When Sajee moved into his dream flat, he thought he had got possession of a flat with all amenities. But, his dream began to unravel in no time. In a couple of months, he found it difficult to use his washing machine and dish washer, and his geyser wouldn’t heat water. In addition to that, after a bath he often felt itchy. He and his wife saw the condition of their hair deteriorating..
Almost all buildings in the city today have or need extremely deep borewells for their water. And, in almost all buildings the water is hard and many a time unpottable. About 60 per cent of the water supplied in the city today is through tankers. Most often the user may not even have an idea of the quality of water that is supplied.
Most water used in the city is not soft. The damage caused is immense. The pipes get clogged, showers get choked, geysers don’t work, washing machines don’t work and pipes scale. But, most builders are yet to wake up to the need to provide a solution for these problems. Buyers are not aware of the problems till they buy their priced nest. The effects of hard water on human system too is scary to say the least. Some of the dissolved substances in water is known to affect the kidneys among other organs.
The total dissolved salts (TDS) in particular may be a great cause for concern. Eco-Crystal, a Bangalore-based firm which was incorporated in 1999 and into water treatment systems, has products which are aimed at the domestic user and could be a saviour for people like Sajee. A water treatment system, Hydro Ion, that Kaustav Bhattacharyya, director, Eco-Crystal, considers his pet system, is made of an attachable system.
Hydro Ion is an on-line device (attached to the water pipe like a clamp) through which water passes. It encounters a magnetic field. The magnetic poles of water molecules are activated, the positive calcium ions and negative carbonate ions get attracted and collide. This, in turn, results in the formation of Argonite, a naturally occurring polymorph of calcium carbonate i.e. a particular form of the molecule. Since these crystals are microscopic and unable to form scales, they flow with water. Scale formation is thus prevented and water is effectively softened. The colloidal crystalline state of argonite can remove the existing scales and it passes harmlessly through the system.
The fastest-growing segment for Eco-Crystal is the domestic sector. The firm had a turnover of Rs 4 crore last fiscal. It spends about Rs 10-15 lakh per annum on in-house R&D. The firm has been concentrating on providing cheap water treatment systems that also cause lesser wastage of water, and in turn, energy.
