• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during her Budget Speech, announced that Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) will be launched to provide tap water connections to 2.86 crore households.

• It aims at universal water supply in all 4,378 Urban Local Bodies as well as liquid waste management in 500 AMRUT cities. 

• It will be implemented with an outlay of Rs 2.87 lakh crore over five years.

What is Jal Jeevan Mission?

• Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India. 

• The programme was launched in August 2019.

• It will also implement source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, such as recharge and reuse through grey water management, water conservation, rain water harvesting. 

• JJM looks to create a ‘jan andolan’ for water, thereby making it everyone’s priority.

• Over three crore families have been connected with piped water supply under the Jal Jeevan Mission so far. 

Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban)

Goals of the programme:

• Rejuvenation of water bodies to augment sustainable fresh water supply.

• Creating green spaces and sponge cities to reduce floods.

• Enhance amenity value through an urban aquifer management plan.

• JJM(U) will promote circular economy of water. 

• The mission has a reform agenda with focus on strengthening urban local bodies and water security of the cities. 

Major reforms planned are: 

• Reducing non-revenue water to below 20 per cent.

• Recycling used water to meet at least 20 per cent of total city water demand and 40 per cent for industrial water demand at state level.

• Dual piping system.

• Unlocking value and improving land use efficiency through adequate urban planning.

• Geographic Information System (GIS) based master plans of the cities.

• Raising funds through issuance of municipal bonds and rejuvenation of water bodies.

Funding for the mission

• The total outlay proposed for JJM(U) is Rs 2.87 lakh crore which includes Rs 10,000 crore for continuing financial support to AMRUT Mission.

• Central funding will be 50 per cent for cities with less than one lakh population, one third for cities with one lakh to 10 lakh population and 25 per cent for cities with million plus population.

• In order to promote public-private partnership (PPP), it has been mandated for cities having million plus population to take up PPP projects worth minimum of 10 percent of their total project fund allocation.

• For Union Territories, there will be 100 per cent central funding. For northeast and Hill states, central funding will be 90 per cent. 

• Mission will be monitored through a technology-based platform on which beneficiary response will be monitored along with progress and output-outcome.

• A technology sub-mission for water is proposed to leverage latest global technologies in the field of water.

• Pey Jal Survekshan will be conducted in cities to ascertain equitable distribution of water, reuse of wastewater and mapping of water bodies with respect to quantity and quality of water through a challenge process.

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