1 In 4 Tap Water Samples Fail Tests. 3 In 4 Households Drink It Untreated

Three in four households report that they do not use any treatment method before consuming water. This means, millions of Indian families are receiving low quality water, which they consume without any treatment or filtration, making them prone to several infections and conditions. Despite this, 92.4% of surveyed households reported satisfaction with the quality of tap water.

Public institutions recorded lower pass rates than households: 73% water samples collected from schools, anganwadis and health facilities passed microbiological quality tests. This means children, pregnant women and new mothers, and care-seeking Indians are drinking substandard water.

But monitoring remains weak: Field Test Kits (FTKs), used for basic on-site water testing, were absent in 73% villages. This low penetration of test kits means communities can't know their water is failing. As long as the water looks, tastes and smells clean, people tend to assume it is safe for consumption—an assumption that was found in long-term studies in countries such as Norway, Canada, and over the years in Indian states.

As of January 28, 2026, about 158 million rural households (81.6%) had tap water supply under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the government told Lok Sabha earlier this month.

Some 98% households had connections, 87% reported the connections were functional, 84% said they received regular supply and 80% reported receiving adequate quantities of water (defined as more than 55 litres per person per day).

“Jal Jeevan Mission has focused more on infrastructure-related work. But creating sustainable drinking water sources in villages is very important. Many schemes come and go, but if the main source is not reliable, they will not sustain,” said Prashant Borawake, coordinator at Pani Panchayat, a community-based water management initiative based in Pune.

The assessment draws on data collected between July and October 2024 across sampled villages in 761 districts spanning 34 states and Union territories. Twelve households were surveyed in each village, along with all public institutions, including schools, anganwadi centres and health facilities.

Unsafe water

The World Health Organization has stated that contaminated drinking water and inadequate sanitation are linked to diseases including cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio.

Disaggregated results show that irrespective of the institution type, public facilities saw poor water quality: About 73.3% of samples from schools passed microbiological parameters, compared with 72.5% in anganwadi centres and 72.0% in health centres.

Public institutions often depend on the same village water supply systems as households. “Schools, anganwadis, and health centres are getting water from the same sources as households. So the quality concerns may be similar,” Borawake.

Maintenance, manpower, and monitoring gaps

Village-level institutional mechanisms remain uneven, according to the functionality report. About 55% villages reported having a Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC) or Pani Samiti.

Gram Panchayats or their sub-committees, called VWSCs or Pani Samitis, are responsible for planning and managing village water supply systems under the Jal Jeevan Mission.

Skilled manpower for operation and maintenance was available in 58.1% of villages, indicating that over four in ten villages lacked trained personnel to keep the system up and running. “Not having skilled manpower affects functionality. Sometimes water does not come on time, and sometimes it does not come at all because maintenance work is pending. In such cases, villagers depend on other sources like wells,” said Borawake.

Only 26.8% of villages reported levying user charges for water service delivery.

Water quality monitoring infrastructure showed gaps. Test kits were available in 27.2% of villages, while 70.3% villages had chlorination mechanisms.

However, Borawake noted limitations: “In villages, mostly chlorination happens, but this is not enough. Chlorination mainly addresses biological contamination. There are also chemicals in the water, and that cleaning often does not happen. So, the number of samples not meeting standards could actually be higher.”

He also pointed to concerns around testing processes. “When it comes to water quality testing, it should ideally be done by a third party. There should be an independent agency that goes to villages and tests the water, rather than only officials from the mission,” Borawake added.

IndiaSpend reported earlier this month, following the Union Budget 2026-27, that infrastructure-heavy social sector schemes, including household tap water programmes, continue to see underutilisation of allocated funds.

Broken pipes, pump failures

Among households reporting non-availability of a working tap connection, infrastructure-related failures accounted for the largest share of disruptions, according to the assessment.

Damage to pipe networks was the most frequently reported reason, cited by 32% of affected households. Pump failures accounted for 30% of cases. IndiaSpend reported from rural Maharashtra in January 2025 that households in several villages continued to face irregular water supply under the Jal Jeevan Mission, with some residents reporting expenditures on private water sources despite having tap connections.

A 2024 study noted that the creation of tap connections does not always ensure regular water flow, citing factors such as project delays, operational gaps and local system constraints. The study also highlighted the role of community participation, user behaviour and socioeconomic equity in sustaining rural water supply services.

Among households adopting treatment methods, boiling was the most commonly reported practice (13.2%), followed by straining through a cloth (11.2%).

Water quality varies by state

Household-level microbiological water quality outcomes varied across states and Union Territories, according to the assessment.

Pass rates ranged from 99.0% in Ladakh to 31.1% in Tripura. Several large states reported pass rates below the national average of 76%, including Uttar Pradesh (66.4%), Madhya Pradesh (63.3%), Kerala (56.4%), and Gujarat (47.3%).

IndiaSpend reported from Tripura in December 2025 that despite high reported tap water coverage under the Jal Jeevan Mission, several hill villages continued to face dry or irregularly supplied taps, with many households relying on springs for daily water needs.

IndiaSpend reached out to the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, asking about measures to address microbiological contamination, factors affecting functionality benchmarks, and steps planned to expand field test kit availability. We will update this story when we receive a response.

We welcome feedback. Please write to respond@indiaspend.org. We reserve the right to edit responses for language and grammar.