Since August 2019, the Government of India, in partnership with States and Union Territories, has been implementing the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) – Har Ghar Jal to provide tap water supply to every rural household. As water is a State subject, the responsibility for planning, approving, implementing and maintaining piped water supply schemes rests with State and UT Governments. The Union Government supplements these efforts by offering technical and financial support under JJM.

To strengthen transparency and accountability in the programme, the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation has introduced the nationwide Rural Piped Water Supply Scheme (RPWSS) module. This system assigns a unique identification number to every integrated piped water supply scheme and digitally maps all components — including water sources, treatment units, transmission networks, distribution systems and service areas.

The RPWSS module forms a key layer of Digital Public Infrastructure for the rural water sector. It establishes a comprehensive GIS-based registry of assets and links all components of each scheme to their respective service zones. The system enforces mandatory geo-tagging and geo-referencing of assets, whether classified as Not Started, Ongoing or Completed, ensuring full traceability from source to household.

Each asset is also linked to the corresponding capital expenditure scheme ID, creating a transparent record of financial flows and enabling more accurate monitoring across the entire rural water supply ecosystem.

The information was provided by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Shri V. Somanna, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.