A project was initiated by a group of children of different groups in a slum locality just beside a Railway line in Raipur city. The locality Parvati Nagar houses more than 300 families and has three sources of water which is consumed by the inmates. The project “Swachha Jal” was to make people aware if they were consuming contaminated water.
“SODIS” (Solar Disinfection) a technology by which the water is purified through sun rays when the bottles filled with water is kept at a certain degree on a metal sheet. To start with, 50 families were selected. Survey was done asking questions about their health, sanitation medical scenario etc. The water of all the three bores was laboratory tested and E.coli bacteria was found. SODIS was adopted for this area. The project was initiated on June 15 this year. Plastic bottles, Metal sheets were distributed to first 50 families in the area where survey was done so that they purify the water which they where consuming.
Khushbu Singh, Palash Kanwar, Pankhuri Kanwar, Anmol Chhabra, Sufal Chhabra and Saathvik Jha along with Communication and Capacity Development Unit (CCDU), Government of Chhattisgarh carried out the month-long project. The project was done under the guidance of Ms Yasmin Singh, Director, CCDU. She mentored and provided all technical support for the project. The inmates of the slums readily agreed to purify the water when they were told of the diseases occurring due to impure water.
Khushbu Singh, the member of the group said that after giving initial idea about SODIS, the group had made presentations, held a magic show and meeting to convince people about the benefits of the water purification system.Thereafter, the group had to follow the 50 families whom PET bottles and sheets were distributed for purification of water through SODIS. “Out of 50 families, 48 are successfully using SODIS to purify drinking water,” she said, adding, that the project is likely to be extended to more slums.
Khushbu said, “We are six in the group who have taken up the project as a social service. Five of us are from Raipur and one is from Delhi.