
Arjun Thapan
First 24/7 Water City in India
Puri, a small city in Odisha, India, has attained the distinction of being the first urban center in the country to have 24/7 potable water supplies. It is a small town of about 250,000 people renowned for the Jagannath Temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu. A 42 million liters/day treatment plant draws water from the Bhargavi River that is distributed through the reticulation network to meet a daily demand of about 32 million liters/day. The Odisha state government is currently working on providing a similar level of service to 15 cities and towns, including the capital city of Bhubaneswar, by October 2023.