Puri the 1st city to receive 24x7 drinking water supply (LOCAL)

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Odisha housing and urban development minister Pratap Jena drank water from one of the multiple water fountains put on Grand Road heading to the Jagannath Temple on Saturday morning. Jena also moved his mouth close to the water source and drank from it as camera flashes went off and TV news reporters gathered about to emphasise the state government's recent statement that Puri would be the first Indian city where people may "drink straight from the tap."

    “While other cities in India like Mumbai, Delhi or Chennai may be providing clean drinking water, it is surely not available for entire 24 hours. Our system is fully automated to correct any anomaly in the supply of clean drinking water through taps to all households in the city. The water from taps is now ready for consumption without any more filtration,” said Odisha housing and urban development secretary G Mathivathanan.

    In several neighbourhoods of Puri town, the reactions to the government claim have been a mix of incredulity and mild approval. While Jena urged everyone to drink from the taps, government advertising in Odisha's newspapers and tv networks highlighted the holy town's status. It is the first Indian city to have a 24-hour safe drinking water facility, similar to that found in London and Singapore. 

    Sujal, Odisha's drinking water scheme, was first launched in a pilot mode in October last year by chief minister Naveen Patnaik with the goal of providing clean drinking water from taps to 1.5 million people in 15 towns by March 2022. The deadline has been pushed back to October 20, 2023.

    “For several years, I have been drinking water from a water purifier. I somehow don’t like the taste of this water.” A local resident said.

    Sanjib Kumar Panda in Duttatota Sahi of Puri said the water was not of great quality, while Rashmita Mallick of Mangalahat area said the water quality is now good.

    People in the beach town of Mallick and Panda used to get their drinking water from groundwater pumped up by giant pumps in the Baliapanda area before the tap water plan was put in place. 

    Experts say that to supply water that can be had straight from the tap anywhere in India, the water quality has to adhere to at least 30-odd parameters of IS 10500 of BIS. “If any parameter exceeds the limit, the water is considered unfit for human consumption...,” said Dr Bharat Sharma, senior researcher at New Delhi’s International Water Management Institute.

    PK Swain, managing director of Water Supply Corporation of Odisha, a government company looking after operation and maintenance of water supply in the state, said the water that is now being supplied conforms to ISO 10500 specifications. The water was hauled to overhead tanks, chlorinated, and then distributed to homes. 

    Some people obtained water from boreholes or hand pumps, which they boiled or filtered. The government now collects water from the Bhargavi river, which flows near the town, as part of the Sujal programme. The water is then channelled into a reservoir before being delivered to a Samang treatment plant. 

    It goes through numerous processes, including chlorination, before being distributed to 250,000 people via a network of pipes. Puri's daily water requirement is around 32-34 million litres, however the plant cleanses 42 million litres.

    Puri is one of the Southernmost districts of Odisha. It receives the highest number of devotees and tourists next after the state capital Bhubaneswar. The city Puri is is situated on the shore of the Bay of Bengal. It is well known as Jagannath Puri or Purushottam Kshetra.

    As the city remains colorful throughout the year availability of drinking water was one of the problems.

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