SARVAJAL 1

Name: Sarvajal
Date of creation: Aug. 2008
Location: Ahmedabad, India
Nb staff: 95 people
Nb of plants installed: 154
Beneficiary households:
Over 20 000
Business model:
Drinking water selling model
through franchise (equipment
rental or purchase)
Price of the Water: US$0,6 cents/l

Case Study

P
iramal Water Ltd. is a for-profit social enterprise that operates
community water-filtration plants through local franchisees in
mid-sized Indian villages (approximately 5,000 inhabitants).
They operate under the brand “Sarvajal”. They provide cost leadership,
technological innovations, and the appropriate incentives to create market-
based solutions that can reach enough scale to impact the health of India’s
masses. Their mission is to make pure drinking water accessible and
affordable for everyone.
2  CASE STUDY

Executive summary
Piramal Water Ltd. is a for-profit social enterprise that operates community water-filtration plants through local franchisees in
mid-sized Indian villages. They operate under the brand “Sarvajal”. They provide cost leadership, technological innovations, and the
appropriate incentives to create market-based solutions that can reach enough scale to impact the health of India’s masses. Sarvajal,
as it is known in the field, is purification technology agnostic. They are always looking for better, more cost effective, and more
sustainable solutions to drinking water issues.
Their mission is to make pure drinking water accessible and affordable for everyone. They believe that the existing water
infrastructure model (piped model) is fundamentally flawed for rural and underserved areas because of its prohibitive costs. So
rather than centralized systems, Piramal Water believes that the purification of water should be done from the “inside” and thus
be as close to the customer as economically feasible - isolating points of failure, overcoming the cultural taboo that selling water
represents, trust issues and driving community (franchisee) ownership of infrastructure.

Date of creation : August 2008

Operation area : Offices: Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Bagar (Rajasthan)
Franchisees: Operating in rural villages in Rajasthan (80%), Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,
and Gujarat, India
Nb staff : 95 employees - 154 franchisees
Production capacity / unit: For Sarvajal’s Reverse Osmosis units: up to 500 liters per hour.
Total beneficiary : More than 100 000 persons
Business model : Drinking water selling model through franchise (equipment rental or purchase)
Supplier: Locally available source of water, usually from borewell, belonging to the franchisee
Technology type : Pre-filtration processing followed by RO filtration and UV disinfection
Source of revenue: For the franchisee: sales of water
For Sarvajal: percentage of water sales revenue
Target Market : Villages (+1000 HH) where available water is infected mainly by mineral contamination
Funding sources : Project from the Piramal Foundation
Legal Incorporation : Piramal Water Private Limited - Brand name : Sarvajal (Water for all)

Economical impacts Environmental impacts

• Efficiency comparison: Sarvajal purification technology is
At user level
6 times more effective than a domestic purifier
• Monthly consumption: 20 liters/day/HH • By product: Brine -> Sarvajal franchisees have to manage
• Monthly expenses: In average US$6 (from US$3,3 without up to 4,500-5000 liters of brine per day.
delivery to US$9 for chilled water with delivery) with a per
• Energy: » Solar Powered ATM
liter cost of US$0,6 cents/L (in comparison to US$0.5/L for
»» Purification plant (pump & purifier for 500L/h): 2kW
bottled water)
»» Much lower fuel cost/liter
At franchisee level (new business model) • Chemicals used: Anti-scalant for the membrane, chlorine
• Cost of a new kiosk : US$14 000 (water purification system to clean recipient (not toxic or environmentally dangerous).
+ 4 water ATMs + 1 delivery vehicle + 1 chiller + bottles) • Hardware recycling: Refurbishment and repair of end-of-
• Equipment lifetime: life machines, re-tested before going back to the field. All
» Water purification system: 7 - 8 years old parts recuperated by Sarvajal.
»» Water ATM: 10 years • Container: No plastic disposable container adding onto
• Total revenue : In average US$8000 per year plastic pollution
• Total cost : In average US$4100 per year
• Breakeven : 30 - 45 months for a franchisee that has 4 Innovations
ATMS and 150 families served per days • Water Treatment Plant : extremely low cost equipment
assembled by Sarvajal.
Social impacts • Soochak : a patented two-way monitoring device for each
water system that gives real-time information on water
• Access to reliable, safe and clean water for 100k beneficiaries, production and enables to anticipate maintenance
via a growing number of franchisees (154 water plants in 4,5
• SEMs : Customized in house ERP that manages water
years).
enterprises from source to consumption.
• Real positive impact in remote areas by resolving the access
• Suvidha : a pre-payment mechanism for franchisees
to clean water issue with solar water ATMs
• Solar Water ATM : a solar-powered, stand-alone, cloud-
• Water health diseases reduction
connected RFID-based and cash-less water vending
machine
 SARVAJAL 3

Problem tackled and magnitude of the problem

General overview of water crisis in India The specificities of Sarvajal operation areas
The area where Sarvajal
Of 850 million people globally lacking access to clean water,
operates is one of the most
over 150 million live in India. There, the ratio of people who
water stressed regions
have access to safe water has improved from 72% in 1990 to 88%
of the country. In the
in 2008. Steady progress has been made toward the objective
Indian state of Rajasthan,
of providing sustainable access to drinking water throughout
where the majority of
India. However, development of water source and water supply
Sarvajal franchisees
facilities has not kept up with the rise in water demand associated
operate, a staggering 80%
with the population growth and economic development. This
of groundwater wells
results in excess dependency on groundwater, and discontinuous
are already classified as
and unstable water supply is a constant challenge.
critically over-drawn. But
out of these wells, 80%
More specifically, India’s 1.1 billion people need access to clean
of the water extracted is
drinking water. The demand for domestic water use is divided
used for Agriculture in
between the urban and rural populations, and comprises
manner that is at least
about 4-6% of total water demand. Population growth is
70% inefficient.
going to accelerate the water crisis in India, especially as more
Furthermore, 60-80%
and more people move into the cities and become part of the
of districts in Gujarat,
middle class. Because the rivers are too polluted to drink and
Rajasthan, Punjab,
the government is unable to consistently deliver freshwater to
Andhra Pradesh an other states are affected by Fluoride
the cities, many urban dwellers are turning to groundwater,
contamination. Crippling effects of fluoride and arsenic toxicity
which is greatly contributing to the depletion of underground
due to non-availability of safe water for drinking and farming
aquifers. Rural citizens face a similar crisis. Currently 30% of
has become a major public health problem, which defies simple
the rural population lack access to drinking water, and of the 28
solutions.

Typically, Sarvajal works in villages located in the north west India (Mainly
in Gujarat & Rajasthan) where available water is most infected by mineral
contamination .

Those suffering from fluorosis complain of fatigue and typically

states in India, only 7 have full availability of drinking water for
the bones of the backbone, neck, hands or legs of the affected
rural inhabitants.
person become fragile and lead to deformity. It becomes difficult
Furthermore, in some areas, the groundwater contains
to stand, run, walk or carry a load.
substances harmful to the human body such as fluoride and
arsenic, greatly exceeding the standard provided by the World
E.g.: The people of Alwar district, for instance, were reporting
Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines for drinking water
increasing incidence of kidney failure as well as dental problems
quality. Over 21% of transmissible diseases in India are related
and severe joint pain. A study by Jhunjhunu-based JJT University
to unsafe water. 40 Millions Indians are affected each year by
showed that the fluoride content in the Alwar groundwater stood
preventable diseases caused by inadequate water supply and
between 2 parts per million (ppm) and 7 ppm, way beyond the
sanitation. This leads to an estimated 73 million working days
World Health Organisation’s permissible limit of 1 ppm.
lost annually due to waterborne diseases, erasing INR 2,700
Crore in economic value (US$600 millions).
Previous efforts to address this crisis
Previous efforts to address this crisis limited by:
• Difficulty in creating financially sustainable system for
providing water to people.
• Difficulty maintaining reliable machine operations, and high
costs of repairing machines.
• No village-level systems for ensuring only clean water is
provided to people.
• No systems for ensuring clean water accessible to families
every day.

The effort to address this crisis have seen a drastic change with
the recent Telecom revolution that India experienced. The GPRS
connectivity has indeed enabled Sarvajal to use its technology to
solve the problem of the last mile distribution.
4  CASE STUDY

ID card
General information Business Model
Name & creation: Context:
• Piramal Water Private Limited During its 5 years of operation and because of its “learning -on-
• Brand name : Sarvajal (Water for all) the-go” approach, Sarvajal has modified its business model,
• Creation in August 2008 from a business format franchise with equipment rental to one
with equipment purchase. The reasons for that are:
Location:
• Head Office : Ahmedabad To increase scalability: The target of the old business model was
• 2 other regional offices : Jaipur and Bagar (Rajasthan) villages of more than 1000 Households. But to be able to reach
• Franchisees: In rural villages in Rajasthan (80%), Uttar the 600 000 villages (out of 650 000 villages of India) that have
Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, India (1,000+ less than 1000 households, Sarvajal needed to introduce a new
households per village) BM with Water ATMs.
NB: Water ATMs couldn’t be incorporated in the earlier business
Context: Piramal Water has it’s roots in the work of the model because of its cost, almost equivalent to the price disbursed
Piramal Foundation, a charitable trust established by Ajay G. by the franchisees to set up their purification plants.
Piramal. The foundation initially piloted the Bagar Drinking
Water Initiative as part of its Grassroots Development Labora- To ensure price & quality transparency: In the old model, there
tory in Rajasthan. The goal was to reduce fluoride contamina- was no way for Sarvajal to control the price and the quality of
tion of drinking water in the Shekhawati region that had been the water at each remote locations. With the new Water ATM
linked to serious health problems. and its predetermined parameters, Sarvajal can guarantee that
The pilot revealed the enormous potential for market-based the costumer will get the price and the quality that it has chosen.
solutions to drive cost leadership, spur technological innova-
tion and establish proper incentives to improve clean water To ensure sustainability: The purpose of the earlier model was
access in India. The initiative was renamed Piramal Water to prove the concept. Now it’s to ensure sustainability.
Private Limited. • In the earlier model, every new machine represented a lock
down of capital, legal infrastructure was not very strong in
case of the default of a franchisee, Sarvajal had no precise
Human Resources data on costumers; franchisees were completely at the mercy
Employment: of the inconsistency of the electrical supply, and the fact that
91 and 4 volunteers at Headquarters and regional offices, split franchisees didn’t own the water treatment plant had side
over 4 different teams: IT and R&D, maintenance and accounts, effect : the machines were not properly operated and taken
business development, and business support to franchisees. care of. The employed operators were changed regularly and
154 Rural Franchisees in total. not correctly trained and the machines were not used to their
full-capacity (mostly only 30% of their capacity)
Kiosk level job creation: • In the new business model, Sarvajal has a better knowledge of
1-4 employees/ water point (depending on delivery system) the costumers (prepaid card for the costumers), ATMs are solar
powered which enables franchisees to run their machines the
Franchisee profile and identification process: entire day, the franchisees are much more “incentivized” now
Franchisee’s profile: that they have to pay for the capital cost and as a consequence,
Old Business Model : Mostly families wanting a second revenue Sarvajal’s is reaching a lot more people and it’s impact is much
(due to low investment requirement) larger than before.
New Business Model : Entrepreneurs with investment capacity
Identification process: Through a dedicated sales team Old Business Model: Business format franchise with
• Franchisee’s Identification : Advertising in districts where equipment rental
extension is planned (through radio, video or newspaper • Sarvajal purchases, assembles, installs at the franchisee’s
commercials) - In general, they receive an average of 300 premises a ready to use reverse osmosis machine with a
answers - or through referrals (existing franchisees or controller/ monitoring device and takes care of maintenance,
employees) quality monitoring and marketing.
• Due diligences process done by someone from the marketing • Franchisees buy a license, pay a monthly fee to Sarvajal for
team in villages checking the resources from the candidate, his its services (maintenance, quality monitoring and marketing
entrepreneurial skills, asking elders about his image and social support fee), operate the kiosk and sell water to villagers in
standards (it’s really important for the franchisee to have some 20L containers with an optional delivery service for extra fees.
kind of importance in the village and to be trusted by the local • Franchisees have a “reserved zone” of 3 km radius, to ensure a
inhabitants)... etc. minimum of clients to support the plant.

NB : To secure the payment of the monthly fees, Sarvajal introduced

Main product a prepayment mechanism for franchisees that has reduced the costs
Clean and affordable drinking water of collection from 30% to 8% of operational costs: machines only
operate for the volume the franchisees have purchased up-front.
The minimum recharge amount is ~US$250 - 41667 liter/month.
 SARVAJAL 5

New Business Model: Business format franchise with Economic Sustainability

equipment purchase
• Franchisees purchase a water purification unit, 4 water ATMs, Target Market:
a chiller (to cool the water), a delivery vehicle and the bottles Sarvajal is only targeting 60% of the total drinking water market
they will deliver the water in. Then they operate the kiosk, sell of its operating areas. It does indeed not target:
water to villagers in 20L containers with an optional delivery • 30% of the population that is below poverty line and
service (normal or chilled water), or through Water ATM (that therefore can not afford to pay for water,
they have to fill regularly in). For maintenance & support fee • The top 10% that can afford to buy a domestic water
(1 monthly marketing visit and 1 monthly maintenance visit), purifier.
they have to pay to Sarvajal, using the same prepayment system
mentioned previously, a monthly fee. Penetration rate:
• For its part, Sarvajal purchases, assembles, sells and installs 50% penetration among Sarvajal’s target market in mature kiosks
at the franchisee’s premises a ready to use reverse osmosis with an average of 150 households per plant.
machine with a controller/ monitoring device and at least
4 Water ATMs placed in remote areas. Like in the former At franchisees’ level:
business model, Sarvajal takes also care of maintenance, Old Business Model:
quality monitoring and marketing. • Capital expenditures: Initial investment of US$950 to buy the
• And newly, Sarvajal is organising bank financing for its franchise
franchisees, as they wish to make it a complete standalone • Operational costs: Franchisee bears cost of electricity
economic business model. (average US$40/month), distribution (diesel costs - average
US$20/month), HR costs (average US$110/month), tax, loan
repayment for the vehicle and additional marketing/awareness
Revenue Model
activities
Sources of revenue for franchisees: • Average Revenues: 150 households costumers - about US$600
Old Business Model : revenues/month (and 30% to 45% profit margin).
Franchisee operates the machine and sells water in 20L batch for
INR6 (US$0.12), keeps 100% revenues for first month, then gives Franchisees typically reach breakeven in 6-12 months.
back 40% of water sales to Sarvajal (he keeps 100% of delivery
fees). New Business Model:
New Business Model : • Capital expenditures: Initial investment of US$14 000 to buy
Franchisee operates the machine and sells water in 20L batch for the water plant, a minimum of 4 ATM, a chiller, a delivery
INR6 (US$0.12) and through Water ATM at US$ cent 0,6/L,with vehicle and the bottles to put the water.
an optional delivery service of INR4 for normal water and INR • Operational costs : Franchisee bears cost of electricity (average
9 for chilled water (US$ cent 0,4 extra fees for 1 liter of normal US$40/month), distribution + water ATM refill (diesel costs
water and US$ cents 0,9 for chilled water), keeps 100% revenues - average US$30/month), HR costs (average US$220/month),
for first month, then gives back to Sarvajal 20% of water sales tax, loan repayment for the vehicle and the purchase of the
revenue from the purification unit and INR 3 Paisa (cent) per equipment and additional marketing/awareness activities.
liter for the Water ATM sales. (He keeps 100% of delivery and • Revenues: 150 households from the water purification system
chilling fees). + 100 households from the 4 Water ATMs which represents
in average a US$900 revenues/month (and 50% to 65% profit
NB: In its R&D program, Sarvajal is developing an ATM with a margin).
temperature sensing technology that will enable the ATM to charge
the costumer accordingly to the temperature of the water delivered Franchisees typically reach breakeven in 20-30 months

Average billing: At Sarvajal’s level:

Average households costumer consumes 20L per day (4L for • Capital expenditure: Sarvajal bears up-front cost of purchase
each of the 5 member of the family) and assembly of the equipment (US$ 3000 for a water treatment
Old Business Model: plant and US$ 1000 for each Water ATM), and the up-front
An average household pays ~US$6 per month costs of installation of the equipment.
New Business Model: • Operational costs: recurring costs (US$90/month/franchisee)
Idem but in addition there is the revenue from the water sales including expenses for parts, maintenance, marketing, and
from the Water ATM (in average, 1000 liters per day per ATM business development support.
from April to October and 500 liters per day per ATM the rest of
the year) which represent a revenue of ~INR 22 000 during the
summer season .
6  CASE STUDY

Value Chain of Business

a roving representative. In opposition to the former solution of
Input
small and standardised plants that required a minimum village
Water sourcing: size of about 4,000 inhabitants to be financially viable, this new
Locally available source of water, usually from borewell that technology now enables Sarvajal to get water to the ‘last mile’
belongs to the franchisee. of the population, reaching the hamlets where water is an even
Space & Energy: more acute problem.
To set up the machines, the franchisee has to possess a space
with an electricity connection. Production
R&D & Innovation • Production capacity: Sarvajal’s RO units are generally
Water Treatment Plant: designed to process 500 liters per hour. On average, Sarvajal
Sarvajal has managed to source extremely low cost equipment franchises produce between 3,000 – 5,000 liters of potable
and assemble it itself to keep costs down. The machine body, product water per day during peak summer months, and
for instance, is done locally, rather than purchased (typically around 2,000 – 3,000 liters during non-peak months.
US$500-1,500). Similarly, the tanks are extremely low cost. • Efficiency: For a number of maintenance and management
Max production: 84kL/week if working 24/7, constrained reasons, including the desire to prolong machine life and
by electricity use and operator work time. Machine lifetime adhere to Indian water discharge regulations, Sarvajal’s RO
guaranteed for 6 years - lifespan: 7/8 years machines currently operate at 40% efficiency. Even though
Sarvajal lowered technology costs to US$3k per machine this figure might sounds low, it is still well above the domestic
(instead of a cost of $45,000 in the U.S) including set up and purifier yield, which is 6 times less efficient than Sarvajal’s RO.
installation. • Quality of water provided: 50 to 150 TDS (WHO standard).

Soochak:
All machines are equipped with a patented two-way monitoring
device “Soochak” that gives real-time information on water
production and enables to anticipate service issues before
they create downtime for franchisees, thus improving quality
management, and reducing operational costs (-20% since the
installation of the remote system with 2 years ago: 2,3visit/
machine/month now 1,7visit/machine/month).- price: (US$700)

SEMs:
Customized ERP that manages water enterprises from source to
consumption. Integrated with the Soochak™, Water ATM™, and
with service, maintenance, and supply chain operations.

Suvidha:
A pre-payment mechanism for
franchisees - machines only operate
for the volume the franchisees
have purchased upfront.

Solar Water ATM:

A solar-powered, stand- Sales & Distribution
alone, cloud-connected
RFID-based and cash- Access to the treated water at a fixed, affordable price:
less water vending • By purchasing it directly at the franchisee’s premises,
machine that the • From the distribution system put in place by the franchisee for
franchisee has to an additional cost.
refill regularly with • From a “Water ATM”, a solar-powered, stand-alone, cloud-
treated water from its connected RFID-based water vending machine that allows
water treatment plant access to reliable drinking water to previously unreachable
- also assembled by rural hamlets surrounding larger villages. (1)
Sarvajal to save costs -
These ‘water ATMs’ are NB: Nearly 80% of franchisees provide home delivery to their
operated by smart cards villages with their own last mile distribution system at an
that can be topped up just additional cost to users (up to INR 4, or US$ 0.08, per container
as users do to buy talk time of normal water and up to INR 9 for chilled water). They typically
for prepaid mobile phones: own lightweight, three-wheeler trucks called “tempos,” designed to
at any local store or through handle rural roads and be affordable to rural entrepreneurs. (2)
 SARVAJAL 7

Billing & Payment After sales services

Daily for each 20L unit, or with prepaid 30-day cards that can be Water quality control:
topped up just as users do to buy talk time for pre-paid mobile Done by a controlling device that reports automatically to
phones: at any local store or through a roving representative Sarvajal’s headquarters every day, and more thoroughly every
(with a monthly free cleaning of recipients). quarter at the plant with TDS meters. Cleaning solution for
containers by Sarvajal free of charge to franchisee.
Marketing
Maintenance:
• Awareness/advertisement campaigns done by Sarvajal in new E-monitoring device on each machine counting liters, detecting
villages (within their first three months, included in upfront technical issues, checking repairers’ work through individual
franchise fee) and low performing franchises, through full day pin code, and communicating information directly to Sarvajal
event with role plays, games for kids. HQ. Sarvajal can also block the machine at distance, if it faces
• Marketing training for franchisees every 2 months maintenance issues. The interventions of the maintenance teams
• Value proposition: “Clean water is accessible right in the are also monitored at distance. Franchisee can send SMS to ask
beneficiaries’ village and clean water is vital to health” for an operator in next 48 hours. Technology is local so spare
• Approach to developing consumer insights: Toll free land line parts are easily available.
to have direct feedbacks from clients
• Loyalty reinforcement: For the end-user, monthly prepaid card New franchisee’s installation process
with free container cleaning at the end of the month. For the
franchisees, incentives are given on volume sold, as well as Area for a new kiosk:
rewards on referral schemes. Unoccupied public building or private building from franchisee.

Consumer financing Sarvajal engagements: Sarvajal’s marketing & sales team

provides each new franchisee with a minimum of 25 costumers
Consumer financing: per ATM immediately (viz. 100 costumers for the 4 ATMs)
None - But the new Water ATM allows anyone to purchase as
much or as little water as they want at anytime for a low budget.
1. By placing this point-of-sale device (Water ATM) in a central area, customers
Franchisee financing: have 24/7 access and Sarvajal can track individual-level water usage.
2. To incentivize distribution, franchisees are allowed to keep 100% of the
Old Business Model: Family savings or microfinance. Not
revenues they receive from doorstep delivery.
organized by Sarvajal.
New Business Model: Sarvajal is trying to negotiate with banks
good loan conditions for the future franchisees.
8  CASE STUDY

Impact to date
Business - Job creations: 1-7 employees/kiosk (depending on
Social impact
delivery system and the number of ATM) - creation in total of
Scale and reach: 400+ jobs that encourage clean water in communities.
• 154 water plants in 4,5 years,
• More than 200,000,000 litres of clean drinking water served,
Environmental impact
• More than a 100 000 regular costumers in 6 states.
Health impact: Water efficiency:
Reduction of waterborne health diseases (especially those due to Sarvajal’s RO machines have been able to bring down the waste
an excess of fluoride). water generated drastically, as compared to a domestic RO unit.
Overcoming social segregation: It’s purification technology is indeed 6 times more effective than
As solar powered water ATM can be placed in any locations, a domestic purifier.
it can deliver water to any community overcoming social Waster water usage:
segregation & caste issues. Based on the level of efficiency at which the machines operate
Economical impact (40%) (1), for every 500 liters of raw water that enters the
treatment process, 200 liters are available as product water (i.e.
Household: purified drinking water), and 300 liters leaves the processing unit
• Average beneficiary household income per month: US$150- as brine. Using such levels of efficiency leaves Sarvajal franchisees
250 (INR7,500-12,500), equals to Purchasing Power Parity with up to 4,500-5000 liters of brine per day to manage. Aware of
$390-651 (2009 data). Assuming 20L/day/household, monthly this situation, Sarvajal is consistently working on the waste water
water expenses (US$6) represent less than 4% of the average usage problem and trying to figure out a solution for this still
household’s income. world-wide issue. As a palliative measure, Sarvajal estimates that
the majority of franchise locations employ ground application
• Access to poorer costumer: The new Water ATM allows to discharge the brine water (and remaining contaminants) that
anyone to purchase as much or as little water as they want
flow to the underlying groundwater table.
at anytime. Prior to the ATM, Sarvajal only sold its water
Energy consumption:
in 20L bottles because its price per liter of water was so low
• Purification: 2kW needed to power pump and purifier for
that it didn’t make operational sense to sell it in smaller
500L/h
denominations. However, given the convenience for
• Transport: With the ATMs, much lower fuel cost/liter.
customers and franchisees (they only need to deliver water
Maintenance visit by public transport. Container delivery
once), people are now purchasing water amounts at just 1L
transportation depends on franchisee.
and 5L quantities. These lower denominations have also
• Solar Water ATM: In order to reduce the energy needs of
brought down the initial purchase price of water and added
the franchisee, Sarvajal has developed decentralized solar
more customers to the Sarvajal network. Typically they see a
powered ATM.
150% increase in customers for each location where they add
Chemicals used: Anti-scalant for the membrane, chlorine to
an ATM. Additionally, the purchase variations allow people to
clean recipient (not toxic or environmentally dangerous).
buy based on their own usage needs instead of a one size fits all
Hardware recycling: Refurbishment and repair of end-of-life
purchase. This is especially valuable for those making less than
machines, re-tested before going back to the field. All old parts
$2/day as they can make smaller purchases when they need it.
recuperated by Sarvajal.
Container: No plastic disposable container adding onto plastic
NB: Cost of alternative: Water bottle costs US$0.5/L - Extortionate
pollution
for most of beneficiary households
1. One of the reason why Sarvajal has kept the operating efficiencies so low is to keep the brine stream relatively dilute for ground application and to keep the efficiencies
constant for maintenance simplicity. Sarvajal also believes that by keeping the TDS concentrations relatively low, franchise owners will be able to find more uses for
the brine.
 SARVAJAL 9

Ecosystem Conditions
Corporate finance “Instead of buying from a large company, you’re really buying
from a neighbour.”
Looking for new equity to scale up. Difficulty in accessing cheaper
loans, without a recoverable and liquid asset, or a guarantee from
This nuance is critical to success. Almost a fifth of households
a credit worthy or listed entity.
started buying from Sarvajal within weeks, and franchisees were
Legal / Regulatory making money.
The sector for unpackaged drinking water is unregulated so far.
Technological innovations to overcome management & quality
On the contrary, to sell ‘packaged water,’ bottled water where
issues: Managing Sarvajal’s network of over 150 unstaffed micro-
you break a seal before you open it, you have to have regulatory
industrial plants requires deliberate planning. For example, the
approval.
modules cannot be one size fits all; rather they need to be adapted
For now, the Water ATM model thus enables Sarvajal and its
to their location’s environment while remaining capable of
franchisees to sell clean water that’s not in a bottle.
handling changes in environmental dynamics. Nevertheless, the
Nonetheless, this could be seen as a possible future risk if
plants cannot become too individualized. If Piramal Pvt Ltd was
competitors lobby for regulations that would be unfavourable to
to build a solution for each household, they would lose efficiency
Sarvajal.
and ensuring quality would become even more difficult. For this
To overcome this risk, Sarvajal is working on an ISO certification,
reason they developed Water ATM which resulted in more points
an innovative approach that is being carried out for the first time
of sale and distribution for clean water without having to build
both in the social entrepreneurship field as in the unpackaged
each time a new micro-industrial plant. In addition to that, they
drinking water. They should get it within an year.
developed a combination of remote and automated controls that
Key factor of success allow engineers to ensure that each drop of water is served with
a guarantee of tight quality control, while providing real-time
Understanding regulatory loopholes & costumer beliefs : data on the amount of water produced at our plants and on the
“Water is a very politically sensitive issue in India, as in many customers accessing Sarvajal water. The best example is that the
areas of the world. People feel like water is a resource given to water dispensers are fitted with automated controls which stop
them by some sort of divine power, not something someone dispensing water in case the product water quality lies outside
can charge them for.” WHO defined limit for potable water.
To allay those fears, Sarvajal made sure their filtration machines “The key to finding an answer is to reduce the problem to one
were transparent--literally--because seeing the water being you can solve, setting constraints and innovating until you
processed allows users to feel as though they are paying for a make it work. Technology is an enabler, but the real wisdom
service; likewise, the franchise model adds a human face to the is building an operation that sustains service delivery at the
business, rather than a corporate one. last mile.”

Growth goals
Piramal Pvt Ltd expects the community level water filtration market to be $730M annually by 2020.
They expect to have 70% to 80% franchisees on the new business model and 20% to 30% that remains on the former business model.
• 2013: Serve 200 villages and 20 slums, serving a total of 200,000 people by deploying 300 plus functional water ATMs
• 2014: Serve 600 villages and slums in 10 cities to serve a million people daily
• 2016: Be present in 1,900 villages in Rural India, serving 2 million villagers daily. In the slums and underserved areas of 20 big cities
of India, serve another 2 million people daily.

But for that, they are seeking $2M in equity over the next 4 years to serve 2,000,000 people.
The Piramal Foundation is also looking at organisations that get a large number of footfalls and has teamed up with some municipal
schools in North India, where school children can get around 5 litres of free water every day.
10  CASE STUDY

Technology overview
Technical description of the power plant
Sarvajal’s treatment schematic consists of pre-filtration
processing followed by RO filtration and disinfection.
Groundwater is the predominant source, and is first pumped
through a carbon cartridge filter, followed by a micro filtration
cartridge. The purpose of these pre-filtration processes is to
remove contaminants that may otherwise damage the RO
membranes, including large particles, suspended solids, and
dissolved organic materials. The water is then pumped using
higher pressure through the RO unit filtration, where most
dissolved particles and ions are separated from the product
water. The brine stream is also removed from this part of the
process while the units are in operation. The last part of the
treatment schematic is ultraviolet (UV) disinfection, where
remaining biological contaminants are treated.

Explanation of reverse osmosis techniques

The term ‘reverse osmosis’ is derived from the basic concept of The downside of reverse osmosis
osmosis, which is the diffusion of water from higher to lower
Sarvajal works to provide clean and affordable drinking water
concentrations of dissolved solids. Whereas conventional
to rural communities in India by employing the technology of
osmosis concerns the movement of water from lower to higher
Reverse Osmosis (RO) on a local scale. This process is considered
solute concentrations, RO works in the opposite direction by
one of the best water purification technologies currently available;
using external pressure to pump water across a selectively-
however, as a by-product of this process, brine is produced that
permeable membrane. The membrane acts as a filter, leaving
contains concentrated contaminants.
large particles and ions behind and allowing water and smaller
Discharging RO brine to the ground may, over time, lead to
ions to pass through. The final product of this process is two-
increased metal and mineral concentrations in the surface
fold:
soil and underlying groundwater. Long-term increases in TDS
• A purified water stream that can be used for drinking water
concentrations in the surface soil could be detrimental for local
(also called the product water or permeate),
ecosystems as well as challenging for successful agricultural
• A highly-concentrated waste stream that can be routed for
production. Increasing TDS concentrations in groundwater
disposal (also called the brine stream).
is also problematic since higher concentrations in the source
water lead to higher future operating costs for the RO unit,
The brine stream is much more highly concentrated than the
reduced volume of recoverable drinking water, and higher brine
source water, and it presents both a challenge for proper disposal
concentrations in the future, further perpetuating the problem.
and an opportunity for reuse.
NB: For franchises in areas of Rajasthan with high TDS
Reverse-osmosis is reducing the amount of totally dissolved
concentrations in groundwater already, this problem is further
solids (TDS) in the water by pressing it through a membrane. The
exacerbated. That’s why Sarvajal is consistently trying to figure
biggest disadvantage of the technology lies in this procedure, as
out a solution for this still world-wide issue. Nevertheless, this
around 50% of waste water with an almost double TDS amount
result must be put in perspective knowing that only 0.5 per cent of
is occurring. It seems like no solution has been found yet what
all extracted water is used for drinking, whereas most of the rest
to do with this waste water.
is used for agriculture, (according groundwater extraction data).
Sarvajal’s purification plant

Sarvajal’s new ATM

 SEVEA – Synergie pour l’Echange et la Valorisation des Entrepreneurs d’Avenir - is a not-for-profit organisation that
strives for an improvement of the answers brought to energy and water issues (from an environmental, a social and a
societal perspective) in developing countries by supporting social enterprises from these sectors.

Our partners Our references

Project from

Contact: Sources:
• Interview with Anuj Sharma and Stuti Parasrampuria from Sarvajal. + www.sarvajal.com
Sevea, Association Loi 1901 • B.C. Bates, Z.W. Kundzewicz, S. Wu and J.P. Palutikof, Eds., 2008: Climate Change and Water. Technical Paper of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Geneva: IPCC Secretariat, 2008),
• Maggie Black with Rupert Talbot, Water A Matter of Life and Health: Water Supply and Sanitation in Village India
172 Chemin de Cugnet (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005)
73800 Les marches • Grail Research LLC, “Water- The India Story” (Presentation, March 29, 2009). Bates et al. Climate Change and Water
FRANCE • Somini Sengupta, “India Digs Deeper, but Wells are Drying Up,” New York Times,
• India: Water Supply and Sanitation – UNICEF Study (2002)
• World Bank Report, India’s Water Economy: Bracing for a Turbulent Future (2005)
• “India’s Population to Reach 1.5 Billion by 2025” http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1109284
• “India’s Water Crisis,” Water Partners International, http://www.water.org/programs/india/crisis.htm
www.sevea-asso.org • Water for all - The economist - http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2013/03/social-entrepreneurs-india
sevea.blog.youphil.com • Hystra_Access_to_Safe_Water_for_the_BoP_FULL_REPORT_light
• PopTech _ Snapshot_ The Sarvajal clean water micro-infrastructure
• Divine Boxes - Times Of India
@ : contact@sevea-asso.org • www.ancollege.org
• Sustainable solutions for reducing and utilizing Sarvajal’s Reverse Osmosis brine in Northwestern India

Sevea - July 2013