Over 80% of Rural Indian Families Now Have Access to Piped Drinking Water

Marking a significant achievement in rural water infrastructure, the Centre's flagship initiative, Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) - Har Ghar Jal, has reached a key milestone. As per data provided by States and Union Territories up to July 22, 2025, over 80.94% of rural households in India now have access to piped drinking water.

According to V Somanna, Minister of State for Jal Shakti in Parliament, when the mission was launched in August 2019, only 3.23 crore - or 16.7% - households had tap water connections. Since then, an additional 12.44 crore households have been connected, bringing the total to 15.67 crore rural households out of 19.36 crore nationwide.

Originally planned for the 2019-2024 period, the Jal Jeevan Mission - which is implemented in partnership with states and UTs - has been extended until 2028, following an announcement in the 2025-26 Union Budget. The mission has also received increased funding, and a new goal has been established to achieve 100% household tap water coverage within three years.

Some States Get Full Marks

So far, 11 States and UTs have achieved 100% tap water coverage for rural households: Goa, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu, Haryana, Telangana, Puducherry, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh

Other states that have shown commendable progress include Uttarakhand, with 97.6% coverage, Ladakh, with 96.88% and Bihar with 95.7%. Seven states now have over 90% of their rural households connected to tap water.

Certain states are still experiencing delayed progress. As of July 21, 2025, only 54.66% of rural households in Kerala had access to tap water connections. States like Rajasthan, West Bengal and Jharkhand are also progressing slowly in terms of rural tap water coverage under the initiative.

But states like Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh made significant progress under the scheme. At the inception of the Mission, only 13.53 lakh rural households in Madhya Pradesh had tap water connections. By July 21, 2025, 78.56 lakh households had water connections.

Similarly, Uttar Pradesh had 5.16 lakh rural households in 2019 which had risen to 2.4 crore by July 23 this year.

According to the Jal Shakti Ministry, Rs 3,881.88 crore from central government allocations is available under JJM. The highest allocations - Rs 970 crore and Rs 688 crore - are for Maharashtra and Karnataka. These funds will continue to support infrastructure development, pipeline expansion, and water quality monitoring in rural areas of India.