Water to drink is a basic need and yet 97 million people in India do not have access to safe water. We have established a community water plant working with the Thimmampalli Gram Panchayat in Chikkaballapur, Karnataka to address the issue of fluoride contaminated water, which is used by about 8000 people. We would like to provide drinking water to all 8000 people at approx 0.02 USD per liter of water but need a vehicle to supply water to villages that are at a distance of 3 to 10 kms away.
Ground water used in the 24 villages of Thimmampalli Gram Panchayat contains high levels of flouride. This contamination leads to health problems for all residents. However, this is the only source of water. We set up a water plant in January 2013 to purify water for drinking. This has been helpful to two villages while the remaining cannot benefit without a vehicle to supply the water. People find it difficult to travel the 3 to 10 km distance between their homes and the water plant.
The water plant is already functional and can generate 7000 liters of clean water per day. With a vehicle containing a tanker, water from the plant will be supplied to the villages. The vehicle can carry 1200 liters at a time and make three trips per day to supply 3600 liters of water per day to the far flung villages.
Full utilisation of the water plant will allow for the cost of water to be further reduced. Reduction in water cost will enable more people to use clean water not just for drinking but for cooking as well. We expect the problems with flouride contaminated water will significantly reduce in these 24 villages if everyone can access clean water for cooking and drinking.
