The source of water for drinking purposes in a vast majority of the villages in the Godavari and Krishna delta regions is the surface water from irrigation canals. The area being a delta region, most of the ground water has high levels of salinity. The existing water purification process under the Rural Water Supply (RWS) Scheme, in the villages of delta region, involves storing canal water in a pond; passing it through Slow Sand Filters (SSFs), chlorination, and pumping to an overhead tank for subsequent piped supply within the village.

To mitigate people's suffering due to consumption of un-safe water, BF has conceived a project SWEET, with an aim to supply drinking water at a cost that the poorest of the poor can also afford.

• Against the water utilities' targeted supply of 40 litres per capita daily (LPCD) in villages or 135 LPCD in urban areas, about 2-3 LPCD is usually consumed for drinking purposes. It is much easier to this quantity of drinking water standard. The key factors considered in implementation are (a) output quality as per prescribed norms, (b) scalable technology and sustainable process, and (c) community participation.
• The raw water goes through various steps of purification.
• Plant design was evolved in house with the expert team.
• Technological interventions for reducing the cost of plant and operational expenses have been considered.
• In order to ensure 100% satisfactory performance of the water plants, quality of raw water is checked at plant level for key parameters and at a well-equipped laboratory for detailed analysis. Based on the level of impurities, process parameters are set for effective removal of the same.
• Designed as a financially sustainable model.

• 51 water plants were set up (as on Nov 30, 2007).
• Access to safe drinking water provided to nearly 160 villages with 800,000 people.
• About 40% of people on a regular basis and 5-10% people on and off consume BF water.
• Over 200 million litres of pure and safe water was distributed to the poorer sections of the society, covering old age pensioners, destitute people, orphanages, anganwadi schools, etc.
• Number of patients visiting BF health clinics in the villages with access to BF water dropped by 15-30%, and the expenditure on medicines declined by 10-22% after consumption of BF water, leading to an improved quality of life, attributed mainly due to relief from water borne diseases.
• Provided livelihood opportunities to nearly 250 youth within villages

Sustainability of the project is ensured, as

1. project is demand driven
2. users are involved right from the beginning of the project implementation
3. management and users committee are empowered in taking responsibility
4. there is a cost recovery mechanism with the participation of consumer

For further details, contact:

Director
Byrraju Foundation