These tests were conducted in Amreli, Anand, Bharuch, Dahod, state capital Gandhinagar, and Patan.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in a report tabled in the Gujarat Assembly on Friday, said that a beneficiary survey carried out in 48 villages, covering 960 beneficiaries, revealed that nearly 89% — nearly nine out of every 10 — of water sample tests in the villages were found unfit for drinking.
“Audit observed that out of 88 water samples collected from test-checked villages, as per the acceptable limit, 10 samples (11.36%) were found fit for drinking purposes while 78 samples (88.64%) were found unfit,” said the report, which looked into implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) from 2019-2020 to 2023-2024.
The analysis of the water quality in seven villages revealed that the parameters most frequently exceeding the prescribed limits included total hardness (in 65% of samples), turbidity (63%), total dissolved solids (TDS) and total alkalinity (56% each), and presence of magnesium (50%).
These tests were conducted in Amreli, Anand, Bharuch, Dahod, state capital Gandhinagar, and Patan.
The CAG report also flagged inadequate representation of women and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) members in “paani samitis” — Village Water and Sanitation Committees (VWSCs) — in rural areas under the JJM, whose guidelines prescribe that each “paani samiti” ensure adequate participation of women — at least six women members — and maintain their representation at not less than 50% of the total membership.
The report, presented in the Assembly on the last day of the three-day Monsoon session, stated that in nine paani samitis, the representation of women members was below the prescribed ratio, and five had no women at all.
