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Lifelong safe drinking water from borewells?
Maji Reactor, a breakthrough innovation from WHEELS’ Partner Taraltec, makes it possible
Safe Drinking Water straight from Bore Well at Rabupura Village of U.P. by WHEELS Global Foundation's installation of Taraltec Reactor / ImageCourtesy: WHEELS
Bacteria and disease-causing microbes contaminate groundwater and unavoidably come up when nearly 85% of Indian villages pull up water from aquifers for family consumption. With 650,000 villages, access to safe drinking water remains a challenge in Indian rural areas.
Methods of cleaning water – boiling, filters, RO, UV - are quite often unaffordable for low-income families, as well as have undesirable associated water wastage or negative environmental impacts.
WHEELS Global Foundation has recently identified a breakthrough solution to this problem: the Maji Reactor device from WHEELS partner Taraltec. This is a device that can be fitted into borewells and harnesses the principles of physics, borrowing from an amazing nature innovation ‘cavitation’, to destroy microbes in the water. And making the water safe for drinking, food preparation, and more, for the lifetime of the handpump.
The device employs a zero-maintenance technology with no consumables or electricity and at a very low capital cost (under INR 8000), kills over 99% of microbes and pathogens before water discharge.
Once retrofitted into the existing handpumps of a village, microbe-free water becomes available at the source and continues to serve entire communities, with a direct and lasting impact on the health and economy of the entire village. It has already helped thousands of communities with millions of users across the country.
The WHEELS team procured a Maji Reactor from Taraltec and installed it into an existing handpump in Rabupura Village, located on Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh, in March 2024. In subsequent months, water samples were collected and tested at NABL-approved labs, confirming the absence of harmful microbes over time. It is estimated that about 500 people drink this water daily, with a consumption of more than 1000 liters per day. In other words, it costs a mere fraction of a paisa per liter of water.
WHEELS invites support to expand this transformative tech solution, offering affordability, ease of use, and access to the remote and underserved rural areas of India. And as soon as possible! The Maji Reactor from Taraltec is scalable and can be deployed across various geographies, and just needs to be retrofitted into the existing India Mark-2 handpumps that are the most widely used model of a handpump in the world.
Just $1000 in support can enable 10 villages with its multiple handpumps to become a conduit for a lifetime of bacteria-free safe drinking water.
For its game-changing technology in eradicating waterborne diseases and its significant social impact, Taraltec has been awarded by the Government of India (GOI) and consistently recognized by many reputable development organizations. When village panchayats ask, GOI even sanctions the funding. The need of the hour is to scale up the usage across the length and breadth of the country.
WHEELS leverages its Pan IIT alumni network, including corporate leaders, CSR associations, IAS officers, NGO partners, and various professionals, to drive rapid scaling, create awareness, and support the initiative. By deploying these programs, we aim to achieve the shared objectives of Technology-driven transformation of India’s 20% of the “Rurban” population by 2030 (i.e. 180m+ people), in support of India’s vision of becoming a developed economy by 2047.
We urge all of you with an interest in supporting this large underserved segment of India’s future to join WHEELS’ efforts by visiting the WHEELS WEBSITE and Getting Involved section which provides numerous ways for you to be part of our journey.
The author is the Marketing and Communications Manager, WHEELS Global Foundation.
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of New India Abroad)
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