New pilot hand-pump filter could enhance drinking water safety in India

Shinshu University and Community Jameel are piloting a prototype water filter device that can help reduce water-borne diseases and other drinking water risks. The device will be rolled out in two rural communities in India, near Udaipur, Rajasthan, and in the Sundarbans in West Bengal.

Powered by a low-pressure hand-pump, instead of an electrical pump, and easy to operate and maintain, the prototype device was developed at the Shinshu University Centre of Innovation in Japan by Professor Morinobu Endo. The technology uses a specific reverse osmosis membrane to filter dissolved solids in water. Initial testing has shown the filter to be highly effective.

Rural communities across India face challenges in accessing safe, clean drinking water, including in the two very different regions where the device is being piloted.

Rajasthan is India’s most water-scarce state, with large tracts of desert and 90% of drinking water drawn from groundwater at risk of contamination from chemical fertilisers and other agricultural and industrial pollutants.

The Sundarbans in West Bengal are a low-lying coastal region prone to regular cyclones that can cause sea flooding, where salt-water intrusion can spoil fields and contaminate wells that supply drinking water. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of cyclones in the Bay of Bengal, exacerbating water insecurity in the region.

Drinking unsafe water can have serious effects on human health and quality of life. In the Sundarbans region across the border in Bangladesh, Imperial College London researchers have identified links between salt-water contamination of drinking water and high rates of pre-eclampsia, eclampsia and hyper-tension among pregnant women, conditions that can lead to severe headaches, organ damage and death.

To pilot the deployment of the device, Shinshu University and Community Jameel are collaborating with Seva Mandir and the Rupantaran Foundation, two leading Indian non-governmental organisations.

Seva Mandir, an organisation arranged on Gandhian principles that works with 500,000 people to improve lives and strengthen communities, is helping to deploy the device in Rajasthan.

In West Bengal, the team is working with the Rupantaran Foundation, which has worked since 2009 on issues of gender equity, child protection, livelihoods promotion, education, health and nutrition.

In one test in Rajasthan, the Shinshu University device removed impurities in drinking water – or parts per million (ppm) of total dissolved solids (TDS) – from 625ppm to 47ppm, a reduction of 92.4% TDS to levels well below the World Health Organisation’s recommendation for safe drinking water of 300ppm. The device has also previously been field-tested in Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand and Canada.

Ronak Shah, chief executive officer at Seva Mandir, said: “The poor quality of drinking water is a major challenge for water security in rural Rajasthan. The hand-operated water filter has shown extremely encouraging results, reducing dissolved solids by nearly 90%. Additionally, it operates without electricity, which is another crucial feature. We are excited to pilot this filter in collaboration with our partner community.”

Smita Sen, founder and director of Rupantaran Foundation, said: “The people of Sundarbans have been facing the problem of having clean drinking water due to saline infestation during cyclonic events. We are excited to pilot this device in Sundarbans, as it has the potential to solve the clean drinking water problem in future.”

Ambreen Shaikh, senior programmes officer at Community Jameel, said: “Water scarcity continues to be one of the largest threats to communities across the world, which will only be exacerbated as the climate crisis worsens. We are very excited to be piloting this device, in partnership with Shinshu University, as we try to enhance accessibility to safe drinking water for underserved communities in India and across the world.”

During the pilot study, the device’s performance will be monitored closely. A key question is whether users will adopt the device as part of their everyday lives, or whether the additional work required to operate the pump and filter the water makes it unattractive, despite the benefits in reducing dissolved solids.

As well as addressing the water quality challenges facing Rajasthan and the Sundarbans in India, the device is effective in countries where frequent power outages affect water supplies and reduce the quality of drinking water. The Shinshu University device means water can be filtered to drinking standards without electricity and with reduced carbon emissions.

Community Jameel has close partnerships with both Seva Mandir and the Rupantaran Foundation. In Rajasthan, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a global research centre supported by Community Jameel since 2005 that works to reduce poverty by ensuring policy is informed by scientific evidence, has been collaborating with Seva Mandir for more than 20 years.

In West Bengal, Community Jameel has supported the Rupantaran Foundation’s Ankur project to help over 40,000 people in the Sundarbans recover their livelihoods following catastrophic devastation caused by cyclones, and manage the rising threat of climate change.