From IoT-based sensors to flow meters, how tech is powering water mission

The Jal Jeevan Mission has adopted technology based on the Internet of Things to provide safe tap water to every rural household by 2024

From internet-of-things (IoT)-based sensors and flow meters to water-quality detection kits and a new mobile application, the national Jal Jeevan Mission has been adopting advanced technology to achieve cost-effective solutions for providing safe tap water to every rural household in the country by 2024.  

The government programme has led many startups to develop affordable solutions for measuring and monitoring water consumption in villages. Research is also underway to come up with easy-to-use water testing kits that would check for specific contaminants and general water quality. 

“Technology is actively involved in this mission, from the planning stage to implementation, operation and maintenance,” says a senior government official. 

The Jal Jeevan Mission mobile application, which will be launched soon, will provide details of water infrastructure, an Aadhaar-verified data set of beneficiaries, and water quality and contamination-related information for each village. The information will be available to users on a public forum alongside specific data for each village, district and state-level bodies concerning water. 

This data is currently maintained on the integrated management information system and covers action plans of villages, districts and states, along with financing and funding details. The app will also allow users to rate their experience with their water facility. An algorithm is being designed to allow feedback and grievances to be registered on it.

“Each village will have its own page. The data will be regarding financial collection, progress of work, maintenance and other water-related information at the village block level,” says the official. 

The Jal Shakti ministry also maintains a dashboard for the Jal Jeevan Mission to show the coverage of tap water connections across states. The water quality management information system also provides details of water samples received and tested across labs and states. The mobile app will bring all this data under one umbrella. 

The primary data being generated through internet-based sensors will not just monitor the flow of water in the pipelines, but also check for turbidity and chlorination in water. These sensors will account for 2 per cent of the project cost for each village. “A world-class command and control centre to monitor the IoT platform will be developed at the National Centre for Drinking Water, Sanitation and Quality, Kolkata,” the official adds.

The sensors are placed in the reservoirs and at the outlet going towards each habitation of the village. A pressure sensor is also placed at the tail end. The sensor is programmed to relay the data on overall supply every day.  

In many villages, the government has been using this technology to determine if there are disparities in water supply in scheduled caste and scheduled tribe areas and others, and the data has been used to fix these issues. The sensors will be installed across 100 locations in nine states. More than 60 villages have already deployed them. 

“This technology also helps in reducing the cost of operation and improving the life of water supply schemes by detecting leaks, preventive maintenance and optimising resource requirements,” the official adds. 

The four startups taking part in the field trials include GLOBALm, Greenvironment Innovation & Marketing India Pvt Ltd, Rydot Infotech Private Limited, EyeNetAqua Solutions Pvt Ltd and Ilonnati Innovations Pvt Ltd. These companies took part in a “grand challenge” organised by the ministries of Jal Shakti and Electronics and Information Technology last year. 

The Jal Jeevan Mission promises 55 litres of water per capita per day for each rural household and BIS10500 quality of water. Goa, one of the first states to achieve 100 per cent tap water coverage, has mechanical meters installed in each household. And, like in urban setups, households can update their meter readings online. 

While the Jal Jeevan Mission mandates the local authority to conduct regular checks, five women in each village have also been trained to use test kits to check water quality. These kits are designed to assess 12 types of contamination, including phosphate, sulphate, and turbidity, among others. 

The Jal Shakti ministry is also planning to launch a portable quality-testing device and nitrate and in-line arsenic sensors.  

While the challenge of conveying tap water to every household remains, once water quality data is available for each village, the Jal Shakti ministry plans to use it to understand the water-borne disease burden in rural India.

“Resources can be linked in future disease surveillance databases, especially for water and communicable diseases. It is important that the data is meaningful, and that different data sets are able to talk to each other,” says the senior official.