Community Desolenator Short general project overviewThe project takes place in India, more specifically in the region around Kolkata and the Ganges Delta region in eastern India. The motivation to carry out the project in India is twofold. On the one hand, Desolenator has already built up a network there and is familiar with the (working) conditions in India and secondly the water situation in (East) India is tragic. The region is blessed with a large supply of river water, for example from the Ganges and branches thereof and extensive groundwater reserves. Upstream pollution (the Ganges is known as one of the most polluted rivers in the world) and excessive extraction of groundwater have resulted in a drinking water problem. In addition, the water in eastern India naturally contains arsenic, which makes it very toxic. Kolkata's water problem is mainly felt in the slums and affects about 5 million people there. The water supply is traditionally a task of the women in a household. Since they often have to travel considerable distances in order to obtain (relatively) clean water, it is difficult for them to participate in economic traffic.This creates an environment in which Desolenator's technology comes into its own. As a rapidly growing economy, India is also very commercially interesting for the members of the consortium: there is a lot of potential for scaling up in India and the crossing to Bangladesh and other countries in the region is obvious in the medium term.In this project, the consortium partners will demonstrate a solar drinking water purification system in pilot form, with a nominal output of 20 m3 per day. The technology is supported by a micro-entrepreneurship model creating 12 jobs, 75% of which are for women. The main goal of the project is a long-term demonstration of a prototype of the community scale version of the Desolenator at a relevant practice location in a water stress area. The demonstration includes a validation of critical performance in areas such as purification capacity, robustness, acceptance by and embedding in the local community (social and in terms of entrepreneurship and employment) and the extent to which the solution can support itself. Desolenator and partners have experience in measuring the socio-economic parameters and the health development of the local population.Initial activities and results of the projectExpected final results are:- 20 m3 purified water per day.- 1,500 or more families (6,000 people) provided with healthy drinking water every year for a year, in the community of 10,000 people.- The creation of at least 12 jobs, of which at least 75% for women.- Demonstration of financially sustainable model with a total turnover of approximately 45,000 euros per year (Rupee 3,600,000), of which 29,000 euros for local salaries and in addition build up reserves for replacement installation after life.The beneficiary is Danish brewer Carlsberg, which has seven breweries in India. Carlsberg has the ambition to halve its water footprint by 2030 and, based on a study by WWF, has decided to prioritize the breweries in India, China and Thailand in this plan, as they are located in water stress areas. Carlsberg and the consortium partners see this project as a first step in a possible collaboration to purify water at all breweries in India. The consortium's ambition is to initially roll out the Desolenators within the catchment areas of the Carlsberg breweries in India and offer the roll-out model in parallel with multinationals with similar ambitions. When practical evidence of operation and robustness has been provided, Desolenator also enters the market of NGOs with a drinking water mission (NGOs are extremely risk-averting).What makes the technology, product, method or approach used innovativeDesolenator's Dutch innovative technology is innovative. The household scale variant was converted to a worldwide patent in the Netherlands in 2012 and in 2013: PCT/EP2013/069220. A patent has also been filed for the large-scale Community Desolenator, to which this project relates (P11290NL00). The Desolenator is based on distillation, which makes it suitable for all forms of pollution and thus has added value with access to alternative systems such as reversed osmosis (RO).(additional expert advice: Desolenator's operating principle is based on a physical principle. The trick is to make the return as high as possible. There are quite a few technical challenges in this, and the petitioners have succeeded quite well. So it's definitely innovative).