JOIN USMany localities in the City are underserved when it comes to potable water. Slums particularly lack clean drinking water and dwellers therein face serious health risks.
To address the issue and to provide drinking water at an affordable cost, Waterhealth India, a US-based organisation, in co-ordination with the BBMP, has set up clean water kiosks in several parts of Bengaluru.
While private suppliers usually sell water at Rs 30 for 25 litres, Waterhealth India is providing the same at Rs 5 for 20 litres, benefiting the underprivileged sections of the City.
Assessing the impact of these centres, US Ambassador to India, Richard R Verma, visited a WaterHealth Centre in Lingarajpuram on Tuesday.
During Verma’s interaction with the community members, Ruksana, a resident of Lingarajpuram, put it thus: “Earlier, there was lack of safe drinking water in the locality and many of us used to fall sick frequently. However, with the supply of clean water, things have changed and the general health of the community has improved.”
The project is being supported by the BBMP and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The Palike is providing the infrastructure – land, water source and electricity connection.
How it works
Inside the WaterHealth Centre, water pumped from groundwater sources (borewell in most cases) undergoes a six-stage treatment process. Water at the Lingarajpuram centre is purified at 1000 litres per hour. The purified water is let out in taps and people can come and buy it. They also have an option of getting it delivered to their homes.
Verma said, “So far, the US government has supported the establishment of nine active Clean Water Centres, each serving at least 350 households per day. We are poised to support the Municipal Corporation and its partner, WaterHealth India, to scale up these water centres from nine wards to 25 by May 2016, with a goal of eventually serving all of the wards in Bengaluru.”
Vikas Shah, chief operating officer of Waterhealth India Pvt Ltd, said that presently there were 14 plants in the City and they aimed to take it up to 200. Peenya, JP Nagar, Prakash Nagar, Srinivasanagar are some of the places where the plants have been set up. WaterHealth plans to provide safe water to over 100 million people in India by 2020.
“In the future, we plan to partner with various other urban local bodies in Karnataka and other states in India,” he said.
There are 500 such water health centres in 36 districts spread across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu serving over five million people, according to an official statement by Waterhealth India Pvt Ltd.