The urban water supply mission announced in the Budget on Monday would include rejuvenation of water bodies as well as 20% of supply from reused water, the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said on Tuesday.
In a statement, the Ministry said there was an estimated gap of 2.68 crore urban household tap connections that the Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) [JJMU] would seek to bridge in all 4,378 statutory towns. The Mission would also aim to bridge the gap of 2.64 crore sewer connections in the 500 cities under the existing Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).
The mission would include rejuvenation of water bodies to boost the sustainable freshwater supply and creation of green spaces.
“JJM(U) will promote circular economy of water through development of city water balance plan for each city focusing on recycle/reuse of treated sewage, rejuvenation of water bodies and water conservation,” it said.
The Ministry said 20% of the water demand would be met with reused water. The total expenditure on the mission would be ₹2.87 lakh crore over five years.
The Ministry said the MetroNeo and MetroLite technologies, which are cheaper than conventional Metros, mentioned in the Budget were already being considered.
“Some of the Tier-2 cities like Gorakhpur, Allahabad, Jammu, Srinagar, Rajkot, Baroda, Dehradun, Coimbatore, Bhiwadi-Daruhera etc. are making proposals under MetroLite/MetroNeo and Nashik has already sent a proposal for MetroNeo, which is under consideration,” the statement said.
Apart from the Budget announcements, the Ministry said there had been an increase in the funds allocated to urban local bodies (ULBs) as per the 15th Finance Commission’s report. There had been a 78% increase, from ₹87,143 crore in the 14th Finance Commission period to ₹1,55,628 crore in the 15th Finance Commission’s period, it said.
