Mysuru has been selected to pilot a ‘home-to-home pure water’ campaign aimed at supplying treated drinking water directly through taps to every household, with the city expected to begin implementation within one year. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Karnataka Urban Development Minister Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah on Tuesday.
The proposed system is intended to make clean drinking water directly available to urban residents through household connections. The state government is considering the initiative as a model for introducing a similar arrangement in other cities after assessing its performance in Mysuru.
According to the report by Prajavani, the campaign draws on direct tap-water supply systems operating in several cities in Western countries. Puri in Odisha has already implemented a similar model, and Mysuru has been selected for pilot execution in Karnataka.
The meeting discussed the technical requirements, feasibility of the proposal and the challenges that could arise during implementation. The supplied report does not specify the proposed investment, the number of households to be covered, the source of water, treatment standards or the agencies responsible for each stage of the project.
The initiative places the quality of the last-mile delivery system at the centre of the proposal. Supplying treated water to a city does not by itself establish that every household receives safe water at the tap; the condition of distribution networks, local storage, household connections and monitoring arrangements would all form part of the implementation process. The government has so far described the project as a pilot, and its final design is yet to be detailed in the information available.
The discussions also included the comprehensive transformation of slums, technology-based implementation, strengthening of social infrastructure and sustainable livelihood models. These subjects indicate that the government is considering the water programme alongside wider urban improvement measures, although the report does not state how these components will be integrated or funded.
Mysuru’s selection means the city will function as a testing ground for the technical and administrative model before any broader expansion. After implementation, the government plans to examine the advantages and limitations of the programme and then consider extending it to other cities. No specific commissioning date beyond the proposed one-year implementation window was announced in the report.
Officials from the Urban Development Department, including its government secretary B. B. Kaveri, as well as representatives of the Directorate of Municipal Administration and the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board, attended the meeting. Their participation brings the department responsible for urban administration, municipal authorities and the state water utility agency into the proposed implementation process.
The next stage will be to work out the technical and operational details needed to put the pilot into practice. The government is expected to assess feasibility and implementation challenges before the Mysuru model is reviewed for possible expansion to other urban areas.
