The Hindu : TERI to sell clean water for five paise

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 21, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

TERI to sell clean water for five paise

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 20. Matching the quality of bottled water and costing just about 5 paise per litre, the Energy and Research Institute (TERI) has launched an ambitious "Water Kiosk Network'' to address the issue of availability of safe and inexpensive drinking water in the Capital's low-income colonies. Working on the concept of "demand management'', the project places the responsibility for managing water resources on the people themselves.

And to test the project on ground, TERI would soon be setting up the first such kiosk network at Tigri Extension in South Delhi, an area that faces an acute water problem, quantitatively and qualitatively.

To provide clean drinking water, the project aims at setting up primary water kiosks at convenient locations where required treatment would be given to the water. Raw water would be supplied from the existing sources - tube-wells or private tankers - from where the community receives its regular supply. The treated water would then be transported to secondary kiosks in plastic containers or tanks and serve as the retail outlet for water supply from which consumers would get the clean water at a nominal price.

"Clean drinking water is a problem almost everywhere in the city. Even the water provided by Delhi Jal Board is not safe and neither is the water that tankers bring into the city. This project aims to solve the problem and puts the management of water in the hands of the people,'' says Kapil Narula of TERI.

Designed as a community participation project - far from the trend of privatisation - the entire system would be operated and maintained by the community or the Residents' Welfare Association. According to project managers, the cost of the raw water and the operation and management costs have all been built into the cost of water, though it does not include the initial capital investment.

Comparing the concept to the Mother Dairy milk booths set up all over the Capital, Ashok Jaitly of TERI explains, "Just like milk is available at booths all over the Capital, this project speaks about the possibility of setting up water kiosks in the city. People will get clean drinking water and at a reasonable price''.

As a working model, TERI would be setting up the first such kiosk in the Tigri Extension area in South Delhi. To be completed within a month, the two bore tube-wells provided by Delhi Jal Board will be used as the source for raw water. The kiosks will be set up by TERI under the Water and Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) campaign at a cost of around Rs. 1.6 lakhs.

Commenting on the enthusiastic response of the people in the area, Mr. Narula says, "The people are very happy to be involved in this. And they are willing to take up the task of operating and managing the kiosks. If initial capital is a problem, then a private entrepreneur could take up the task, though that might push up the cost.''

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