We are witnessing the role of safe drinking water in saving lives, empowering women, and girls, and contributing to ease of living said Dr V K Paul, member (Health) NITI Aayog at a recent launch of an important report of WHO highlighting the substantial benefits of the 'Har Ghar Jal' program in India. On the impact of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) Dr. Paul also highlighted the fact that no programme has this kind of direct impact on improving the lives of individuals and families physically, mentally, and financially.
A truly transformational programme in recent time, JJM was launched by Honourable Prime Minister of India on 15th August in 2019 with an aim to achieve greater ease of living throughout the country by providing good quality piped water through a functional tap water connection to every rural household across the country.
Geogenic contaminants are quite widespread in certain regions of India, but the most ubiquitous type of contamination is microbial. Diarrhoea is the third most common disease for under-five mortality in India. According to a recent WHO-UNICEF (2022) report, “State of the world’s drinking water”, globally unsafe drinking water is a driving factor behind more than 1.5 million people who die every year from diarrhoea, most of them infants and small children.
The impact of Jal Jeevan Mission is quite profound, there has been an increase in rural tap water connections from 16.64% in 2019 to more than 63% in a span of 41 months.
The positive impact is also reflected in various studies. Nobel laureate, Professor Michael Kremer in a recent meta-analysis of 15 randomized controlled trials (Kremer et al 2022) concluded that the Jal Jeevan Mission’s ambition to bring safe drinking water to all rural households is likely to be highly valuable, preventing around 1,36,000 child deaths annually.
World Health Organization (WHO) in a recent study indicated huge health and socio-economic gains of Jal Jeevan Mission.
The study estimates that ensuring safely managed drinking water for all households in the country could avert nearly 400,000 deaths caused by diarrheal diseases and prevent approximately 14 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) related to these diseases. This achievement alone would result in estimated cost savings of up to $101 billion. WHO study findings, also provide some thought i.e. investing in water and sanitation results in many benefits, including economic, environmental, quality of life, and health gains. The Government of India’s investment in Jal Jeevan Mission has a significant multiplier effect on health.
In fact, the result of WHO study clearly indicates that strategic decision under JJM to shift the focus towards assured supply of potable water to every household rather than mere creation of water supply infrastructure helped to gain lasting impact for rural communities.
Recognising and prioritising the central role of women and rural community in managing water supply facilities, including water quality surveillance played a key role to ensure safe water access. Robust monitoring system including disruptive technologies such as sensor based IoT system using digitally enabled water supply infrastructure were introduced to help measure and monitor the quality of services being delivered at community level.
Government of India’s investment in Jal Jeevan Mission has a significant multiplier effect on health and socio-economic gains as has been brought out by this study”. Findings like this gives impetus to move forward even with more resolve.
https://washdata.org/reports/state-worlds-drinking-water - An urgent call to action to accelerate progress on ensuring safe drinking water for all”
Development Innovation Lab at UChicago · 5730 S Woodlawn Ave, Chicago, IL 60637 - dil.uchicago.edu
— Asad Umar, Director WASH & Health, Aga Khan Foundation
