J-PAL South Asia launches SARWA for clean air and water

At an event in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) South Asia announced the launch of Solutions and Advancements through Research for Air and Water (SARWA), an initiative to advance clean air and water in India and one of the new J-PAL Air and Water Labs. Through SARWA, J-PAL South Asia, with support from Community Jameel, is partnering with the Government of India’s Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DWWS) and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) to design, test, implement and scale up solutions that are effective in reducing air and water pollution.

SARWA is part of broader efforts by J-PAL and Community Jameel to improve access to clean air and water globally by scaling up effective programmes. J-PAL Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and J-PAL Africa are also launching Air and Water Labs, in collaboration with Community Jameel, to address the global water and air pollution crises in vulnerable geographies. Collectively, the J-PAL Air and Water Labs will serve nearly 260 million people. The labs collaborate with local government in Cape Town, South Africa, state-level representatives in India, and national leadership in Egypt to tackle critical water and air challenges.

In India, about 75% of households lacked on-premise drinking water in 2018 and air pollution reduces the average life expectancy by 5 years.

J-PAL researchers in India will engage with government partners to co-diagnose the most urgent air and water challenges and opportunities for policy innovation, expand policymakers' access to and use of high-quality data, co-design potential evidence-based solutions, generate evidence through rigorous evaluation and use of existing and new data sources, and support scaling of effective air and water programmes and policies.