Jal Jeevan Mission

Public Health Engineering Department *

Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India on 15th August, 2019. Under this mission all the rural household across all villages will be provided Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) by 2024.

The goal of the mission is that every home gets drinking water in adequate quantity, of prescribed quality, on regular and long- term basis at affordable service delivery charges, leading to improvement in living standards of rural communities and day to day-operation and maintenance to be managed by the Village Water and Sanitation Committee (VWSC).

In Manipur State, JJM is being taken up in 2556 villages covering 4,51,566 rural households. Out of 2556 villages, 1097 villages with 1,74,242 rural households are taken up under Jal Jeevan Mission funding, 1405 villages with 2,60,438 rural households are taken up under Externally Aided Project (NDB funding) and 54 villages with 16,886 rural households are taken up under others funding sources (NLCPR, NEC, NESIDS, HADP etc).

During the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission on 15th August, 2019 there were only 25,920 Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) in the State which was 5.74% of all Household. As on 26th May 2022, the cumulative achievement of the State is 3,09,326 FHTCs which is 68.5% of all Household.

As on date 380 villages have become “Har Ghar Jal Village” with 100% tap water connections. Currently, Manipur stands at 2nd position among NE States and 13th position in the country. The State plans to achieve 100% coverage within 2022-23.

Before implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission, most of the existing water supply schemes and distribution pipelines were under capacity and incomplete. Therefore, drinking water could not be supplied satisfactorily.

The villagers were provided potable water through public hydrant system with villagers collecting drinking water from the nearby stand posts. Villagers collected drinking water making long queue and from long distances. At times, villagers had to depend on untreated water from nearby ponds, streams etc. This was a huge burden on the villagers, with loss of valuable time and effort.

After the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission, water supply schemes were retrofitted with improved distribution pipelines to meet the water demand of the villages. In the implementation of JJM, there is active participation of the community through village water and sanitation committee (VWSC) which have been set up in all the villages of the State.

They are fully involved in preparing the Village Action Plan (VAP) to plan, design, operate and maintain the in-village water supply system including the local water resources. Women members are included in the formation of VWSC/Panisamiti, which is the key to success of JJM.

To enhance the capacity of the VWSC, various IEC programmes are taken up at the village level and skilling of manpower is also carried out by imparting training to people engaged by VWSCs in the implementation, Operation and maintenance of the schemes including womenfolks. Water quality testing and monitoring is one of the components in the implementation of JJM.

Water quality testing is important for monitoring the operation of water supply, verification of safety of drinking water, investigation of disease outbreak etc. Monitoring of water testing is done by PHED at the State laboratory and at district laboratories.

The VWSC including women members are provided training on handling of Field Testing Kit (FTK) to be done at the village level.

Implementation Support Agencies (ISAs) are also engaged by the department at the district level to mobilise the communities, build awareness on various aspects of water such as rain water harvesting, water quality, water-borne diseases, water saving, drin- king water source augmentation/sustainability aspects etc.

The State has been making all efforts to implement JJM, amidst the challenges of rough terrain and climatic conditions, further compounded by the impediments caused due to Covid-19 pandemic. The works under JJM are currently in full swing in all the 16 districts of the State. The District Administrations are s re involved to closely monitor the implementation of JJM in the State.

PHED in consultation and active coordination with the concerned departments like School Education and Social Welfare is taking initiative in providing assured pipe water supply to schools and anganwadis centres.