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Sri Sathya Sai
Drinking Water Supply Project

  

The Sustainer of Life 

For millions in Rayalaseema,
Andhra Pradesh, getting pure
drinking water was a daily drudgery.
It meant trudging long distance,
often in vain.
And then, the Sri Sathya Sai Central
Trust decided that the villagers need
never again treck for something
which ought to be on their tap.
The Impossible began to take shape
The result - SRI SATHYA SAI
WATER SUPPLY PROJECT
covering more than 700 villages in
Ananthapur district and providing
 Water to a million people who had
 lived all their lives on the edge of
drought and despair.

  A Prayer is answered
   		 

Avatars are engaged in selfless service (seva); that is why Avatars happen. Offering service to mankind pleases Avatars. ... I am active and busy twenty-four hours a day. ... I have never craved a minute's rest or sleep or relief.
--Sathya Sai Baba, in Sathya Sai Speaks X, Chap. 19, 123; VII, Chap. 59, 350; VI, Chap. 58, 288 (old edition)

This page will discuss Sathya Sai Baba's project, begun in 1994, which brought water to more than 700 villages in the the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh (where Prashanthi Nilayam is located). This project was directed by the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust and carried out by Larsen & Toubro Limited, with the collaboration of the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The project cost over U.S. $63 million, which was donated to the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust without any kind of solicitation. For the moment, here are some statistics on the project.

Project highlights

 

No. of villages covered 750
Population covered 900,000
Design population 1,250,000
Project cost US$63 million

Construction highlights

 

Main trunk lines 750 Km
Branch lines 1550 Km
Overhead service reservoirs
(40,000-300,000 liter capacity) 		268
Ground-level service reservoirs
(20,000-60,000 liter capacity) 		125
Ground-level balancing reservoirs
(100,000-1,000,000 liter capacity) 		21
Booster stations 40
Summer storage tanks
(60 acres) 		4
Summer storage tanks
(32 acres) 		3
Infiltration wells 13
Bore wells 250

Details of villages

 

Villages covered with borewells as source 274 villages
Villages covered by 14 comprehensive protected
water supply schemes with infiltration wells and
filter points 		98 villages
Villages (including Anantapur municipality) covered
by 7 summer storage tanks ranging from 30 to 100 acres 		98 villages
Comprehensive scheme with water treatment plants using
water from Pennar Ahobilam Balancing reservoir as source 		115villages
Comprehensive scheme with infiltration well in the bed of
Chitravathi Balancing Reservoir at Parnapalli as source 		165 villages

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