The Tata Trust

In 2015, a new water research initiative was established at UNSW thanks to funding from the Tata Trust of India. In partnership with the trust and their teams, the program, which is being led by UNSW-GWI member Scientia Professor David Waite, aims to provide clean drinking water to regional India through low-cost water purification solutions.

One project will develop a low-energy filter to remove salt, fluoride, arsenic and nitrates from water sources, and which is simple and robust enough to be used at the village level. The second is a larger reverse osmosis water filtration plant that can be mounted on small utility vehicles. The initiatives will be jointly run by the faculties of Engineering, Science, and Arts and Social Sciences, with the latter focused on helping engender social acceptance of the technologies.

The impact of the Tata–UNSW Water Initiative is likely to be profound. Villages in India where the water quality is poor will be targeted first, before the intervention is scaled up across various states.