Bala Vikasa fights Fluorosis in rural Andhra Pradesh
Providing 20 Liters of Purified Water for Just Rs.1
Bala Vikasa initiated community owned and managed de-fluoridation projects during the year 2004 as millions of rural people in the state of Andhra Pradesh are suffering with dental and skeletal fluorosis caused due to consumption of water containing excess fluoride. Since Fluorosis is a slow effect, necessary concern is not put in either by the victims or the government. Due to the negligence, in course of time, the victims are becoming crippled and unproductive. Generally below 1 PPM of Fluoride in water is desirable for human consumption as per WHO standerds. Unfortunately, it is alarming to note that few villages in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh are having the highest concentration of Flouride (25 PPM) in the world where. About 4000 villagers in 10 districts of Andhra Pradesh are consuming water with more than 1 PPM fluoride and are suffering with fluorosis.
70% of the diseases are caused due to consumption of contaminated water. The statistics indicate constant increase in the fluorosis affected population in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Due to increased awareness on health issues many people are tending to purchase the canned water from the micro commercial water purification companies which are mushrooming as the demand is on increase. These commercial companies are selling 20 liters of purified water between Rs. 10 and Rs. 15 depending on the market situation. Unfortunately majority of the rural poor who live on daily wages earning between Rs. 40- Rs. 60 per day can not afford to spend Rs. 10-15 everyday on drinking water. Therefore, the poor still remain suffering.
To help the fluoride affected communities in the rural areas, Bala Vikasa initiated de-fluoridation project adopting “ Reverse Osmosis” technology which not only removes excess fluoride but also all other unwanted impurities such as Chlorine, Lead, Sodium etc. Thus the villagers are able to get safe drinking water as per the standards of WHO.
As the projects are owned and managed by the communities, they are able to produce safe water at an affordable cost of Rs. 1 per 20 liters can. The projects are self-sustainable, as the members are paying the user fee for present and future maintenance of the project. These projects are able to create a visible impact on the health of the affected people within a period of two months from project installation.
By March, 2006 Bala Vikasa implemented 40 projects in 40 villages benefiting more than one lakh (100,000) population in the fluoride affected villages of Nalgonda, Prakasham, Warangal, Guntur, Mahabubnagar, Rangareddy and Karimnagar districts.
