One billion litres. That’s the amount of water that can be saved each year if just 1%of the Chennai population makes the switch to a water saving shower filter instead of the regular one. So says Pavithra Rao, Co-founder of WaterScience, a company established in 2014, that designs and makes a range of water saving shower and tap fittings that also clean non-drinking water.
“The objective is to provide better quality water. Our shower filter saves up to 70% of water directly as it mixes water with air and as a result it is not a stream of water but a thick mist of tiny water droplets that come out of the shower,” explains Pavithra, who also heads marketing and growth strategy department. Their latest innovation is aromatherapy pads infused with natural essential oils that can be fitted to the shower filter. This is an effort to upgrade the daily showering experience into that of a spa. Here Pavithra fields questions on the devices.
Pavithra Rao
Are non-drinking water filtration products a part of a niche segment?
We are at a place where the drinking water RO filters segment stood 15 years ago. Today, you see an RO filter for drinking water almost in every house. People are aware and actively looking for products to filter water used for bathing. Our customers are from Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Pune. In 2016, we manufactured the standard shower filter; a year later we launched the shower and tap filters. Last year, we launched a multi-flow filter, and water saving shower filter. It is bound to grow. On Amazon and Flipkart, you find companies that import such products from China and sell it here. We directly manufacture at our facility in Bengaluru.
Who develops the products?
Our co-founder Sudeep Nadukkandy faced personal struggles with poor quality water. As there were no affordable and easy solutions in the Indian market, it sparked an idea. Sudeep’s technical background led him to design WaterScience’s flagship product, the CLEO Shower Filter. The other co-founder Mohammad Iqbal is a serial entrepreneur who has experience setting up telecom, real-estate, and retail businesses. They brainstormed and developed an entire range of shower filters and tap filters. All our products contribute indirectly to water saving by easing the stress of available water resources. Globally, water availability and quality has been at a decline for the past few decades. As availability becomes an issue, quality gets compromised. It’s a concern and we need to have solutions.
Why do we need a filter? We’re not drinking the water.
People can use water from two sources: Municipal water and bore well. The Municipal water has chlorine to disinfect the water of microbes. Chlorine is a skin irritant and it leaves your hair and skin feeling dry. Chlorine needs to be eliminated from water. Bore well water may be hard depending on the location. The hard water salts leave white deposits on taps and bathroom tiles and also a similar thing on hair and skin. Hard water salts deposited on the scalp can lead to hair breakage and hair fall. With hard water, soaps and shampoos do not lather easily, and it leaves a soapy residue. If you already have sensitive skin, the hard water can aggravate those sensitivities.
How do your products address these issues?
The shower filters alter the behaviour of calcium and magnesium in hard water so that it doesn’t stick to your hair, skin, taps and tiles and instead gets washed away. It is a process called hardness conditioning. The chlorine removal layer eliminates up to 95% chlorine present in the water. A micro sieve layer traps small sediments and dust. A carbon layer removes bad smell. Your bath water thus becomes cleaner and healthier. We use a technology called KDF, patented in the US that removes not just chlorine but also heavy metals like mercury and arsenic.
Published - September 02, 2020 02:35 pm IST
