Jal Jeevan Mission: Saving Lives through Access to Piped Water

jal jeevan mission water

Central Idea

Potable water: The Jal Jeevan Mission aims to provide piped potable water to all of India.
Potential Life-Saving Impact: If successful, the mission could avert nearly 400000 deaths from diarrhoea.
Reduction in Disease Burden: The mission could avoid 14 million DALYs (Disability Adjusted Life Years) related to diarrhoea.

DALY is a metric used to measure the burden of disease on a population.
It combines years of life lost due to premature mortality (YLLs) and years lived with a disability (YLDs) into a single measure.
DALYs provide a comprehensive assessment of the impact of diseases, injuries, and disabilities by quantifying both the years of healthy life lost and the years lived with a disability.
This metric helps policymakers and researchers prioritize health interventions and allocate resources effectively to address the overall disease burden in a population.

Launch: Government initiative launched in 2019
Goal: Provide access to clean and piped drinking water to every rural household
Focus: Water supply infrastructure development, community participation, water quality monitoring
Objective: Improve health, well-being, and productivity of rural communities, Addressing challenges of water scarcity, contamination, and inadequate infrastructure
Target: Achieve 100% coverage by 2024 for reliable and sustainable water supply
Definition of functional Connection: A fully functional tap water connection means receiving at least 55 litres of potable water per capita per day throughout the year

The key objectives of the Jal Jeevan Mission include:

Universal coverage: Mission aims to achieve tap water connections for all rural households, ensuring access to potable water within premises.
Sustainability: Focus on long-term sustainability through community participation, water resource management, and water conservation practices.
Quality assurance: Prioritizing safe and clean drinking water by implementing water quality monitoring systems and adhering to prescribed standards set by BIS.
Convergence and coordination: Emphasis on collaboration among stakeholders to effectively achieve mission objectives.

Economic Savings: The study suggests that the mission could save close to $101 billion.
Time Savings: It could save 66.6 million hours per day that would have been spent collecting water, primarily by women.
Improved Quality of Life: Access to piped water connections would enhance convenience and overall well-being.
Sanitation benefits: Every dollar invested in sanitation interventions yields a $4.3 return in reduced healthcare costs.

Current Coverage Levels: Around 62% of rural households have piped water connections.
States and UTs at Full Coverage: Five states and three Union Territories have reported 100% coverage.
Progress of states: Himachal Pradesh is at 98.87% coverage, while Bihar is at 96.30% and nearing saturation.

Extrapolation of Data: The study extrapolates data and does not compute current levels of coverage.
Contamination Concerns: The study does not account for the degree of contamination in the piped water provided.
Data Sources: The authors used population data from the United Nations, the 2018 National Sample Survey, and water quality data collected by the Jal Jeevan Mission.

Water scarcity: Mission aims to tackle the challenge of inadequate water availability in rural areas.
Contamination: Focus on improving water quality and addressing issues of waterborne diseases.
Infrastructure gaps: Efforts to bridge the gap in water supply infrastructure in rural regions.

Enhancing Capacity of Local Bodies: Provide support and resources to strengthen the capacity of local governance institutions in effectively managing and governing rural water supply systems.
Promoting Community Participation: Foster active community participation in decision-making processes related to water infrastructure planning, implementation, and maintenance.
Empowering Local Water User Committees: Strengthen the role of local water user committees in monitoring and regulating water supply services, promoting their active involvement in decision-making.
Participatory Planning: Facilitate participatory planning processes, where water user associations actively contribute to the development of water management plans, considering local needs and priorities.