Water ATMs plan shelved.
​Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) has shelved its grandiose plan to set up water ATMs, which proposed to provide drinking water at Re 1 per litre.
On an experimental basis a few ATMs were installed under the Secunderabad Cantonment Board limits and couple of other places which were found to be useful to quench the thirst of people particularly during summer time.
The Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) in collaboration with a few NGOs set up 5 water ATMs at Bowenpally, Lal Bazar, Tadbund, Balamrai and Bolarum.
The water board had also set up two drinking water vending centres in slum areas near Indira Park and Karmika Nagar.
Further plan was to set up 200 such centres and hand over the maintenance to the Self Help Groups.
Yet, the water board has now decided to discard the plan as it feels that it was a difficult process to set up the units and maintain them.
The water board officials said that no such scheme would be executed in near future as drinking water supplies have been proven sufficient.
“The scheme was introduced as water scarcity persisted for the last two years.
With sufficient drinking water being supplied directly to every individual’s home, there is no need for such a scheme,” officials said.

‘Water ATMs the next necessity in a water-stressed country’: Startups take up cause.
The reports state that while aquifers provide 85 per cent of drinking water, their levels are falling in 56 per cent of the country.
"In a world that needs 350 billion litres of water every day, we aspire to deliver one billion litres per annum by 2018," says Parag Agarwal, Delhi-based founder of JanaJal, a company that has currently installed 100 water ATMs along with the IRCTC at railway stations in Mumbai, Delhi and Gujarat, while pursuing other projects in rural areas where status of clean water is in bad shape.
Among the latest and one of the firsts in the past two years, a Water ATM, providing potable drinking water at Rs 2 per litre was recently installed at Khoda village in Ghaziabad district by JanaJal.
"We are committed to make a difference and make Right to Water a distinct reality in the life of every Indian but for that, we also solicit and seek support from corporate India to further this cause in an affordable and sustainable manner and make this precious resource available to one and all," Agarwal said.
The water is procured from the nearest source, underground, lake, river or wells and sent to a lab before being uploaded on the ATMs.
"On the occasion of World Environment Day, we wish to point out that 2 billion people are suffering due to lack of access to safe drinking water.
The current availability of water per person per year in India is placed at roughly 1,745 cubic metres.
A Central Water Commission report states that over the past five decades, availability of fresh water has dropped from 3,000 cubic metres to 1,123 cubic metres today.
Sarkar, Director of Water Division at The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri), by 2050, India will be water-scarce.

‘Water ATMs the next necessity in a water-stressed country’: Startups take up cause.
The reports state that while aquifers provide 85 per cent of drinking water, their levels are falling in 56 per cent of the country.
"In a world that needs 350 billion litres of water every day, we aspire to deliver one billion litres per annum by 2018," says Parag Agarwal, Delhi-based founder of JanaJal, a company that has currently installed 100 water ATMs along with the IRCTC at railway stations in Mumbai, Delhi and Gujarat, while pursuing other projects in rural areas where status of clean water is in bad shape.
Among the latest and one of the firsts in the past two years, a Water ATM, providing potable drinking water at Rs 2 per litre was recently installed at Khoda village in Ghaziabad district by JanaJal.
"We are committed to make a difference and make Right to Water a distinct reality in the life of every Indian but for that, we also solicit and seek support from corporate India to further this cause in an affordable and sustainable manner and make this precious resource available to one and all," Agarwal said.
The water is procured from the nearest source, underground, lake, river or wells and sent to a lab before being uploaded on the ATMs.
"On the occasion of World Environment Day, we wish to point out that 2 billion people are suffering due to lack of access to safe drinking water.
The current availability of water per person per year in India is placed at roughly 1,745 cubic metres.
A Central Water Commission report states that over the past five decades, availability of fresh water has dropped from 3,000 cubic metres to 1,123 cubic metres today.
Sarkar, Director of Water Division at The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri), by 2050, India will be water-scarce.

The reports state that while aquifers provide 85 per cent of drinking water, their levels are falling in 56 per cent of the country.
At the same time, providing the rural-areas with affordable potable drinking water through water-ATMs is the next step, say people in business.
Among the latest and one of the firsts in past two years, a Water ATM, providing potable drinking water at Rs 2 per litre was recently installed at Khoda village in Ghaziabad district by JanaJal.
The first water ATM of UP was installed in Mathura.
"We are committed to make a difference and make Right to Water a distinct reality in the life of every Indian but for the we also solicit and seek support from corporate India to further this cause in an affordable and sustainable manner and make this precious resource available to one and all," Agarwal said.
The water is procured from the nearest source, underground, lake, river or wells and sent to lab before being uploaded on the ATMs.
"On the occasion of World Environment day, we wish to point out that 2 billion people are suffering due to lack of access to safe drinking water.
The current availability of water per person per year in India is placed at roughly 1,745 cubic metres.
A Central Water Commission report states that over the past five decades, availability of fresh water has dropped from 3,000 cubic metres to 1,123 cubic metres today.
At present about 1,123 billion cubic metres of fresh water is available in India of which 84 per cent is used in agriculture.

75th Safe water station opened in Telangana.
Safe Water Network and Honeywell India on Tuesday launched their 75th water station, providing safe water access to more than 200,000 people in Telangana districts affected by groundwater contamination, including from fluorides.
They also announced that they will add 75 more safe water stations in 2018.
These locally-owned and locally-operated safe water stations deploy state-of-the-art six-step treatment process, including reverse osmosis and ultraviolet to purify water, they said in a statement here.
Unique technology interventions such as solar power, water ATMs, and remote monitoring system ensure uninterrupted and sustainable supply of clean drinking water.
The initiative has generated over 200 local livelihoods contributing to drudgery reduction amongst women.
"Safe water stations in Medak district is empowering local community by providing safe drinking water access to over 50,000 people for their good health.
The price is affordable and the program is sustainable," said District Collector Bharathi Hollikeri.
It allows children to go to school every day, parents to work and improve living standards – it can transform lives," said Honeywell India President Vikas Chadha.
ms/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)