Safe Water Network (SWN) and Honeywell India today announced the launch of the 25th Honeywell-funded ‘iJal safe water station in Gopalraopet village in Karimnagar district of Telangana to mark World Water Day.
Built over the last year, these 25 safe water stations are located in Karimnagar, Adilabad, Warangal, Khammam, and Nalgonda districts, and serve approximately 94,000 people in areas that lack safe drinking water, a joint statement said.
The initiative addresses a critical need in the region that suffers groundwater contamination from high levels of fluoride. Water and sanitation-related illnesses account for 70-80 per cent of diseases in this area, it said.
The SWN model has been successful because its water systems are owned, operated, and maintained by local communities, the statement added.
To date, SWN India has commissioned 125 ‘iJal water stations’, bringing affordable, safe water access to over 430,000 people in Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra, it said.
In doing so, it has also trained over 500 local village youth and women in the region. SWN aims to build 300 ‘iJal safe water stations’, providing access to nine lakh people by 2018, it added.