Jal Jeevan Mission-Urban: Govt selects 10 cities for survey

Launching a new project to install water connections to every urban household, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has selected 10 pilot cities to survey for the Jal Jeevan Mission-Urban by March 2021.

A Pey Jal Survekshan will determine the distribution of water, wastewater, and water bodies in 10 cities: Patiala, Rohtak, Churu, Agra, Surat, Badlapur, Bhubaneswar, Tumkur, Kochi and Madurai. Five of these cities are water-scarce and five are water abundant.

The Jal Jeevan Mission-Urban aims to create universal coverage of water supply in all 4,378 statutory towns as well as sewage management in 500 AMRUT cities.

The scheme will be implemented first through signing of MoUs between the Centre, states, and the urban local bodies. The cities will then prepare city water balance plans, recycle/reuse plans and aquifer management plans. The state will vet and approve the development of the project with a baseline assessment.

The ministry will also launch a Technology Sub-Mission, which will house a platform to monitor the outcomes of the scheme. Some funding will be dispersed only when outcomes are assessed.

An Urban Water Body Information System will display the survey findings. The survey data will be digitally collected via interviews with citizens and municipal officials as well as water sample collection and testing.

The proposed outlay for the scheme is Rs 2.87 lakh crore. Cities with over a million population will take up public-private partnerships to help fund at least 10 per cent of the total project fund.

The Centre will fund 90 per cent of the project for the Northeast and hill states, while union territories will receive 100 per cent funding from the Centre. Cities will less than a lakh population will have 50 per cent Centre funding, cities between a lakh and 10 lakh population will receive a third Centre funding, and cities with over a million population will receive a quarter Centre funding.

The pilot survey was announced by the ministry’s Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra on Tuesday.

There is an estimated 2.68 crore urban households without tap connection and 2.64 crore households in AMRUT cities without sewer connection or septage option.