1

Manthan Topic: Towards Cleaner India

Team Details

Ameya M. TalankiDeepti Singh

Kapil KanungoNMR SriharshaSnigdha Singh

Indian Institute of Management Indore

Lifestraw and New Toilet Technologies

An innovative model to solve India’s Water and Sanitation Problem

Only 23% of India’s Rural population have access to Improved Sanitation Facilities and the number is around 58% in Urban India.About 90% of rural India has access to an Improved Water Source. The number rises to about 97% in Urban areas.

86 87 8890

2008 2009 2010 2011

Improved Water Source-Rural India

Series1

Source: World Bank Database

Issues concerning Water and Sanitation in India:

1. Though a large part of the population has access to improved

water sources, majority of these sources are contaminated and

have dissolved solids greater than the WHO accepted levels of

500 milligrams per liter.

2. According to Yahoo, India alone is responsible for 60% of the

global population lacking access to basic sanitation. About half

of its 1.2 billion residents are mobile subscribers, but only 366

million people have access to toilets, noted a 2010 U.N. report.

3. A major concern is also the behavioural aspect of such issues

where villagers believe that their ancestors have been drinking

water from wells and so can they. They refuse to accept change.

The same is true in case of toilets and a large number of Indians

prefer to defecate in the open.

2021

2223

1 2 3 4

Improved Sanitation Facilities-Rural India

Series1

2

LifestrawTM

is an innovative solution to the drinking water crisis in India. The sanitation problem can be addressed through specially designed toilets which would require minimal water and also provide a large number of benefits.

Lifestraw

Public

Private

Partnership

Special

Toilets

80 – 20

approach

Lifestraw is an ingenious water filter designed to purify 1000 liters of water.

It can kill 99.9999% of bacteria and 99.99% of parasites. It is designed by

Vestergaard Frandsen.

Funding on water purification projects should be done by the government

but implementation of the same should be undertaken by NGOs and VOs.

Special toilets designed by universities such as Caltech, Stanford,

Loughborough etc, can be used by the government on a large scale.

Part of the funding for these special toilets must come from the

community itself. This promotes usage as well as maintenance of these

toilets. 3

Lifestraw can help solve majority of problems related to water borne diseases in India

• According to the WHO about 90% of rural Indians have access to an Improved

Water Source. The number rises to about 97% in urban India. Access to an

improved water source refers to the percentage of the population with

reasonable access to an adequate amount of water from an improved source,

such as a household connection, public standpipe, borehole, protected well or

spring, and rainwater collection. Unimproved sources include vendors, tanker

trucks, and unprotected wells and springs. Reasonable access is defined as the

availability of at least 20 litres a person a day from a source within one

kilometre of the dwelling.Source: eatdrinksurvive.com

• As a large number of people have access to water, we believe that the problem lies in purifying this water

to make it drinkable. We propose the use of a personal purifier such as the LIFESTRAW which can be used

to purify water without any other problems such as electricity or requirement of an operator.

• Similar devices can be developed by the IITs and can be thus provided at a lower cost.

• The benefits of the usage of such a purifier are enormous which include a reduction in water borne

diseases, clean drinking water to all, reduction in infant mortality rate etc. 4

Public-Private Partnerships are the way forward for efficient implementation of various projects

• The Coca-Cola Company and the U.S. Agency for International

Development (USAID) have created a unique partnership to address

community water needs in developing countries around the world.

• The development projects are funded jointly by USAID and Coca-

Cola Company. Each contributing about 50% of the spending.

• The program has a reach of about 255,000 people who now have

access to clean drinking water.

• We propose a strategic alliance between government of India and cola

companies such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Danone International to

implement water purifier installment and maintenance schemes.

• Reports suggest that PPP models have helped improve conditions in

Sub-Saharan countries as shown in the graph to the right.

• The maintenance of these purifiers can be taken care by either the private players or NGOs at the charge of a nominal

monthly fee required for cleaning the same and maintaining the purifier.

• Such a model has been successfully implemented in village called Chuddani where the water purifier is operated by Naandi

Foundation and has been installed by Danone International.

• Such a setup would avoid misuse of the infrastructure by villagers and also help in maintenance of these purifiers in the

long run.

Source: Author; Fall and others 2009

5

Innovative smart toilets-the way forward

This toilet created by students of California Institute of Technology uses the sun to

power an electrochemical reactor. The reactor breaks down water and human

waste into fertilizer and hydrogen, which can be stored in hydrogen fuel cells as

energy. The treated water can then be reused to flush the toilet or for irrigation.

The toilet to the right was designed by Loughborough University. It produces

biological charcoal, minerals and clean water from human waste, using a

process they call “continuous hydrothermal carbonisation”. This is a kind of

high-pressure cooking followed by a drying and combustion process that ends

up producing carbonised pellets. The dried material can be used as soil

conditioner or as fuel for cooking or powering the sanitation system.

Source: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Source: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 6

Innovative smart toilets-the way forward

This toilet designed by Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and

Technology and EOOS of Switzerland diverts urine and recovers water for

flushing. The urine and faeces will be safely transported to a decentralized

processing centre. The water used for cleaning will be recycled by a gravity-

driven biological membrane.

Coming to our very own indigenous solutions to innovating toilets, this

toilet is a combination of a toilet and Biogas plant. The biogas plant can

satisfy the energy requirements for cooking in the family. This caters to

solve two issues at once. Sulabh International has also developed some

technology in this regard and the government of India can implement some

schemes using these affordable toilets

Source: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Source: ADB Photo Library7

Why should the government spend such a large amount of money on these innovative solutions??

• Inadequate sanitation causes India considerable economic losses, equivalent to 6.4 per cent of India’s GDP in 2006 at US$53.8 billion (Rs.2.4 trillion), according to The Economic Impacts of Inadequate Sanitation in India, a new report from WSP.

• If the government even spent this amount of money on developing water and sanitation infrastructure in the country, they would benefit the citizens as well as decrease spending of the government on various fronts.

• For example, the Caltech toilet creates energy and fertilizers apart from functioning as a normal toilet. Hence farmers benefit with good organic fertilizers and also are independent in terms of energy needs. This transforms into the government spending lesser on Fertilizer subsidies and electricity production.

• The water recycling toilets do not require a separate water source and hence the government will not have to worry about how to bring water to these toilets. The biogas toilets help solve the problem of LPG subsidies and also that of large spending on Kerosene.

• The implementation has to be region specific wherein the government has to use these solutions according to the needs of the particular region. Thus the government has a dual incentive in using such schemes as they solve the sanitation crisis and address other issues with the same.

8

Spreading the cost of infrastructure between the users and the government – The 80-20 model

• In Ahmedabad, foundation grants to the Mahila HousingTrust supported the provision of water, sewage, and toiletconnections for thousands of families living in 35 slums.They adopted the model wherein 80% of the project waspublically funded and the remaining 20% was collected fromthe actual users of this infrastructure.

• A few years after the facilities were constructed, customersatisfaction surveys suggest that usage continued to bearound 80%.

• The main challenge is not only the erection of infrastructurebut also the maintenance and usage of such infrastructure.

• We propose the same model. Wherein we want the actualusers to pay a nominal sum in the construction of suchinfrastructure so that they have a sense of responsibility andat the same time try and use it more frequently.

USERS

GOVERNMENT

9

The real problem lies in changing the attitude of the people in using the created infrastructure

• A major problem faced in implementing these schemes isthe fact that a majority of the people in India have noqualms about drinking water directly from wells ordefecating in the open. They believe that their ancestorshave been drinking water from the same well and opendefecation is socially acceptable. Examples of the sameare cases where Sulabh Sauchalays have been convertedto grain storage centres.

• We propose that the issue can be tackled by hiringvolunteers from the rural areas. They can be providedemployment and at the same time it is easier to conveythe thought between two people who know each other.

10

Cartoonist: Satish Acharya

Training these volunteers. A major challenge.

Rural Unemployed Youth/NREGA

Village Schools

Adult Education Program

Primary Health Centers

Aanganwadi

11

References:

12

http://www.waterforpeople.org/programs/how-we-work/initiatives/sanitation-as-a-business.html

http://washfunders.org/Blog/(tag)/India

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development/Water-Sanitation-and-Hygiene

http://gramvikas.org/uploads/file/Publications/WebPublications/Foundations/11_Indias%20sanitation%20for%20all.pdf

http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/a_new_approach_to_indias_water_sanitation_crisis_part_1

http://www.cgap.org/blog/microfinance-water-example-client-focused-innovation

http://www.unhabitat.org/bp/bp.list.details.aspx?bp_id=1762

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/22/business/energy-environment/liter-by-liter-indians-get-cleaner-water.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0

http://www.msdf.org/blog/2012/06/linking-microfinance-water-and-sanitation-real-challenges-real-benefits/

http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/a_new_approach_to_indias_water_sanitation_crisis_part_2

http://www.dasra.org/pdf/SquattingRights_Report.pdf