Water ATM

Published on February 7, 2013 15:10 by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Technology

As dawn breaks, two queues start forming at the only petrol pump in Lakshmangarh, a small town in Rajasthan's Alwar district. One, obviously, is of people waiting to get their vehicles' fuel tanks refilled. The other is in front of a simple metal box mounted on the petrol pump's boundary wall. People like to call it ATM machine. But instead of dispensing cash, it gives them clean drinking water.

On her turn, 26-year-old Sapna Jatav takes out a plastic card and holds it in front of a sensor of the water ATM. The sensor reads her card and shows a balance of Rs 130. Jatav places a 10-litre container below a pipe on the water ATM and presses a button. Reverse Osmosis (RO) processed water starts flowing from the pipe. Jatav releases the button when the container is full. The machine calculates the quantity of water dispensed and deducts the amount from her account. One litre costs 50 paisa.

The technological initiative, powered by solar energy, is changing the lives of many in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Earlier, people depended on the saline municipal water or groundwater that has high fluoride content. "Water was not fit even for cooking," says homemaker Rekha Atolia. "Tea would get curdled. Dal would not cook if baking soda was not added to it. When relatives would come, we would buy bottled water," she says.

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