There are nearly 24,650 mineral water, packaged drinking water and carbonated beverages units operating in the country and they draw a total of 9.7 million cubic metres of groundwater annually, Jalshakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said on Thursday.

Of these 17,607 units operate with licences issued by the State governments, while another 7,047 units have licences issued by the Central government, Shekhawat said while replying a question in the Lok Sabha.

While Tamil Nadu has a total of 3,785 such units, the number of bottled drinking water units in Maharashtra is 3,320. They are followed by Karnataka (1,999) and Gujarat (1,914) as per the information available with Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI), he said.

According to the Minister, as per the groundwater regulation guidelines, it is mandatory for drinking water industry to undertake groundwater recharge measures to the quantum of water abstraction approved by the Central Ground Water Authority. Even though there was a move to slap water conservation fee on industries drawing groundwater, it was not yet approved by the National Green Tribunal.

A PTI report said: As reported by States on Integrated Management Information System (IMIS), Shekhawat said out of total 17.87 crore rural households in the country, about 3.27 crore (about 18.33 per cent) rural households are getting drinking water from tap connection.

“As announced in the Union Budget Speech 2019-20, it has been envisaged to ensure piped water supply to all rural households by 2024 under the Jal Jeevan Mission,” he said.

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