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Innovative Approaches in
Water, |
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Swipe your smart card and
get a glass of water:’ Sarvajal was founded in 2008 by the Piramal Foundation to develop market based models for providing clean drinking water to the base of the pyramid population. Piramal Water Private Limited is a social enterprise whose water ATMs have provided more than 8.8 billion litres of clean drinking water daily to over 100,000 people in 6 states. Further, 400+ jobs have been created that encourage safe water practices in local communities. Like any usual ATM, the customer swipes a prepaid card called Sarvajal Smart Card on the screen and chooses the amount of water one wishes to dispense. The water ATMs run on solar energy and are connected to the main server via cloud computing. The server keeps a record of the user’s transaction and deducts the amount used on the card. The water comes at 15 paisa per litre at the water ATMs that are installed inside the plant premises and 30 paisa per litre at the ATMs installed outside. The water is unlimited for all who possess a Sarvajal smart card. The present government has announced to support about 500 water ATMs with ground water/tanker services in 2014-15. |
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Transforming Sanitary Practices
of the Common Indian: The ‘Poop Guy’- Chaturvedi has taken up the challenge to tackle the problem of lack of clean public toilets in cities and restore dignity of women and children by providing them with clean, enclosed and safe urinals. Since 2010, Chaturvedi has been working tirelessly to create hygienic and accessible public toilets for the people of Pune, the city where he resides. Before all this, Swapnil was living the American dream. He is an engineering graduate from Northwestern University. He had a nice job in the IT sector. But all that changed in 2007, when he visited his native place in India. He was appalled to see the terrible state of basic sanitation facilities in Indian cities. During their stay in India, Chaturvedi’s little daughter often complained about the stinking toilets at her school. He found out that his daughter used to painfully hold her bladder during school time and would get relieved only after coming home .1 This proved to the turning point for Charturvedi, who himself, set out to clean toilets for the India’s urban poor.In 2011, Swapnil Chaturvedi founded ‘Samagra Sanitation’, in Pune city, in order to provide the much needed sanitation services to the urban poor. His sole mission was to enable the marginalised communities to lead a healthier, dignified and productive life, which he persistently continues to pursue.2 Chaturvedi’s Samagra Sanitation is currently providing clean sanitation services to over 3300 daily users across two slums in Pune city.3 Not only, the company work towards increasing ventilation, and overall cleanliness of the existing public toilets; it also educates local public to improve their hygiene routines. As an entrepreneur with a difference he has successfully converted social work into a sustainable business model. With the grant obtained from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Chaturvedi and his team of experts use information and communication technologies (ICTs), behavioral sciences and human centered designs to make public toilets accessible, affordable and aspirational for the poor. He is already working on eco-friendly and sustainable toilets that can convert human waste into electricity and give away bio-fertilizers as byproducts. With funds coming in Chaturvedi aim to open up ‘Poop Franchises’ which will combine Poop Rewards and the renewable waste-to-fuel toilets to build sanitation networks in urban as well as rural India. q End Notes: |
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