Puri city in Odisha has become the first city in India to achieve a 24/7 drinking water supply with quality Standards of IS 10500, officials claim.
Recently, Chief Minister (CM) Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the ‘Drink From Tap’ mission in Puri to cater to the water demand of the city’s 2.5- lakh population and over two crore tourists who visit the holy place every year.
“Puri residents, tourists and pilgrims can now drink water from taps across the city, be it at home or across the drinking water fountains. It has been my dream to provide piped water to every household in Odisha and this is now turning into a reality,” CM Patnaik said.
The state government has made around 120 drinking water fountains available in the city for pilgrims, reports The Economic Times.
The state government has trained underprivileged women from self-help groups and designated them as ‘Jalsaathis’. Their services would be utilised for meter reading, revenue collection, field water quality tests and sensitising people.
An official release said that safe drinking water would help prevent three crore plastic bottles and eliminate 400 metric tonnes of plastic waste.
The release added that apart from Puri, the mission is also on its way to success in 16 other cities covering 40 lakh people.