When I speak or talk on Water ATM , people show different reactions. Most of the times, they don't seem to know. And whatever they know , is usually about the Railway Station Water Vending Machine.
It's a perfect Solution in fact !
Water ATM is a booth where pure, good drinkable water is dispensed through a tap, after proper treatment. You carry your container (Re-use focused), and get it filled at a cost. This is at much lesses cost than pre bottled water & saves the earth from plastic.
What's the Cost ?
Railways sell it at Rs. 5 per litre. Its very expensive actually, but IRCTC being a company, is profit centric & they will make their money from the revenue by selling water. It looks like they are eyeing at the traveller who otherwise pays Rs. 20 , showcasing it to be 75% cheaper. Private Agencies have also been charging the same.
However, there are Govt agencies who installs Water ATMs. Some at their own budget, some through BOLT basis through agencies. This has been in operation since last 10 years now.
Besides these, there are many private companies who execute these ATMs through CSR funding.
The challenges
Low public awareness
Somehow, we don't see much campaigns on making general public aware about this. You would see campaigns on using the PET bottle crushing machines, but not on the usage of these machines.
Poor Maintenance
When they are a responsibility of the user, the systems have observed failures. The systems where they are maintained properly are still running properly. It's because of proper care & maintenance. Irrespective, whether the agency is Governmental OR Private, the issue is Poor maintenance. You might look at this example of the Guwahati Smart City case, where they had outsourced Water ATM project to a private agency.
What needs to be done ....
Users need to be aware of the cost structure of the whole. There will be both the costs : The Capex & Opex. Capex being the 1-time installation cost & Opex being the repeated operations & maintenance cost, which will include various factors like water cost, consumables, operators, supervision etc. Once the user group understands the cost of this water per ltr, then they will be ready to spend for that, and believe me, it will be much much lower in comparison to the cost of water which is paid currently.
