Patan

The study by Carewater INREM Foundation explores the rise of Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants since 1970s as a cottage industry for providing fluoride free water supply in North Gujarat. The emergence of markets for Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants can be attributed to the Government’s failure in supplying large-scale safe water to the public through its large RO and de-fluoridation plants.

A detailed study was undertaken of 8-10 plants in 4-5 towns in Mehsana district so as to understand the economics, volumes of business, prices, modes of business and the nature & economic profile of the clientele. The future prospect of the industry is assessed, especially focusing on growth rates through discussions with plant owners, customers and municipal leaders.

The study concludes the following - 

• The market for the mineral/packed water produced by cottage industries has developed very rapidly in North Gujarat between 1996 and 2000.
• The small pouches bring more margins as compared to big-packs of 10 or 20 litres. Producing packed water in pouches requires an additional investment of rupees one lakh in a packaging machine, which the investors find affordable. The packed drinking water in pouches has a large market catering to the people at large.
• As long as the municipality’s supply of groundwater in North Gujarat is high on TDS and has more than recommended amount of fluoride, packaged drinking water has a good market.
• There is good growth of this cottage RO industry as the market is very wide. Even if the ISI certification is made mandatory, there are a good number of investors keen on investing in it.

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• Phase I: Investigation of the prevalence rate of fluorosis in 25 villages from Mehsana and Patan districts of Gujarat.
• Phase II: Detailed study of social cost from a sample of 235 households selected from 18 of the 25 villages.

It is difficult to draw any conclusion for this multi-faceted problem of fluorosis or to propose a universally accepted strategy. People need water, so they sink deep wells and eventually harvest poisonous water to an extent unmindfully and are finally caught up in the trap of irreversible fluorosis. The respondents of the study have very poor awareness about water quality and the availability of fluoride-free or de-mineralized water. Even if it is available, their poor affordability prevents them to purchase.

The question arises, what should the state or the people at an individual or collective level do, when the available fluoride content water in the village has to be used ‘willingly-or-unwillingly’? The study suggests the following -

• Developing awareness on fluorosis and fluoride contaminated water in the villages. 
• Providing less expensive water filters (like Activated Alumina Plant being used in Southern Rajasthan) for de-fluoridation at home.
• Developing Cooperative-Captive Plants that could be organized by the villagers and not by external agencies. Instead of a big plant, the government could intervene to set up a plant sized up to village-needs, which can be managed by the villagers themselves.  
• There is a possibility of reducing fluoride from groundwater by mixing river water with groundwater, which is now a practice in North Gujarat.
• Further, groundwater should be recharged using check-dam or any other suitable procedure, which would help reducing fluoride. 

It is time to recognize fluorosis and take some preventive measures and rehabilitate the present victims instead of covering it up behind the mask of Musculo-Skeletal Disease (MSD).

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This research paper attempts to understand and map the Reverse Osmosis (RO) phenomenon, a technology that is turning out to be an important solution for drinking water treatment in rural Gujarat. Treatment plants with capacity ranging from 10 litres per hour (lph) to 6000 lph are now supplying drinking water in several hundred villages of the state. Small sized plants with capacity < 20 lph are used by individual families whereas medium to large sized plants (>100 lph) are being used for public consumption.Read More