Raipur: Chhattisgarh state has joined the leading states of the country by availing 55 litres of pure drinking water per day to each person of the state.

By quashing the bar of minimum 2000 population in villages for arrangement of water supply through drinking water schemes, the state government has ensured the availability of drinking water to the lower populated rural areas of the state too. It is the top priority of the state government to avail drinking water to people in urban and rural areas.

The State Government is working on the policy of providing drinking water using surface water sources along with rainwater harvesting and ground water augmentation with utilization of ground water.

To provide pure drinking water to BPL families, Minimata Amrit Dhara Yojana has been started by the state government in the year 2019, in which provision made to provide free domestic tap connection. So far, 40,831 families have been given free tap connection.

The drinking water is being provided in 3,000 villages through the pipeline under the Jal Aawardhan scheme out of around 20,000 villages in the state.  Besides, the Jal Jeevan Mission aims to ensure door to door supply of clean drinking water in every village of the state through tap.

 In order to easily complete construction and maintenance related works related to drinking water supply in the state, the Department of Public Health Engineering (PHE) has introduced its new USOR rate. With the new USOR rate, it will be easier to carry out construction and repair works related to drinking water. It will now save the state’s share and other financial burden and it also will help in speedy completion of departmental works in other areas including remote areas of the state.

State government has installed iron removal plants to make potable water in the settlements of the state. Such settlements are more in Bastar region, where 40 to 50,000 people are being supplied pure drinking water.

Similarly, drinking water is being provided to about 30 to 40,000 people by installing fluoride removal plants in 600 settlements. Nearly 40,000 people are being provided pure drinking water by installing an Arsenic Removal Plant in Chowki Nagar Panchayat in Rajnandgaon district and 20 nearby villages, where there is an excess of toxic elements like arsenic in groundwater.

An uninterrupted supply of potable water is being made through solar based dual pumps in remote, inaccessible, low voltage problem areas of the state. State government has decided to use the ‘V-Wire Injection Well’ rain water harvesting system. It has been decided to apply this technology in Nikum and Anjora Dhaba villages of Durg district.