JAL JEEVAN MISSION :: PHED

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q. What were the reasons for conceptualizing Jal Jeevan Mission?

Ans. With the growing population and expanding economic activities in the country, there is an increase in demand for water. With finite availability of water and competing demands, drinking water management has become a complex issue. The widening demand-supply gap is further compounded by other challenges, like groundwater depletion due to over-extraction, poor recharge, low storage capacity, erratic rainfall due to climate change, presence of contaminants, poor operation and maintenance (O&M) of water supply systems, etc.

These challenges have put further pressure on the rural population, which have catered to their water needs using traditional knowledge and their water wisdom. Therefore, there is a need to provide piped water supply to the rural population to not only improve the health and socioeconomic condition of local communities but also bring down the drudgery of rural women and girls.

Q. What are the objectives of Jal Jeevan Mission?

Ans. The broad objectives of the Mission are:

to provide FHTC to every rural household;
to prioritize provision of FHTCs in quality affected areas, villages in drought prone and desert areas, Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) villages, etc.;
to provide functional tap connection to Schools, Anganwadi centres, GP buildings, Health centres, wellness centres and community buildings;
to monitor functionality of tap connections;
to promote and ensure voluntary ownership among local community by way of contribution
to assist in ensuring sustainability of water supply system, i.e. water source, water supply infrastructure, and funds for regular O&M;
to empower and develop human resource in the sector such that the demands of construction, plumbing, electrical, water quality management, water treatment, catchment protection, O&M, etc. are taken care of in short and long term; and
to bring awareness on various aspects and significance of safe drinking water and involvement of stakeholders in manner that make water everyone's business.

Q. What are the components under JJM?

Ans. The following components are supported under JJM:

development of in-village piped water supply infrastructure to provide tap water connection to every rural household;
development of reliable drinking water sources and/ or augmentation of existing sources to provide long-term sustainability of water supply system;
wherever necessary, bulk water transfer, treatment plants and distribution network to cater to every rural household;
technological interventions for removal of contaminants where water quality is an issue;
retrofitting of completed and ongoing schemes to provide FHTCs at minimum service level of 55 LPCD;
greywater management;
support activities, i.e. IEC, HRD, training, development of utilities, water quality laboratories, water quality testing & surveillance, R&D, knowledge centre, capacity building of communities, etc.; and
any other unforeseen challenges/ issues emerging due to natural disasters/ calamities which affect the goal of FHTC to every household by 2024, as per guidelines of Ministry of Finance on Flexi Funds.

Q. Is there any action plan to implement JJM? What are they?

Ans. Yes, to implement JJM, action plans will be prepared at each level, that is, village, district and state as mentioned below.

Village Action Plan (VAP) - A Village Action Plan (VAP) will be prepared by Gram Panchayat or its sub-committee, i.e. VWSC/ User Committee etc. with support from ISA, PHED, DWSM based on baseline survey, resource mapping and felt needs of the village community. The VAP will be approved in the Gaon Sabha, when 80% of the village community present in the meeting agree to the prepared plan. VAP will then be submitted to DWSM for further action.

District Action Plan (VAP) - DWSM will be responsible for preparation and finalization of District Action Plan (DAP) which will be an aggregation of all VAPs received detailing the strategic plan for FHTC to all rural households by 2024 along with quarterly and annual plan. The final DAP will be submitted to the SWSM for further action.

State Action Plan (SAP) - The SAP will be prepared and finalized by SWSM with the help of PHED based on DAPs with an objective of achieving overall state drinking water security. SAP will be prepared for a period up to 2024, inter alia which covers overall strategic plan, modalities for implementation, activities to be taken up, outputs to be achieved along with timelines, annual financial outlay, etc. The Strategic plan under SAP will detail source sustainability, functionality, monitoring, third party inspections for implementation, water measurement, greywater management and comprehensive O&M plan for the system. The SAP will be considered and approved by DDWS based on consultations with the respective State/ UT and funding arrangement will be made accordingly.

The Annual Action Plan (AAP) of the State/ UT will emerge from the approved SAP firming up the physical and financial district-wise targets and will be submitted to DDWS/ NJJM. The AAP will be approved by DDWS/ NJJM based on consultation with the respective State/ UT and funds will be released keeping in view the achievements under Annual Action Plan (AAP).

Q. What are the schemes/ sub-missions that have been subsumed under JJM?

Ans. The following ongoing programmes under under the erstwhile National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) have been subsumed into JJM.

Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project for low income States (RWSSP-LIS): The project was started in 2014 for a period of six years till March 2020, with an objective to improve piped water supply and sanitation services for selected rural communities in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh through decentralized delivery systems and to increase the capacity of states to respond promptly and efficiently to an emergency situation.
National Water Quality Sub-Mission (NWQSM): The mission is being implemented since March 2017 to provide safe drinking water to the identified 27,544 arsenic and fluoride affected rural habitations, however, it will come to an end on 31 March, 2021 and the funds left with the states for the mission will be adjusted with JJM.
Japanese Encephalitis – Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (JE-AES): Centre has identified 60 districts which are the most affected with JE-AES and funds have been allocated to affected states under NRDWP. Earlier, the JE-AES component had 2 percent of NRDWP allocation, however, due to increase in the budget of JJM, it will now be 0.5 percent of the annual allocation to the state and activities will be carried out in the affected areas as per existing policy.
Swajal: It is being implemented in aspirational districts and the ongoing schemes under it will continue under the existing guidelines and completion will be ensured within the stipulated time of completion. All other new schemes in these aspirational districts will be taken up under JJM.
Water Quality Monitoring and Surveillance (WQM&S) is now subsumed under JJM and will receive up to 2 percent of JJM funds.
Support activities: All the erstwhile NRDWP support activities are subsumed under JJM and will receive up to 5 percent of JJM funds.

Q. What is the institutional mechanism for the implementation of JJM?

Ans. JJM is a time bound mission mode programme and hence and needs robust institutional framework for its successful implementation. A four-tier institutional mechanism is set up at National, State, District and Village level as under:

Tier	Mission	Role
National Level	National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM)	There will be National Jal Jeevan Mission headed by a senior officer with a directorate. The mission will have all powers needed for the successful implementation of the Mission for long-term drinking water security to rural communities.
State Level	State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM)	SWSM, a state level institution headed by Chief Secretary with Principal Secretary/ Secretary in-charge of PHED as Mission Director is the organisation responsible for implementation of JJM in the state.
District Level	District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM)	At the district level, DWSM is responsible for overall implementation of JJM. DWSM will be headed by Deputy Commissioner. Executive Engineer (EE), PHED will be the member secretary. DWSM will convene monthly meetings to consider and accord administrative approval of the in-village water supply schemes, plan protection and preservation of village water sources, greywater management, preventing water bodies/sources from getting polluted, etc.
Gaon Panchayat Level	Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ User Committee	Under JJM, the community will play a lead role in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of in-village water supply infrastructure thereby leading to FHTCs to every rural household. The willingness of community, reflected through resolution Gaon Sabha and community contribution, will be the foremost criterion for planning of water supply system in villages.

Q. How will FHTCs be provided?

Ans. FHTCs will be provided to every rural household by creating in-village water supply infrastructure including source development under any one of the following suggested categories, viz.

retrofitting of ongoing schemes taken up under erstwhile NRDWP for the last mile connectivity;
retrofitting of completed rural water supply schemes to make it JJM compliant;
Single Village Scheme (SVS) in villages having adequate groundwater/ spring water/ local or surface water source of prescribed quality;
Single Village Scheme (SVS) in villages having adequate groundwater that needs treatment;
Multi Village Scheme (MVS) with water grids/ regional water supply scheme; and
mini solar power-based piped water supply in isolated/ tribal hamlets.

Q. How will water be provided to households where tap water connections are not feasible?

Ans. In such areas, local innovations/ technological solutions will be explored. Suggestive technological solutions to address challenges in the supply of drinking water are as under:

Solar energy based stand-alone water supply systems for scattered/ isolated/ tribal/ hilly villages.
Community Water Purification Plant (CWPP) in groundwater contaminated areas.
In cold deserts, solutions may be explored to enhance and store run-off water in small tanks - traditional water harvesting structure, i.e. Zings of Ladakh. Further, artificial glacial reservoirs may be created by diverting the run-off to freeze & store as glacier.
In hard rock areas, bore-blast technique, fracture seal cementation, stream blasting, etc. may be explored.
In hilly areas, adopting spring-based sources, rain water harvesting and standalone bore-well systems (if feasible) will be explored.
In coastal areas, energy efficient small desalination plants with high recovery ratio will be explored, along with construction of sub-surface dykes in rivers.
Use of Internet of Things (IoT), Geographic Information System (GIS) software, etc., will be required for planning and monitoring.

Q. What is a Scheme Cycle?

Ans. Ordinarily, in-village water supply infrastructure development may take 12 to 18 months. The same can be divided into following three phases:

Planning and mobilization phase (3-6 months) - The planning and mobilization phase commences from the time DWSM identifies to take up JJM in a particular village till the estimate for implementation of in-village infrastructure is approved by DWSM.
Implementation phase (6-12 months) - The implementation phase commences from award of work and start on the ground to commissioning of the scheme.