Environment Planning Group Limited (EPGL)
Affordable Reverse Osmosis Systems
EPGL has the potential to make high-quality water affordable to millions of people who currently lack access.
The Challenge
- Water contamination by fluoride, nitrates, hardness, and salinity is a major issue in northwestern areas of India. Over 11 million people in Gujarat alone suffer from high levels of these contaminants, but lack access to affordable alternatives or purification systems.
- In Delhi, the majority of urban slum dwellers also lack access to safe drinking water because a large amount of the water available is contaminated by leaking sewage lines.
- Reverse osmosis (RO) technology is well suited to treat these contaminants, but RO systems have traditionally been limited to "high-end" customers due to their high initial capital costs and the continued cost of operation and skilled maintenance.
The Innovation
- Environment Planning Group Limited (EPGL), a for-profit organization based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, has developed a strong expertise in designing Reverse RO systems. It has pioneered a new model for small clusters that drastically reduces the initial installation costs and simplifies the maintenance of community water systems.
- The business model developed by EPGL enables communities to contribute a small, secured building and raw water, thereby lowering the price of water to the end consumer.
The Impact
- EPGL operates a small number of water filtration plants and is looking to scale up and provide high-quality water affordable to millions who currently lack access.