The purpose of life is to
contribute in some way to
making things better.

Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.

Respect for the environment, however, means more than not destroying it; it also means using it for good purposes.

Mataram Foundation

Overview

Maataram Foundation is a non-profit Organization that aims at providing scalable, safe drinking water solutions to underserved areas in India through advanced technology and innovative business models.

We have successfully completed our works and we run operations across Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka & Jharkhand India. As a result, over (2.5) lakh people in more than 24 locations live better given that they have access to pure, safe water provided by Maataram Foundation Community water Centres.

Vision

To provide inclusive access to affordable safe drinking water by engaging communities through a sustainable and professional approach.

Mission

To serve over 10 million consumers by 2030

Maataram Foundation has been successfully running over 24 plants in the state of Andhra Pradesh since 2010. The Foundation’s scope of work extends beyond the purification and water life cycle management, Maataram Foundation runs well conceived Social Marketing programs to change Community behaviour towards safe water. These programs are customized to spread awareness about the health benefits of safe water, even in communities where little or no healthcare knowledge exists. Maataram Foundation ensures that the water is priced at affordable prices such that even the economically weaker sections of the population are able to receive benefits of safe water

President’s Message

“ No matter where we live, water affects us all. It seems one thing is clear, that water is changing and some thing is not quite right with it.
The world is like a human body, water is our blood. Everybody knows what happens when you put poison in your blood..
Everybody knows but the 44 million people whose blood is (literally) made up of this water have an astonishing ability to forget that. Especially if they are living in villages. They still drink straight from the pond.
Enduring so many stresses that it may be nearing “irreversible collapse” and this collapse will probably come in a non-linear way, not a continued slow decline but a sudden crash
My hope for maataram, as a president is the same as it is for every new water treatment unit
To take the people to a familiar place and help them see it anew,as if for the first time.”

– Jay Chadalwada

Our Focus

Maataram Foundation has been successfully running over 24 plants in the state of Andhra Pradesh since 2010. The Foundation’s scope of work extends beyond the purification and water life cycle management, Maataram Foundation runs well conceived Social Marketing programs to change Community behaviour towards safe water. These programs are customized to spread awareness about the health benefits of safe water, even in communities where little or no healthcare knowledge exists. Maataram Foundation ensures that the water is priced at affordable prices such that even the economically weaker sections of the population are able to receive benefits of safe water.
Availability of Safe Water is the biggest problem faced in India and most parts of the world.

Some glaring facts that underline the magnitude
of the most Gravois problem are as below

20%

of the World’s population (i.e. 1.8 billion people,) is exposed to healthcare risks arising from unsafe water.

50%

of World’s Hospital beds are occupied by people with waterborne diseases.

2Million

children die each year worldwide from waterborne diseases

In India still the major focus of government is on water availability at communities and not yet on quality issues. Scale of problem has overwhelmed State Governments

  • Maataram Foundation introduced the concept of decentralised Community Water Systems in India for the first time in 2011; this has enabled communities to set up plants at an affordable cost i.e. for a contribution of about Rs.10-12 lakhs (for a community size of 10,000 people) the community could receive safe and clean water for a lifetime. In five (3) years of its operation, Maataram Foundation has successfully launched over 24 decentralised Community Water Systems in Andhra Pradesh.
  • Maataram Foundation is also launching its automation project where entire WHC operations are automated which enables the team to monitor the WHC remotely. This initiative will not only reduce the instances of plant break down but also the dependency on Operator to manage and report faults.
  • In the initial years of its Maataram Foundation operation operated through Over the Counter (OTC) distribution system in which the consumer walked into a community water centers to collect the water. However subsequently in order to serve the needs of the coverage population and other habitations, the Maataram Foundation launched its delivery program. In local entrepreneurs from the village, to manage the delivery operations on the catchment area. Overtime, this will provide a strong framework for understanding the behaviour of the consumers and building loyalty
  • The Maataram Foundation has a dedicated Social Marketing team which engages intensely with the community to create the awareness about the safe drinking water. To date the team has covered all the 24 villages where plants have been installed.
  • Maataram Foundation has effectively utilized the existing eco-system in the village to support its operations, this has not only made its services more affordable but also provided a significant employment opportunity to the local youth.

Our Model

Decentralized Community Water Systems

Parameters Decentralized Systems Centralized Systems
Capital Investment Small per system Investment Large Upfront Investment
Installation Lead Time Short – 4-6 months Long 3-5 years
Operation & Maintenance Designed to be simple to operate & maintain Complex requires secialized skills and long down time
Quality Monitoring At local level, where Consumers are served At central plant, very far from point of consumtion
Raw water Source Optimized to make use of locl sources like onds, canals, wells etc. Requires extra-large water sources like river, Dms etc.
Adverse impact on environment Low – due to optimum use of locl resources High – due to use of large ntural resources

The Central and State Governments and Municipal Corporations have focused on Centralized Water Treatment Systems over the years, the desired impact is yet to be achieved. However, the Government bodies have lately begun to understand the advantages and importance of Decentralized Water Purification Systems.

State Governments like Andhra Pradesh have understood the importance of Decentralized Water Purification Systems which can reach out to underserved communities in rural, semi-urban and even, urban areas through Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model.

State of Art of Technology

Maataram Foundation technology is based on UV & RO treatment works with pre-treatment systems and removes physical contaminants and deactivates all microorganisms in the water. The Reverse Osmosis system removes all the salts in the water up to 99%. However, through this process, some of the desirable minerals (for humans) are also removed. To arrest the loss of such salts which are required by the human body, but lost when passed through a Reverse Osmosis (RO) membrane.

Maataram has developed a process wherein the water (after the pre-treatment process) is divided into two streams; one stream is passed through a RO system and the other bypasses the same. The output from both the streams is then blended to provide safe drinking water that is low on TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) and contains certain amount of minerals essential for the human body. This is then passed through the UV unit which deactivates all the microbiological contamination that might be present in the water. The water is tested every fifteen days to ensure that the water quality strictly meets WHO standards. This process also helps in reducing the rejection and wastage of water.

Some of the advantages of using this solution are

  • UV radiation does not add anything to the water stream such as undesirable colour, odour, chemicals, taste or flavour, nor does it generate harmful by-products. It only imparts energy to the water stream in the form of UV radiation to accomplish the process of disinfection, ozone destruction, chlorine/chloramines destruction and TOC reduction
  • This technology does not necessarily require the addition of chemicals.
  • It is fast, effective and environmentally friendly

Technology uses the filtered water from the cartridge filters which is passed through the UV by using the pressure of a supply pump. Here the water is exposed to the UV rays for 12 seconds during which all the microorganisms present in the water are deactivated. UV is more effective in terms of its performance due to the uniqueness of its design where the water has more surface area and the UV rays penetrate to last layer of the water stream. This enhances the efficiency of the water treatment process to almost three (3) times more as compared to other treatment processes.

Way Forward

Solar Power

Power cuts are becoming frequent in Andhra Pradesh which is making it difficult for Operator to meet the demand. Most of the times, Operators have to work at night and purify water so that water can be dispensed in the morning. In order to overcome this problem Maataram Foundation in the future is going to adopt alternate sources of electricity which ensure an uninterrupted power supply to plant. One of these initiatives will be tested at soon in Maharashtra where a solar power plant soon and check the efficiency of the system.

Rain Water Harvesting

Power cuts are becoming frequent in Andhra Pradesh which is making it difficult for Operator to meet the demand. Most of the times, Operators have to work at night and purify water so that water can be dispensed in the morning. In order to overcome this problem Maataram Foundation in the future is going to adopt alternate sources of electricity which ensure an uninterrupted power supply to plant. One of these initiatives will be tested at soon in Maharashtra where a solar power plant soon and check the efficiency of the system.

Some glaring facts that underline the magnitude
of the most Gravois problem are as below

20%

of the World’s population (i.e. 1.8 billion people,) is exposed to healthcare risks arising from unsafe water.

50%

of World’s Hospital beds are occupied by people with waterborne diseases.

2Million

children die each year worldwide from waterborne diseases

In India still the major focus of government is on water availability at communities and not yet on quality issues. Scale of problem has overwhelmed State Governments

  • Maataram Foundation introduced the concept of decentralised Community Water Systems in India for the first time in 2011; this has enabled communities to set up plants at an affordable cost i.e. for a contribution of about Rs.10-12 lakhs (for a community size of 10,000 people) the community could receive safe and clean water for a lifetime. In five (3) years of its operation, Maataram Foundation has successfully launched over 24 decentralised Community Water Systems in Andhra Pradesh.
  • Maataram Foundation is also launching its automation project where entire WHC operations are automated which enables the team to monitor the WHC remotely. This initiative will not only reduce the instances of plant break down but also the dependency on Operator to manage and report faults.
  • In the initial years of its Maataram Foundation operation operated through Over the Counter (OTC) distribution system in which the consumer walked into a community water centers to collect the water. However subsequently in order to serve the needs of the coverage population and other habitations, the Maataram Foundation launched its delivery program. In local entrepreneurs from the village, to manage the delivery operations on the catchment area. Overtime, this will provide a strong framework for understanding the behaviour of the consumers and building loyalty
  • The Maataram Foundation has a dedicated Social Marketing team which engages intensely with the community to create the awareness about the safe drinking water. To date the team has covered all the 24 villages where plants have been installed.
  • Maataram Foundation has effectively utilized the existing eco-system in the village to support its operations, this has not only made its services more affordable but also provided a significant employment opportunity to the local youth.

Contact US

#48-12-4J, Flat. No: 16,
Indralok Estates,
Behind Volkswagen Showroom,
Near Ramvarappadu Ring,
Vijayawada – 520008