OREANDA-NEWS. Tata Power, India's largest integrated power company, has been working towards providing safe and clean drinking water in the areas surrounding its operations. In line with this philosophy, the Company has successfully installed the first RO plant of 1,000 litres per hour in the Sopodera locality of Middle Sarjamda Panchayat, Jojobera.

Inauguration of Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant in Middle Sarjamda Panchayat, Jojobera

The RO plant has been installed to cater to the needs of more than 5,000 people across 1,250 households. Residents of Middle Sarjamda face acute drinking water crisis as water sourced through hands pumps is not potable. The water contains high level of total dissolved solids or impurities (TDS) at 2,560 ppm as against acceptable levels of 50-150 ppm for purified water. This burdens women and elders, who have to depend upon water tankers or travel long distances in order to source water.

Speaking on the initiative, Mr. D. S. Kudalkar, Head, Jojobera station, stated, “It's our philosophy to improve the quality of life of our communities through various community relation initiatives and be a 'neighbor of choice'. Water is an extremely integral part of everybody's lives and the residents of Sopodera were hard-pressed for adequate safe drinking water. The Company aims to alleviate this stress and is the first to install an RO plant in the area. We will constantly support and always respond to the needs of our surrounding communities by continuously adopting such initiatives in the future.”

The system includes a water treatment and filtration unit, enclosure for storing water as well as a quality testing centre. The plant is also equipped with a remote-sensing equipment which interacts with a backend control system, enabling remote monitoring of the system through a computer/laptop. The RO system behaves as a water ATM, which allows cashless transactions through a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) card and users can source water at their convenience for drinking and cooking purposes. An authorised laboratory has tested the system and guaranteed that the purification system is successful in bringing down the TDS levels to less than 100 ppm. The system will be managed by the Middle Sarjamda Panchayat who will charge users a nominal fee which will be used for managing the plant, paying for electricity consumption and maintenance costs.

The Company motivates local residents to adopt roof top rain harvesting and other measures in order to recharge the groundwater aquifer which will keep the groundwater table intact. The initiative was appreciated by the village Panchayat and local mukhiya stated that Tata Power has provided great relief to residents of Sopodera, especially the poor who do not have access to pure and safe drinking water.