Luminous Water Technologies has licensed from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), the Electrochemical Arsenic Remediation technology (ECAR) for arsenic remediation in arsenic-affected villages throughout India and Bangladesh.
Dr. Gadgil, who heads the Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division and is also a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley, together with his team have done extensive lab tests and field tests in the affected areas.
This technology has been envisioned and developed to stand the test of time and to be able to deliver where many other technologies have failed.
Arsenic poisoning from drinking water has been called the worst natural disaster in the history of mankind: an estimate of 137 million people are affected in 70 countries by arsenic poisoning.
Importantly, the World Health Organisation estimates that around 97 million people in India alone lack access to safe water.
For example, 1,312 villages in West Bengal, India, near the Ganges River are detrimentally affected by arsenic contaminated groundwater. One study shows that at least 10 million people living in West Bengal, including about 2.5 million children, are currently exposed to arsenic contaminated ground water containing levels significantly above the limits set by the World Health Organization.
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In Bangladesh alone, 35 to 77 million people have been exposed to high concentrations of arsenic for decades.
Drinking arsenic contaminated water causes severe harm to a person's health resulting in painful lesions, diabetes, cancer, and blood vessel diseases that often lead to gangrene, amputation, and premature death.
"We are more than happy to work with Luminous Water Technologies and we expect and hope that this partnership will very soon result in creating an arsenic free world saving millions of lives." Said Dr. Gadgil.
"Arsenic poisoning is an endemic problem in India and Bangladesh. Since it is tasteless, colourless, and odorless, and highly toxic in even minute quantities, it has been termed a 'silent killer'," said Luminous Water Technologies Private Limited, Managing Director RS Rajan.
He added: "It is Dr. Gadgil's conviction and perseverance that has been a key motivating factor in Luminous opting for this technology. Luminous Water Technologies, with its reach across India and longstanding business record, will work towards commercializing this technology along with Berkeley Lab and creating a sustainable infrastructure to provide solutions to impacted communities."
"Luminous Water Technologies is an organization that has taken upon itself to provide safe drinking water to the many millions in India and neighboring countries.
Apart from our existing product range and as an integral part of our long term vision of bringing new technologies and commercializing them, we are proud to have entered into a technology licensing agreement with Berkeley Lab, USA for arsenic remediation.
Berkeley Lab is known for its path breaking technologies and Luminous Water Technologies for its ability to adapt and deliver new technologies through its products and services.
"We are sure that together, we will be able to meet the challenge of arsenic remediation head on and win." Said Mr. Rakesh Malhotra, Founder and Chairman, SAR Group.