The Kerala Government has presented its Annual Action Plan for FY22 under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) and plans to provide nearly 30 lakh new tap water connections. The state officials described the roadmap of the fiscal year 2021-2022 through video conferencing to the national committee. The state aims to achieve the target of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ by 2024. Kerala has 67.15 lakh rural households and around 21.55 lakh households have tap water facilities. Although in 2020-2021 about four lakh connections were provided and this financial year, the state plans to provide about 30 lakh more connections. By June 2021, Kerala plans to provide potable water in all quality-affected homes through the piped water supply or Community Water Purification Plants (CWPP). The Ministry has urged the state to provide top preference to coverage of households in scheduled caste and scheduled tribe majority areas and aspirational districts. Around 4.17 core new tap connections have been provided in the rural areas of the country since the announcement of JJM in August 2019. As a result, 7.40 crore or 38.56% of rural households have a tap water supply compared to 3.23 crore (17%) in 2019. The Ministry of Jal Shakti urged the state to test drinking water to assess its quality. The state has also been advised to prioritise the upgradation of drinking water laboratories and water sample testing at a nominal rate for the public. Further, the state was suggested to train at least five persons mainly women in every village for monitoring water quality through field test kits (FTKs). As much as a Rs 50,000 crore budgetary allocation was made for JJM in 2020-2021. Additionally, there is also a Rs 26,940 crore assured fund available under the 15th Finance Commission. In 2020-2021, over Rs 1 lakh crore is planned to be invested in the country to assure tap water connections to rural homes. This investment will encourage manufacturing activities in rural areas. JJM is the flagship programme of the central government that seeks to provide household tap water connection to every rural household by 2024. Image Source Also read: Jal Jeevan Mission: Andaman & Nicobar presents FY22 action plan Also read: Jal Jeevan Mission: Water supply projects to come up in Manipur