Tag: clean water

THE JOURNEY OF PURI TOWARDS FIRST CITY TO PROVIDE 24 X 7 CLEAN WATER

Puri is one of the major heritage cities of the country and every year more than 2 crore tourists visit every year. And this month the city earned an unique distinction of becoming the first Indian city to provide 24X7 pure drinking water. This is the landmark achievement for the city and state and is one of the major contributors for enhancing the status of sanitation and hygiene in Puri, Odisha. The city has become the first city to offer safe drinking water directly from taps to the residents and the tourists visiting the city every year and now has joined the group of global metropolitans like London and New York for providing safe drinking water.

The government launches “Sujal: Drink from Tap Mission” which has the goal of providing all time safe drinking water to all the residents and people visiting the cities directly through taps. The city has fulfilled and achieved the credentials of the ambitious mission and has achieved the goal of the mission. The 24 hour drink from tap facility provides water which can be used directly without filtration for different purposes such as drinking, cooking etc. This move is beneficial for the 2.5 lakh people residing in the city and the 2 crore tourists visiting the city every year. And the people don’t need to carry water bottles with them and can directly rely on the taps. This type of facility is present in very limited number of cities globally and Puri has established its place. Furthermore, the state government had installed 400 water fountains in different locations of the city with the aim of reducing the reliance and usage of plastic bottles in Puri. This will eventually reduce the amount of plastic wastes being can be reduced.

The government uses 5T initiative for increasing the efficiency and effectivity of the services being delivered across the city. The Chief Minister of the state emphasized on the linkage between safe drinking water with health, living standards and the economy, thereby, urging the people not to waste or pollute water. Transparency, teamwork, technology, time-frame and transformation form the 5Ts which has been adopted by the government for improving its governance. The budget for drinking water has been doubled in 5 years from Rs 200 crore to Rs 4000 crore thereby making the city the first heritage town in the country to get this facility. It is expected that the initiative will have great contribution in reducing the amount of plastic wastes generated. It is estimated that the amount of plastic waste being generated by the city will reduce by 400 tonne per annum. 1100 Stand posts were already present in the city and the state government has established additional 110 modern public stand posts along the Grand Road (Badadanda) and nine by the sea beach area have been installed. Old stand posts are being replaced with steel pipes and taps and at present 36 MLD clean water is being supplied everyday in the city. About 135 – 140 liters of drinking water per head per day is being provided to the residents everyday.

“Desalination 97% of Water Reserves-Solution To Water Crises?”

Humans and animals have been travelling since ages in search of food and water. Fresh water and Food are required for any person not to be healthy and fit enough to carry his daily day to day routine. We have been able to find various fresh sources of these waters and their origin, and through advancement in technology we have brought them to land directly to our house. We now need not to travel distances in search of water related just turn on the taps and thus we get it anytime anywhere. This truly has transformed human life and has led cities to develop. The source of freshwater is mainly the groundwater which is assumed to be fresh and not contaminated with dust and adulterants. There are possibilities of hard water in some areas due to the geography of particular areas, but still it is drinkable and people can just boil it or just purify it through the RO or Reverse Osmosis process. 

But as we see and acknowledge these water reserves and resources, these are wasted a lot in various processes including technology and manufacturing. Due to which we are facing a lack of water in various parts of the world and has become a worldwide crisis. It is expected that around 5-6 billion people will be living in areas which will lack water resources by 2050. So it’s high time to be involved in the activities to save this essential resource and thus save humanity. 

But the big question which comes into the mind is that we have 3% of drinkable water, what about the rest 97%. “Why Can’t we use it? And What if we make that water clean and salt free, thus 100% drinkable.So what would be the results if we do remove all the salt water or no salt was ever dissolved in these oceans, how would our lives get affected ?” 

First of all what we need to know is how these water resources got salt into them ? It is assumed that since the existence of earth which was about 4.5 billion years ago,  earth was very hot and it took a few years to cool down. Then Around 3.8 billion years ago, the surface of earth got cooler and the vapours in the surrounding or atmosphere turned into liquid state and were fresh enough to drink directly. But sooner it became saltier due to various natural phenomenon especially like rain. Rain brought the carbon content in the air with it and dissolved in the freshwater. This makes the water a bit acidic, thus eroding the rocks. This water then goes into the rivers and streams residing nearby and thus dissolving those salts of rocks in it. Also there were emissions from Volcanoes which dissolved in these rivers and then into oceans. This process continues for another billion years and hence most of the water we do see around is saltier. 

Technologies and research have been followed up with the steps to remove salts from water and thus make it drinkable. So would it be beneficial for us or rather harmful ? 

  1. It is assumed that cleaning up most of these ocean waters by desalination would affect the life inside the sea and oceans. The marine life creatures have evolved to drink and remain hydrated through the salt water present in the surrounding. Cleaning this water will surely lead to death of most of this aqua life. These have evolved as per their surrounding and remove out the extra salt which helps them to survive. 
  2. The underwater algae which is assumed to be spread all around the world, is responsible for absorbing the carbon dioxide and giving out oxygen, which humans require to survive. Thus cleaning of water would affect these plants and would affect our atmosphere, filling it more with the carbon content and less pure and fresh air to breath. 
  3. Increase climate change making some parts of the world extremely hot to live in. Phenomenon like hurricanes and cyclones would get common as the temperature increased and this would help these tropical storms to build up. This surely looks no good for humans as per their survival would surely be at stake. 

“So it can be an option to shift towards these ocean water, make it clean and drink it, but still we should prohibit it from doing it as it can have a devastating effect on the survival of all living beings. We could rather save the resources which are present around us rather than interfering with nature. As we know everything is balanced in nature and if any interference could lead to a phase humans would never want to enter. So we all need to understand the importance of water, save it as much as we can, so as to be safe from future affects and thus remain safe.”