Parliament Question: Water Quality Monitoring in Maharashtra

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT OF DRINKING WATER & SANITATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 699 ANSWERED ON 23/07/2026 WATER QUALITY MONITORING IN MAHARASHTRA 699. DR. BACHHAV SHOBHA DINESH: SHRI VISHALDADA PRAKASHBAPU PATIL: MS. PRANITI SUSHILKUMAR SHINDE: Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state: (a) the frequency of cleaning, flushing and maintenance of drinking water supply pipelines undertaken since 2014, State-wise including district-wise in Maharashtra; (b) whether any periodic technical reviews and audits of urban and rural drainage and sewerage systems have been conducted during the same period and if so, the details thereof, State-wise including district-wise in Maharashtra; (c) the number of water quality tests conducted since 2014 including testing for bacterial and chemical contamination, State-wise including district-wise in Maharashtra and the instances where contamination exceeded the permissible limits; (d) whether the Government has reviewed the lapses that led to major water contamination incidents including the recent water tragedy in Madhya Pradesh and if so, the findings thereof; and (e) the corrective steps taken to ensure that such public health disasters do not recur? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI (SHRI V. SOMANNA) (a) to (e) Drinking Water being a State subject, the responsibility of Planning, Designing, Approval, Implementation, Operation & Maintenance of drinking water supply schemes, replacement of drinking water infrastructure including cleaning, flushing and repair of pipelines, monitoring of water quality, and oversight of drainage and sewerage systems for both rural and urban areas including those under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), is vested with State/UT Governments. The Government of India supplements the efforts of the States/ UTs by providing financial, policy guidance and technical assistance. Page 1 of 7Jal Jeevan Mission is under implementation since August, 2019, to make provision of tap water supply to every rural household. Under JJM, as per existing guidelines, Bureau of Indian Standards’ BIS:10500 standards are adopted as benchmark for quality of water being supplied through the piped water supply schemes. As per the Operational Guidelines, States/ UTs can utilize JJM funds for Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance (WQM&S) activities, inter-alia, which includes setting up and strengthening of water quality testing laboratories, procurement of equipment, instruments, chemicals, glassware, consumables, hiring of skilled manpower, surveillance by community using field test kits (FTKs), awareness generation, educational programmes on water quality, accreditation/recognition of laboratories, etc. In consultation with various stakeholders 'Concise Handbook for Monitoring Water Quality of Piped Drinking Water Supply to Rural Households’ has been released in December 2024 for guidance to States/ UT’s. This handbook recommended for a comprehensive testing of drinking water samples at various testing points such as source, treatment plant, storage and distribution points, and remedial action wherever necessary including measures such as cleaning of OHTs, check pipe line leakage, etc. to ensure that the water supplied to households is of prescribed quality and to enhance public health. Under JJM, to enable the States/ UTs for online reporting of water quality monitoring and surveillance, an online JJM – Water Quality Management Information System (WQMIS) portal has been developed. The State–wise details of water quality test reported through WQMIS are available in public domain and can be accessed at: https://ejalshakti.gov.in/WQMIS/Main/report. The State- wise details of water quality testing reported by States/UTs on JJM-WQMIS is at Annex-I. The district-wise details of water quality testing reported by Maharashtra on JJM-WQMIS is at Annex- II. Further, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has informed that MoHUA supplements the efforts of States through policy guidance, financial support and technical advisories under various national programmes. To ensure safe drinking water supply to the urban households, AMRUT/AMRUT 2.0 supports, rehabilitation and upgradation of water supply network and creation/augmentation of Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) plants. Under AMRUT/ AMRUT2.0, a total of 93,457.51 km of water pipeline network has been laid/ replaced. So far, 6140 Million Litre per Day (MLD) of WTP capacity has been approved under AMRUT, of which, 5,429 MLD WTP capacity has been created. Under AMRUT 2.0, 11,395 MLD WTP capacity has been approved so far. These treatment plants are generally equipped with inhouse lab facilities or have tie up with the Labs for regular water quality testing. Further, AMRUT 2.0 Mission promotes 24x7 water supply with quality assurance, Drink from Tap (DfT) quality water in selected District Metered Areas (DMAs)/wards, online water quality monitoring, sensors and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), community participation, especially Women Self Help Groups (SHGs), in water quality testing. 258 water supply schemes have smart monitoring systems such as SCADA system under AMRUT, and 1,422 water supply projects under AMRUT 2.0 has provision for SCADA system. Page 2 of 7Drinking water contamination in urban areas is a multi-factor issue and is generally attributable to distribution system vulnerabilities and interface issues with sewerage and sanitation infrastructure. Drinking water supplied in urban areas is required to conform to BIS IS 10500 standards; however, deterioration in quality may occur due to infrastructure-related, operational, environmental and maintenance factors across transmission, storage and distribution systems. The key reasons for contamination in drinking water supply includes leakages, pipe bursts and defective joints, cross- connections with Sewerage and Drainage Systems, ageing infrastructure and corrosion, intermittent water supply and negative pressure, stagnation and prolonged retention of water, poor maintenance of storage and associated infrastructure, inadequate sewerage and septage management, etc. MoHUA has published Manual on Water Supply and Treatment Systems (Drink from Tap) in March 2024 for reference by the States/ ULBs for designing, implementation, drinking water quality and monitoring of the water supply projects. MoHUA has also issued an advisory "Strengthening Water Quality Monitoring in Cities through Community Participation" under AMRUT 2.0 in November, 2024 to all the States to formulate a Water Quality Monitoring strategy at the State or City level and to strengthen the institutional capacity for citywide monitoring of drinking water quality in urban areas along with Digital Display Boards for water quality parameters for public information & awareness. As per MoHUA, the State of Madhya Pradesh had informed that after the incident of contaminated drinking water in Bhagirath Pura, Indore, water supply through pipelines and borewells were completely stopped and water tankers were forced into service. Samples were taken from multiple supply points at user end to ascertain the type of contamination and sent to National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accredited labs. Standard Operating Procedures have been issued by the State Government to Urban Local Bodies to avoid contamination of water. The "Swaccha Jal Abhiyan" has been launched in the state of Madhya Pradesh by the Honorable Chief Minister from January 10, 2026 with the objective to ensure water security, water conservation and hearing of complains related to water. The matter of drinking water contamination incident of Indore is sub judice before the Hon’ble High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Indore, which has appointed Justice Sushil Kumar Gupta (Retd.) as a one-man Commission of Inquiry to examine the cause of contamination, public health impacts, adequacy of response, preventive measures, and responsibilities of concerned officials. ***** Page 3 of 7Annex-I Annex-I referred to in reply to Lok Sabha unstarred Question No. 699 answered on 23.07.2026 State-wise details of water quality testing reported by States/UTs S. State No. of sample tested in lab No. of samples with chemical contamination No. of samples with bacteriological contamination No. 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025- 2026- 2021- 2022- 2023- 2024- 2025- 2026- 2021- 2022- 2023- 2024- 2025- 2026- 2026 27* 22 23 24 25 26 27* 22 23 24 25 26 27* 1 A&N Islands 992 1,152 984 1,172 2,723 625 52 36 208 100 21 1 58 34 14 92 11 - 2 Andhra Pr. 3,64,606 6,14,014 6,99,999 6,86,179 7,15,401 1,76,597 14,829 14,246 11,928 1,390 16 - 25 24 38 46 - - Arunachal 3 Pr. 26,007 29,178 39,238 22,271 10,364 1,138 68 - 16 - - - 1 4 1 - - - 4 Assam 2,16,323 1,69,108 2,97,405 2,70,466 2,05,120 52,398 16,510 4,289 6,531 3,692 1,782 443 292 272 960 588 53 80 5 Bihar 2,02,493 2,32,425 1,60,783 2,74,547 1,36,626 40,237 7,859 5,381 7,519 19,044 92 8 - 4 2 22 - - 6 Chhattisgarh 68,935 1,11,208 1,23,175 1,60,891 1,01,593 24,905 1,875 2,364 1,457 690 95 29 7 12 5 7 - - 7 DDNH 0 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 8 Goa 8,571 8,881 10,336 13,660 7,530 776 11 47 30 21 45 3 2 3 - - - - 9 Gujarat 2,39,232 2,57,489 1,53,057 71,204 3,12,531 1,11,580 16,253 24,840 14,170 4,420 5,770 367 2,549 1,529 819 266 121 6 10 Haryana 96,910 82,725 69,702 60,757 44,717 19,130 397 3,689 1,275 259 71 217 497 12,657 5,507 1,348 325 1,481 11 Himachal Pr. 2,66,754 1,98,497 2,20,428 2,41,458 2,75,154 60,955 12 24 51 17 6 - 5 63 82 8 5 - Jammu & 12 Kashmir 1,97,360 2,67,334 2,53,364 2,66,547 3,10,370 85,076 710 252 255 52 18 13 786 555 151 42 126 25 13 Jharkhand 1,49,724 1,95,314 2,14,431 2,18,562 2,10,621 64,860 1,354 11 222 18 18 4 - - 19 3 34 7 14 Karnataka 1,59,533 2,22,732 2,66,532 3,21,759 2,56,206 91,531 12,518 20,233 24,917 17,261 12,607 3,529 - 10 4,670 2,574 644 234 15 Kerala 2,41,787 4,55,436 6,36,043 7,00,732 3,63,041 82,136 58,515 70,262 80,836 12,839 7,227 1,563 1,69,764 2,40,629 2,77,151 47,260 28,345 6,806 16 Ladakh 5,359 5,480 7,706 10,229 8,325 565 129 89 122 94 91 6 44 2 80 7 - 6 17 Lakshadweep 3,483 4,778 6,880 7,897 3,576 774 96 117 181 72 8 - 15 25 61 171 37 1 18 Madhya Pr. 3,44,612 6,37,637 5,74,409 5,74,798 4,88,653 2,10,475 1,832 2,438 2,032 701 424 38 264 277 635 133 90 5 19 Maharashtra 69,215 3,93,623 6,42,396 5,87,570 5,47,688 1,90,199 3,340 21,936 28,421 23,257 12,526 4,895 3,819 13,817 18,336 15,982 12,123 3,671 20 Manipur 17,413 22,373 17,413 19,508 5,773 1,116 2 2 25 - - - - - - - - - 21 Meghalaya 7,104 32,805 51,836 40,657 37,580 18,080 4 15 53 108 146 22 42 19 94 180 275 69 22 Mizoram 18,930 37,306 29,224 21,908 7,788 2,500 390 473 485 135 144 43 428 1,401 1,792 1,143 250 94 23 Nagaland 4,308 12,747 7,947 6,751 1,258 424 402 45 172 21 35 - - - - 5 - - 24 Odisha 2,16,816 2,37,965 2,60,445 2,72,406 2,42,555 78,830 10,971 9,032 6,309 4,017 2,648 873 222 127 38 34 5 - 25 Puducherry 942 997 818 287 - - 8 18 97 23 - - 3 7 43 17 - - 26 Punjab 14,930 24,616 33,107 67,481 69,953 20,012 815 2,351 560 630 835 213 36 168 128 - 57 7 27 Rajasthan 1,11,407 1,41,441 1,98,476 1,80,063 73,144 11,621 33,486 38,405 34,222 13,675 6,219 1,144 89 203 180 51 35 31 28 Sikkim 6,252 7,689 15,527 17,297 8,436 2,307 5 11 20 93 6 3 18 1,183 595 3,420 3,506 1,900 29 Tamil Nadu 3,46,263 6,71,421 8,48,706 9,07,742 9,43,022 3,11,678 3,514 355 215 130 14 76 165 29 5 3 1 - 30 Telangana 2,23,180 2,46,089 2,91,673 2,85,183 2,78,446 77,919 508 90 2 3 2 - 2 2 - - - - 31 Tripura 30,939 19,572 50,701 82,287 55,538 15,761 2,341 2,078 3,986 407 33 18 70 21 22 33 47 6 Page 4 of 7S. State No. of sample tested in lab No. of samples with chemical contamination No. of samples with bacteriological contamination No. 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025- 2026- 2021- 2022- 2023- 2024- 2025- 2026- 2021- 2022- 2023- 2024- 2025- 2026- 2026 27* 22 23 24 25 26 27* 22 23 24 25 26 27* 32 Uttar Pr. 99,006 3,16,618 6,23,246 0,67,899 8,25,798 1,50,446 15,104 13,356 5,553 2,018 2,094 413 290 945 2,490 1,430 994 984 33 Uttarakhand 71,203 93,407 1,19,958 1,25,553 1,06,444 33,225 14 22 63 49 71 7 55 29 43 34 1,509 618 34 West Bengal 3,41,587 4,67,718 5,74,096 6,82,526 4,74,910 88,474 1,19,115 1,64,989 1,51,202 1,31,806 63,227 13,218 63,255 83,319 67,058 50,794 25,413 5,349 Total 41,72,176 62,19,775 75,00,041 82,68,247 71,30,884 20,26,350 3,23,039 4,01,496 3,83,135 2,37,042 1,16,291 27,146 2,42,803 3,57,370 3,81,019 1,25,693 74,006 21,380 Source: JJM-IMIS *As on 21.07.2026 Page 5 of 7Annex-II Annex-II referred to in reply to Lok Sabha unstarred Question No. 699 answered on 23.07.2026 District-wise details of water quality testing reported by Maharashtra S. State No. of sample tested in lab No. of samples with chemical contamination No. of samples with bacteriological contamination no. 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 2026-27* 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 2026- 2021- 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 2026- 27* 22 27* 1 Ahmednagar 1,130 11,978 23,277 24,936 27,392 6,936 - 29 246 119 100 12 2 90 315 418 498 175 2 Akola 195 2,998 5,240 3,538 5,502 2,832 72 603 431 145 102 51 14 116 97 29 68 48 3 Amravati 167 8,415 20,052 18,341 15,993 3,746 16 213 124 141 89 8 - 17 158 205 88 26 4 Beed 795 6,678 12,320 12,985 14,710 3,355 23 54 133 110 57 15 90 540 1,110 1,226 936 195 5 Bhandara 3,400 8,918 26,295 25,719 11,037 4,230 353 1,553 5,209 3,656 652 307 339 846 2,392 1,011 167 37 6 Buldhana 682 11,003 13,861 10,060 6,556 3,557 124 902 743 288 75 45 - 206 235 160 91 39 7 Chandrapur 5,404 25,413 32,701 13,432 13,439 11,467 117 1,365 1,117 67 18 77 100 222 765 106 109 37 Chhatrapati 8 Sambhajinagar 959 4,087 11,085 11,997 10,500 3,020 28 297 573 490 390 180 205 507 1,334 1,085 607 179 9 Dharashiv 2,136 4,252 5,055 8,513 9,412 4,859 58 44 36 61 128 107 127 251 354 451 503 146 10 Dhule 3,803 13,472 10,525 11,648 10,384 3,650 18 16 19 40 44 13 24 116 74 109 103 42 11 Gadchiroli 424 8,675 37,230 19,883 19,829 5,787 - 122 674 185 45 16 15 157 651 246 163 19 12 Gondia 2,426 11,598 23,590 17,331 16,257 6,209 93 168 571 151 92 37 33 181 309 346 195 42 13 Hingoli 1,992 6,469 5,547 5,325 3,753 2,634 90 679 822 526 391 384 167 356 254 361 101 50 14 Jalgaon 1,875 8,345 20,023 24,066 22,991 8,353 10 129 243 265 147 50 8 50 212 217 232 54 15 Jalna 1,813 3,659 6,455 7,736 6,174 2,901 215 412 640 372 228 198 49 284 283 159 208 73 16 Kolhapur 4,067 19,350 24,362 26,024 28,560 11,152 66 120 70 54 38 16 94 295 330 364 312 96 17 Latur 2,315 2,954 5,255 3,198 5,622 2,244 198 208 336 177 89 80 216 254 472 242 189 115 18 Nagpur 1,222 10,019 30,050 27,487 15,257 3,556 2 927 3,355 4,515 1,904 158 60 146 427 507 288 172 19 Nanded 6,639 16,638 19,976 24,224 19,074 4,553 909 5,754 4,769 5,146 2,953 843 1,336 2,012 2,174 2,787 1,792 447 20 Nandurbar 3,743 15,412 31,042 32,932 35,451 5,066 6 177 137 118 136 - 115 326 392 538 613 239 21 Nashik 4,886 28,188 26,484 33,930 29,047 10,835 238 1,965 639 882 714 616 73 274 514 583 540 155 22 Palghar 132 6,073 15,450 14,348 11,273 2,638 - - 10 9 26 1 - 24 47 68 118 15 23 Parbhani 1,515 3,057 4,369 5,327 5,124 1,603 156 331 286 326 276 117 84 211 350 427 331 109 24 Pune 4,116 18,426 33,258 22,078 29,189 10,620 179 583 756 343 334 348 111 3,670 991 633 582 245 25 Raigad 1,823 13,654 22,698 14,543 16,183 3,842 - 83 89 12 198 70 - 225 265 84 73 38 26 Ratnagiri 523 10,033 20,785 21,546 19,683 5,447 - 2 9 7 3 2 2 28 217 295 139 64 27 Sangli 4,465 19,569 23,822 24,692 21,169 5,917 33 83 209 180 54 16 225 664 767 884 664 222 28 Satara 221 35,533 36,804 34,208 35,340 16,446 - 454 513 161 42 43 1 105 119 147 79 17 29 Sindhudurg 1,546 10,282 18,431 12,833 7,877 1,879 12 23 134 61 9 14 24 461 889 556 208 103 30 Solapur 3,278 25,045 28,535 29,349 31,822 12,979 221 2,827 2,608 2,965 2,560 661 284 912 764 643 629 280 Page 6 of 7S. State No. of sample tested in lab No. of samples with chemical contamination No. of samples with bacteriological contamination no. 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 2026-27* 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 2026- 2021- 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 2026- 27* 22 27* 31 Thane 72 4,136 5,914 8,676 8,852 2,601 - 31 37 32 28 12 - 26 39 34 21 8 32 Wardha 328 5,422 9,949 4,272 3,556 1,870 29 1,070 1,370 175 53 31 - 9 42 14 46 33 33 Washim 1,019 2,477 4,305 2,353 3,101 1,831 74 180 172 55 19 17 21 37 164 78 109 34 34 Yavatmal 104 11,395 27,651 30,040 27,579 11,584 - 532 1,341 1,423 532 350 - 199 830 969 799 117 Total 69,215 3,93,623 6,42,396 5,87,570 5,47,688 1,90,199 3,340 21,936 28,421 23,257 12,526 4,895 3,819 13,817 18,336 15,982 11,601 3,671 As on 21.07.2026 Source: JJM-IMIS Page 7 of 7