Almost 4 lakh diarrhoeal disease deaths can be averted if ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ meets its target of providing clean water to all rural households, according to a new study by the World Health Organisation. The Centre launched the Jal Jeevan Mission in 2019 to provide all houses in rural areas with safe and adequate drinking water through individual tap connections by next year.

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation had asked the World Health Organisation (WHO) to conduct a study to assess potential health gains and associated cost savings due to increased access in safely-managed drinking water services in India. The study found that, on an estimate, if the Mission provided safely-managed drinking water to all of India, this would result in averting almost 4 lakh deaths caused by diarrhoeal disease.