Bhubaneswar, March 22, 2018: Piramal Sarvajal, an initiative under the aegis of Piramal Foundation (the philanthropic arm of the Piramal Group), organised a two-day ‘Safe Drinking Water’ Awareness Drive in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The focus of this awareness drive was to educate the public on the importance & benefits of safe drinking water, and gaining access to the nearest water ATMs.The awareness drive is a result of the findings by Piramal Sarvajal, which attribute poor usage of the water ATMs to lack of awareness. It includes on-ground engagement with adults and children through education tours, demonstrations on using water ATMs, wall paintings, tanker road shows, etc.Bhubaneswar currently has a network of 4 state-of-the-art Water Purifications Units (Hubs) and 40 Solar Powered – Cloud Connected water dispensing units (Spokes / Water ATMs), installed by Piramal Sarvajal. It is part of the Public-Private-Partnership between Piramal Saravajal and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC). This Initiative makes Bhubaneswar the first Smart City to implement an innovative and technology-centric project and to ensure safe drinking water to the urban population. Piramal Sarvajal’s Water ATMs initiative is run through a ‘Hub & Spoke’ Model, which has the capacity to cater to approximately 40,000 people with clean, accessible and affordable drinking water, daily, across the city. It functions in the following three parts: 1) Installation of plant & machinery2) Operations & Maintenance (O&M) 3) Ongoing community engagement activities
Commenting on the awareness drive, Anuj Sharma, CEO, Piramal Sarvajal said, “Piramal Sarvajal aims to offer innovative solutions, to provide affordable access to safe drinking water in underserved areas. Setting-up of drinking water units alone cannot solve the problem, it also requires continuous and sustained engagement with communities. We believe when communities are educated on the benefits of safe drinking water, it translates into better health outcomes in the long run.” Reports submitted by various state health departments indicate that 1,412 deaths were attributed to diseases caused by contaminated water in the year 2017. To address this problem, Piramal Sarvajal has been able to successfully deployedcommunity-level decentralized drinking water solutions. Cashless transactions, off-grid capability, pay-per-use methodology, 24×7 service availability, user-level transaction mapping, real-time impact monitoring and provision for targeted subsidies are some of the unique advantages offered by Hub and Spoke model. The awareness drive was a part of Piramal Sarvajal’s overall effort, which is built upon the foundation of quality control, operational accountability and price transparency.
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