Context: Puri became the first city in India where people can avail high quality drinking water directly from the tap on 24-hour basis.
Key Points

• Puri has enabled the people of the city to collect quality drinking water directly from the tap.
• Henceforth, people need not have to store or filter drinking water.

About ‘Drink from Tap Mission’

• The project is being undertaken with financial support from UNICEF, which will hopefully help in achieving state government’s target.
• As providing safe drinking water to every household in the state is one of top priorities of Odisha government, the project will be launched on a pilot basis for about 1.2 lakh people involving 22,000 families in pockets of Puri and Khurda district of Odisha.
• The pilot project will also be implemented in five areas of Bhubaneswar and two areas of Puri and will be completed by March 2020. It will be extended to other parts of the state in next phases.

Importance

• “Under Drink From Tap-Sujal Mission, people of Puri will be able to fetch water directly from the tap to drink. There is no need for storage or a filter. Tap water will be available 24x7.
• Nearly 2 crore tourists visit Puri every year, they will no longer have to carry water bottles with them while in Puri. 
• The move will now eliminate the usage of 3 crore plastic water bottles. This would mean the city will now be free from nearly 400 tonnes of plastic waste.
• “The project would benefit 2.5 lakh citizens of Puri and 2 crore tourists who visit the tourist place every year. They need not have to move around with water bottle. 
• The women self-help groups (SHGs) will also be engaged and trained for the implementation of programme.

By: Abhipedia