Making water safe for all

The supply of clean drinking water in rural India continues to be an enormous challenge, with many people acquiring waterborne diseases and a plethora of other sicknesses due to consuming contaminated water.  Indian researcher Chandrasekaran J. (Chandra) is now a successful entrepreneur helping to provide safe, clean water to people living in India thanks to support from the Newton-Bhabha Fund.

The Royal Academy of Engineering's Leaders in Innovation Fellowships programme, supported by India’s Department for Science & Technology, enabled Chandra to join a cohort of researchers from India on a residential visit to the UK where he was mentored by experts in developing his business plans and in pitching his venture to investors for commercialisation.

Chandra’s company, WATSAN, now manufactures and distributes low-cost yet effective electricity-free water filters and sanitary solutions to urban slums and rural families, impacting more than 800,000 lives in and around 200,000 homes within India. Since the inception of its water purifier unit, WATSAN’s pioneering steps in bringing welfare to India have been recognised through a number of national awards.