The Water Resources department aims at providing 10.22 lakh new water connections to rural households under the Centrally assisted Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) during 2022, according to Governor Arif Mohammed Khan’s policy address in the Assembly on Friday.
Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine said, in a separate statement, that till Thursday, 10.58 lakh connections had been provided under the JJM. With two more years to go, the State needs to provide 43 lakh more functional household tap connections (FHTC) to achieve the target.
The project has found mention in the policy address at a time when the Centre has asked the State to expedite JJM-related projects as the State has fallen short of the annual targets.
River conservation
According to the Governor’s policy address, the State government will strengthen flood-prediction capabilities by installing more hydro-meteorological stations and flood early warning systems this year. The government also intends to create State-level master plans for all major rivers for the sustainable conservation of river ecosystems.
The government has plans to transform the Kerala Engineering Research Institute (KERI) under the Irrigation department, into a national-level, research-oriented institute of academic excellence to meet the challenges in water resources management.
Sewage plants
Sewage treatment plants (STPs) with a capacity of 30 mld and 9 mld respectively will be constructed at the Alappuzha and Cherthala municipalities. The construction of the 5-mld STP at Elamkulam and 12-mld STP at Kureepuzha will be completed this year.
