CHENNAI : The Avadi municipality has invited corporate funding for its Water ATM project. The project proposes to provide 40 litres of drinking water to around 40,000 families each day. According to officials in the municipality, water ATMs have been proposed for 46 locations. Each Water ATM will have a designated borewell and a water purification system installed. Residents with cards can avail water on making an entry. People who want cards will have to approach municipality once ATMs are functional.
"The water will be fresh and purer than bottled water available,” said municipal commissioner C Mathivanan, explaining that each purifier is expected to cost around Rs 25 lakh. Each water ATM will be constructed in 400 square feet compounds which have been identified in areas belonging to the municipality such as parks and playgrounds. While the municipality has reached out to corporates to help fund the project, operation duties will be given to NGOs.
This move to bring water ATMs to Avadi comes after other municipalities such as Poonamallee municipality and Maraimalai Nagar municipality began implementation of a similar scheme. An ATM similar to the ones proposed for Avadi municipality is already functional in Maraimalai Nagar. Officials there claimed that around 800 families have been benefited by that ATM alone. Sources in the municipality claimed that this move is to compensate for the 100-crore piped water supply project which is yet to be completed. Less than 1,000 homes have piped water supply, according to residents.