‘ATM pilot project’ aims to alleviate India’s longstanding water crisis

NEW DELHI: The ATM machines in India are now dispensing clean water at an affordable rate.

Access to clean drinking water remains a huge challenge for a major population chunk of India, which amounts to a total of 76 million people, according to WaterAid.

However, due to the humanitarian project named ‘ATM pilot project’, locals can now buy 20 liters of clean drinking water for as cheap as 6 cents at their nearest ATM machine designed to be operated via a smart card.

The project is a brainchild of Delhi’s social enterprise named ‘Sarvajal’.

"There is no human intervention, this ATM is completely online- and runs on solar power. So even when there is no electricity, it can run," said Amit Mishra, general manager operations of Sarvajal.

For now, the pilot project is serving the residents in urban slums of the city only. However, the government has revealed plans of expanding it across the entire city soon.