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The Telegraph
The Telegraph
World
Joe Wallen

How Puri became the first Indian city to provide clean drinking water for all

Approximately 38 million Indians contract a water borne disease annually 
Approximately 38 million Indians contract a water borne disease annually 

It was a typically hot and humid Saturday morning in the coastal city of Puri in India’s tropical eastern state of Odisha.

But outside the city’s famous Jagannath Hindu temple, there was a growing crowd, including many of the country’s leading journalists.

As cameras flashed, an Odisha government official filled a glass of water from one of several newly installed water fountains, before letting out a triumphant cry and taking a big gulp.

Puri had just become the first city in India to provide clean, piped drinking water to all of its 250,000 residents - a landmark policy that public health experts hope will be replicated across many other Indian cities.

“Puri has now joined the elite group of international cities like London, New York and Singapore in supplying quality potable water from municipal taps throughout the day,” enthused Odisha’s Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik.

What benefits will the scheme bring?

The scheme is important for a host of different reasons.  Primarily, it is hoped that the provision of clean water will drastically reduce the prevalence of diseases like cholera and typhoid in Puri and boost the overall health of its residents.

More than half of India’s population still does not have access to safely managed drinking water which results in approximately 38 million Indians contracting a water-borne disease each year.

VK Madhavan, the Chief Executive of WaterAid India, believes it will also stimulate the local economy as residents will take fewer sick days. India loses 73 million working days due to water-borne diseases annually.

The scheme could also have a particularly positive impact on the livelihoods of Puri’s women, he said:  “In a patriarchal society like India’s women are compelled to collect, store and boil water, which is a hugely time-consuming task. Now, women and adolescent girls will have an opportunity to use this time saved as they deem fit,” said Mr Madhavan. 

Many Indians still buy their water from private suppliers at an inflated price - Dominique Faget/AFP
Many Indians still buy their water from private suppliers at an inflated price - Dominique Faget/AFP

The scheme should bring environmental benefits, too. Puri is a popular domestic tourist destination, attracting 20 million people each year to its golden-sand beaches. But the small city has long struggled to dispose of the plastic waste generated by such footfall.

The authorities have constructed more than 200 public water fountains and hope to save up to 400 metric tonnes of plastic waste annually if visitors can be encouraged to fill up reusable water bottles from the taps.

How did a controversial political system play its part?

Under India’s federal system, each state elects its own government. Many states, including Odisha, have opted to vote in a regional political party rather than India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

This federal structure received a lot of criticism during India’s devastating Covid-19 second wave as it encouraged state governments to conceal their true number of deaths to score political points.

But, the system does allow state governments, like the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha, to adopt state-focused developmental policies.

In October, the BJD announced it would provide clean drinking water to 1.5 million people in 15 towns across Odisha by March 2023 - roughly 80 percent of the state’s total population.

Without domestic examples to draw upon, the Odisha government dispatched its senior engineers to the city-state of Singapore for training. They were advised to utilise local water resources and so diverted the flow of the nearby Bhargavi river into a newly-constructed treatment plant.

The plant can produce 42 million litres of purified water daily - Puri’s daily demand is between 24-32 million litres. Surplus is diverted to restore Puri’s groundwater which, as in many Indian cities, is both severely depleted and polluted.  

A pipe dream

Unlike Singapore, Puri had the advantage of a nearby freshwater source. But it faced a much greater challenge than Singapore in piping its purified water into the homes of its 250,000 residents - one-fifth of whom live in slum settlements.

“A lot of the pipes were very old, had leakages and were even being infiltrated by polluted drains and sewer lines,” explained G Mathi Vathanan, Principal Secretary of the Urban Development Department in Odisha. 

Puri, like many Indian cities, has undergone rapid population growth over the last century and the infrastructure has been unable to keep pace.

After conducting a city-wide review, it was discovered many groups of residents had set up their own water connections. These were typically done as cheaply as possible and were of poor quality.  Roughly 4,800 metres of replacement piping was installed to combat this.

Sensors have been installed at hundred metre intervals to monitor pressure and velocity of flow. If there is a drop in flow between the two sensors, it is immediately flagged. 

The authorities in Puri have implemented a tariff on their water supply, with an estimated monthly cost of between ₹100-300 (£1-3) per household, according to Mr Mathi Vathanan.

The cost of just one litre of bottled water in India is typically between ₹10-20 (£0.10-0.20), so over the course of the month, residents expect to save a considerable sum.

The time-consuming job of collecting, storing and boiling water typically falls on India's women - Sajjad Hussain/AFP
The time-consuming job of collecting, storing and boiling water typically falls on India's women - Sajjad Hussain/AFP

“Previously we only got two or three hits of dirty water each day from the tap. Now, we are getting water all day and it is so pure we can drink directly from the house tap,” one resident of the Balia Panda neighbourhood told The Telegraph.

Prior to the scheme, many residents in informal settlements were paying inflated sums to so-called “water mafias” who had also installed their piping. 

In order to boost confidence that the figures now quoted by the authorities are correct, a trusted woman from the local community, known as a Jal Saathi - or water companion in Hindi - has been hired in each of the city’s 32 wards to do the metering and collect the bill from residents.  

The ripple effect

Perhaps the greatest long-term benefit of Puri’s landmark scheme will be if it is replicated across Odisha, as is planned by 2023, and then the rest of the country.

While there are many critics of India’s federal system, water activists hope that India’s electorate will look to Odisha and begin to demand the same access to clean, piped water in their own states.

“The fact that a state government has had this ambition and taken the provision of clean water across an entire city seriously is a big deal for India,” said Mr Madhavan, “It should show other states that they too can find the resources and can prioritise drinking water for their residents.” 

A similar domino effect was observed after the state government in Chhattisgarh created a community health volunteer programme, for example, that was then rolled out nationwide.

“Many state governments and cities have been in contact and said they want to visit. The government of India has asked me to carry out a country-wide seminar on the Puri success story. We hope many people are inspired after seeing this and can replicate what we have done,” said Mr Mathi Vananan.

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