In India’s quickly rising cities, water shortage is now not a future menace; it’s a each day battle. Bengaluru’s borewells are working dry, Chennai has confronted “Day Zero” situations, and even Mumbai and Kolkata are beginning to really feel the stress. Regardless of growing consciousness, the disaster usually feels distant till it reveals up on the faucet.

“We don’t worth water till we run out of it,” says Navkaran Singh Bagga, founder and CEO of Akvo Atmospheric Water Programs. “However the fact is, we’re already in a disaster. It’s simply erratically distributed. Some have greater than they want, whereas others are pressured to drink unsafe water, and that’s what pushed me to behave.”

Navkaran didn’t come from the world of environmental science or engineering. Born and raised in Kolkata, he studied finance and accounting. However it was his ingrained fascination with expertise, one which started as a toddler taking aside video cassette recorders (VCRs) and assembling his personal computer systems, that in the end formed his life’s work.

“I’ve at all times been extra curious than cautious. I didn’t know on the time that water could be the main target, however as soon as I noticed how uncared for the area is, particularly by way of innovation, I knew that is it,” he tells The Higher India.

In 2017, he launched ‘Akvo Atmospheric Water Programs’ with a imaginative and prescient to create machines that may produce clear ingesting water straight from the air.

With no backing from traders or authorities grants, he got down to show that protected and sustainable water could be delivered with out counting on pipelines, groundwater extraction, or plastic bottles.

From skinny air to ingesting water

The inspiration behind the corporate’s expertise is an easy query that few cease to ask: why are we not utilizing the water already round us?

Day-after-day, the ambiance carries huge quantities of moisture, even in dry-looking environments. Akvo’s Atmospheric Water Mills (AWGs) are designed to faucet into this humidity and switch it into potable water.

The method begins by drawing in ambient air by means of a fan system. This air is then filtered to take away mud and pollution. As soon as cleaned, it enters a cooling chamber the place it’s introduced right down to a temperature that triggers condensation — the identical course of you see when a chilly drink sweats on a scorching day. These water droplets are collected in a food-grade stainless-steel tank.

The collected water then undergoes a number of levels of purification. It passes by means of sediment and carbon filters to take away any residual particles and odours. A closing ultraviolet (UV) remedy ensures any micro organism or viruses are neutralised.

Important minerals reminiscent of calcium and magnesium are added to enhance the style and dietary profile. The top product is mineral-balanced water, not from the bottom, however from the air itself.

“We’re not filtering current water. We’re creating it from a very new supply,” the 39-year-old founder explains. “It makes an actual distinction in locations the place conventional water sources are both unavailable or unreliable.”

Designed for locations that want it most

Akvo’s machines are significantly well-suited to tropical and coastal areas the place humidity ranges are larger, together with cities like Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. In best situations, one unit of electrical energy can produce as much as 4 litres of water.

In locations with decrease humidity, like Bengaluru, the effectivity is nearer to 2 and a half litres per unit, nonetheless substantial, particularly when the choice isn’t any water in any respect.

The machines are additionally adaptable in the case of energy. They’ll run on common electrical energy, photo voltaic panels, and even diesel mills, making them appropriate in off-grid areas and emergency response zones.

“Water shouldn’t be a luxurious merchandise,” Navkaran says. “And with the suitable expertise, it doesn’t should be. We are able to decentralise entry to wash water.”

Because the first business deployment in 2018, the corporate has put in greater than 2,000 methods in 15 nations. From South India to South America, the machines have produced over 100 million litres of fresh ingesting water, with out drawing a single drop from the bottom.

The machines are presently put in in six Indian cities, together with Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad, and have expanded globally to nations together with the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, and several other in South America, like Chile, Ecuador, and Colombia.

Water options that work for everybody

Past the science and engineering, it’s the tales of the folks utilizing the machines that make the affect really feel actual.

In Gujarat, PGP Glass Personal Restricted, a significant producer of ornamental glass for cosmetics and prescription drugs, had been exploring sustainable options to bottled water for its workforce.

“Once we checked out our environmental footprint, we realised water use was a blind spot,” says Sudeesh Menon, undertaking supervisor. “What stood out to us about Akvo isn’t just the atmospheric water generator (AWG) expertise, it’s how easy and environment friendly the system is. There isn’t a water wastage, no advanced upkeep, and it supplies our employees with clear ingesting water day by day. It would seem to be a small change, but it surely has made an enormous distinction in our each day operations.”

At Corewire Floor Expertise, a welding consumables producer, sustainability has at all times been an organization worth, however placing it into motion hasn’t at all times been straightforward.

“We had all these insurance policies about decreasing plastic and vitality consumption. However when it got here to water, we had been nonetheless counting on plastic bottles. Akvo gave us a sensible method to change that. It feels good to know we’re not simply speaking about change, we’re contributing in direction of it,” says Sabin, their buy officer.

Among the many extra attention-grabbing examples is the Tuppadahalli Wind Farm in Karnataka, operated by Acciona, an organization dedicated to renewable vitality.

“We’re producing clear electrical energy for tens of hundreds of houses,” says Sumanta V S, website supervisor.

“It made no sense that we had been nonetheless delivery in bottled water. With Akvo, we at the moment are producing clear water on-site, identical to we do with energy. It’s aligned, environment friendly, and actually overdue.”

Scaling with out promoting out

Akvo runs with a targeted staff of 38 folks and, by design, has by no means introduced in outdoors traders. The founder explains it is a strategic choice to retain full management over the corporate’s route and keep dedicated to its mission with out exterior stress.

“We didn’t need to be pushed into chasing earnings on the expense of function,” he explains. “By rising sustainably, we’ve got been in a position to keep true to why we began.”

The corporate gives purchasers two versatile choices. The primary is an easy buy mannequin, the place firms purchase the system outright. The second is an OPEX-based mannequin referred to as Construct, Personal, Function, Switch (BOOT).

On this setup, Akvo installs and operates the system on the shopper’s website with none upfront funding. The shopper pays for the quantity of water they devour. It’s a hassle-free method to entry clear water whereas avoiding capital expenditure and ongoing upkeep.

“For lots of companies, the upfront value of sustainability is what stops them from making the swap. We eliminated that barrier,” Navkaran says.

The methods vary in capability, from small 50-litre-per-day items to industrial setups that generate as much as 30,000 litres per day. A hospital in Mumbai reported a 22% minimize in water procurement prices after switching to Akvo.

Subsequent steps into the water revolution

The corporate already has a presence in components of Africa and the Gulf, however now goals to significantly improve its footprint. With humidity ranges well-suited to its expertise and water shortage at vital ranges, the corporate is in search of new partnerships to put in extra atmospheric water generator machines and develop entry to sustainable ingesting water.

“These areas have the necessity and the humidity,” the founder says. “We goal to construct probably the most cost-effective water technology methods and deploy them the place they’re wanted most.” Nonetheless, he stays cautious about over-promising.

“We’re not going to unravel the worldwide water disaster alone,” he admits. “But when we can provide folks extra management over their water, scale back dependence on susceptible sources, and make it sustainable, that’s already an enormous step.”

A special mind-set about water

At a time when water shortage is changing into the norm, Akvo’s story is much less about miraculous expertise and extra a few shift in mindset — one which sees water not as one thing we should dig, pipe, or bottle, however as one thing that’s already round us, ready to be utilised.

“The ambiance doesn’t discriminate; it holds water for all of us. The actual query is whether or not we’re prepared to vary the best way we take into consideration accessing it,” the founder concludes.

(Edited by Vidya Gowri Venkatesh; All footage courtesy Navkaran Singh Bagga)