HOW TO GET POTABLE WATER, AND A TALE OF THREE CITIES

Potable (drinkable) water implies it meets regulatory health guidelines for drinking, and can be used for cooking, brushing teeth, bathing, and food preparation.

- DR P.S.VENKATESH RAO

It can contain permitted dissolved minerals and salts. Not all safe water (like water for irrigation) is potable. Polluted water sources, wastewater, and sewage mismanagement cause 830,000 preventable deaths worldwide annually, as per the World Health Organization's 2022 report. Without improving public health, smart-city, clean-city, and “Viksit Bharath’ will remain hollow claims.INDORE: The contamination of piped water with E. coli, Salmonella, and Vibrio cholerae from sewage in Indore caused many to suffer vomiting and diarrhoea, and die of multi-organ failure. Multiple breaches in a 30-year-old water pipeline allowed raw sewage leaking from a toilet to mix with the drinking water supplied to nearly 50,000 residents.

BANGALORE: Water contamination in Bengaluru due to sewage from a leaking Gl (galvanized iron) sewage pipeline connection seeping into an adjacent 40-year-old, severely corroded drinking water cast iron (CI) pipeline was detected during robotic inspection, following complaints of foul-smelling water and a spate of waterborne illnesses. The pipeline is being replaced with ductile iron (DI) pipes. These are made of a strong, corrosion-resistant alloy of iron, carbon, magnesium, and silicon. These pipes are typically protected internally by cement linings and externally with zinc and asphaltic coatings or polyethylene encasements.

PURI: Under the “Drink from Tap” (DFT) mission, Puri in Odisha has potable tap water meeting international standards. Advanced multistage treatment of pollution-free water, along with real-time quality monitoring with sensors, and replacement of old pipelines with high-pressure pipelines, has made the continuous supply of potable water possible. As part of the state government's Sujal initiative, officials with local ‘Jal Sathi’ women are doing field checks to ensure water meets strict standards for potability.