The Water Warrior
[Music]
good evening
my name is drinking water switch
not out of rain water not out of even
thin air
or even the ocean for that matter which
a lot of people are trying to do right
now
um i’m sure there are a lot of people
here who have pretty much turned up
their horses by now or maybe you could
have said like oh my god wow she’s doing
that
um i’m gonna go over the first one i’m
not sure
uh but let me tell you this that the
current um
scenario of how the earth is currently
retaliating uh you know with
all the ice cap melting and the floods
and the storms and one would really
think
uh practically so you know it should
increase the groundwater level but
actually that’s not
what’s happening all that water is
actually going
into your drains or it is going into
some sort of an empty space where it is
getting mixed up with like you know
bleached um gluten written soil
and thereby making it unfit to use so
all that water that is coming
excessively even though it’s a big
catastrophe
um is actually going nowhere so um
excessive rains floods and a really bad
sewer system
is such a heavy cocktail um you know
that and i learned this a very very hard
way uh because you know my family
was getting sick i had kids and i
couldn’t understand where we were
getting
all these mysterious skin diseases from
having tummy aches having uh you know
unexplained
um weird situations even though we were
like not
really eating out or whatever and this
heady cocktail is what we were actually
consuming which i got to know later
because uh it was being consumed either
while bathing or cooking
or uh you know irrespective of having an
arrow at home it didn’t really matter
the smell from the showers was really
foul
um you know and um and right outside my
home there was like excessive build-up
of
sweet water because in the area that i
live in apparently every monsoon the
sewage line and that of the municipal
land used to kind of overlap
by coming to our pipelines and of course
if i want to keep up the immunity of my
family
um i have to keep cleaning it i had to
keep keep
you know kind of um updating the
membranes on my ro system as well
um and this was just really getting
crazy so um
so this was getting you know the
beginning of a very expensive affair and
this was happening here on end and
you know the governing bodies the party
bodies were really couldn’t do much
about
it and um so the best way we thought
is you know sewage is is getting you
know bad
press um such as getting bad press so um
what we thought is let’s
make the villain a hero so because it
had a lot of character
uh and it was available plenty and it
would never end or dissipate or ever
getting stick
so then we have humans on the earth
people like us which is never
going to be a problem uh maybe sewage is
90
liquid and 10 percent so this is like a
perfect blend
um and it’s a gold for me
we worked on it for a year and a half
and after various experiments and tests
uh we were ready with it and we achieved
almost all that we had set up
a switch being converted into drinking
water
uh and more and nothing less than ws
standard water because otherwise it
would really not be fruitful enough
or bia standards for that matter as far
as indian drinking water is concerned
and of course we had to have the best
for this baby um so then we came to the
point that okay phase one is done now so
now what next
how do we prove it to the world how do
we prove it that this can be used for
masses
because a lot of innovations on an
average are either good on paper or they
couldn’t laugh
when it gets on to mass trials it mostly
fails
so we managed to set up a spot in one of
the plants in cash report which is an
already running sewage treatment plant
and we asked them to give us a hundred
thousand liters of sewage to show them
some magic
and um and we told them that we’re gonna
set it up for free we’re not gonna ask
you to pay for it because we wanted
a space to kind of where we can showcase
this technology and some place where we
would have a lot of visitors
so they agreed and it worked it would be
and
more importantly they also agreed
because it would be a feather in their
cap
where they’re kind of getting you know
adopting new technologies
and of course for us that would be our
first mover advantage so it was a
win-win situation
so we erected we installed we
commissioned a hundred thousand liter
plant
where it was being treated so it was
completed 400 000 liters
and we converted back in 85 000 liters
of drinking water
um and uh without and this is all
without the use of chemicals purely
organic
right so that’s when we got the
wow uh we saw the potential we saw the
market
we saw the future and didn’t even we
didn’t need a crystal ball and
astrologer tell us that this works
so that is when my story as a green
entrepreneur started
and or more what i call myself or i
would like to call myself
a water warrior uh success was
swift in terms of awareness levels
but somehow as one would expect that
people would be lining up and
you know i have
but um it is quite the opposite sadly in
the beginning
um but there is a positive i’m coming
back uh i was getting uh it was very
challenging it was very disheartening
and it almost
didn’t seem like this was all worthy of
um you know
worth it and uh knowing that i had a
proven solution knowing that it meant
all the parameters and i had no one
coming and asking for it for
a quick launch where mr arun kejriwal
had drank the water and so did everybody
else and he’s okay
um so it didn’t matter for them it was
more like how
are you expecting us to drink water
which comes out of sewage
so after several attempts of trying to
convince some potential
clients we will also ask several
questions about
can this water be used for anything else
other than consumption
uh human consumption so that’s when
you know all the factors of river
rejuvenation
ground water rejuvenation toilet
flushing agriculture horny culture
um you know everything basically 70 of
water could be substituted which is not
for non-human consumption
um if anybody does eventually want to
use it for that
uh then you know that comes to the next
phase so we were like yes of course it
can because that’s
what we call a first level of filtration
and
um and we were one day told by a
government official very
candidly and very poorly and saying that
um that would take you a lifetime
to convince 1.3 billion people in this
country to drink water coming out of
their toilets
so either you come up with this good
strategy or a different strategy or
please stop wasting people’s time um
so that’s when everything changed the
focus changed the marketing tools
changed the business strategy
changed my own thinking changed and um
basically came to the point that you
know okay fine you don’t want to drink
it don’t drink it
and then substitute it for everything
else which is from
maintenance to washing to laundry to
um the toilet flushing through hobby
culture for you know
cities and for agriculture as well um
and
for construction uh construction that
they are also and
construction and agriculture spaces
which basically
do uh consume a lot of water literatures
are in in grows
the amount of money uh that would be
safe you could go on vacation three
times
upgrade your vehicle um and uh because
that’s how much you would save it’s
almost at 80
90 percent saving uh and the main
mission is that groundwater
does not get extracted it is zero
groundwater extraction
and uh thereby keeping the levels up
more importantly
is treating sewage at source rather than
the current way of where it goes through
your pipelines and it basically gets
eventually gets dumped into the resource
so
for all practical purposes it was a
financial and emotional
and uh environmental win uh
it worked and uh basically you could see
that everybody could see the advantages
of having the system
and almost immediately be a
government-based institute be
residential and um you know that’s when
everything started really uh becoming
better
so now that i’ve talked about that story
um this quickly i will come to the
science part of it
it is basically this technology imitates
nature at its best
it’s like when spring water which is
coming down from the hills
um you know goes through this whole
journey of gravel and stone and various
little bits and bobs
of what it goes by it gives usually
cleared sparkling drinking water
it’s a very similar concept um and
uh basically nature by far is what i
understand is the best teacher it is the
best balancer
and if there’s any great honor to
acknowledge nature is to copy it
and the water that comes out of it is we
have three levels of filtration
so the first level is basically the what
we call a bio filter
um and that water is really good enough
for groundwater rejuvenation uh
for um water any any you know water body
rejuvenation for agriculture
then we have a second level of
filtration where we bang in oxygen um
uh again through a natural method where
the water is good enough for
seventy percent of your usage which is
non-human consumption
and when we come to the human
consumption part again which we have a
membrane so that’s the advanced
filtration system
and this membrane gives you water which
is a great for
cooking bathing and for
drinking as well what makes it better
the biggest effect on this that anyone
can take is that it
is um it is a water recovery plant from
switch
that is done water coming up without the
use of chemicals without the use of
arrows
um thereby the conversion is 100
and for drinking water is 85 and um
there is minimal electricity because
everything is based and designed for
gravity
so you save money there that’s part one
of the roi by the way
there is no sludge which is created so
you don’t have any such management
whatsoever you don’t have to worry about
that
um it is the minimal operation and
maintenance cost in the entire country
as far as food treatment plants are
concerned we are the cheapest
um only by the fact that we the water
the treated water comes out at almost
eight i say
a litter compared to the two two and a
half
three rupees a liter from other uh
there is no order you can literally walk
through my plant and not smell
basically smell almost nothing um there
is no noise because there are no pumps
there are no motors there are only two
submersible pumps
um and of course high return investment
which i was talking about
and the biggest factor of reject
management uh we tried talking about
earlier
uh is it comes out to be in the form of
really high quality
a liquid form of uh non-chemical gluria
which is amazing um for it’s a high
grade fertilizer
even when we uh you know replenish uh
everything uh the media is um also
really hydrate fertilizer
so it also works for agriculture so
every little
part of this plant is financially viable
you get a return on investment you
actually literally start making money
the minute commission plan for you
um and very very importantly you don’t
need
any skilled labor you don’t need an
educated person to run this it is so
simple to run
that unskilled labor uh also can run it
for you we we normally give two to three
months of training uh once we install
the plant we also give
uh the pollution controlled both
certificates where the water is tested
after the treated water comes out
so that the client whoever is installing
this has pure and enough
trust to know that whatever we’re giving
we’re giving is pure
and it’s um not overrated uh so these
distinct advantages of course make it uh
completely sustainable
it makes it green and uh the major chunk
of the seawater emissions um
is uh look after there is there is no
other
stp that does that right now so it also
helps in creating a positive
and social responsibility among all who
have
adopted this technology uh they like the
idea that of taking sewage in a green
and organic manner without any research
now what does it do for the country
because i believe obviously this has to
have some massive goal of formatting in
the
in the you know for the country is that
basically
today in everybody’s mind we’re trying
to figure out okay 2030 is coming up
we’re going to be up by 416 million
people
and where is this water gonna come from
currently 21 major cities
have run the groundwater on which they
are completely dependent on
is dry we have all heard stories of
chennai and bangalore
um you know and that’s really it’s nuts
um
and almost about i would say um eighty
percent of the water that comes out of
domestic sewage is
going untreated again getting into
rivers and everyone
is going there so um to top it all there
is
um there is no real proof of water
disparity like people talk about it
between rural and urban
yet there is a fair chunk of the
population that today does not have
access to safety in drinking water
and um they either have to travel really
long distances to get even like
10 liters worth of a small bucket worth
of 10 liters for a family of four
and um even that water is not for
standards it’s not really great water
but it’s okay for them and they make do
but that make do is what converts into
um
diseases it converts into tb it converts
into cancer
um it conserves severe diarrhea skin
just just
you know skin disfigurement and they
have to go right back to it because
there is no other source of clean water
so um
so that increases medical expenses for
them and it gets really
you know it becomes very difficult for
them to live
so um even though we are considered to
be a developing nation
if our population and our citizens
cannot
um you know get their fair share of
clean air water in food
and they will we will soon be using our
biggest resource and that is our people
that is our citizens our population and
um
so with the all stack against that and
um the population and that of the
environment
this technology kind of negates all
those problems
you know everything from uh you know
treating sewage which is the biggest
problem right now we’re treating that
we’re giving you something green we’re
giving you something sustainable and
giving you something that is so
important
to live um and that is clean safe water
um so basically those are the usps you
know the advantage of the takeaways from
uh most of this and the only reason i
can claim this today
is that we have completed 14
installations since 2015.
sorry from 2016
about six to eight million liters of
sewage every day
which is thereby giving about eight
million people almost really good eight
lakh people
good clean safe water um so currently
that water is being treated for all
purposes and
um even for consumption for that matter
and even for food industries
uh where drinking water level is given
so that they come out with zero effort
uh what we call zero effluent plants
uh this in itself reduces almost 60
percent
of the fresh water usage uh thereby
resulting in decreased financial costs
as well uh
this may seem like a really small number
uh compared to the 1.3 billion
uh but i said but as i believe that you
know a small drop
can really create a big portion and
that’s the goal
and that’s the goal where i come from
and um i i for me it is that
the efforts are towards making sure that
every household
has a cap flowing with fresh water clean
water
and uh and saving all our natural
resources um by reviving them
and giving back their life and flow
which are
predominantly our rivers which are our
main source of water
and uh we thank nature day um and we
give it back three four
um so you know so from the way in terms
of
uh governments or in terms of citizens
uh my call to action
is definitely that we’re targeting smart
city project spirit marketing government
schemes water saving activities uh
residential societies
um hospitals commercial hubs where what
wherever water is needed basically
and uh we see cooperation also from
citizens
um mostly like people like you uh people
like
from huntsville um you know where we can
also help to get the government
draft uh policies which comprises greens
and gene decentralized wastewater
systems other than having one
plant where you know they may be serving
a large population but in fact
something gets screwed up in that plant
and that nothing
you get so um
this is not just applicable in india it
is applicable anywhere in the world
uh any country wherever there is
polluted water grey brackish chemical
effluent polluted water you know this
technology can definitely treat it
um i truly truly believe in the young
generation of today
even after speak after hearing um speak
my own two kids um were a part of this
generation and
um even though somewhere i may be
wanting to leave a legacy but i would
really like to start
um for that now rather than forget to
wait till i’m gone
uh to partner with me um and to you know
kind of take on the onus
uh for the future generation that is yet
to come uh to get there to
basically create a community um
where we’re able to give every citizen
their right to be in safe water
and um i also believe a ripple effect
of um making one simple choice
uh can create a big wave of change um
so i’m really hoping that we can all be
our own water warriors and start really
looking after the water that we’re
consuming