Dahej, India - May 25, 2009
Dow Chemical International Pvt. Ltd (Dow India) today inaugurated a water purification plant at Kadodara village in Dahej, providing almost 3000 village residents with a long-term sustainable clean drinking water solution. The inauguration is the fourth plant under Dow India’s ongoing initiative to provide pure and safe drinking water to rural residents around India using Dow’s innovative water solutions, and joins the plants launched in the villages of Jolva, Ambheta and Vadadla in November 2008.
“The facilities that were initiated last year have already delivered more than 390,000 litres of clean drinking water to local Gujarat residents at minimal cost to enable the long-term sustainability of the projects,” said Ramesh Ramachandran, president and CEO of Dow India who inaugurated the plant. “With more than 750f the Indian rural population deprived of clean drinking water, it is essential that corrective steps are taken to provide access to pure potable water and through initiatives such as this, we are providing villagers with a head start in that direction.”
Speaking on behalf of Anarde Foundation, Dow India’s project implementation partner in Gujarat, Rajen Dhulia, National Marketing Manager, commented: “Like our earlier projects, our aim is to make this Kadodara plant self reliant with local village residents provided clean safe drinking water at a minimum maintenance cost of Rs 1 per 10 liters of water. Funds raised from the sale of the water are utilized for the ongoing operation and maintenance of the plant as well as the training of local plant operators, which combined ensure a long-term sustainable pure drinking water solution for this rural population.”
Based on Dow Water & Process Solutions’ Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology, the water treatment facilities are designed to treat a wide range water conditions to produce clean drinking water that meets the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. The RO system integrates various processes to treat suspended particulates, biological and dissolved impurities.
Dow India is currently working on a variety of projects in Gujarat. In January 2009, Dow India signed a commitment to conduct research in sustainable bio-based products & solutions using castor oil with Royal Castor Products Ltd. (Royal Castor), Sidhpur, Gujarat. In addition, Dow Europe GmbH (Dow), a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, has a joint venture agreement (JVA) with GACL for the construction, operation and ownership of a 200 kilotons per year chloromethanes manufacturing facility in Gujarat which was signed in April 2008.
About Dow India
Dow Chemical International Private Limited (Dow India) is committed to consistent growth through its expertise as a science and technology leader, its experience as a leading chemical company, and its engagement with the communities in which it operates. With more than 1100 employees in 12 locations across the country, Dow India has established three Centers of Excellence in the areas of Engineering (Chennai), Research & Development (Pune) and Transactional Services and Expertise (Mumbai) as well as three manufacturing sites and a variety of commercial offices. As a responsible corporate citizen, Dow India provides free artificial limbs and technology development for the ‘Jaipur Foot’ initiative; built homes through the ‘Habitat for Humanity’ Jimmy Carter Work Project, and is actively working in collaboration with the Byrraju and Anarde Foundation to supply clean drinking water to villages in India. Further information can be found at www.dow-india.com
About Anarde Foundation
Acil Navasarjan Rural Development Foundation (known as Anarde Foundation) is a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) started in 1979 through adoption of five villages in Gujarat. With its mission of integrated development, it saw success through implementation of various government schemes in uplifting the quality of life for beneficiaries at the village level through expert management in water, like check-dams, ponds, rain water harvesting, boring wells, pumps etc in Infrastructure, education through its four schools in Jamnagar District, self-help groups and various income generating training programmes. Anarde’s success is its support to co-partners in their endeavour to help the poor villagers and farmers. Today, Anarde foundation works in 15,000 villages across 15 states in India.
About Dow
For Editorial Information:
Roysten D’mello
Dow India
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