High tap coverage under Jal Jeevan scheme, but lower usage, reliability

Almost 98% of rural households covered by the Har Ghar Jal scheme now have taps, but the numbers are significantly lower when it comes to usage and reliability of these taps, according to a periodic survey on public satisfaction with the scheme, commissioned by the Jal Shakti Ministry.

The survey, called the Functionality Assessment of Household Tap Connections, was undertaken in 2024 by private firm IPSOS. It is the third periodic evaluation of the scheme which effectively started in 2020 and comprises a detailed survey of a small section — 2.37 lakh households — of the 19.3 crore rural households that the scheme covers across India.

The Har Ghar Jal scheme aims to provide 55 litres of potable water per person everyday. Except for Tripura (43%), the overwhelming majority of States reported more than 85% satisfaction with water quality.

Lower water flow, quality

Nearly all, or 98% of households in the sample, said water was “available,” meaning they had a tap to receive water. However, only 83% said they had actually got water through that tap atleast once in the seven days prior to the survey. Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and several Union Territories reported over 97% availability, while Bihar (61%), Uttar Pradesh (72%), and Nagaland (74%) were at the lower end.

Only 80% of households reported getting the sanctioned minimum of 55 litres of water, with Sikkim (24%) and Gujarat (58%) reporting the lowest rate among States. When E. coli, total coliform, and pH levels of the water were tested, only 76% of households met the qualifying criteria. Thus, an assessment of the overall functionality of the scheme, looking at regularity, availability, and cleanliness, showed that just 76% of households were benefitting from the scheme as intended, the report underlined.

An important caveat is that the current edition of the survey only investigated villages which are certified as ‘Har Ghar Jal’ villages, meaning that the State administration had reported that all households, anganwadis, and administrative buildings in these 19,812 villages had been supplied water through taps. There are, as per the scheme’s official dashboard, about 2.72 lakh HGJ villages out of 5.8 lakh total villages in India.

‘Not comparable’

In the previous such assessment in 2022, 2.98 lakh households in 13,303 villages were sampled; of these, 40% or 5,298 were Har Ghar Jal (HGJ) villages. “This report is not directly comparable with previous rounds of functionality assessments due to the varying methodological, temporal, and environmental circumstances that might have been encountered on the ground,” the Jal Shakti Ministry said in a statement.

In the 2022 assessment, 83% households reported being satisfied with the regularity of supply; 91% were found to have a working tap connection on the day of the survey; 88% received the prescribed supply, and 69% had fully functional tap connections. According to the Budget presented in February 2025,  the Ministry provisioned to spend ₹70,000 crore on the scheme from March 2024 to March 2025 but, as of February, expected to spend only ₹22,694 crore by March 2025 . The updated figures are expected in the forthcoming Budget next week.

THe scheme originally aimed for 100% coverage and functionality by 2024 but this has now been extended to 2028. With about 81% coverage as of the latest estimates, the remaining 20% requires nearly ₹4 lakh crore, nearly as much as the ₹3.6 lakh crore that was spent since 2019, officials had told The Hindu last February.