The raise of rural India through clean and safe drinking water
It is always a hazardous situation when the most basic need of humankind, clean and safe drinking water is not accessible to all. Clean drinking water is a fundamental right, but most of the times it is denied to the poor and helpless people. Especially the people of rural India, who cannot afford packaged mineral water, suffer a lot because of the unavailability of drinking water; added with the pain from water borne deceases.
The situation was not different in the case of Mr. Karunakara Reddy too. He had gone through the same hectic situation in his childhood, in a small village in Mahaboob Nagar District of Telangana State. Struggle for clean drinking water was a usual and unattended problem in his village. It was common for children to skip schools and wander around far across places to gather drinking water. Mr. Reddy himself had experienced this obscure situation by filling up water for the cattle and home use after coming back from school.
"I know how it feels like to not to have access to clean drinking water because I have lived like this and have witnessed it at first hand," Mr. Reddy says.
Keeping in mind all those obstacles in rural areas for clean drinking water, he launched a social enterprise, Smaat India Pvt. Ltd which now provides clean drinking water to rural areas for an unbelievable cheaper rate.
The idea blossomed when he was working with a multi-national soft drinks company ‘Pepsi' while playing a crucial role in the launch of ‘Aquafina', a packaged drinking water.
"Working with that project made me think where I come from. Bottled water was available for Rs.10 per bottle and even more. This was not affordable to rural India."
He then started looking at the issue at grass-root level and made plans to provide clean drinking water at the cheapest rates ever possible. He resigned his job and began researching on the technologies that could give shape to his ideas. "We wanted to reach at the bottom of the pyramid and provide solution rather than revolution," says Mr. Reddy.
The technology and how it works?
‘Water ATM', an affordable technology takes only a few minutes to sanitize unclean water and to produce safe drinking water. It can produce 10,000 litres to 40,000 litres of clean drinking water in a day and has a life span of around 10 years. Villagers can now avail pure drinking water for a cheaper price of 20 paisa per litre from the nearby water ATM and the quality of water is at par with big brand.
"The technology is designed in such a way that even an 80 year old woman can access water from it, it is easy to operate and maintain," he says. The initial cost to convert water is 15 paisa per litre and Smaat adds 5 paisa for maintenance and repairs.
"We wanted to make it a self sustainable model. Hence, the 5 paisa that we added to the cost is spent on electricity bills, salary to the repair and maintenance staff and other recurring costs," Mr. Reddy says.
A single plant requires 2 units of electricity to produce 1,000 litres of clean water. The quantity of pure water depends on the contamination in the raw water. If water is highly contaminated, 40 percent of the same will be used for producing clean drinking water and rest of the water will be used for washing, toilet cleaning, gardening, etc.
"In many cases we also get 80 percent pure water. Ours is a zero wastage plant and we utilize every drop of raw water," he says.
It takes around 90 days to construct a plant and costs Rs.7, 50,000 to Rs.25, 00,000 depending upon the size of the plant and quality of raw water. The cost of the construction and set up is borne by public representatives like MLAs , MP's and also NRI's, NGO's and Corporats etc. "In places where these representatives are not ready to take ownership, we bear the total cost and ask a little extra, say 30 to 40 paisa per litre, from the villagers," Mr. Reddy added.
Smaat also provides training to people especially those who are physically challenged to operate and maintain the technology in view of providing them a long term employment and financial security.
The challenge
The hardest challenge was to spread awareness about the importance of clean drinking water and hygienic life. "Getting people to pay was not a big deal, they are ready to pay even more if good quality water and services are provided to them. But again, in case if we want to sustain this we need to create more livelihood options for them," he says.
The impact
Smaat has constructed over 2,800 water ATMs so far in 45 districts across 11 states in India benefitting over 7.5 million people. "People are falling less sick and saving up on their hospital bills," Mr. Reddy says.
Smaat also provides their facility to government schools for free. This has resulted in a visible decrease in school dropout rates. Smaat also provides water to the lesser privileged for free. Mr. Reddy recalls an incident when a lady in a village told him that after 20 years of wedding, her husband praised her cooking and told her that the taste has improved. This was all possible because of the availability of better quality water.
The future
"Have a passion to work with the people at the bottom of the pyramid and love what you do," he says. Mr. Reddy is open to work with people with similar ideas and wants to reach out to more people.
The situation was not different in the case of Mr. Karunakara Reddy too. He had gone through the same hectic situation in his childhood, in a small village in Mahaboob Nagar District of Telangana State. Struggle for clean drinking water was a usual and unattended problem in his village. It was common for children to skip schools and wander around far across places to gather drinking water. Mr. Reddy himself had experienced this obscure situation by filling up water for the cattle and home use after coming back from school.
"I know how it feels like to not to have access to clean drinking water because I have lived like this and have witnessed it at first hand," Mr. Reddy says.
Keeping in mind all those obstacles in rural areas for clean drinking water, he launched a social enterprise, Smaat India Pvt. Ltd which now provides clean drinking water to rural areas for an unbelievable cheaper rate.
The idea blossomed when he was working with a multi-national soft drinks company ‘Pepsi' while playing a crucial role in the launch of ‘Aquafina', a packaged drinking water.
"Working with that project made me think where I come from. Bottled water was available for Rs.10 per bottle and even more. This was not affordable to rural India."
He then started looking at the issue at grass-root level and made plans to provide clean drinking water at the cheapest rates ever possible. He resigned his job and began researching on the technologies that could give shape to his ideas. "We wanted to reach at the bottom of the pyramid and provide solution rather than revolution," says Mr. Reddy.
The technology and how it works?
‘Water ATM', an affordable technology takes only a few minutes to sanitize unclean water and to produce safe drinking water. It can produce 10,000 litres to 40,000 litres of clean drinking water in a day and has a life span of around 10 years. Villagers can now avail pure drinking water for a cheaper price of 20 paisa per litre from the nearby water ATM and the quality of water is at par with big brand.
"The technology is designed in such a way that even an 80 year old woman can access water from it, it is easy to operate and maintain," he says. The initial cost to convert water is 15 paisa per litre and Smaat adds 5 paisa for maintenance and repairs.
"We wanted to make it a self sustainable model. Hence, the 5 paisa that we added to the cost is spent on electricity bills, salary to the repair and maintenance staff and other recurring costs," Mr. Reddy says.
A single plant requires 2 units of electricity to produce 1,000 litres of clean water. The quantity of pure water depends on the contamination in the raw water. If water is highly contaminated, 40 percent of the same will be used for producing clean drinking water and rest of the water will be used for washing, toilet cleaning, gardening, etc.
"In many cases we also get 80 percent pure water. Ours is a zero wastage plant and we utilize every drop of raw water," he says.
It takes around 90 days to construct a plant and costs Rs.7, 50,000 to Rs.25, 00,000 depending upon the size of the plant and quality of raw water. The cost of the construction and set up is borne by public representatives like MLAs , MP's and also NRI's, NGO's and Corporats etc. "In places where these representatives are not ready to take ownership, we bear the total cost and ask a little extra, say 30 to 40 paisa per litre, from the villagers," Mr. Reddy added.
Smaat also provides training to people especially those who are physically challenged to operate and maintain the technology in view of providing them a long term employment and financial security.
The challenge
The hardest challenge was to spread awareness about the importance of clean drinking water and hygienic life. "Getting people to pay was not a big deal, they are ready to pay even more if good quality water and services are provided to them. But again, in case if we want to sustain this we need to create more livelihood options for them," he says.
The impact
Smaat has constructed over 2,800 water ATMs so far in 45 districts across 11 states in India benefitting over 7.5 million people. "People are falling less sick and saving up on their hospital bills," Mr. Reddy says.
Smaat also provides their facility to government schools for free. This has resulted in a visible decrease in school dropout rates. Smaat also provides water to the lesser privileged for free. Mr. Reddy recalls an incident when a lady in a village told him that after 20 years of wedding, her husband praised her cooking and told her that the taste has improved. This was all possible because of the availability of better quality water.
The future
"Have a passion to work with the people at the bottom of the pyramid and love what you do," he says. Mr. Reddy is open to work with people with similar ideas and wants to reach out to more people.
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