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Church agency initiates clean water program in Delhi slum

Arcdiocese installs purifier as Year of Mercy initiative to help boost the health of local residents
Church agency initiates clean water program in Delhi slum

Victor,  the Chetnalaya cordinator, operates the water purifier installed in an area in J.J. Colony, one of Delhi's largest slums. (ucanews.com photo by Ritu Sharma)

Published: June 03, 2016 08:33 AM GMT
Updated: June 03, 2016 08:33 AM GMT

Indu Devi no longer has regular stomachaches or feels sick every few days.

The 50-year-old woman is healthy and active after she started drinking clean, filtered water made available by Chetnalaya, the social service wing of Delhi Archdiocese.

"The water is light and tastes good. I collect 10 liters of clean water every day for drinking and cooking," Devi told ucanews.com.

She lives in J.J. Colony, one of the biggest slums on the outskirts of Delhi that has small filthy lanes made worse by smelly, unhygienic open sewers.

The water in the area contains salt and is unfit for drinking.

From the time the colony, home to more than 100,000 people, was set up in 2004, residents were forced to drink salty water, as there was no supply of clean water from the government.

"We used to pump water from the ground using small machines which everyone has installed in their homes," Devi said, adding that now they only use ground water for other household purposes.

Having witnessed the unhealthy conditions the residents were living in, Chetnalaya came up with the idea of marking the Year of Mercy by installing a large water purifier in a slum neighborhood that became operational in January, to ensure people get access to clean drinking water.

The purifier has the capacity to purify 10,000 liters every day and has proved to be a boon for the people, especially in the summer months, which have been particularly hot this year.

Temperatures in Delhi and neighboring areas have often exceeded 42 degrees Celsius during these last few months.

"Water usage has increased due to the heat. People prefer to come and collect it in the morning and evening as it’s too hot during the daytime," says Victor (who goes by one name), Chetnalaya’s coordinator in the area.

He said around 1,000 families benefit from the water purifier each day and they are charged the very nominal amount of 50 paisa (half a rupee) per liter.

Paras Pandit, who works in a nearby factory, told ucanews.com that he collects 10 liters of water every day from the purifier, which costs him 5 rupees (75 U.S. cents).

"We are getting clean water at a very nominal rate. Also this water has helped us save money, since we used to spend a lot on medicines for water-borne diseases like diarrhea, jaundice and gastritis," he said.

Mithilesh Devi said although there are other people providing clean water in the area, she likes to take hers from the Chetnalaya purifier.

"It is very cheap. Almost free. Others are charging at least double the price charged by Chetnalaya," she said.

As well as clean water, Delhi Archdiocese’s social service wing is also focusing on the sanitation aspect of the area, keeping in view the unhygienic conditions the people live in.

We have employed people who push carts along the small lanes of the slum to collect garbage from residents and dump it at a municipal waste facility.

"Though there are government trucks that come and collect garbage, they are not able to enter the narrow lanes," Victor said.

He said the move has had a positive response from local people who now refrain from simply throwing garbage out the window.

"For this service, we charge the very small amount of 20 rupees per month from every household. This is because we have to pay the boys who collect the garbage," he added.

Chetnalaya is also looking to make the slum a more greener place to live.

"We are taking care of three parks in the slums and have planted over 400 plants in the last two years," Victor said.

 

Year of Mercy initiative


Chetnalaya’s director, Father Savari Raj, told ucanews.com that the clean drinking water project was a Year of Mercy initiative so "people can have a good healthy life and not rely on contaminated water."

He said another reason for the project was to undermine what he called was the water mafia, unscrupulous people who would sell water at a high price to people who find it difficult to even have one decent meal a day.

"We wanted to tackle this problem as people were forced to buy expensive water because of a lack of drinking water in the area," he said.

The purifier has given positive results and if everything goes well, "we plan to install others in other areas of the colony so everyone gets access to clean water," he said.

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