The units were established by Bala Vikasa with financial help from across the country and abroad.

For its part, the Government is making attempts to supply 20 litres of water for Rs 2 and has invited tenders for purification units on BOT (build-operate- transfer) basis. Meanwhile, the purification units being run under the people-NGO partnership (20:80) have been earning profits. Units with capacities ranging from 100 litres per hour to 1,000 litres per hour were set up -- 95 in Warangal, 53 in Karimnagar, three each in Prakasam and Khammam districts, four in Rangareddy, 21 in Nalgonda, one each in Medak and Adilabad, 12 in Mahaboobnagar, two each in Kurnool and Krishna districts and nine in Guntur.

Bala Vikasa has been training the villagers to run the units. The unit at Thimmampet village in Duggonda mandal in 2006, earned a profit of Rs 55 in the first year and a whopping Rs 38,000 the next, said water committee president S K Sardar and added that the committee, whose membership had risen from 55 to 900, would decide whether the surplus funds should be used for other development activities.

Another unit set up at Panthini village in Vardhannapet mandal in 2008 is currently supplying water to 700 families.

It made a profit of Rs 68 the first year and Rs 23,000 this financial year, according to president B Someswara Rao. Except for changing filters, paying the operator and accountant, and settling the power bills there is not much expenditure, he said and urged the government to provide free power to the units.

Speaking to this paper, NGO director Soureddy said Bala Vikasa had received letters from several people’s representatives urging them to set up the units working on the reverse osmosis technology.

``However, we are not able to meet the demand due to financial constraints’’, she lamented.

Priority was being given to setting up units in fluoride-affected villages, she said.

The programme would be extended to all districts of the State in a phased manner, and people’s participation, which strengthened their feeling of identification with the units, was vital to its success, she said.