The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Atmospheric water station facing closure?

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Friday, May 08, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Atmospheric water station facing closure?

B.V.S. Bhaskar

JALIMUDI (East Godavari dt): Atmospheric Water Station here, described as the world’s first which virtually produces water from air adopting an innovative technology, has stopped production for the last 20 days with erratic power supply and mounting power bills.

The power bill for the last three months also accumulated to Rs.60,000, too much for Jalimudi, a minor panchayat, and AP Transco is about to disconnect supply in a few days.

The station, which uses optimised refrigeration technique for condensing water, was installed by Watermaker (India) Pvt Ltd in February this year. After its stabiliser got stuck, villagers are being denied potable water.

It was inaugurated in the presence of hundreds of villagers. With the launch, Jalimudi became the world’s first village to provide sustained supply of safe drinking water from air.

Anil Srivastav, national head (marketing), who was present at the launch and is monitoring the situation told The Hindu from Mumbai that the company would rectify the stabiliser problem within a week. It got stuck following power fluctuations. AP Transco officials too agree that power fluctuations could be the main reason for the problem.

The station also faces a major problem over payment of electricity bill for running the machine by Jalimudi panchayat. It used to be operated for 12 hours a day to produce 1,500 litres. But due to drop in humidity levels, the production has fallen to 200-300 litres. The output would be according to the machine’s rated capacity if temperature is maintained between 25 and 32 degrees Celsius and humidity levels between 70 and 75 per cent.

“For the last one month water is coming out with bad odour and it slowly stopped. We are not in a position to bear the power charges,” said Kondaiah, panchayat board member, who looks after the station.

Divisional Engineer of AP Transco Singh Babu categorically stated: if the Panchayat or the Rural Water Supply Department do not pay the arrears, we will disconnect power supply to the plant.

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