Two low-cost Water Purifiers

A recent Economist special report on water noted that 1 billion people "... have no access to piped drinking water or safe taps or wells." Over the last few years, companies have rolled out products to make safe drinking water more affordable, and in this post I'm highlighting two new purifiers from India.

Tata Swach:

Company's description of health benefits: "... removes harmful bacteria and viruse"

Filters 3,000 liters per cartridge

Depending on the model, the retail cost is $16 to $22. For a family of 5, the company estimates the cost of using the Swach will be less than $1 per month.

Hindustan Unilever's Pureit:

Company's description of health benefits: "... removes harmful viruses and bacteria and removes parasites and pesticide impurities, giving you as safe as boiled water".

Retail cost is about $43

Kitchen Appliances: A Portable Refigerator and Stove

Featured in the pages of the WSJ late last year, the $70 ChotuKool portable refrigerator is the opening salvo in the intense competition for India's consumer appliance market. The market is large enough that Indian firms are investing R&D money to come up with low-cost alternatives to traditional household appliances. $70 is still a steep price for many of the world's poor, so many will have take out microloans or pool their resources in small collectives to afford these products.




Here's a related example from the same WSJ piece: First Energy's Oorja (biomass) stove. The stove costs $23 and the pellets needed to use it, cost about $5.50/month.