New Delhi: Odisha is reworking its rural water playbook to confront two simultaneous problems: chronically depleted and contaminated groundwater in parts of the state, and widespread delays in multi-village piped water projects under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).
Launched by the Central government in August 2019, JJM aims to provide tap water to every rural household in partnership with States and Union Territories. Because “drinking water” is a state subject, Odisha is responsible for planning, approvals, implementation, and upkeep of schemes within its borders, while the Centre offers technical and financial help.
State monitoring has flagged groundwater depletion and contamination – iron, fluoride, salinity, and bacteriological impurities – as recurring problems in several blocks. Districts singled out for water-quality concerns include Nuapada, Bargarh, Mayurbhanj, and parts of Gajapati, Minister of State for Jal Shakti V. Somanna, as reported by PIB india, said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha. At the same time, the State reports 705 multi-village piped water supply schemes have been delayed. The causes cited are familiar: land acquisition complications, contractor non-performance and hold-ups in right-of-way clearances from agencies such as NH, NHAI, R&B, RD, Forest, and Railways.
Odisha’s response blends fast fixes with long-term resilience:
- Immediate and remedial steps – repairing defunct tube wells, reviving non-functional distribution systems, and installing new tube wells where needed – are being used to plug short-term supply gaps ahead of summer shortages.
- Treatment measures – Iron Removal Plants (IRPs), de-fluoridation units, and routine disinfection – address site-specific contamination.
- Sustainable supply projects – surface-water mega piped schemes, single- and multi-village piped projects, solar-based piped systems and Solar Dual Pump installations – are being prioritised to shift reliance away from compromised groundwater.
- Source-sustainability actions – recharge structures, restoration of water bodies, and rainwater harvesting – are being executed with other departments to boost long-term water availability.
- Community and governance strengthening – Village Water & Sanitation Committees are being mobilised for local surveillance using Field Test Kits, and community awareness drives on safe water handling are ongoing.
To unblock stalled projects, the State has set up higher-level coordination and accountability: a committee led by the Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary and another under the Commissioner-cum-Secretary, PR & DW Department, with engineers and departmental secretaries as members. Monthly district-level co-ordination meetings chaired by District Collectors aim to resolve pending approvals quickly. The State has also begun imposing penalties on defaulting agencies and tightening monitoring to speed implementation.
The mix of corrective repairs, water-treatment installations, and large-scale piped projects is designed to keep villages supplied now while building systems resilient enough to replace failing groundwater sources over time.
