SHIMLA -5 January, 2026-Recognizing that access to clean water is fundamental to public health and environmental sustainability, Secretary, Jal Shakti, Dr. Abhishek Jain today held a detailed meeting with senior officers of the Jal Shakti Vibhag to review preventive measures for protecting water resources across the State. The focus of the meeting not only remained on safeguarding drinking water supply schemes being run by the department to ensure long-term water security for the region but also on monitoring of Sewerage Treatment Plants.

It was informed during the meeting that tap water connections have been provided to every household in 17632 villages in rural areas. To ensure water quality, the department is operating a robust testing mechanism through 72 laboratories. Of these, 14 laboratories are functioning at the district level, 57 at the sub-division level and one State-level laboratory is dedicated to comprehensive water quality testing through samples collected from households.

The Secretary directed that clear instructions be conveyed to all field officers, from Executive Engineers to Junior Engineers, to mandatorily visit all water sources, including water storage tanks, at least once in ten days. These inspections are to be properly documented and reported to his office on a regular basis. He emphasized that Village Water Sanitation Committees should be actively engaged to inspect all types of water surface water sources which includes local rivulets (khuds), nallahs and streams, as well as spring-based sources. He further directed the activation of Block Resource Persons and field staff to regularly check water quality using Field Test Kits (FTK) already distributed to them. Sh. Jain instructed that immediate cleaning and corrective measures must be completed within a period of 15 days of all sources.

Appealing for public participation, Sh. Jain urged people to voluntarily involve themselves in protecting water sources. He stated that if residents were not satisfied with sample collection procedures, they are free to submit water samples directly to laboratories for testing. He underlined that equal emphasis must be laid on strict waste management protocols, modernization of infrastructure and sustained community awareness to prevent contamination.

The Secretary also directed officials to collect samples from water treatment plants to ensure that they are functioning efficiently. He further instructed that inspections of Sewerage Treatment Plants be conducted regularly and uploaded on the designated portal to enable real-time monitoring and consolidation of data at the departmental level.

Highlighting the importance of source protection, Sh. Jain said that preventing contamination at the source was far more cost-effective than large-scale purification and is the only sustainable way to ensure the long-term health of the ecosystem. He took serious note of leakages of water pipes and issued strict directions to plug them immediately, warning that failure to do so would invite action.

He observed that it is time to reassess how society values water and called for a decisive shift from a “fix it later” approach to a culture of proactive stewardship and collective responsibility. He stated that Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri was also monitoring water cleanliness issues.

Engineer-in-Chief, Jal Shakti Vibhag, Anju Sharma informed that up to December, a total of 2,16,382 water samples were in Jal Shakti Vibhag's labs, out of which only five samples were found unsuitable where immediate appropriate remedial measures have been taken. As many as 1,71,250 water samples have been tested through Field Testing Kits (FTKs),water samples from 21,392 drinking water sources and 15,611 villages have been tested and 18,784 sanitary surveys of drinking water sources have been conducted in rural areas by the department through Block Resource Coordinators (BRCs), grass root level field teams and Village Water Sanitation Committees(VWSCs) reflecting the departments sustain efforts to ensure safe and reliable drinking water for all.