Safe Water Network India and Honeywell India launch 150th safe water station In Telangana State
- March 22, 2019
- Posted by: Elaine Coles
- Category: Technology & Innovation, Water Treatment, Asia
In the run-up to World Water Day, Safe Water Network India (SWNI) and Honeywell India have announced the launch of their 150th safe water station in Telangana.
Telangana is India’s newest state, where over three million people lack access to safe water.
The stations provide safe drinking water access to more than 480,000 people in areas that suffer severe groundwater contamination, including fluorides, salinity, and nitrates.
Honeywell Hometown Solutions India Foundation (HHSIF), the company’s not-for-profit entity, in partnership with SWN, has set up locally-owned and operated safe water stations delivering safe, affordable, and reliable water adhering to Bureau of Indian Standard and World Health Organization water quality standards.
The stations use technology interventions to ensure uninterrupted and sustainable supply of clean drinking water. These include:
- remote monitoring: to monitor station health and ensure predictive maintenance
- IoT-based remote monitoring systems provide on-site 24/7 data collection uploaded via satellite to enable predictive maintenance
- RFID-enabled smart cards to facilitate cashless transactions
- water ATMs
- and solar panels for off-grid power supply which reduces operating cost and provides uninterrupted water supply in off grid communities
- Technology: six-step water treatment process, including reverse osmosis water treatment and ultraviolet filtration
Ravi Sewak, Country Director, Safe Water Network India, said:
“We are committed to ensuring that communities have access to safe water, especially the disadvantaged people living in areas affected by groundwater contamination. We focus on driving sustainability by building local capabilities to operate safe water stations, mobilize strong grassroots community support, and deploying technology for training and monitoring to overcome the challenge of semi-literacy.”
“ The Honeywell-funded safe water stations touch the bottom of the pyramid, helping generate livelihoods, enabling each person in the value chain to become an entrepreneur, operator, distributor, or technician.”
Safe Water Network has been working alongside communities in Ghana and India since 2009 to establish decentralized and locally-owned community water purification systems that provide affordable, reliable and safe off-grid drinking water.
Over the past ten years Safe Water Network India, has established more than 270 safe water stations called ‘iJal stations’ in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh providing access of safe water to over one million beneficiaries.
Akshay Bellare, Vice President and General Manager, Honeywell Technology Solutions, India, commented:
“It is important to understand that safe water is not just about health. It allows children to go to school every day, parents to work, and enhances living standards. Honeywell remains invested in Telangana. We are deeply tied to the community through this flagship program, and, in addition, we’re also helping build the state into a technology and engineering hub, with Honeywell engineers working on global technologies every day.”