SAFE BET: Villagers filling their water cans at the Water Health Centre at Kakumanu village in Guntur District.— Photo: T_ Vijaya Kumar

Kakumanu (GUNTUR): For the residents of parched plains in Kakumanu mandal, getting potable drinking water was a distant dream till last year. But thanks to the coordinated efforts of Water Health International, Inc and Naandi foundation, the social wing of the Reddy's laboratories, potable and clean drinking water is just a yard away.

The village wakes up daily to the sight of scores of men and women queueing up before the 8,000 litre capacity kiosk, fill the cans supplied at the centre and take home potable water.

Blue Revolution

A 12 litre can costs just Re.1 and a 20 litre can costs Rs.1.50. Each user is given a code, with the initial two letters spelling the name of the street and a set of coupons.

"After we had started using the potable water, there was not even not a single case of dysentery recorded in our village,'' says village secretary P. Poorna Sankara Rao.

The Water Health Centre set up in October 2006, the first-of-its kind in the district, part of its global mission called, `Blue Revolution' to solve the clean water crisis in developing countries and meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015.

The centre replete with the award winning water purification and disinfection technology was set up with a cost of Rs.22 lakh.

While WHI bore 75 per cent cost, the Ponnur MLA Dhulipala Narendra mobilised the remaining 25 per cent. The 150 yards site was granted by the local panchayat, which also gave the nod for drawing of water from the village tank.

Technology

The facility was then installed at many neighbouring villages like, Ganapavaram, Pasumarru, Palaparru, Prathipadu, Musunuru, Katrapadu and Chintapallipalem in the district.

Contaminated water drawn from the village tank is filtered into clean and potable water through a multi-stage filtration process using ultraviolet disinfection technology.

The system scored on low maintenance requirements, high efficiency and high inputs.

Water would be purified in multi-stage filtration systems using a combination of sand filter techniques and ultra violet disinfection technologies and disinfects water contaminated with a broad range of pathogens, including polio and roto viruses, oocysts.

"We use the patented Waterworks technology to purify and disinfect water,'' says WHI director (Operations) Aditya Jaya Rao.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail