Selco Foundation has entered an agreement with the Dakshina Kannada-based SKDRDP (Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project) to install solar inverters in 40 Shuddaganga drinking water dispensation units of SKDRDP across Karnataka. The agreement was signed at Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka on Monday.

SKDRDP started Shuddaganga drinking water programme in 2009 to supply safe drinking water in areas facing high fluoride content in water.

LH Manjunath, Executive Director of SKDRDP, said 321 drinking water dispensation units have been set up across Karnataka under the Shuddaganga programme. Around 81,000 people are getting 16.20 lakh litres of safe drinking water at concessional rates every day under this programme.

The operating cost of this project is around ₹6 crore a year. Of this, around ₹1.14 crore is spent on electricity.

The solar inverters are expected to cost ₹2.4 crore. Selco Foundation will bear the cost of the installation and maintain them for the next one year, he said.

On the cost of electricity required for running these units, he said around ₹2 lakh a month is the power bill in each of these 40 units. This amounts to around ₹24 lakh a unit for a year. The installation of solar inverters will help save that amount. People in the region would also get uninterrupted water supply for 24 hours a day with the installation of solar inverters, he said.

This is first of its kind initiative to operate drinking water dispensation units with solar power, Manjunath said.

D Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala, and Harish Hande, Chief Executive Officer of Selco Foundation, were present during the signing of the agreement in Dharmasthala on Monday.

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