge to ground water, adoption of better irrigation practices, etc. The Central Government supplements the efforts of the State Government through technical and financial assistance. 

The average annual water availability of water in the country has been assessed 1869 billion cubic meters (BCM). Due to topographical, hydrological and other constraints, the utilizable water has been estimated to be 1123 BCM comprising of 690 BCM of surface water and 433 BCM or replenishable ground water. As per the information provided by Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation, out of the total 16,64,186 rural habitations in India, 99,380 habitations are affected with water quality issues. 

The Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation administers through the States the centrally sponsored scheme, National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) for providing financial and technical assistance to the States to supplement their efforts to provide drinking water to the rural areas. The State Governments are vested with powers to plan, execute and implement drinking water supply schemes under NRDWP. Rural Water Supply Schemes are approved by the State Level Scheme Sanctioning Committee. 

This information was given by the Minister of State for Water Resources & Minority Affairs Shri Vincent H. Pala in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha

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