PURI: On September 29 and 30, 2022, the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of Odisha, and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) hosted the first-ever regional workshop on a 24×7 water supply system in Puri.
Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT 2.0) was launched in 2021 with the goal of making all cities water secure. One of the goals of AMRUT 2.0 is to have a drink-from-tap water supply available 24 hours a day in at least one ward or one DMA throughout all 500 AMRUT cities. A 24-hour water supply is urgently needed to boost service delivery and drive the economy by enhancing urban residents’ quality of life. Therefore, it is imperative to spread information and support the states and cities in implementing 24-hour water supply systems.
The Ministry has established a National Task Force (NTF) for the same at the national level and a State-level Task Force (STF) at the state level to disseminate knowledge and provide handholding support to states and cities for transformation from intermittent water supply to 24X7 continuous water supply systems. The STF now consists of ten states and UTs.
The technical sessions were directed by the National Task Force (NTF), which was led by Dr M Dhinadhayalan, Adviser (PHEE), CPHEEO, MoHUA. States presented their State Action Plans for AMRUT 2.0’s 24-hour water supply. Additionally, case studies from Puri, Pune, Coimbatore, and a water audit from Solapur were also shared. At the workshop, guidelines on 24×7 water supply published by the ministry were presented by NTF. The NTF also presented draft 24×7 Water Supply and Management Policy and draft PPP guideline on 24×7 Water Supply system and invited feedback from the state participants.