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Aqua Americana’ safe drinking water plant,
Gollaprolu-533 445, East
Godavari Dist., A.P.
Facts at a
glance, June 3, 2007
- Dr. Satyanarayana
Gavarasana,
gavarasana_satya@hotmail.com
|
Total cost
(fixed) |
|
Rs.11,60,000 |
|
Building |
30 feet X 25 feet =750 Sq.
ft |
Rs. 2,00,000 |
|
Land |
300 Sq yards |
Rs. 3,50,000 |
|
Machinery |
Filters, Reverse Osmosis
system, UV filter, storage tanks |
Rs.4,50,000 |
|
12 liter HDPE water cans |
2,000 |
Rs.1,60,000 |
|
Operating
expenses per month: Rs.28,000 |
|
Personnel |
Two operators, manager,
assistants, security guard |
Rs.15,000 |
|
Power |
Rs. 5 per unit |
Rs. 5,000 |
|
Consumables |
Soap, bleaching powder, etc |
Rs.4,400 |
|
Tests for purity of water |
Daily tests done in-house |
Rs.3,600 |
|
Pure Water is supplied
in 12 liter cans |
Cost of water = Rs.5/= per 12 liters |
1 Liter of pure water = Rs.0.42 |
Trials and
Tribulations in establishing a
Safe Drinking Water Plant
Samples of drinking water
from four traditional sources have shown high amounts of total dissolved salts
(TDS), high pH and presence of organisms in our adopted village, Gollaprolu.
Nine thousand families of
Gollaprolu, a large village in East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh,
required safe drinking water due to contaminated water. Most of the families
derive their income from agricultural farms. On an average, an agricultural
coolie earns Rs.80 (=US$2) a day. When a coolie heads to field for work, he
buys one or two packets (250 ml) of drinking water at two rupees. However no
one is sure about the purity of water supplied through these plastic water
packets.
To provide safe drinking
water at affordable cost, Gavarasana Foundation, a NGO working in Gollaprolu
village, has established a plant with technical help from Byrraju Foudnation.
NRIs and American citizens contributed partly to buy the machinery. The plant
is named as Aqua Americana, signifying the initial help provided by the
American citizens.
Political Complexity
Based on water testing, raw
water is drawn from an unused well located on the edge of a local water pond
called Sureedu Cheruvu. Residents of Gollaprolu obtained their drinking water
from a bore-well dug in a neighboring village, Tatiparthi. They complained
that it has “Suddha” (white precipitate) in the water. The well that provided
raw water to the safe drinking water plant belonged to the Panchayat. Dr. D.
R. Prasada Raju, Chief Water Scientist at Byrraju Foundation, advised us to
get a formal permission from the Panchayat, along with a piece of land and a
building to cite the safe drinking water plant. Due to the political
complexity prevailing in Gollaprolu, we obtained permission to establish plant
from the Panchayat.
Gollaprolu Panchayat is
headed by a Telugu Desam man, the Gollaprolu Mandal is headed by a Congress
person, local MLA (Pithapuram constituency) is from BJP and the local MP
(Kakinada) is from Congress. One can imagine the dynamics in obtaining formal
permission even for a peoples’ program like provision of safe drinking water.
We relied on the Indian Constitution that gave rights to citizens to draw from
any well for drinking purposes. To avoid incurring displeasure from the
politicians, we chose to inaugurate the plant by a non-political person.
However, invitations were given to the political leaders for the inaugural
function. Various political leaders visited the plant and assured their
cooperation.
Power Shortage
The safe drinking water
plant was erected during the month of May, at the height of summer, with
frequent power cuts disrupting the work. Added to the woes of the power cut is
the voltage fluctuation. It was reported that 20 houses in Gollaprolu suffered
losses due to voltage fluctuation as tube lights and motors of fans emitted
smoke and TVs went dead. To overcome this disability we installed a power
stabilizer that added to the cost of the plant.
Charges for Electricity
Even though the Sujala safe
drinking water plants established by Byrraju Foundation enjoyed concessional
tariff, it was denied to us by the local APTRANSCO officials. This denial is
under appeal. Sujala safe drinking water plants were supplied electricity at
Re.1 per unit whereas we were charged Rs.5 per unit. We urge the Government of
Andhra Pradesh to issue a GO authorizing the APTRANSCO to treat all Safe
Drinking Water Plants run by the non-profit organizations at a concessional
tariff.
Pricing of Water
It is not enough if one
produces pure drinking water. It should be available to all families in the
village that need safe drinking water. We took this into consideration when we
priced the water at 40 paisa per liter as against the commercial price of
Rs.12 per liter. We supplied 12 liters of water for Rs.5 in a HDPE can.
Concept of “NO LOSS, NO
PROFIT” (NLNP)
As a service and
development oriented organization, we adopted the “No Loss, No Profit” basis
to determine the price of the water. We never realized that the “No Loss, No
Profit” concept would land us in trouble. To obtain a bridge loan, we
approached a nationalized bank in our village Gollaprolu. The bank manager
asked us “How can you repay the loan, if you do not produce profit and you are
wedded to the concept of No Loss, No Profit?” This is a good question. Do you
know of any bank that would lend to an entrepreneur with a techno-economic
feasibility report showing no profit? Commercial banks lend only to those
centities that generate profit.
Despite the slogan of
Social Banking, bank officials behave as if they are old fashioned money
lenders. They have no clue about the development of a region and a raise in
their salary is not bound by the development activity. It is time to think to
establish a Development Bank, like Asia Development Bank, solely defining the
mission of the Bank as nothing but development.
Functioning Chaos
Prof. Kenneth Galbraith
once said that India is a functioning chaos. This is not true, as we are able
to launch the safe drinking water plant in a record 45 days time, despite the
power cuts, high temperatures due to Indian Summer, transport bottlenecks,
political pitfalls and reluctant bankers.
It is the People
There was overwhelming
response to the safe drinking water plant as 1202 families have registered as
water users so far. One local physician felt that the water tasted like
mineral water! We informed him that we follow WHO standards in the manufacture
of safe drinking water at Gollaprolu. We received a letter from a lady that
resides in the village stating that the diarrhea and dysentery cases have come
down substantially after the inauguration of safe drinking water plant.
For further information
contact or visit:
Aqua Americana Safe
Drinking Water plant,
Susruta Clinic premises
near Ramakrishna Theater,
Gollaprolu – 533 445, East
Godavari district, A.P., India.
Phone: 08869-232252 or
08869-232212
===============================================================================
Feedback from Dr. Prasada Raju,
Scientist G/Advisor - Government of
India,Department
of Science and Technology
on the quality of Water produced at this plant
From: "prasadaraju dr." <prasadarajudr@byrrajufoundation.org>
To: "Satyanarayana Gavarasana" <gavarasana_satya@hotmail.com>,<drpraju@nic.in>
CC: <leenavaasu@gmail.com>,<umag71@hotmail.com>,<pftl@rediffmail.com>,"KSRAJU
" <poorviwater@rediffmail.com>
Subject: RE: Gollaprolu -Aqua Americana - water analysis report.
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 19:52:12 +0530
Dear respected Dr
Satyanarayana garu
Many thanks for the mail. I
am indeed pleased and deeply satisfied at your noble initiative of supplying
safe water for drinking purpose. As I say, the earlier “anna daname maha danam”
is now transformed to “manchi neere uttama danam”. You and respected Dr
Subhadra garu made this true and benefiting many villagers though this praise
worthy intervention. I am sure the seeds you sowed will germinate in giving
fruitful results to be enjoyed by them. I also hope many more philanthropists,
like your good selves, will follow this example thereby mitigate the
sufferings caused due to water borne diseases. I pray and wish that almighty
give you enough strength to your deep commitment in spreading such initiatives
across many villages through a wide network of friends/colleagues, who have
lot of respect and following in doing something good to society.
Coming to the test results, I
find all the parameters well within the limits and in fact better than the best
water purifications that are in place in cities. I once again congratulate you
for the wonderful work and it was my good fortune to have the benefit of
knowing and also learning a quite a bit. But I need to catch up quite a lot
and hope you will be gracious enough in granting me this favour by guiding me
in our endeavours.
With respectful regards and
thanks, once gain, to you and Dr Subhadra garu—Prasada Raju/Jul 6(19:45)
Dr D R
Prasada Raju
Scientist
G/Advisor - Government of India
Department
of Science and Technology
New Delhi-110016 Email:
drpraju@nic.in
On Leave at : Byrraju
Foundation
Satyam
Enclave #2-74, Jeedimetla Village
Hyderabad-500055 (AP) INDIA
Phone: 040-23191725, 3881/82 Ext.208
Mobile: 9849588846 Fax:040-23191726
www.byrrajufoundation.org
From:
Satyanarayana Gavarasana [mailto:gavarasana_satya@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007
6:52 PM
To:
drpraju@nic.in; prasadaraju dr.
Cc:
gavarasana_satya@hotmail.com;
leenavaasu@gmail.com;
umag71@hotmail.com;
pftl@rediffmail.com
Subject: Gollaprolu -Aqua
Americana - water analysis report.
Dear Dr. Prasada
Raju garu,
Glad to inform you
that the safe drinking water plant (named as Aqua Americana) established
at Gollaprolu village with your help is functioning well.
I request you to
kindly comment on the water analysis report sent as an attachment and also
as the text.
Water Quality Level
II Laboratory Dowlaiswaram
Analytical Report of
water samples received from Gavarasana Foundation Aqua Americana
Gollaprolu Mandal
Detail of sample:
Gollaprolu
Date of Collection:
6.06.07
Sp.conductancein
Micro siemens = 250
Total Dissolved
salts in mg/L = 160
Total Coliforms MPN/100
ml = Nil
E.Coli forms MPN/100
ml = Nil
Note: The
temparature at which pH determined is the temparature of the sample.
The constitutents
analyzed are within the Drinking water limits.
Signed Deputy
Director, Bhoogarbha Jalasaakha, Rajahmundry, A.P.
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