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The city of Kozhikode in India experienced a severe drought in 2016. During this time, residents, including student Swapnil Shrivastav, were limited to only two buckets of water per day, collected from water tanks. This challenging experience inspired Shrivastav to explore solutions for water scarcity.
Shrivastav, Govinda Balaji, and Venkatesh Raja established Uravu Labs, a startup in Bangalore in 2019. Their technology converts air into water using atmospheric water generators that contain a liquid desiccant. The process involves absorbing moisture from the air, heating the desiccant to release moisture, and then condensing it into drinking water. Each unit currently produces around 2,000 liters of drinking water.
Despite initial plans to provide water to communities facing shortages, the team found that the technology was not financially viable at the time. As a result, they started selling water to 40 hospitality customers who provided drinking water to their customers. To make it more sustainable, they focused on commercial consumer applications where there was a willingness to pay for the water.
Beth Koigi is another entrepreneur who is working on addressing global water scarcity through her social venture Majik Water. She manages atmospheric water generating units in arid regions of Kenya using cooling and condensation methods. Majik Water works with NGOs and humanitarian organizations and is sold in stores. While there is demand for the system, Koigi believes it is a temporary solution due to its cost.
Atmospheric water generation technology has been seen as a promising solution due to its ability to run on renewable sources and not require traditional water infrastructure
