Dahej, India - November 05, 2008
Dow Chemical International Pvt Ltd (Dow India) today inaugurated water purification plants in three villages in Dahej, state of Gujarat. The water purification plants set up on Dow technology platforms will provide pure and safe drinking water to residents of Jolva, Ambheta and Vadadla at a maintenance cost of Re 1 per 10 liters of water.
The inauguration of each of the plants took place in the presence of Dr Ramesh Ramachandran, President and CEO, Dow India, Mr Guruprasad Mahopatra, Managing Director, Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd, senior representatives of Dow India and GACL, Rajen Dhulia, National Marketing manager, Anarde Foundation and local heads from each of the villages. All of whom drank the first glass of clean drinking water at each village.
"The water purification plants in Dahej are the first of many self-sustaining initiatives by Dow India. Our technology will enable NGOs like Anarde provide clean safe drinking water to villages at a minimum maintenance cost of Re 1 per 10 liters of water." said Dr Ramesh Ramachandran. "At Dow, we believe in the power of the Human Element to change the world and place a high value on developing the communities in which we operate. We are thankful to our implementation partner Anarde foundation and GACL whose support has been commendable is making this project a reality."
Speaking on behalf of Anarde Foundation, the NGO supporting Dow India in implementing the project, Rajen Dhulia, said, "Anarde believes in the philosophy of making communities self reliant by providing resources and technical expertise to make projects successful, and e will train local village residents to operate these plants." With more initiatives in the pipeline, we feel positive in solving the problem of potable water in many villages across India, and are thankful to Dow India for their technical and resource support."
The setting up of water purification plans across villages in and around Dahej is part of Dow's corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative announced earlier this year. The villages of Jolva, Ambheta and Vadadla were selected as phase one of the project. The water purification plants are based on Dow Water Solutions' Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology which can treat water with capacities ranging from 600 LPH to 2500 LPH and higher. The systems are designed to handle wide ranging water conditions to produce water to meet World Health Organisation (WHO) standards. The RO system integrates various processes to treat suspended particulates, biological and dissolved impurities.
About Dow India
Dow Chemical International Private Limited, headquartered in Mumbai, has more than 700 employees, a head office, manufacturing site and three Centers of Excellence. Operations in India have experienced exciting growth with annual sales touching the Rs 2000 crores ($ 500 mm) mark in 2007. As a responsible corporate citizen, Dow India has helped build homes for the homeless through the 'Habitat for Humanity' Jimmy Carter Work Project, supplied free artificial limbs through the 'Jaipur Foot' initiative, and collaborated with the Byrraju and Anarde Foundation to supply clean drinking water to villages in India.
About Anarde Foundation
Acil Navasarjan Rural Development Foundation (known as Anarde Foundation) is a 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.
About Dow
For Editorial Information:
Roysten D’mello
The Dow Chemical Company
+91 98338 59074
Tejal Daftary
The Dow Chemical Company
9820404621
tdaftary@perfectrelations.com
