34% of 72L K’taka homes don’t have tap water: CAG

Bengaluru: Karnataka has failed to provide tap water connections to 24.5 lakh rural households — or 34% of the targeted 72.1 lakh — well past the March 2024 deadline under Jal Jeevan Mission, according to a Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report tabled in the legislative assembly Tuesday.The audit, covering 2019 to 2024 across seven districts, flagged gaps in planning, execution, financial management and water quality monitoring, undermining the mission's goal of ensuring Har Ghar Jal.At the state level, irregular participation by departments affected convergence with schemes like Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana. Though some villages proposed convergence strategies, none were implemented.Delays in project execution further hit outcomes. The audit cited poor planning, including awarding contracts without ensuring land availability, flawed DPRs and overburdened contractors. Some projects were abandoned midway despite substantial expenditure, while others failed to take off for years.The report also flagged weak post-implementation management and overdependence on groundwater sources, raising sustainability concerns. "The state was heavily reliant on groundwater sources for water supply, posing the risk of unsustainability in the long run. The department's efforts to include sustainable measures such as recharge of groundwater through conservation and reuse of water resources, and grey water management, were inadequate," the report noted.Despite limited broader impact on public health and employment, the report said JJM did register gains on select social indicators. The mission helped ease the burden on women and contributed to reducing the dropout rate among upper primary school girls from 2.3 to 1.5 by 2023–24. "The implementation of JJM through improved household water access is one of the contributing factors in reducing the average dropout rate of upper primary school girls as it reduced the time and burden on girls for water collection.Similarly, several women highlighted savings in time and labour which was diverted to other domestic work, self-care or economic opportunities. Further, many women flagged increased safety as the mission reduced the risk of crime or wild animal attacks during long water-fetching journeys," the report pointed out.LABS NOT EQUIPPED TO TEST FOR CONTAMINANTS* Weak institutional mechanisms, key committees at village, district and state levels didn't meet regularly* Village action plans incomplete; source sustainability, groundwater data and financial planning missing* 13 districts didn't hold meetings during 2023-24; 5 villages wrongly declared ‘Har Ghar Jal' compliant and 21 shown as fully covered despite incomplete works* Karnataka received only 45% of central outlay due to underutilisation; spending on water quality monitoring dropped from 50% in 2019-20 to 2% in 2023-24* Labs lacked capacity to test for contaminants such as arsenic, and turnaround times stretched up to 106 days against the prescribed 24-48 hours* Independent study showed only two of 28 sampled villages met water quality standards