Sri Vijaya Puram’s Water ATM network, launched with the promise of providing safe and affordable drinking water, has largely gone silent. Several machines installed under the Municipal Council’s Smart City initiative are reportedly out of order, leaving residents scrambling for alternatives amid persistent water shortages in the Islands.
The project, introduced in 2019 as part of a sanitation and public convenience drive, aimed to offer purified water at nominal rates while reducing dependence on bottled plastic. However, spot checks by The Wave Andaman this week found several ATMs lying idle or displaying error messages. Units near the Van Vikas office in Haddo and along RGT Road near the JNRM Girls Hostel were non-functional, while only the dispenser inside Marina Park appeared to be operating normally.
“These machines were meant to make clean water accessible to everyone, but most have remained closed for months,” said a Haddo resident. The Wave Andaman could not independently verify the exact duration of the outages.
Residents said the prolonged shutdowns have forced them to rely on private suppliers or store water in drums and rooftop tanks. “We end up paying for tanker water when these ATMs don’t work,” said a resident from RGT Road, adding that refilling delays and poor maintenance have rendered the scheme ineffective.
Officials said maintenance and refilling are handled by a private vendor. A senior Municipal Council official told The Wave Andaman that repairs are “being scheduled in phases.” Detailed queries sent to the Smart City Mission and the Municipal Council on maintenance logs and service contracts remained unanswered at the time of publication.
The breakdown of the Water ATM network comes at a time when the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are already grappling with a deepening water crisis. Despite receiving nearly 3,000 millimetres of rainfall annually, around 80 percent runs off into the sea due to the Islands’ steep terrain and rocky soil, limiting groundwater recharge.
According to the Central Ground Water Board, most inhabited areas depend on shallow wells and springs that yield little and are increasingly prone to saltwater intrusion. During the dry season between January and May, many parts of Sri Vijaya Puram receive piped water only once in seven to eight days, forcing residents to depend on stored or tanker-supplied water.
A functionality report under the Jal Jeevan Mission found that nearly all households in the Union Territory now rely on some form of home storage, overhead tanks, drums, or reservoirs to manage irregular supplies. Experts say climate-linked variations in rainfall, coupled with ageing pipelines and inadequate storage capacity, have made water management one of the most pressing urban challenges for the Islands.
Residents say the non-functional Water ATMs are a reminder of how small civic projects, once launched with great fanfare, often fall apart due to lack of upkeep. “The machines were working fine initially, but no one seems to care about their maintenance anymore,” said a resident of Haddo.
As Sri Vijaya Puram pursues its Smart City ambitions, residents argue that ensuring reliable access to clean water, through both piped supply and properly maintained ATMs, should take priority over new infrastructure announcements.
