Scarcity of water for irrigation as well as for drinking has been a persistent problem in district of Solapur. With the limited availability of surface water, deleterious competition is set in to extract ground water reserves with the help of numerous borewells in the rural areas of the district. The it is common to go as deep as 500 ft to get water for irrigation and drinking. This has not only depleted the natural ground water reserves but deteriorated the quality of water in terms of it’s hardness. Safe water for human consumption is considered to have TDS in the range of 80 to 100 mg/L. Water with TDS above 500 mg/L is considered to be unacceptable for drinking & domestic usage. Hard water is known to be interfering with intestinal adsorption causing chronic diseases related to indigestion, mineral deficiencies, renal problems, cardiovascular disease, etc.

Study conducted by Prabhakar Foundation to asses the quality of water being consumed in thirty schools in

Solapur district revealed that most of the water sources have TDS much above the acceptable limit of 500 mg/L with an average of over 900 mg/L. Some of the sources of water exhibited TDS above 3000 mg/L!

Prabhakar Foundation in association with Book-A-Gift; organisation founded by young Anay Gawande and his sister Renuka, organised to install RO Water filtration units in 25 schools consuming water with TDS beyond acceptable limits with TDS above 500 mg/L. RO units were designed to deliver sufficient quantity of water taking into account, number of students studying in the schools. The units were equipped with traditional sand filters, carbon filters, RO membranes and UV treatment facility to deliver safe drinking water with TDS less than 100 mg/L. The supplies were supplemented with 2 year free maintenance contract from the module supplier. The project was implemented in about six months with a total cost of Rs. 15 lakh. 25 schools with over 6,000 students and school staff benefited from the project.