The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Mineral water: 2 plans under study

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Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Mineral water: 2 plans under study

Special Correspondent

First is free supply, second is sale of 20 litres daily for a subsidised price of Rs. 2

Unique programme to supply mineral water to be launched on August 15
Panel to work out guidelines for erection of “reverse osmosis” plants in villages appointed

Water guard: Reverse osmosis plant

HYDERABAD: The government is contemplating two alternative routes to provide mineral (bottled) water to the villages not covered by protected water schemes. The first one is the supply of water free of cost and second, sale of 20 litres daily to a household for a subsidised price of Rs 2.

The plan is to supply five litres per head a day, covering a maximum of four members in a family. The unique programme, which aims at providing safe drinking water to villages and helping fight water-borne diseases, will be launched on August 15.

As part of the preparations, the government on Tuesday appointed an eight-member committee headed by R. Kondal Rao, Technical Advisor, School Education & Housing, to work out guidelines and standards for erection of the “reverse osmosis” (RO) plants in the villages and submit a report in 15 days. It also approved a prototype plant which resembles an aquaguard machine for being adopted in the villages.

B. Rajeswara Rao, engineer-in-chief, Rural Water Supply and a member of the committee, disclosed to The Hindu that a final decision was taken to operate and maintain the RO plants only by women’s self-help groups. “This is so because women are closer to water than anybody else.” The panel would also suggest one of the two routes to implement the scheme.

Priority to thandas

The RO plants will be erected in villages at a cost and the women’s groups will remit instalments of loans provided to purchase them. Strict instructions will be issued to them not to hazard a conclusion on the plant unless a permanent source of water is identified in the village. Tests will be undertaken to verify if the water available in the source is unsafe. Mr Rao said 51,000 out of 72,175 habitations in the State had already been covered by protected water schemes. The scheme, therefore, would cover the rest of 21,175 habitations, most of them found to be populated by tribals. Top priority would be given to the Girijan thandas.

Priority would also be given to villages in Nalgonda, Prakasam, Anantnapur and Guntur districts where groundwater was found to be containing fluoride, nitrate and other pollutants beyond the permissible limits, ranging from 5 to 12 ppm (particles per million).

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