5 Start-Ups That Are Safeguarding Water

India is the third largest groundwater exporter, but 21 cities are expected to run out of water by next year! Taking up the challenge, innovative companies are disrupting the ecosystem in search of better times. We bring you five start-ups that are safeguarding our precious resource.

- Shivangi Asthana

When Vivek Shukla, Co-founder, and CEO, SmarterHomes, ran out of water for three days at his apartment in Bengaluru sometime ago, he decided to come up with a smart solution that can be cost-effective and impactful. Shukla was paying around Rs 2,100 every month for this basic necessity. Without a metering system in place, the bill of Shukla’s apartment complex would be a common flat rate for all residents. He recalls, “There used to be 200 odd tanks each day in our apartment. I was worried overpaying the entire amount even though we are not consuming water on a regular basis, either due to traveling or spending the day at the office. Everyone’s level of water consumption was different yet we had to pay the same amount.”

Another problem faced by high-rise apartments was to find out where to install the meter as changing the entire plumbing would mean an additional cost. This was when SmarterHomes founder Vivek Shukla decided to rope in his longtime colleague and neighbor Kasturi Rangan to address the problem.

There are nearly 600 million Indians under “extreme water stress” and about 200,000 people die annually due to the lack of access to clean potable water, according to a 2018 NITI Aayog study. Foreseeing a waterless planet, INDRA, which partners with customers by helping the industry and society meet water demands, came up with the idea of treating industrial wastewater. Likewise, finding a lake burning for 18 hours straight behind his house in Bengaluru motivated Tharun Kumar, Co-founder, ECO STP, to search for alternative ways of treating wastewater. ECO STP disrupts the current model of using chemicals or energy to treat water. Kumar and his cofounders, who he met in his society and around, made a personal investment of Rs 5 lakh each.