Puri becomes first city to have safe drinking tap water

• Odisha government on Monday declared Puri as the first city in the country to have city-wide safe drinking tap water that can be used directly for drinking and cooking without further filtration or boiling.
• Chief minister Naveen Patnaik dedicated the ‘Sujal-Drink From Tap Mission’ in Puri.
• Puri is the first city in the country to implement the Drink from Tap project.

24x7 Drinking water supply

• The initiative would benefit the 2.5 lakh residents of Puri and the estimated 2 crore tourists and pilgrim who visit the town every year.
• The 24×7 drinking water supply would also cover about 66,000 slum dwellers.
• The government has set up 400 drinking water fountains in various places of the city.
• This provision of safe drinking water will further help prevent the usage of plastic bottles eliminating 400 metric tonnes of plastic waste
• 100 per cent of its nearly 32,500 taps were fitted with meters
• The quality of the drinking water conforms to IS 10500 specifications set by the Bureau of Indian Standards and an elaborate mechanism has been put in place to monitor and address any issues that crop up with the water supply.
• As part of its ‘Drink From Tap Mission‘, the state government is setting up laboratories in ‘Public-Private Partnership’ (PPP) mode for “regular water quality monitoring and surveillance across all major cities and towns to ensure third-party quality monitoring"".
• Mobile van laboratories have been deployed for on-site testing and addresssing water quality issues.
• A centralised monitoring and tracking system for customer complaints has been put in place that utilises a geographical information systems (GIS) and enables real-time monitoring of field data.
• A centralised customer care system has also been set up for registering complaints related to water supply and quality.
• Exclusive mobile crews have been set up with dedicated vehicles and equipment for immediate response to leakages and supply-related incidence management.
• To win public trust on the question of drinking water straight from the tap, the state government is installing LED boards at public places to share “real-time online water quality data".

JALSATHIS

• It is a cadre of ‘Jalsathis’, an all-women crew drawn from self-help groups who will be responsible for distribution and consumer management at the ward level.
• It is a main highlight of the project
• It aims to cover 114 Urban Local Bodies (ULB) in Odisha in a phased manner, benefiting a population of more than 40 lakh people.
• As it seeks to reach more than 12 lakh households, the scheme will partner with 5,000 Jalsathis who will facilitate new connections, generate bills and collect charges and also accomplish field water quality testing while sensitising people on water conservation.
• The state government has planned to cover all urban areas of Odisha by March 2022, making it the state first to do so in India.
• It aims to supply drink-from-tap quality water to every home , similar to developed nations like USA, England, Japan, Singapore."