HYDERABAD: Access to potable water has become a growing concern in the city. During summer, groundwater depletes, and the domestic water supply is seldom enough. With groundwater in bad shape and the issue of water contamination, there seems to be no hope even as the need for environment-friendly solutions grows bigger. To address this very issue, city-based Sachin Vaddavali has devised a way to draw clean drinking water from thin air — the atmosphere’s humidity.
Sachin founded Aria Life Water to start air-to-water technology as he recognised flaws in the Reverse Osmosis (RO) process which included water wastage and the loss of essential minerals such as calcium and magnesium in the process of filtration. “Today, Aria Life Water is the world’s first packaged atmosphere mineral water that started in March 2021 and got its complete licence in October 2021,” an elated Sachin tells CE.
The air-to-water technology seems too good to be true and questions surrounding safety are only valid, given concerns of air pollution and the pandemic. But Sachin allays those by explaining, “The water before being packaged into a bottle goes through 5 stages of filtration. In the first stage of filtration, its self heavy particles, dust particles, and pollutants are removed, making the water pure. This is followed by other stages of filtration such as UV, UF, and carbon.”
Minerals are added to the water towards the end of the process with the help of patented technology from the CSIR–Indian Institute Of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), Hyderabad. “This is done as air-to-water technology doesn’t contain minerals and adding them differentiates this process to reverse osmosis as the minerals are lost in the process of purification. Minerals in water are essential as the lack of minerals can lead to problems such as acidity and gastric problems. As the body is 70% water, blood, and brain contain water minerals become essential,” he shares.
Aria Life Water is certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) as they were tested extensively for many months. “Water was kept in the bottle for a couple of months to check how it reacts. Several standards had to be met to be certified by the BIS. After months of testing, technology was added to the category of packaged water, and was certified as safe to consume,” says he.
Located at B N Reddy Nagar, Cherlapalli, the water plant has 7 machines, each with a capacity to hold 1,000 litres, making 7,000 litres their maximum capacity. While they do reach that capacity often, it all depends on the weather. “Only when the weather is humid do we happen to reach our 100% capacity otherwise, on a normal day, we reach 5,000 litres,” Sachin informs. He hopes to establish several plants in places like Vijayawada and Vizag for whether the weather is better-suited to its needs.
He shares that drinking one bottle of Aria Life helps saves water worth three water bottles that have to be extracted from the ground. The plants run on electricity but Sachin is confident that he will be able to shift towards solar energy soon, making the entire process sustainable.