South Asian Forum for Environment

Clean Drinking Water, Sanitation (WASH) with New Energy Solutions

SAFE has been a strong advocator of green energy solutions and a sustainable lifestyle from its inception. Among many initiatives commenced as part of energy solutions, the organization has shaped two programs for providing safe drinking water to urban slums named WASH-US (Water Sanitation and Hygiene for Urban Slums) and NEWS (Nonconventional Energy in Water and Sanitation for Urban Poor), both of which, not only using but also generating renewable energy. The projects provide solar-powered water treatment plants, each delivering 10,000 liters of clean drinking water per day to the community through the automated dispensing unit and cater to nearly 35000 marginal people, in urban and rural areas of West Bengal, and North-East India. SAFE Water program for the poorest of the poor, the integrated solution includes solar-powered water treatment plants that are used to deliver clean drinking water on a 24×7 basis to the communities. In addition, rainwater harvesting, bio-sanitation along with bio-gas units makes it a circular model. SAFE solar WASH projects have propounded an innovative circular design for a sustainable and gender-equitable circular economy towards the climate-adaptive lifestyle of urban poor to facilitate basic amenities like water, energy, and sanitation with minimal emission footprint.