Nilgiris district administration to replace inoperative, inefficient water ATMs

One out of every three water ATMs in the Nilgiris are inoperative, confirmed Nilgiris District Collector Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru.

The water ATMs were installed on the orders of the High Court as part of the effort to ban plastic water bottles with a capacity below five litres, a few years ago. The Collector said 38 out of 96 water ATMs in the district are inoperative.

Despite being introduced as an alternative, especially for tourists to have a cost-effective, eco-friendly solution to have access to water, the water ATMs have mostly been ignored as users worry about a lack of sanitation and cleanliness of the installations.

The Collector said Bisleri International, a leading bottled water company, which coincidentally benefitted due to the ban due to high demand for their 5 litre water bottles, was working with the district administration in removing plastic waste from the district.

“Bisleri, for example, has one of the biggest markets here for their five litre bottles. So, they took it upon themselves to help us in two ways. One, they are trying to collect all the plastic bottles that we are collecting at the check-post and paying a small amount to the local panchayat as a kind of a buy-back scheme and secondly, they are helping us with new, portable water ATMs that dispense their brand of water to the public,” said Ms. Tanneeru. The company was directly involved in supplying their own brand of water to the new dispensers, through which they expect better patronage.

“Most of the water ATMs are in a non-functional state because there are some design flaws and also hygiene issues because the water tank is up above eight feet and we are not able to clean them properly and people are hesitant to drink from them,” said the Collector.

The mineral water company has come up with a more compact water vending machine, five of which will be handed over to the district administration free of cost. She added based on the success of the new systems, all previously installed water ATMs could eventually be replaced with the newer systems.

The Collector said local self-help groups (SHGs) or market associations would be tasked with maintaining the machines provided to them for free. The machine will dispense water from the mineral water company and the SHGs can also make a small amount of money for their livelihoods through the initiative, it is hoped.

Efforts will also be undertaken to replace the water ATMs that are out of order, and to streamline the system as some of the water ATMs were located in places away from tourist spots, which further limited their usage.