CUTTACK: The Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO) will soon replace drinking water stand posts across Cuttack city with kiosks. The move is aimed at preventing wastage of water and ensuring people of the city have access to clean and safe water round the clock.
“We supply 116 million litre drinking water to the city every 10 hours daily. Since we will provide 24×7 safe drinking water to residents by December, 2023 through ‘Sujal-Drink From Tap Mission’, we have planned to abolish all stand posts soon,” said general manager of WATCO, Cuttack division Debabrata Mohanty.
WATCO will set up water kiosks at busy locations to provide drinking water to people free of cost. As per norms, though water meters will be installed at the kiosks, the government will bear the expenditure. “We have identified around 20 locations and sent a proposal to Cuttack Municipal Corporation(CMC) for necessary approval for setting up the kiosks,” said Mohanty.
As per reports, as many as 2,028 drinking water stand posts are installed at different public places in the city. While the stand posts installed at market areas and slums serve the purpose, continuous release and wastage of drinking water remains a cause of concern.
Based on the calculation that around 600 litre drinking water is supplied to a stand post daily, around 12 lakh litre is supplied to all the 2,028 posts. As per estimation, more than 40 per cent of 12 lakh litre (4.8 lakh litre) of drinking water provided through stand posts is being wasted daily.