Ladakh women on mission to ensure safe drinking water in far-flung areas

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, November 15

Women in far off villages of Ladakh are on a mission to provide safe drinking water to the population which inhabits one of most difficult terrains in the country.

As many as 815 women have been trained by the Jal Shakti Department to test the water and report if any discrepancy is found in the samples. The women have been trained under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) which ensures tap water connectivity to all residents.

Armed with field testing kits (FTK), these women frequently visit their assigned villages in the Union Territory to test the water samples. This year, of 6507 samples tested, 171 were found to be contaminated. As there are no major industries releasing effluents in the groundwater, the contaminations were mild and were corrected by the department.

Nurboo Tundup, an information education and communication expert with the Jal Shakti Department, said a total of 815 women had been trained so far to test the quality of water at the grass-root level in Ladakh under JJM.

He informed that at least five women from every village in Ladakh are being trained to test the water quality so that people even in remote areas could be provided safe potable water. Tundup said in villages where population is not large, 2-3 women are being trained.

In case of contamination of any kind, these women inform the Jal Shati Department also called the Public Health Engineering (PHE), which immediately shuts the source and filters the water.

While these women are provided FTKs, there are two district-level laboratories in the UT and three subdivision level labs. A total of five labs for water testing are present in the UT.

There are a total 43,147 households in Ladakh out of which 37,127 have been provided with tap water connection under JJM. Till August 15, 2019 there were only 1,414 tap water connections in rural areas of the UT as per official figures. There are a total of 250 small and big villages in Ladakh.

Tap supply coverage increasing in the UT

37,127 households in Ladakh region have been provided with tap water connections so far

1,414 tap water connections were there in rural areas of the Union Territory in 2019

171 water samples have been found to be contaminated of the total 6,507 samples tested