Water vending machines, or water ATMs, at railway stations across the city are catching on despite the challenges: supply of running water at some stations, or people unwilling to pay

Mumbai: On platform no. 1 at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), people queue up behind a stall, some of them with empty bottles. As sweat trickles down many a brow, the lines grow longer by the hour. Sujit Paswan has been manning the stall for the past six months. “People prefer this because they pay only for the water they need. Moreover, it is cheap. For ₹8 you get one litre, which otherwise you get for ₹15 or ₹20,” Mr. Paswan said.

His is one of 178 water vending machines, also known as water ATMs, across 100 stations on the Mumbai suburban railway network. According to Pinakin Morawala, spokesperson for Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the implementing agency, the idea is to ensure that every station has at least one water vending machine to dispense affordable, clean water. “We conducted an extensive survey, which lasted nearly eight months, to identify sites for the machines,” Mr. Morawala said. The machines charge ₹1 for 300 ml of water, ₹3 for 500 ml, and ₹5 for 1 litre. A one-litre plastic bottle costs ₹8.

The first such machine was commissioned at Khar station in April 2016. The stall set up by Hi Tech, a water solutions company, is being operated by Jyoti Pawar and her son Aashish.

“In the first few months, people were wary of the service and would argue with us, saying we should not charge them. This has changed,” Mr. Pawar said. Over the years, Ms. Pawar said, not only have more people started using the service, but they now come from all strata of society. “Earlier, only office-goers and daily commuters used to come. But now, daily-wage labourers and homeless people, who live around the stations, too take water from our stall.”

Other than Hi Tech, Fontus Water and JanaJal have received the licence to operate water ATMs at stations. “The decision by the IRCTC and the Centre to install water ATMs has given the sector a boost,” Parag Agarwal, CMD of JanaJal, which commissioned 99 water ATMs across stations, said.

Running water

The IRCTC floated tenders with clusters of stations, which included a combination of big and small stations, with regard to passenger footfall. The vendors pay the IRCTC an annual licence fee, and water and electricity charges.

The companies either use reverse osmosis (RO) or ultrafiltration technologies, depending on the quality of source water. Where the total dissolved solids (a measure of organic and inorganic substances in a liquid; an indication of chemical contaminants) is high, JanaJal uses RO for their water purifiers and at stations where it is low, ultra-filtration.

“RO results in waste water, which the Railways uses to clean platforms. At stations like Kalyan, it is used to water a garden,” Mr. Agarwal said.

The booth at the CSMT is operated by Fontus Water, which has 38 machines across stations. The system, COO Hariharan Subramaniam said, depends on running water at stations. If the water supply is cut off, the machines stop working. At Mumbra, where JanaJal operates a machine, Mr. Agarwal said, the locals followed up with the Railways to ensure that running water is made available to the water ATM.

Installation costs vary between ₹8 lakh and ₹10 lakh, and maintenance costs range between ₹25,000 and ₹30,000 per month.

According to JanaJal, maintenance costs go up if the water quality is poor. “The quality of water is mostly good in the city. However, at stations on the outskirts such as Nalasopara and Roha, the TDS is high, which increases the cost of maintenance,” Mr. Agarwal said.

A key challenge, Mr. Subramanium said, is to drive behavioral change among consumers. Consumers The Hindu spoke to, however, said they choose vending machines over the water huts provided by the Railways, where one gets drinking water for free. “It is way more hygienic than the water huts. People use it like a wash basin and there is no provision for cups,” Meghna Patil, a Kharghar resident who travels every day to CSMT for work, said. Santosh Bhoir, a Diva resident, said, “People spit gutka and paan masala (in the water huts) and many wash their hands and faces with this water. Moreover, we don’t know how regularly the tank is cleaned.” The fact that the vending machines have operators who provide glasses instils faith, he said. Other consumers said vending machines have reduced their dependence on bottled water.

Demand is good, especially in summer. Mr. Paswan said, on an average, his booth brings in ₹1,600 to ₹1,700 a day, but in summer, the collection can go up to ₹4,000. Ms. Pawar said in summer, there is greater demand for chilled water. “In summer, people often argue with us as the water is not chilled enough.” Operators at busy stations said because of the continuous demand, the water does not stay in the chiller long enough for it to get chilled.

Meeting a need

In some areas that lie on the outskirts, like Diva and Mumbra, water vending machines are a source of drinking water for local residents as well. “There is shortage throughout the year, but it gets acute in summers,” Mantosh Maitya, who has been living in Diva for the past five years, said. Fontus Water, which operates the water vending machine at Diva, dispenses nearly 15,000 litres, on par with much larger stations such as CSMT, Dadar and Thane.

The situation in Mumbra is similar, where residents routinely queue up at the water ATM, operated by Janajal. According to its operator Zunjar Gawli, the locals often demand plastic bottles. “While things have improved, there needs to be more awareness. On a daily basis, I have customers fighting over the nominal charge of water, with many refusing to pay,” Mr. Gawli said. According to Ms. Pawar, despite the general awareness, there is still someone who haggles about price.

Paper, not plastic

With the plastic ban set to come into force, the IRCTC has decided to replace the plastic glasses with paper glasses. It has asked all the operators to clear their stock of plastic glasses and bottles. For a short period, Mr. Gawli’s stall ran out of plastic bottles, leading to arguments. “Plastic bottles are popular here. I have requested many of them to bring their own bottles. Some regulars have done so, while others continue to be stubborn,” he said. IRCTC officials said they are formulating a policy where a person will be able to return a plastic bottle within a set time period.

Mr. Maitya said with the initiative growing in popularity, the IRCTC should increase the number of vending machines. “Very often, the rush is so high that we risk missing our train.”

Bhageshwar Mukhiya, a Bhandup resident, cited another issue: “The demand is especially high on island platforms where trains from both directions halt. Nobody is going to cross a platform just for water.”

Mr. Mukhiya often fills his bottle from the Railways water hut at Ghatkopar since the vending machine is on another platform. “If people were aware and used the water huts as they are supposed to be used, there might not have been a need for vending machines,” he said.