Odisha's Puri has become the first city in the state to have a drink-from-tap facility.

This means that the city now has safe drinking water that can be used directly from tap for cooking and drinking, without requiring further filtration.

The drink-from-tap mission of the Odisha government has made Puri the first in the country to have city-wide 24-hour quality drinking water from the tap.

The state government said that the initiative would benefit the 2.5 lakh residents of Puri and the estimated 2 crore tourists and pilgrims who visit the town every year. Importantly, the 24×7 drinking water supply would also cover about 66,000 slum dwellers.

Patnaik said, “This is the best model of the '5T' initiative. Good drinking water has a strong link with health, living standards and the economy. Therefore, I urge people not to waste or pollute the water. The budget for drinking water has been doubled in five years. The previous water budget of Rs 200 crore has reached Rs 4,000 crore today.

The drink-from-tap project is being implemented in 14 cities across Odisha.

The UN agency has found that about 5 crore people across 15 cities have no access to safe, affordable drinking water. Unicef adds that water-borne diseases in India cost the country about $600 million a year with drought- and flood-prone areas among the worst affected.

2021 Budget speech, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) “to provide universal coverage of water supply to all households through functional taps in all 4,378 statutory towns" in the country. More than 2.6 crore households are projected to be covered under the scheme.