Jaipur

From Headquarters in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, we traveled on an overnight bus to Jaipur in the state of Rajasthan. We hit the ground running and after meeting staff at the Jaipur office, we ventured out to visit two Sarvajal franchises in the area.

Despite a rainy auto-rickshaw ride getting there…..

From Sarvajal- Jaipur

Our first stop was in Pratap Nagar. This franchise is run by Suresh Saini and his large family. Suresh was kind enough to meet us at the main road and show us the way back to his franchise in the middle of a residential neighborhood. We walked through a beautiful garden with vegetables and fruit trees – immediately wondering if Suresh was using brine to water his plants….

From Sarvajal- Jaipur

Turns out he is! And more on that in a minute….

From Sarvajal- Jaipur

Suresh has been in operation for about four months. He currently serves 200 customers in the area, 170 of which collect water daily. The majority of his business is deliveries with only some customers purchasing directly from the RO plant. His machine runs approximately five hours per day. His raw water comes from a well with a TDS level of 550 and he delivering product with a TDS level of around 70-80.

He has been using the brine to water his garden every since the RO plant was installed. So far he hasn’t noticed any difference in the growth of his plants or the taste of his vegetables. He suspects the TDS of the brine is about 1100. He produces approximately 2000 liters of brine per day, all which goes to his garden. Outside of monsoon season, that 2000 liters isn’t enough so he supplements it with well water.

Suresh’s garden yields only enough for his family- but with 8 brothers that’s a lot of mouths to feed! The garden has pomegranate, guava (amrud) fruit and papaya trees. He also grows mint, okra, eggplant, leshua, gavari phali, bajra and lentils.

From Sarvajal- Jaipur

He also uses the brine in his house for domestic use such as mopping the floor, laundry, doing dishes and for bathing. They have not reported any problems with using brine for this purpose. If there is any excess brine left after his use (which happens in the monsoon), he allows neighbors to take the brine through a pump for their domestic and garden use.

He has yet to recoup his initial investment but he’s confident that he will soon. He estimates that he needs approximately 300-350 customers total in order to turn a profit. He sold his first 200 customers by bringing samples door to door and letting people try it for free. His operating costs are about 1500Rs per month for electricity. In order to offer the delivery service, the added expense includes rent for the Tempo (mini truck) to deliver the water at 550Rs per day (including fuel). The Tempo driver costs 500Rs per month. Suresh also has four employees that he pays 150Rs per person per day

One the added benefits he provides his customers is chilling the water. One of his holding tanks is insulation and connected to a cooling unit that dispenses the chilled water into insulated jugs that he delivers to customers.

From Sarvajal- Jaipur

The next franchise was in an industrial area and a bit more difficult to find – but we got lucky with an auto driver who was willing to take on the challenge and after circling the block a number of times.

From Sarvajal- Jaipur

There we found Sanvarmal Jhangid who runs a franchise in Sitapura. The RO machine is housed in a building within the gates of his lumberyard where he treats wood for his large furniture making business.

From Sarvajal- Jaipur

From Sarvajal- Jaipur

Half of the brine he produces is used in a machine to treat wood. The raw lumber is loaded into a large chamber and soaked in brine mixed with chemicals.

From Sarvajal- Jaipur

We asked what he does with the chemicals after the wood is treated. He told us that 3/5 of the brine-chemical mixture is absorbed into the wood in one treatment and then he puts the remaining mixture towards the next batch meaning he never has to dump it. He explained that the fluoride in the brine actually helps with the treatment of the wood and he can use less total water as a result. He’s been doing this for approximately two months and hasn’t noticed any difference in the integrity of the wood or any adverse affects to his final product.