Telangana groundwater woes: Is water ATM a solution?

Hyderabad has been facing a deficit of -33% when the rainfall statistics were recorded in July 2014. This phenomenon is not restricted to Hyderabad alone, all the 10 districts of Telangana have seen a dip in their water table levels with the average deficit standing at a staggering -47%.

The Telangana groundwater department has revealed that the average drop in the water table levels across all districts is 2.17 meters. Citizens are worried how the government will be able to tackle this problem with the monsoon season coming to an end in September itself.

The government is looking at various options which have been implemented across the country to find a solution to this problem as soon as possible. One of the most successful and inspirational solutions have been implemented in the neighboring state of Karnataka itself. In the city of Bengaluru, citizens were alarmed `to see that the borewell levels had fallen drastically and they needed to get water tankers for completing their household chores also. Soon they found that even the tankers were in high demand as the water suppliers had overexploited their water resources and were failing to cater to the rising supply.

Now comes the solution that has helped bring respite to the hapless citizens of Bengaluru. The idea is to connect a dispenser to the existing borewells and the person has to just swipe a prepaid smart card to start collecting water. This device is popularly called as a Water ATM and its gives as much as 20 liters of water for only 5 rupees. The great thing about this initiative is that this project has been started by the women self help-groups in coordination with the local legislators of their respective areas.

These Water ATM’s are installed specifically in areas where the water table is low and the quality of water is close to unhygienic. This dispenser also has a treatment plant inside it which makes the water fit to drink by going completing a process of reverse osmosis and ozonization. This treatment plant can supply water 24 hours in a day and has a capacity of more than 3500 liters in an hour.

This device works very similar to how a normal ATM works. The user just needs to input the amount of water that they need on the screen, then the server will automatically deduct that amount from their smart cards and dispense the exact amount of water. With this technology the citizen doesn’t have to stand in long queues and there won’t be unnecessary arguments on the street for a bucket of water. The Water ATM costs around 5-10 lakhs and is very easy to operate whereby it can be installed at every locality.

The Water ATM makes obtaining water simple for the users and water wastage can also be kept in check in the process. This device removes the need of calling a water supplier who generally charges more than triple the amount that the user has to pay to make use of the services of this dispensing kiosk. With the involvement of the government agencies, legislators and general public, this idea can be implemented in Telangana to manage the water shortage being faced by state and bring great relief to the citizens.

By Abraham Varghese