Jal Shakti report shows Gujarat lagging national average on tap water quality, quantity

Gandhinagar: While Gujarat boasts of tap water connections in all households, the state has lagged behind the national average when it comes to quantity and quality of water supplied.

According to the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti’s Functionality Assessment of Household Tap Connections State Report–2024, only 47.3% of households in Gujarat received quality water through tap connections in 2024, significantly lower than the national average of 76%.

The same report shows that 58.7% of the households in the state received 55 litres or more water per person per day, which is the target under the Jal Shakti Mission, compared with the national average of 80.2%. The functionality status of household tap connections was 47.3% against the national average of 76%, according to the report released in December.


The data come amid the state capital, Gandhinagar, reporting more than 100 cases of suspected typhoid since December 29. Gandhinagar municipal commissioner JN Vaghela told the media that the issue had cropped up because of drinking water getting contaminated with drainage water and that the civic authorities have repaired more than 20 leaks and chlorinated the water.

Meanwhile, Gujarat Congress spokesperson Parthivrajsinh Kathwadiya claimed that the situation was particularly alarming in major cities.

As per the Jal Shakti ministry report, only 31.9% of households in Gandhinagar, the state capital, and 46.1% in Ahmedabad, the state’s largest city, receive potable drinking water. Districts such as Banaskantha and Dahod recorded zero percent coverage of potable water supply at the household level, Kathwadiya told ET. According to data from the Central Pollution Control Board, Gujarat ranked 30th among Indian states in the Water Quality Index for 2022, he claimed.

The index covers parameters such as dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, pH levels and coliform bacteria in water. While the national average WQI was 73.8% in 2022, Gujarat’s score was 63%, placing it behind states like West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, Kathwadiya said.

According to the same report, in 19 out of the 33 districts in 2024 (Gujarat added one more district in 2025), less than half the households received quality drinking water through taps. Several districts including Bharuch (8.5%), Bhavnagar (14.7%), Gir Somnath (11.7%), Mahisagar (16%), Narmada (15.4%), Rajkot (16.2%), Surendranagar (4.7%) and Tapi (6.9%) reported extremely low availability.

“The government has succeeded in installing tap connections, but has failed to ensure that potable water actually reaches households,” Kathwadiya said, questioning the effectiveness of large-scale spending and publicity around clean drinking water and smart city projects.