Long-term sustainability of water supply infrastructure depends on efficient and optimised operations and maintenance of the water infrastructure

India is the most populous country in the world, and 65% of its population that accounts for ~900 million people reside in rural regions. India is a water stressed country with inequitable availability of water.

Rural population is majorly dependent on ground water and ~50% of annual ground water recharge is through the monsoon rains. Factors like lack of adequate rainfall and drought severely impact adequate availability of groundwater. Further overexploitation of ground water has caused depletion of aquifers, increase in salinity and heavy metal contamination.

In 2019, as part of the action to fulfill SDG 6, the Indian government implemented the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). The key goal of the mission was to provide drinking water every rural household with a Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) by 2024. Key objective of the mission is to ensure provision of 55 LPCD of water which should meet water quality standards as per BIS 10500 and also develop sustainable water supply infrastructure with adequate mechanism and funding for its Operation & Maintenance (O&M).

As per the Ministry of Jal Shakthi (Department of Drinking water & Sanitation) as of FY 2022, 61.52% of the rural population have access to safe drinking water in their dwelling place. Since its inception in 2019, the JJM has helped substantially improve access to safe drinking water, as of April 2023, 117.7 million of total 194.3 million rural households in India have an FHTC.?

Long term sustainability of water supply infrastructure depends on efficient & optimized O&M of the water infrastructure. To ensure sustainability the Indian Government along with the respective states are investing in digital – smart monitoring & management solutions that can help remotely monitor and operate critical assets, water levels, water quantity supplied and the water quality. States like Goa, Maharashtra, Bihar, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Gujarat have taken the lead in implementing smart water monitoring & management solutions, even as other states are gradually implementing smart solution.

The Indian government plans to set up a holistic dashboard which would display key quality & quantity parameters of every Indian village. Once complete India will have one the largest smart water grid. The key advantages of the smart water monitoring & management ensures transparency and accountability of water supply and quality, optimizes O&M cost, most importantly ensure equitable water availability and ensures optimized use of available water resources.?

JJM also entails funding for panchayats to secure water resources, this could be by improving water storage through renovation & rehabilitation of ponds & lakes, rejuvenation of ground water through recharge structures alongside raising awareness amongst rural households to save water.

The JJM has created a renewed momentum for India to be able to achieve SDG 6 and also protect and ensure long term sustainability of water resources, it is a strong and consistent action that would ensure protection of critical natural resource of our Earth for our future generation. The implementation of smart water monitoring & management system is the critical in measuring and achieving sustainability.

Frost & Sullivan envisions the future of sustainability being shaped by 6 P’s which are – Policies, Processes, People, Products, Partnerships and Platforms.

The JJM has rightly encompassed the 6 Ps to deliver on sustainable and equitable provision of water. JJM has been the result of policies that were directed by the need to improve resource sustainability and ensure equitable supply of water, the key target was the rural households (villages) as India has substantial rural population, the process involved piloting & adoption of cost effective solutions, NGO’s were involved to raise awareness and train locals to handle the O&M of the infrastructure, thus ensuring accountability, the government has partnered with funding agencies, NGO’s and solution providers to develop a comprehensive solution to tackle multiple issues of water supply, and has created a dashboard (Visual platform) to monitor progress of the mission as well as the quality & quantity of water supplied to the rural households.

The above article and analysis is from a recently published Frost & Sullivan report titled “Real-time Water Quality and Quantity Monitoring of Water Services for Rural Households - Water security of supply and quality drives growth opportunities for smart water IoT solutions of around $5Bn as part of the Jal Jeevan Mission”.

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