Puri became India's first city to provide 24x7, BIS-certified quality drinking water directly from the tap.
Most Indian households spend thousands of rupees every year on RO purifiers, bottled water and water cans. Not because they want to. Because they don't trust the water coming from their taps.
But Puri solved this problem. Today, residents in Puri can drink water directly from the tap without boiling, filtering or buying bottled water.
A decade ago, the city faced the same challenges as many Indian cities:
• Limited piped water coverage
• Leakages from ageing pipelines
• Dependence on tankers and bottled water
• Low public trust in municipal water
So what changed?
- The answer wasn't just better infrastructure.
- It was a combination of technology, execution and community participation.
- The city upgraded its water network with thousands of kilometres of pipelines, introduced a 24x7 smart distribution system and deployed sensors to continuously monitor water flow, pressure and quality.
But the most interesting part of the story wasn't engineering.
- A network of local women called Jal Sathis became community ambassadors. - They visited households, explained the system, conducted water quality checks and helped residents gain confidence in the water reaching their homes.
The result?
- Safe drinking water from the tap
- Lower water losses from leakages
- Reduced dependence on bottled water
- Less plastic waste
- Greater public trust in civic services
There is an important lesson here.
- Most infrastructure projects focus on building assets.
- The best ones build confidence.
- Puri's journey shows that governance succeeds not when projects are completed but when citizens actually change their behaviour because they believe in the system.
A case study worth studying for every Indian city.