Introduction

It is widely estimated that India has existing and emerging challenges of availability of enough quantity and quality of water and sanitation to fulfil the increasing demands in various parts of the country.  The WATSAN Centre of WIN Foundation will champion and lead in developing technology driven solutions that are novel, unique and affordable to provide clean drinking water solutions to millions of people in India, with minimal or most effective use of energy.

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Our Projects

VIKSAT in association with Niswarth

Anandshala to Jeevanshala

Initiating a process leading to behaviour change in society and transformation of village, through projects including (i) Six village schools with model WATSAN infrastructure including Rain Water Harvesting, (ii) and Zero Solid Waste management system 2 villages, with associated outreach and capacity building programs.
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Arid Communities and Technology (ACT)

Participatory Groundwater Management (PGWM) Program

Participatory Ground Water Management (PGWM) Program in Kachchh district, aims at Water Conservation and Management through intense participatory action research. Key activities include:
Institution and Capacity building including (i) Village level “Bhujal Jankars” with knowledge of hydrogeology, water budgeting and coordinating village level action groups and (ii) Community / Village mobilization through farmer and women groups, and Implementation steps including (i) developing comprehensive Village water security plans (ii) Water storage and recharge structures – building new ones and rejuvenating existing ones, (iii) Demand management initiatives like cropping changes, drip irrigation etc.
In 1st term, focus was on Capacity building and Supply side activities. In the 2nd Term, focus was on Demand side activities and in the current ongoing 3rd Term the focus is to bring technology interventions for smarter supply and demand side management, while continuing to strengthen capacity building.

PGWM has also extended its activities to the Khambhailya, Devbhumi Dwarka Dist., Gujarat, to apply the concepts and develop specific strategies, practices and protocols for another hydrogeological region, that of Coastal Saurashtra. This aims to validate methodology to apply PGWM practices to a another hydrogeological region.

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PILOT SCALE MATERIAL AND SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT FOR ARSENIC AND FLUORIDE REMOVAL
IIT Gandhinagar

Pilot scale material and system development for Arsenic and Fluoride removal

Development of Janus particle embeddable with chosen biopolymer for eventual fabrication of nano-polymer system for safe water production. Pilot-scale in-situ performance demonstration of nano-polymer equipped groundwater well systems.
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MICRO-COMPONENTS QUANTIFICATION OF END USES OF WATER CONSUMPTION IN LOW INCOME SETTINGS
IIT Gandhinagar

MICRO-COMPONENTS QUANTIFICATION OF END USES OF HOUSE-HOLD WATER CONSUMPTION

This research, one of its kind in India, aims to calculate the actual fresh water consumption at household level for various uses like cooking and drinking, bathing, toilets, washing clothes, and its seasonal variations, variations across socio-economic groups etc. Understanding these usage patterns can enable intelligent partial recycling of water within the house or society or community, with partial or no treatment. E.g. usage of waste water from kitchen may be usable in garden, or from washing clothes can be fed to flush toilets. This has potential to reduce the fresh water requirements in houses and communities.
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SUSTAINABLE CYBER - PHYSICAL WATER CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
IIT Gandhinagar

Sustainable Cyber - Physical Water Control and Management System

Development of Sustainable Cyber-Physical Water Systems and implementation in Gujarat Water Network systems, including following:
a) Evaluation of the existing regional SCADA pilot for rejuvenation, on Kudasan regional water branch network covering 40 villages in Gandhinagar district; b) Pilot implementation of the system at IIT Gandhinagar, using cost effective sensors and 5G – Loral communication network, to demonstrate its effectiveness, c) Design of SCADA solution for village water distribution system at village level, d) Smart water leakage detection algorithms using minimum sensors in a complex network.
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WATSAN SYSTEM DESIGN FOR A TOWN OF 20,000 POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF IT ENABLED DESIGN TOOL FOR SAME
Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA), IIT Bombay

WATSAN System Design for a town of 20,000 population and Development of IT enabled Design tool for same

Designing model WATSAN infrastructure for two towns of 20,000 in Maharashtra and developing an IT enabled design tool for its application to other towns. The work included a through geo-physical and social study and then a comprehensive WATSAN system design, including (i) water storage, conservation and distribution, (ii) Sanitation, (iii) waste handling / recycling – solid waste, sewage, storm water, (iv) planning and implementation processes.
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CHAKRA HOUSEHOLD TDS REDUCTION DEVICE USING ELECTROSTATIC PRINCIPLE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
Department of Chemistry, IIT Bombay

Chakra Household TDS reduction device using electrostatic principle and nanotechnology

Develop a rural household nano-technology based water purifier, through capacitive deionization, using nano-tech – can handle water upto 4000 TDS, with less than 5% wastage, powered by a single 1.5V cell, and prepare 50 prototypes for field validation among rural communities. This is to provide an alternative to the common RO technology, which has over 50% water wastage.
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DESIGN AND INSTALLATION OF PLANT TO CONVERT WATER DISCHARGED FROM STP TO POTABLE LEVEL
School of Environmental Science, IIT, Kharagpur

Design and Installation of Plant to convert water discharged from STP to Potable Level

School of Environmental Science at IIT Kharagpur has setup a sewage treatment plant to treat sewage from the campus with effluent characteristics: of COD of 70 - 100 mg/l and BOD of 30 – 50 mg/l . With WIN Foundation support, a project is being undertaken to convert output of sewage treatment plant to potable level water, by removal of: Organic matter, Suspended solids, Nitrogen, Pathogens, Personal care, Pharmaceutical residues through a multi-stage process which will pilot alternate low-cost technologies
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IIT Gandhinagar

SURFACE ENGINEERED PARTICLE (SEP) TECHNOLOGY BASED WATER DISINFECTION FILTER

Development of Low cost, socially acceptable, easy to use, gravity driven and non-electric point of use (POU) water purifier for water disinfection using Surface Engineered Particle (SEP) technology. This provides high pathogen removal efficiency at low cost and using very low amounts of any additives like silver-nano particles. The project involves (i) development of 50 prototypes and (ii) preliminary business plan for a venture which can take this technology to social impact markets.
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People Say

WIN foundation is supporting Arid Communities and Technologies for a participatory groundwater management project (PGWM) at Kutch, Gujarat, named “K-Marc”... (Kankavati – Managed Aquifer Recharge through Communities). ACT started this project in 2010. It started showing significant impact after six years of initial processes. Now the project learnings and processes developed can help others to adopt climate resilient and community managed groundwater management practices. At this crucial juncture, WIN foundation is supporting ACT and her other project partners viz., Geo-science Services, Parab, Tata CGPL CSR for establishing project area as PGWM field laboratory. The ACT-WIN collaboration has opened many avenues for future, through many collaborations, partnerships, and developing linkages with institutes like IIT Gandhinagar. I am sure that this collaboration will help the project and its various outcomes like Bhujal Jankars, PGWM field lab, Farmer Friendly Groundwater Recharge Techniques, among others, and also to pitch this complete strategy and process at various levels of the society. On behalf of all project partners and stakeholders I am heartily grateful to WIN foundation for this inestimable support.

Dr. Yogesh Jadeja

Director, Arid Communities and Technologies
(Project - Participatory Groundwater Management)
In CGPL ( Tata Power), we always believe in cooperation, coexistence and cocreation in delivering the best for the community to enhance the community satisfaction.... Our delivery mechanism is based on esteemed partnership with likeminded stakeholders to enable is to jointly address and plan for long term sustainable methodologies. Our partnership with WIN is one of the pioneer partnership, and provides the required momentum in augmenting the water availability in the region through various timebound interventions, encompassing systematic study of the region, calculations and assessment of the water deficit, Activity intervention in the demand and supply side , Institution building and creation of the community knowledge bank, Knowledge dissemination etc. The partnership between CGPL and WIN is based on mutual interest, faith and trust, which is becoming a benchmark of consistent delivery platform in the region and signifying a new paradigm of social development in a sustainable manner through Multi stakeholder partnership approach. Our joint commitment and efforts with appropriate equity investment, involvement of suitable technical and implementing agencies is bringing a substantial change in the region. I always cherish this partnership which can only bring the Change and ultimate transformation in the region on the water front.

Mr. Pradeep Ghosal

Head - CR & Sustainability Coastal Gujarat Power Ltd., Mundra
(Project – Participatory Groundwater Management)
Due to benefits to people, demand for K-MARC program (under ACT) has increased. People in the community have accepted Bhujal Jankars and interact with them in respectful manner. Initially it was difficult to explain the program details to farmers.... After the recharge activity demonstrated the benefits to the farmers they started cooperating with us. The demand for ground water recharge also increased and the farmers accepted the importance of role of Bhujal Jankars. The Bhujal Jankar training from ACT included relation between water and ground, Kankavati sandstone acquifer, water quality and quantity measurements, water demand and supply for village and village clusters. We carry out water planning and budgeting, plan and execute recharge structures, monitor water quality and quantity measurements and also help conduct village level meetings for water related issues.

Mr. Nakar Sharad Bharatkumar

Bhujal Jankar (Village level Geohydrology and Water Planning expert)
(Project - Participatory Groundwater Management)
I have a 17 acre farm in Gundiyali village, Kutch. I had a 20 year old borewell which stopped working in 2015. I got a new borewell of 400 feet depth done. This borewell is being used for irrigation in my farm....In 2018-29, i joined the K-Marc program being organised by ACT. Under this program, water recharge system was installed in the old and unused borewell. Due to this recharge of ground water, the water level in my new borewell improved from the earlier 350 feet depth to 300 feet depth. The quality of the water too improved. I also guide my neighbourhood farmers. We all continuously learn new useful practices and techniques in the trainings organised by K-Marc.

Mr. Umiyashankar Purshottam Rajgor

Farmer, Gundiyali village, Kutch
(Project - Participatory Groundwater Management)
The project funded by WINF helped me a lot in understanding key issues in designing sustainable water distribution networks for Indian cities.

Prof. Pranab Kumar Mohapatra

Professor, Civil Engineering, IIT Gandhinagar
(Project - Physical Water Control and Management System)
Support from WIN Foundation has helped us understand and tackle critical issues in monitoring water distribution systems, a key step in sustainable water management. Thank you WINF.

Prof. Babji Srinivasan

Assistant Professor, Chemical/Electrical Department, IIT Gandhinagar
(Project - Physical Water Control and Management System)
VIKSAT partnership with WIN Foundation for implementation of the ‘Anandshala se Jeevanshala’ is an effort to facilitate development of school centered WASH approach and extending it ... to develop a model for sustainable rural water and sanitation for the community in the selected project villages. The demonstration of RRWH and improving environment in schools have a triggering effect, which motivates the community to take up similar work in villages. The efforts are leading to behaviour change at household level and improvement in village environment.

Mr. Dilip Surkar

Director, VIKSAT, Nehru Foundation
(Project - Anandshala to Jeevanshala)
It is a huge inspiration to see the passion of WIN foundation to seek home-grown technologies that can bring a huge change in the lives of grass-root levels of society through access to clean water, healthcare and nutrition.

Prof. Chandramouli Subramaniam

Associate Professor, Chemistry Department, IIT Bombay
(Project - Chakra rural household nano-technology based water purifier through electrostatic method)
Under the roof of IIT Kharagpur and WIN foundation’s support for research and innovation in the areas of water quality, purification and sanitation (WATSAN), my Research team is involved in design ..., installation and operation of treatment plant for upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (UASB) effluent to produce potable quality treated water with a capacity of 300 cubic-meters/day. I thank WIN foundation for initiative and support extended and looking forward for successful demonstration of the technology for replication elsewhere.

Prof. M. M. Ghangrekar

Chair Professor, Aditya Choubey Centre for Re-Water Research, IIT Kharagpur
(Project - Design and Installation of Plant to convert water discharged from STP to Potable Level)
In order to reduce the stress on the existing fresh water bodies, it is necessary to encourage treatment and reuse of wastewater for various onsite purposes inside the IIT Kharagpur campus ... to increase the water availability. The demonstration wastewater treatment plant to produce potable quality treated water after successfully and reliably treating sewage to meet the desired water quality norms with the help of WIN foundation enables IIT Kharagpur to develop a robust, cost-effective and replicable technology, which can be the torch bearing know-how of its kind for the underprivileged part of rural India in near future.

Prof. Chandranath Chatterjee

Prof-in-Charge, Water Works and Sanitation, IIT Kharagpur
(Project - Design and Installation of Plant to convert water discharged from STP to Potable Level)