VIJAYAWADA: The State government is set to declare Andhra Pradesh a fluoride-free State by June 2018. Officials of the Rural Water Supply (RWS) Department have sent proposals seeking a budget of Rs 400 crore for supplying purified water to fluoride-affected villages. Once the clearance is obtained, the works will commence.According to records, officials have identified as many as 372 habitations as fluoride-affected across the State. Around 166 habitations have been covered by the Community Water Purification Plants and another 20 habitations have been purified through various drinking water schemes implemented by the RWS.
With regard to the remaining 186 habitations, RWS officials are proposing to supply pure drinking water through cluster-based (Hub and Spoke model) community water treatment plants. After estimating that `400 crore is required for making the remaining habitations fluoride-free, RWS officials sent the proposal to the government.
“Once we get the approval, we will start the works and supply purified drinking water to all the habitations by June 2018. Entire Andhra Pradesh will be a fluoride-free State,’’ said RWS Chief Engineer Thota Prabhakar Rao.Clarifying that the number of fluoride-affected habitations will be more than the number identified by the government, Prabhakar said that fluoride content gradually plummeted after providing safe drinking water to the mineral-affected habitations.
“Of course, the number of fluoride-affected villages will be in thousands. But we will consider only those villages that lack supply of purified water as fluoride-affected. After extending drinking water schemes to the fluoride-affected habitations, the numbers dipped. We are now heading towards declaring the State fluoride-free,” he told TNIE.As part of Hub and Spoke Model, the officials are proposing to set up as many as 103 clusters to supply drinking water to all the 186 fluoride affected habitations.