Thiruvananthapuram: Since the bottled water business has taken off, the government now plans to introduce soda and soft drinks to the market. With the increase in the demand of the government’s Rs 10 water bottles, it has been decided to build three new plants to increase production.

Hilly Aqua bottled water was brought to the market as part of the ‘Sujalam’ project of the Kerala Irrigation Infrastructure Development Corporation (KIIDC) under the Department of Water Resources. The new plants are being set up to strengthen the supply of bottled water in Malabar and Kochi regions. The plants will be built in Kozhikode and Ernakulam. One plant is being planned in Idukki as well. KIIDC has also received sanctions to manufacture and distribute soda and soft drinks. These will be manufactured after modifying the existing plants. Production is expected to begin within six months.

KIIDC currently has bottled water plants in Idukki and Thiruvananthapuram. The production capacity of both plants is 5000 litres per hour. A plant with a capacity of 7500 litres will be constructed in four acres at Peruvannamuzhi. 

An average of 65000 litres of bottled water is brought to the market every day from the current two plants. The sale of bottled water rose sharply after the start of distribution through ration shops under the Sujalam scheme.