Excelsior Correspondent
KATRA, Mar 4: Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) has been adopting the latest technologies and taking recurring initiatives for enhancing the facilities made available to pilgrims and advancing on this direction, now all urinals along the Yatra track have been made waterless by the Board.
AK Sahu, Chief Executive Officer of the Shrine Board, informed that on the directions of Governor NN Vohra, Chairman of SMVDSB, a decision was recently taken to reduce the very large quantity of water consumed for flushing of the 238 urinal pots which were installed all along the track, in Bhawan area and other establishments of the Board.
At an average every flushing requires 1 to 2 litres of water and additional water is needed for cleaning the pots on regular basis. Despite usage of very large quantities of water in the urinals their functioning was not upto the desired levels as the problem of smell and malodour was continuing despite regular flushing. For containing the malodour/smells considerable quantities of chemical disinfectants were being used in the urinal pots, which was not an eco-friendly solution.
The CEO stated that to better address this issue, several initiatives were taken and, after examination and trials of available technologies, the Board has recently implemented a “Flush-me-Not” programme.
He said, “This is a cost effective technology which, besides saving expenditure on water, also saves expenditure on chemical disinfectants. It does not require any special expertise and can be easily handled even by the low skilled staff”.
Initially, trials were conducted on a given number of Toilet Blocks on the track and the result was quite encouraging, especially for controlling malodour. Accordingly, this trial was further extended to cover all the 238 urinals on the track. This solution has been found working satisfactorily in all the urinals.
The major benefits of this technology are that it can save 60% to 70% of the water which was being used earlier in flushing and cleaning of urinals; it provides control and consistent fragrance in the urinals.
With the adoption of this technology, at an average, every urinal saves around 10,000 to 12,500 litres of water in a month. Accordingly, this solution will help in saving around 285 lakh litres of water every year, which would be a very significant saving of a valuable resource.
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