£10 Tata filter promises to bring clean and cheap water to India’s poor

bengalraider

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From The Times
December 8, 2009
£10 Tata filter promises to bring clean and cheap water to India’s poor

Rhys Blakely in Mumbai
For centuries Indians have known of the cleansing properties of rice husk ash — a gritty grey substance used by poor villagers to clean their teeth.

Now it is hoped that a £10 gadget that combines the same humble ash with the latest nano technology will revolutionise the supply of safe drinking water to the world’s impoverished masses.

Standing 2ft tall, the Tata Swach resembles a snazzy water cooler. It has not been designed for posh offices, however, but for cramped village huts and tiny city slum shacks. The germ-laden water is poured into the top, and the clear liquid that emerges meets the latest American regulations on water purification standards. Its makers claim that it will provide for a family of five for 30 rupees (40p) a month.

The potential market is vast: across the developing world one billion people do not have access to safe drinking water, according to the World Health Organisation.

The gadget, named after the Hindi word for clean, is priced within reach of poor Indians, its inventors say. It does not need a source of running water or electricity — key factors in a country where 400 million people are not connected to the national grid.

“This opens up a complete new market,” said R. Mukundan, an executive of Tata, which owns Jaguar Land Rover in Britain. “It doesn’t compete with any existing product.”

The key component is a replaceable filter that uses rice husk ash as a matrix, to which microscopic particles of silver are attached to kill the bacteria that cause waterborne disease. The filter can be used to purify 3,000 litres before it needs to be replaced — enough to last the average Indian family 200 days, Tata said.

Demand is likely to be strong in India, where a dire shortage of safe water is approaching crisis levels. India’s middle classes may be enjoying an economic renaissance but diarrhoea, a preventable disease, will kill about 380,000 poor children across the sub-continent this year.

Last week a man died during a riot over a shortage of water in Mumbai, one of India’s most developed cities.
£10 Tata filter promises to bring clean and cheap water to India’s poor - Times Online
The Tata group is known for being a paragon of corporate responsibility but they have really outdone themselves this time,
Kudos to the Tata group and Mr Ratan Tata in particular for having made a filter whithin the reach of millions , every year thousands of Indians fall prey to water -borne diseases . this device is going to be a lifesaver for millions.
 

bhramos

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Good News to India.
Thanks for Posting such a good article @ Bengalraider.
do you know Who is the First Indian to buy a car?
its Jamshedji TATA.
they are First of almost every things happened in India.
 

bengalraider

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this type of device can also be used to boost India's image in the rest of the developing world,if we can put cheap water filters on the market in Africa millions will get water that is safe to drink and each time they take a sip the'll be thanking Tata and India.

P.S -the government should make any sales of this tax-free
 

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