‘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.