167 WSSs worth Rs 369.57 cr taken up during past 2 yrs: Sham Choudhary
JAMMU, JANUARY 24 – Minister for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Sham Lal Choudhary today informed the Legislative Assembly that the department is presently providing potable water to over 51.73 lakh souls of the State through a network of 1450 Tube-wells and 30518 hand pumps.
While replying to a Question by Dr Gagan Bhagat, the Minister said out of 15958 rural habitations 8930 have been fully covered with 40 LPCD ending March 2017 and remaining 7028 with varying level of water supply (less than 40 LPCD).
He said for the current financial year department has set the target to cover 355 habitations of which 77 have been provided the water supply.
Elaborating further, he said during last two years the department has taken up 167 Water Supply Schemes (WSS)s involving a cost of Rs 369.57 crore in the State under various programmes, which are at different stages.
He said two major cities and 78 towns are also provided facility of potable drinking water through various supply schemes developed over the years.
Giving details, he said drinking water is supplied from various types of sources like surface water, rivers/nallahs/canals, springs and ground water. He said all sources of surface water in urban areas are connected with filtration plants, while the spring water does not require any filtration. However he said the water is supplied to the consumers after proper chlorination.
“For constant monitoring of drinking water quality, 22 district level labs and 80 divisional/sub-divisional labs have been established across the State. Besides, the department is also establishing two State Level water quality labs, one each at Jammu and Srinagar which are nearing completion”, the Minister informed.
