In Chennai, a majority of people are dependent on water tanks for their daily water needs as the groundwater is polluted or so saline that it is difficult to use.
“Every day, more than 25 lakh cans of 20-litre capacity are sold in Chennai. Even the poorest here are dependent on water cans that cost Rs 35-45. But no one really knows the quality of water, and of these cans,” says Balachander G.
“These plastic water cans are also overused. A majority of cans you see in the market are completely clouded. This happens due to the cans being left under the sun,” he adds.
He points out that the UV rays break the plastic into smaller particles which, in turn, sheds copious amounts of microplastics into the water.
“Today, cancer rates are shooting through the roofs. People are consuming microplastics because of these degraded cans. Our primary goal is to democratise safe water for all,” he adds.
So, along with his brother, Bharath Govindaraghavan, and friends, Hariharan Vedamurthy and Sameer Bharat Ram, he co-founded BookWater in 2020.
They manufacture Indian Standards Institution (ISI)-rated plastic cans where they stick a QR code on every can. This code allows users to track the movement of the can from the co-packer to the customer’s location.
“Our sensors monitor the quality of water and where it is filled. If you order a can through our app, you can scan the QR code and quality reports will be visible to you,” says Bharath.
The code tells quality parameters – from how many times the can has been reused, the manufacturing date of the can, calcium, magnesium, TDS (Total Dissolved Solids), to the PH-levels of the water as well.
After using the can up to 30 times, Balachander says it is upcycled. As of now, BookWater delivers about 50,000 water cans with QR codes to 3,000 users every month across Chennai.