Safe Clean drinking water
Some reports cited that lack of access to clean water and sanitation killed children at a rate equivalent to a jumbo jet crashing every four hours(a). So when Paul Polak conceptualized Spring Health Water (India) Private Limited as an enterprise, the idea was to implement a radically affordable, decentralized delivery system, to provide safe and affordable drinking water to a potential 200 million people who earn less than $2 a day.
Spring Health utilizes this radically affordable and decentralized model to partner with kirana shop owners in small villages in Eastern India to treat and sell water with an enterprise model that is affordable, scalable and impactful.
A family of 5 can thus meet their daily need of drinking water for a cost of Rs 2 to Rs 3 with a max of Rs 5 if they are at a distance of more than 2km from the kiosk. The entrepreneur makes a 25% margin on water sales and the benefit of increase footfall to his shop access to other products from the Spring Health stable and last but not least is the increased status the providing of a basic need to the community creates for him.
Electro-chlorination
Salt is universally available in villages in India, and robust but simple electro-chlorinator devices from Antenna Foundation Switzerland use trickle electricity to produce chlorine oxidants from a mixture of salt and water.
Quality control and measured dosing is important as chlorine oxidants work on a threshold effect.
This is provided by Spring Health company staff who produce the chlorine disinfectant and dose it and then test it at the village partners premises before it can be distributed. The testing is done with smart phone mounted device.
Auropure
The Auropure system employs a technology to produce chlorine dioxide in-situ that is an extremely effective water purifier and has the added advantage of being odorless and tasteless, making it more acceptable.
The device however has measurement electronics built in with a GPS transmitter so that quality can be monitored real time. The Auropure system however requires a larger quantum of sales to be viable and is increasing in interest and use.
Drinking Water Background
The provision of clean drinking water is given priority in the Constitution of India, with Article 47 conferring the duty of providing clean drinking water and improving public health standards. The government had undertaken various programs since independence to provide safe drinking water to the rural masses. Till the 10th plan, an estimated total of Rs. 1105 billion was spent on providing safe
But despite this huge expenditure providing safe and secure drinking water was a major hurdle and a national economic burden.
The major challenge for Paul was to sell water to villagers of Odisha. Villagers usually consumed water from common resources such as open wells, ponds and hand- pumps. Another overarching challenge was overcoming class and caste barriers and supplying safe drinking water at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP). Cultural beliefs and faith associated with water required triumphing over behavioral, social and cultural biases. Lastly scaling up the venture and making it commercially viable required overcoming all kinds of biases and also convincing investors of the potential returns.
With this context, Paul designed a for-profit venture to sell safe drinking water in the remotest and poorest corners of Odisha. Paul was the Chairman and his team comprising Jacob Mathews (CEO, Spring Health) and Kishan Nanavati (COO, Spring Health) registered Spring Health as a company and started the pilot project in the Khurda district of Odisha.