Recognising that access to clean water is fundamental to public health and environmental sustainability, Secretary, Jal Shakti, Dr Abhishek Jain on Monday held a meeting with senior officers of the Jal Shakti Vibhag to review preventive measures for protecting water resources across the state.
The focus of the meeting remained on safeguarding drinking water supply schemes to ensure long-term water security for the region and monitoring of Sewerage Treatment Plants.
It was informed during the meeting that tap water connections have been provided to every household in 17,632 villages in rural areas. To ensure water quality, the department is operating a robust testing mechanism through 72 laboratories. Of these, 14 laboratories are functioning at the district level, 57 at the sub-division level and one state-level laboratory is dedicated to comprehensive water quality testing through samples collected from households.
He directed that clear instructions should be conveyed to all field officers, from Executive Engineers to Junior Engineers, to mandatorily visit all water sources, including water storage tanks, at least once in 10 days. He emphasised that Village Water Sanitation Committees should be actively engaged to inspect all types of water sources which includes local rivulets (khuds), nallahs and streams and spring-based sources.
Jain urged people to voluntarily involve themselves in protecting water sources. He stated that if residents were not satisfied with sample collection procedures, they are free to submit water samples directly to laboratories for testing.
He directed officials to collect samples from water treatment plants to ensure that they are functioning efficiently.
He highlighted that preventing contamination at the source-level was far more cost-effective than large-scale purification and is the only sustainable way to ensure the long-term health of the ecosystem. He took serious note of leakages of water pipes and issued strict directions to plug them immediately. He warned that failure to do so would invite action.
He stated that Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri was also monitoring water cleanliness issues.
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