SRCC students design cheap clay filter to purify water

In an attempt to tackle unavailability of potable water in many parts of India, Delhi University’s Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) students have taken a unique approach towards providing drinking water in the country

Under a project named “Asbah,” the students of “Enactus SRCC Society” in collaboration with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have designed an inexpensive clay filter that can be locally made and purchased.

Enactus, which was formerly known as Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), is an international non-profit organisation of students present in over 1600 universities spread across 39 countries and has over 67,000 students as active members.

The NGO visited SRCC in the year 2007 after which the college formed the “Enactus SRCC” society that consistently takes up several social entrepreneurship projects, some of which have been acclaimed at the national level

Asbah is one such ongoing project which aims to tackle the issue of unavailability of potable water in rural areas by promoting the usage of clay-based Terafil filters.

The filter, which comprises two clay pots placed atop each other with two Terafil candles placed in between, is priced at Rs 550.

Terafil is a solid disc composed of a mixture of red clay, river sand, and wood sawdust which serves as the filtering agent.

Having a capacity of 15 litres, this filter is particularly useful for treating water polluted by sediments, pathological and biological contaminants, and microorganisms that are commonly found in rural areas.

Not only do they help in eradicating water-borne diseases, but also helps generate income for the potters and are affordable to the rural consumers.

“Unavailability of potable water, highly-priced filtration mechanisms, and a lack of awareness lead to a vicious cycle of disease and deprivation. Also, the traditional art of pottery is on its decline in this modern era. The primary victims of this shift are potters, who are skilled yet heavily underpaid due to erratic demand for their products. So the main objective of our project Asbah is to provide rural households with access to a low-cost water filtration mechanism. This would even empower the community of potters in augmenting and stabilising their income,” a society member said.

The initiative has been put into force in Uttam Nagar in West Delhi which hosts the largest community of potters in India.