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Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu announced the state's first ozone-based drinking water treatment project at Dehra in Kangra district on 29 August 2026.
The state government has allocated Rs 46 crore for the project, which will use ozone gas to disinfect water and improve its taste.
The announcement was made at Baddal Thor in the Dehra assembly constituency, where a veterinary hospital was also announced.
The model is to be extended to other parts of Himachal Pradesh after the Dehra project is completed.
The Chief Minister also detailed the Mukhyamantri Ka Apna Parivar Sukhi Parivar Yojana, to be launched on 2 October, and the Rajiv Gandhi Van Samvardhan Yojana.
Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive form of oxygen and a stronger oxidising agent than chlorine. Bubbled through water, it destroys bacteria, viruses and protozoa, breaks down organic matter and removes the compounds that cause taste and odour - which is why treated water tastes better. Because ozone is unstable and quickly reverts to ordinary oxygen, it leaves no chemical residue and does not form the chlorinated by-products that chlorination can produce. That same instability is its limitation: unlike chlorine it leaves no residual disinfectant in the pipes, so ozonation plants must be generated on site and the distribution network still needs protection against recontamination.
Simple Analogy: Chlorine is like a guard who stays posted at the door all day; ozone is a cleaning crew that scrubs the room spotless and then leaves.
Support financially weak families in Himachal Pradesh
Key: Financial assistance plus 300 units of free electricity; panchayat-level surveys are under way and the scheme is to be launched on 2 October
Involve youth and women's groups in planting and nurturing forests
Key: Self-help groups receive Rs 1.20 lakh, with additional incentives linked to plantation survival
Dehra is an assembly constituency in Kangra district, the most populous district of Himachal Pradesh, in the state's western Himalayan foothills. The constituency lies in the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat and is represented in the Vidhan Sabha by Kamlesh Thakur of the Congress, elected in a 2024 by-election. Himachal Pradesh has 68 assembly constituencies, its capital is Shimla and Dharamshala in Kangra serves as the winter seat of the assembly.
General Awareness > State current affairs and general science
GS Paper 2 > Government policies for the water sector; GS Paper 3 > Science and technology applications
General Awareness > States and schemes
Water treatment in which ozone gas is bubbled through water to disinfect it and remove taste and odour compounds.
Disinfectant that remains in treated water as it travels through pipes, protecting against recontamination - present with chlorine, absent with ozone.
Compounds such as trihalomethanes formed when chlorine reacts with organic matter in water; ozonation avoids this class of by-product.