From Lassi to Life’s Essentials – A Day of Dairy and Drinking Water

 Wednesday 26th February 2025

Written by Natasha

It was the third day of the trip, and we had two visits planned for the day- one to the pasteurization plant and the other to the water treatment plant. After a fulfilling breakfast at the New International Hostel mess, we boarded the bus for the first visit at 9 am. After around 30 minutes of a rather bumpy ride, we reached the Dakshina Kannada Co-op Milk Producers Union Ltd., accompanied by two students and a teacher from MAHE. After some formalities and documentations at the entrance, we entered the pasteurization plant.

We were given a thorough tour of the entire setting by a staff, who mentioned that the plant had a capacity of 2 lakh 50 thousand litres of dairy production. Although we could not take pictures inside the plant, we were shown different machineries and their working mechanisms, which was quite fascinating. For most of us, it was our first exposure to something of this sort. We watched the production of different types of milk, cheese, butter, ghee, yoghurt, buttermilk, ice cream, and an ongoing list of different other dairy products. We were also informed that the pasteurization plan had approximately 50 permanent workers, with more than 100 individuals working contract-based jobs. Before we left, we were allowed to shop from a variety of dairy products, and were bid goodbye with a cool packet of lassi. 

After a hearty lunch at the mess, we left for the second destination for the day, the Hiriyadka Water Treatment Plant, accompanied by a MAHE teacher. We had gradually been adjusting to the heat and humidity of Manipal, but when we saw some trees before entering the plant, we rushed under the shade and waited for as long as we had to. 

The teacher oriented us throughout the visit, introducing the municipality-controlled treatment plant. We could see the Swarna river that provided water to the plant, and followed the well where water is collected first. There were several warning and first aid signs in multiple languages. 

The clarifloculator is one of the parts of the plant that was under maintenance during our visit, and we were told that they were regular maintenance breaks that had no impact on the treatment process. After the entire purification process, the water is then distributed to people of Manipal.  

Both the visits of the day were very interesting, and although they weren’t any health facilities per se, they were very critical contributors to the health outcomes of Manipal.