India was the global host of the World Environment Day in 2018, whose primary theme was “Beat Plastic Pollution”. And while the task of eliminating plastic completely may sound like a lofty one, certain sure-footed steps are being taken in this direction which are certain to yield phenomenal results in the years to come. One such laudable initiative has been taken by the Indian Railways as it associated with globally recognized IoT-driven water purification organization ‘Swajal’. Swajal was appointed in 2017 to set up its state-of-the-art water ATMs at 104 railway stations and platforms across 14 states of India.

With this move, Swajal has not only enabled the over 50 million people who use the Indian Railways to access clean, affordable drinking water, it has also made a huge leap in reducing the use and careless disposal of plastic water bottles by train travellers. This has helped in reducing the carbon footprint of the Indian Railways’ passengers in a tremendous way.    

Speaking on the association with the Indian Railways, Swajal spokesperson Dr. Vibha Tripathi said, “In 2017, we entered into our partnership with the Indian Railways with a singular vision of making clean drinking water easily available to millions of passengers each day. Today, as the Railway Minister has announced his vision of making the railways a net zero-carbon emitter by 2030, we find ourselves further imbued to contribute to this praiseworthy goal. By using the water ATMs across stations and platforms, hundreds of passengers are reducing their use of plastic water bottles and giving a huge impetus to the overall goal of the Railways to mitigate its impact on the environment.” 

She further added, “Going by the great response we have received so far, we have vowed to reach 1,000 railway stations by the end of 2019. In the process, we aim to impact 1 million lives through our association with the Indian Railways.” 

Swajal’s water ATMs have so far been deployed across Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana amongst others. Its IoT-enabled water tech venture purifies water up to 10 filtration stages and dispenses water up to 10,000 litres per hour in some locations. The salient features of these water ATMs, besides their cost-effectiveness, include flexible quantity (300 ml, 500 ml, 1 litre, 2 litre, and 5 litre), multiple payment alternatives (hard cash, BHIM, Paytm, RFID-enabled smart cards), solar-powered systems (for remote regions), and IoT-based trackability (ensuring round-the-clock service availability). Through its tie-up with the Indian Railways, it has been catering to the basic need for clean water for over 250,000 people each day and marching ahead in “beating plastic pollution” along the way! 

Launched in 2014, Swajal is a social impact watertech venture with a vision of making reliable drinking water accessible and affordable to all. Swajal’s constant R&D initiatives have further diversified its solutions and product offerings into RFID-based Water Purification Systems, Water ATM Machines, Solar Powered Water Purification Systems, Water Hut, Solar Submersible Pumps, RO systems, and large drinking water plants with tracked water bottles.

The company started off by deploying its water purification systems across government schools, railway stations, industrial plants, and residential areas in urban and rural geographies. It has since then forged multiple partnerships with various government bodies (including Smart City projects for Delhi and Guwahati) as well as multinational corporations, aggressively expanding its reach to over 5 lakh people across 14 states in India. 

It taps into a network of environmentalists, social workers, serial entrepreneurs, authors, and scientists, who have been driving the company as co-founding members.