Rain Water Harvesting Event

Our first experience to be a part of Rain water harvesting event started on June 19^th 2008 at Mothi Nagar, Hyderabad. Mr. Vijay Ram from SAVE, invited us to be a part of the campaign to save water and to witness the construction of the rain water harvesting pits in the colony. It was great to see residents of the colony not only allowing RWH pits to be constructed at their premises but also participating in a small rally emphasizing the importance of water conservation. The best part of the event was the participation of young kids along with their parents as it gives hope of the future being in right hands.

Our first experience to be a part of Rain water harvesting event started on June 19^th 2008 at Mothi Nagar, Hyderabad. Mr. Vijay Ram from SAVE, invited us to be a part of the campaign to save water and to witness the construction of the rain water harvesting pits in the colony. It was great to see residents of the colony not only allowing RWH pits to be constructed at their premises but also participating in a small rally emphasizing the importance of water conservation. The best part of the event was the participation of young kids along with their parents as it gives hope of the future being in right hands.

Water Hyderabad

With the 10 lakh plantation drive coming to an end, our last one being at David Memorial Institutions,Yacharam; we involved ourselves in to water conservation efforts. After numerous meetings with several NGOs and the HMWS&SB board we started “Water Hyderabad”. Water Hyderabad, was an initiative of likeminded NGOs working towards bringing awareness on water conservation. This was an advocacy and awareness campaign that gave us the strength to endure the crisis of water scarcity by working as a pressure group on Government to strictly implement necessary laws and policies of Rain Water Harvesting ensuring water conservation in every home and bring awareness towards water conservation.

On the occasion of World Water Day, 22 March 2009 we launched the WATER HYDERABAD campaign by organizing water awareness walk from Mahatma Gandhi Statue, M.G Road to Swami Vivekananda Statue at Tank bund starting at 8am.

Nearly 500 volunteers participated in the walk and made it a grand success. The participants included Masab Tank Government school students, Vridhi, HARD, Prerna, FRF, Sayam Cheddam, Helpings hands for all, Save, Reddy charity, Right to walk org and our friends and supporters. The rally went on with slogans about the need of the hour and participants displayed placards, banners and paintings depicting the water conservation needs and spreading the message of water conservation. The best part of the rally was the participation of the students from Masab Tank Government School as they not only took their time to walk for the rally but also were inclined to make a difference.The walk concluded by forming a human chain pledging their support to conserve water.

Signature Campaign at Oracle

A three day campaign was organized within Oracle premises in Hyderabad. The permission to have the event organized was received with the help of Suhasini C who was working for Oracle and was active member of the Oracle Volunteers Club. The first day started with Vridhi volunteers setting up stalls for signature campaigns and carrying on with our water awareness campaign. We had signatures of many Oracle employees who showed their support for the cause. The second day was organized with Rain water harvesting models being demonstrated by our team and an official from HMWS&SB named Mustaq. We were lucky to have been offered assistance by HMWS&SB in spreading awareness about the importance of having a rain water harvesting structure or pits. The demonstration of the functioning of the RWH model caught a lot of attention and was appreciated by Oracle employees. The third day was also continued with the same demonstration that we had on the second day and were successful in spreading our message across. We thank HMWS&SB, Oracle and Vridhi volunteers in helping us spread the importance of water conservation.

Signature Campaign at More Supermarket

The campaign continued on 24^th May 2009, with our volunteers Swapna,Lavanya & Madhuri taking their valuable time in setting up the stall in front of More supermarket at and taking the signature campaign forward. We not only took the signatures of the people showing their support towards water conservation efforts but also spread awareness of the depleting water resources and how one should step forward to conserve it. We gathered a lot of signatures and it formed an important part of the campaign to advise the government of the need of the hour. We thank More supermarket’s management to allow us in carrying out our campaign.

Signature campaign at NTR gardens and Jubilee hall, Nampally

On the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5^th 2009, we continued our signature and awareness campaign by participating in the event organized by WWF India, APIIC, HMDA, APTDC, Forest Department,APEC, and COVA at NTR gardens, Hyderabad and also setting up our stall at Jubilee hall, Nampally. We had two groups from Vridhi which shared the tasks of participating in the event at NTR gardens and Jubilee hall. We had the opportunity to not only spread our word over water conservation need and climate change issues but witness some of the other organizations, government as well as other NGOs work, thereby helping us gain more knowledge over different issues troubling the planet.

The signature campaign continued with people of different age groups pledging their support and giving their valuable opinion which helped us in taking our campaign forward.  

Water Tag Ink@Wash

Over 100 city leaders attended the Ink@Wash event at Nanakramguda, Hyderabad where Honorable Minister for Urban Development, Shri K. T. Rama Rao graced the occasion and delivered the keynote address. Participation of more than 200 delegates from funding institutions, corporates, innovators, mentors, NGOs and research institutes was witnessed. The two-day event celebrated over 155 innovators/start-ups who have submitted technical innovations and other ideas spanning the areas of water potability and quality, water conservation and reuse, waste water management, municipal solid waste management, plastic and e-waste, and faecal sludge management. Vridhi Foundation submitted the idea of Water Tag which involved having a QR code on all manufactured water bottles helping track the quantity of water being consumed as well as water requirement. It also helps to increase recycling of plastic bottles too. 

Step 1 - Government & Manufacturers-

• Implementing mandatory Water Tag (QR code) on all the manufactured plastic bottles.

• QR Code/Barcode on water bills optional.

Step 2- Government & Retailers-

• Compulsory scanning of water bottle code by retailers from their smart phone.

• Helps to track the quantity and quality of water source by the Government body.

• The data gets saved on cloud server which would be used to understand demand and supply pattern along with the quality of water being consumed in all areas.

Step 3- Government & Municipal Corporation

• Recycling bins in each municipality to have QR code/Barcode on it.

• Weekly/fortnightly collectors of bottles assigned.

• QR Code/Barcode on water bills so that if consumer used less water compared to same time last year, they’d get discounts of their next bills. This would help drive reduction in consumption of water or responsible usage of water.

• QR Code/Barcode on water bills should also lead to water saving tips.

Step 4- Government & Consumer

• Consumers to be encouraged to download App which can be used to throw labelled and unlabeled plastic bottles in the recycle bin.

• Retailer points/shop keepers who collect the water bottles sold by them at their shops would get an opportunity to claim points as consumer too if they dispose it in the bin if the consumer doesn’t do it.

Step 5- Consumer, Government and Recycling Companies

• Consumers to scan the QR code/Barcode on the recycle bin and scanning the bottle on their phone before dumping to get the reward points/credits.  

• The unlabeled (without QR code/Barcode) ones can be dumped too to get credits after scanning the recycle bin QR code/Barcode and choosing the option from the App.

• This helps Government to track down the number of bottles back for recycling thereby reducing landfills and environmental impacts.

• It also tracks the number of illegal bottles (without QR code and unregistered manufacturers) being sold to develop an action plan.

 Purpose of having Water Tag (QR Code)

• For one litre of drinking water from a reverse osmosis-based water purifier, four litres of water is required to pass through it.

• According to the International Bottled Water Association, it takes on average an estimated 1.39 litres of water to produce a litre of bottled water.

• Increasing health concerns and unavailability of clean drinking water has lead to an increase in the growth of water market in India.

• The market is expected to grow by the end of 2023 to Rs 403.06 Billion.

• Although no one is authorised to sell or exhibit for sale, packaged mineral water Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) Certification mark, we still have a lot of illegal bottles being sold. Getting the bar code and mandatory scanning would not only help to curb the illegal sale but also ensure the illegal companies try to take the legal way to register their brand.

• Some also buy used jars of trusted brands from scrap dealers for Rs 8-10 a piece.

• These are then cleaned, refilled with untreated water, affixed with fake labels, seals, caps and thereafter put back in the market. This would also be prevented by QR code scanning.

• Having QR code will not only help us track the quantity being consumed along with the quality but would also help with recycling efforts.

• Optional - QR Code on the bills will help consumers get credits when they use lower quantity of water compared to last year. This would help lower the cost involved in pumping the water to households and also conserving water.

• The data received helps the Government track the demand, supply, quality of supply and recycling in the areas. The data can be used to come up with more water conserving initiatives and environmental conservation.