A total of 26 district-level Government laboratories have been established in Chhattisgarh for testing the purity of drinking water.During the last three years, 56,388 samples of ground water sources have been examined in these laboratories, officials said.
In the areas, where iron-ore, fluoride or impurities were found in the samples, safe drinking water is being supplied by establishing necessary purification plants. A total of 1,252 iron deterrent plants, 227 fluoride resistant plants and 83 reverse osmosis plants had been established in the State for supply of pure and safe drinking water after removing unwanted minerals present in the ground water.
Under the ‘National Rural Drinking Water Mission’, a target has been set to supply water to all families of at least 50 per cent villages through ‘Nal Jal Yojana’ by 2017. With the set target, 35 per cent families will get water through private tap connection, 20 per cent from public tap and 45 per cent through hand pumps. In the second phase of the Mission, 90 per cent rural families will get water supply by 2022.
It is a great challenge before a welfare-oriented Government to arrange pure and safe drinking water to the fast increasing population.The State Government has implemented this task in a better way. All settlements in the State are getting drinking water, without any hindrance.Through 2.44 lakh hand pumps, 2,414 tap water connections and 2,628 local water supply schemes, clean drinking water is now reaching to people residing in villages, cities and forest areas of the State. looking to the consistently increasing population, about 46,000 hand pumps have been installed during the last five years.
Moreover, by installing over 1,100 solar pumps, pure and safe water supply has been made available to the inaccessible, non-electrified and tribal areas of the State. As they function with solar energy, water supply here is free from any kind of power hindrance.
Along with settlements, availability of clean and safe drinking water has been ensured in schools also. So far, arrangement for clean drinking water has been made in 46,975 schools. In Aanganwadis also, clean drinking water arrangement for children has been made through hand pumps or tap connection.
At present, tube-well is the main source of drinking water in villages. Because of irregular rainfall and excessive exploration of ground water, ground water level has been declined. Quality of water has also been affected. To deal with this problem and to maintain the ground water level, Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has constructed 39 stop dams, 119 check dams and 19 percolation tanks in various areas of the State.
In order to lessen dependability on ground water for drinking , emphasis is being given to supply water from schemes based on surface sources. The Government has been trying to supply clean and pure water to maximum urban and rural population through pipe, in place of hand pumps.