Tag: Drinkingwater

Five environmental entrepreneurs making money sustainably

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An underlying theme of sustainable businesses is innovation – through either a product, service or a combination of both. Here are five environmental entrepreneurs saving the environment and promoting sustainability through their startups.

Photo Courtesy : 30 Stades

Many entrepreneurs today are setting up sustainable businesses that solve environmental problems and still make money because that’s the only way to keep any enterprise going.

An underlying theme of sustainable businesses is innovation – through either a product or a service or a combination of both. Environmental entrepreneurs solve the pressing problem of saving the environment and aiding ecological balance.

Here are five entrepreneurs who are contributing immensely to the cause of the environment through their unique products:

1. Nitin Sharma, Go Waterless, Pune

Water scarcity left Nitin’s family car wash business high and dry in 2016. After the problem continued well into 2017, Nitin began to research products that could wash cars without water.

Finally, in 2019, he developed eco-friendly high-lubricity sprays that clean car interiors and exteriors without water. Go Waterless has been profitable since its inception in 2019 and is present in 22 states.

More importantly, it is saving 12 lakh liters of water daily and earning Rs 2.5 crore in annual revenues.

2. Ashvin Patil and Chaitanya Korgaonkar, Biofuels Junction, Mumbai

Ashvin is an MBA and engineer who quit his job as an equity market analyst to set up Biofuels with his friend Chaitanya.

The duo started Biofuels in 2018 with the dual aim of solving farmers’ problem of agri waste disposal and providing clean fuel to enterprises. Most farmers, after harvest, burn residues like rice stubble, cotton stalks, and coconut husks, causing pollution.

Biofuels procures agri waste from farmers and it is then processed into solid biofuels at the nearest manufacturing facility in the startup’s network. The company’s field staff monitors the quality and consistency of biofuels, which replace coal, diesel and furnace oil at industrial plants, reducing the burden on non-renewable resources.

The sustainable startup works with 25,000 farmers and over 100 top companies. In just four years of launch, it is clocking Rs67 crore in annual revenues.

3. Amit Doshi, NeeRain, Ahmedabad

When Amit Doshi was in class four, he and his brother would accompany their mother to fill water from a tap near their house in Kalol, about 35km from Ahmedabad in Gujarat. The area’s borewells had dried up and the municipality supplied water every three days.

Growing up with water scarcity instilled in Amit a sense of purpose – to save every drop of water. One way to do it was through rainwater harvesting by collecting and storing rainwater that runs off from rooftops, roads, grounds, etc.

After a year of research and development, he designed an instrument to help people collect rainwater, which could be used to recharge borewells or stored, and named it NeeRain Rainwater Filter. This small filter unit with dimensions of 1x1x1.5 feet uses an engineering material called ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), and it was patented in 2018. Amit’s startup earns Rs 2 crore in revenues annually and is growing rapidly.

4. Vinayakumar Balakrishnan: Thooshan, Kochi

Having spent a large part of his life working in leadership roles in the banking and insurance sector, Vinayakumar decided to return from Dubai to India in 2013 and began research on food waste that could be used to make biodegradable plates.

He approached the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR)’s National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST) in Thiruvananthapuram and funded the research on making biodegradable food plates from rice bran. Once the technology was in place, he set up a fully integrated robotic plant in Kochi to make biodegradable cutlery and Thooshan went live in 2021.

According to estimates, producing just one pound of plastic cutlery can take up to 78 liters of water and release 2.5 lbs (1.1 kg) of carbon dioxide. This plastic is difficult to recycle and ends up choking animals and polluting water bodies and soil.

Thooshan cutlery can be decomposed into organic manure or can be used as cattle feed, fish feed, or poultry feed. The startup is sustainable and environment-friendly.

5. Bhavini Parikh, Bunko Junko, Mumbai

In 2016, while working on her garment manufacturing business, Bhavini came across research that textile waste is the third largest source of municipal solid waste in India. With landfills having a limited capacity to take on the load, she decided to minimize fabric waste at her level.

“I realized I was also hurting the environment by being part of the fashion industry. So I thought of up-cycling fabric scraps produced in my garment manufacturing unit,” she says.

Today, her ethical fashion brand Bunko Junko turns textile scrap into stylish clothing, home furnishings, and accessories. Since 2018, it has saved 38 tonnes of fabric from going to landfills and empowered thousands of women. And her profitable operations clock Rs. 40 lakh in revenues annually.

Neerain is proud to republish this blog to spread awareness about the situation of water, for our stakeholders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.

This blog is published by: 30 Stades

We would like to spread this for the benefit of fellow Indians.

Author: Partho Burman and Bilal Khan

Published On: 29 Dec 2023

 

RO water consumers at risk of vitamin B12 deficiency

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VADODARA: Vegetarians, people with unnatural dark complexion and those who consume purified water through reverse osmosis (RO) systems are more likely to suffer from vitamin B12 deficiency.

 

Photo courtesy: Time Of India

A study conducted at SSG Hospital has found this. The study has revealed that RO water consumption is an emerging risk factor for vitamin B12 deficiency, as cobalt, an essential component of vitamin B12, gets removed through the RO system.

For the study, 160 patients with B12 deficiency and 160 patients with B12 within normal limit were included.
“It was a case control study in which all the patients visiting our hospital with symptoms suggestive of B12 deficiency and serum B12 level below 200 pg/ml were included. At the same time, patients coming to our department and found to be having serum vitamin B12 level above 200 pg/ml were also included in the study as controlled group,” said Dr Sangita V Patel, additional professor at Department of Community Medicine of Baroda Medical College.

Patel had guided the study that was carried out by Dr Alpesh Makwana with the help of physicians Dr Archana Gandhi and Dr Vipul Bhavsar.

The team carried out multivariate analysis to ascertain risk factors affecting Vitamin B12 deficiency using logistic regression model.

“We identified RO water being used for drinking purpose to be a major risk factor affecting Vitamin B12 deficiency. Those having vegetarian diet and unnatural dark complexion or unnatural change in skin color were also at high risk of developing the deficiency,” she said.
Those who used RO water for drinking experienced 3.61 higher odds of vitamin B12 deficiency compared to controls. Similarly, those with dark complexion had 2.53 higher chances of vitamin B12 deficiencies as compared to the controls and those who were vegetarian had 2.007 higher odds of vitamin B12 deficiencies as compared to the controls.

“Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient required for various bodily functions, including the production of red blood cells, DNA synthesis and nerve function,” she said.

The study states that there are three reasons behind adverse health effects of consuming demineralised water.

While the RO system removes cobalt, an essential component of vitamin B12, resulting in B12 deficiency, the reduced absorption of vitamin B12 available in diet due to low mineralized water causes chronic atrophic gastritis.

 

“Additionally, the RO system also removes microorganisms responsible for endogenous production of vitamin B12 directly or indirectly. The longer the duration of RO water consumption, the more likely the possibility of developing vitamin B12 deficiency,” the study states.

 

Doctors said that meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy products are good dietary sources of vitamin B12. “However, vegans who avoid consuming even milk and milk products and vegetarians are at a higher risk of developing the deficiency as plant-based sources of vitamin B12 are limited,” she said.

 

She said that vitamin B12 deficiency can cause unnatural skin darkening and even hyperpigmentation. “The unnatural darkening of the skin or in some cases, hyperpigmentation is caused due to excess melanin production as vitamin B12 deficiency interferes with the melanin production in the body. So, if your skin appears unnaturally dark or dull it indicates that you have be suffering from vitamin deficiency,” she said.

 

“At the same time, pigmentary changes in the form of pigmentation of knuckles, oral mucosa, and Addisonian pigmentation have also been described in Vitamin B12 deficiency,” she added.

 

Neerain is proud to republish this article for spreading awareness about situation of water, for our stakeholders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.

 

This article is published by: –

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/ro-water-consumers-at-risk-of-vitamin-b12-deficiency/articleshow/99628650.cms?from=mdr

 

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Author: Prashant Rupera

 

Publish On: April 20, 2023.

 

 

Village Ardana: Water is going down 3 meters every year, sweet water is available at 1,000 feet

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Once upon a time in 1995, drinking water was taken from the well, but the canal water was drinkable. Irrigation was done with canal water, some landlords had installed tube wells. Then there was water at a maximum of 20 feet. But after this the need for water increased and the wells dried up. Farmers started installing tubewells, but even then water was available at 60 to 75 feet.

But in 2007 there was such a drought that almost all the tubewells dried up. It had not rained for three years. When people started installing tubewells in the fields at other places, the water reached 200 to 250 feet. Water was found at this depth but this water was salty. The effect of this was that the crops started getting spoiled. Sprung especially in summer means it started ripening quickly.

This is the story of Ardana village, about 140 km from the country’s capital Delhi. Ardana is a Village in Assandh Block in Karnal District of Haryana. The population of the village is about 12 thousand. Here three tubewells have been installed by the State Public Health Department for drinking water. Since the water above is brackish, boring was done up to 1,000 feet (about 304 m) below for fresh water.

Photo courtesy: Midun Vijayan (downtoearth.org)

The situation has become such that some big farmers have installed submersible pumps by boring up to 1,000 feet below to irrigate the crops. One such pump costs 15 to 16 lakh rupees. On the other hand, the farmers who install 200-250 feet deep tubewells, their expenditure comes to 4 to 5 lakh rupees. When the need for water increases in summer, the farmers take water from the canal passing outside the village. For this, the Irrigation Department has to pay Rs 6,000 for a season.

Ardana is one of the villages in Haryana which fall in the red category in terms of groundwater level. In fact, the Haryana Water Resources (Conservation, Regulation and Management) Authority issued a public notice on January 7, 2022, stating that 1780 villages in the state are in the red category. Red category means where there is severe groundwater crisis. The groundwater level in these villages is below 30 metres.

This authority was constituted in 2020 under the Haryana Resources (Conservation, Regulation and Management) Authority Act 2020. The authority has divided the state’s 6,885 villages into different categories. In this, the number of villages with groundwater level of 20 to 30 meters is 1041, while the number of villages with groundwater level of 10 to 20 meters is 1807, the number of villages with 5 to 10 meters is 1261, the number of villages with three to five meters is 592, The number of villages with 1.5 to 3 meters water table is 319 and the number of villages with less than 1.5 meters water table is 85. The villages in the lower three categories have been kept in the category of water logging.

In this report of the authority, the groundwater level of Adrana has been stated as 40 meters (131.24 feet) in June 2020. Which was 8.04 meters in June 2010. According to this report, the groundwater level in this village declined by 31.96 meters during a decade. That is, on an average 3.19 meters of water has gone down every year. Although the villagers say that at this time the groundwater level has reached 200 to 250 square feet (more than 60 meters).

If we talk about the whole of Karnal, then 402 villages of Karnal have been included in the authority’s list, out of which 46 villages are in the red category, but Ardana is at the top of this list. The groundwater level here has reached up to 40 metres, while the groundwater level in the rest of the villages is between 30 and 40 metres.

The main crops of the village are paddy and wheat. Experts consider paddy and wheat crops to be the reason for the continuous lowering of the groundwater level in Haryana. Especially a lot of water is used in paddy. It is noteworthy that 2,500 to 5,000 liters of water is used to grow one liter of rice.

Photo courtesy: crsbox.org

Although the Haryana government had started a scheme three years ago in view of the huge decline in the groundwater level in the state, in which farmers were told that they would be given a bonus if they grow other crops instead of paddy. Last year, the Haryana government had promised Rs 7,000 per acre.

But the farmers of Ardana village are not very enthusiastic about this scheme. Ram Diya Sharma, a farmer who cultivates seven acres of the village, says that there is only paddy and wheat, which makes little profit. Whenever you plant another crop, you have to bear the loss.

He says that about 50 thousand rupees of paddy is produced in one acre, while the expenditure is 20 to 25 thousand rupees. Similarly, 25 to 30 thousand rupees of wheat is produced in one acre. Since the government buys only wheat and paddy at the minimum support price, it saves. Nothing survives on the rest of the crops.

Neerain is proud to republish this article for spreading awareness about the situation of water, for our stakeholders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.

This article is published by: –

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/hindistory/water/ground-water/village-ardana-water-is-going-down-3-meters-every-year-82033

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Author: Raju Sajwan

Publish On: March 22, 2022.

 

 

Rajasthan: Jawai Dam is drying up, water will come by train in Pali

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Now once again the district administration has sent a proposal to the railway department to deliver water by rail in Pali district of West Rajasthan.

For the last two fortnight in the district, water is being supplied from those dams which are actually built for irrigation. And there is still water left in these small dams, but this too will not last for long, their capacity will also end around 15th April. According to the administration, the number of these dams around the district is about five.

Photo courtesy: Rudra Pratap

Presently drinking water supply in Pali city is running through first pumping from Baniawas (dam made for irrigation) and Jawai dam.

In this regard, Pali water supply’s executive engineer Kan Singh said that when its water gets exhausted in April, the local water sources will be the only support. In such a situation, two wells have also been constructed by our department in the Hemawas dam. Along with this, preparations are being made to dig tubewells in Pali city’s new village, Tagore Nagar area by estimating water.

It may be noted that the pumping of the first dead storage from Jawai Dam had started on March 17. The administration says that the water of this dead storage is expected to last from 15 to 20 April. After this, pumping will have to be started from the second stage dead storage.

The administration officials have told their inability to give information about how many million cubic feet (mcft) water will be available in Jawai and for how many days that water can be used.

Keep in mind that pumping of second dead storage was done 13 years back in the year 2009. At that time, second pumping of dead storage was started when 380 mcft water was in the dam.

Photo courtesy: Holidayride

Jawai dam irrigates 38,670 hectares of land in Pali and Jalore districts. This time, due to the arrival of only 19 feet of water in the dam, water was not given to the farmers for irrigation. Whereas in 2021, 47.95 feet of water was received in this dam.

The length of main canal of Jawai Dam Project is 23 km and the length of small and medium canals is 234 km. Through these, irrigation is done in the land of command area of ​​33 villages of Pali district.

Altogether, about 50 thousand farmers are directly and indirectly associated with the Jawai Dam. The capacity of the dam is 7887.5 million cubic feet.

As far as the administration’s proposal to bring water by rail in times of water crisis is concerned, if water is brought to Pali through rail from April 15, then it will be drinking water in this district for the third time in last 16 years i.e. about one and a half decade. Will be supplied by rail.

Earlier on July 20, 2009, the water train was run. After this, it was proposed to run the train on July 1, 2016, but due to rain on July 3, the train remained standing in Jodhpur. If seen recently, the water train had arrived in Pali on July 25, 2019.

This water train had made nine trips till August 2, 2019. After this, the train was stopped when it rained. At present, it has been proposed to run water train for Pali from April 15.

There will be about 40 to 50 wagons in a train, from which about 50 thousand liters of water will be brought to Pali. In Pali, behind the head works of Subhash Nagar Water Works, the work of cleaning the diggies has been started. The water brought from the train is stored in these Diggs and it is from here that water is supplied.

Neerain is proud to republish this article for spreading awareness about situation of water, for our stakeholders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.

This article is published by: –

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/hindistory/water/water-crisis/jawai-dam-is-drying-up-water-will-come-from-train-in-pali-82210

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Author: Anil Ashwani Sharma

Publish On: April 4, 2022.