How High Tech Is Helping Bring Clean Water To India

Anand Shah runs a company that is using solar-powered “water ATMs” to bring clean water to remote villages in India. In an e360 interview, Shah talks about how his company is using a high-tech approach to address one of India’s most intractable public health issues.

Despite decades of efforts that have dramatically improved access to clean water in India, more than 140 million people there still drink water contaminated by bacteria, chemicals, and other pollutants. Many of those Indians live in remote villages where it is not economically feasible to build infrastructure to filter water.

Indian-American social entrepreneur Anand Shah is the CEO of a company called Sarvajal that seeks to tackle this so-called last mile problem by deploying solar-powered “water ATMs” that dispense clean water to residents with the swipe of a prepaid smart card. The ATMs are supplied with water from larger villages where Sarvajal has built filtration centers operated by local franchisees. The advent of cheap cloud computing and mobile technology lets Sarvajal cut costs and ensure the machinery scattered across India is working properly. Sensors transmit data on the filtration centers’ operations, allowing the company to keep tabs on water supply and demand.