Solution & Uniqueness

To address the issue of contaminated water, WHEELS Global Foundation (along with its sister entity WIN Foundation) has joined forces with the Water Bank Foundation (with its pioneering BarterWATER Mission) to create an innovative and scalable model to provide arsenic-free, safe drinking water to Indian communities, followed by engaging them into the activities related to sustainable development, in exchange of Water Credits. The BarterWATER pilot addressed severe water quality issues in Indian states like Bihar, where numerous communities suffer from arsenic-contaminated water sources. Identified in 2004, the problem has persisted for years. However, in the past two decades, new water purification technologies such as WaterBank’s Organic Aqua Solutions (OAS) have been developed to remove harmful heavy metals, such as lead, mercury, and arsenic, from water sources. Integrated with the Tap@App IoT system, these water purifiers are equipped with water quality and flow control sensors, ensuring that the village’s drinking water meets basic standards for safety. BarterWATER’s mission is aligned with the vision of the United Nations decade for action agenda, “Water For Sustainable Development”, which prioritizes the well-being, hygiene, and sustainability of local communities.

BarterWATER established an innovative deployment model of bartering exchange via AI-powered digital currency – RAINBOW credits – to complement the purification process. As villagers perform SDG-aligned activities, they are granted RAINBOW credits that they can redeem for a specific amount of clean drinking water. The bartering exchange offers households the ability to install bamboo-based drainage cleaning systems to become net-zero, allowing them to earn up to 1,000 liters of clean drinking water. Communities have taken up many locally needed social impact initiatives, such as setting up a unique bamboo garbage bin solution – separating plastic, e-waste, paper, glass, and kitchen waste – for more RAINBOW credits in return. Extra RAINBOW credits can be exchanged for quality-of-life improvements such as bamboo furniture and utility products, further promoting eco-centric development. Water Bank Foundation has partnered with the National Bamboo Mission (NBM), Government of India for the training and capacity building of bamboo products in local communities. These water banks are energized by the solar power of HUSK Power for pumping and automation for monitoring & control. At the community scale, the solution is easily affordable to local civic bodies (panchayats, municipalities, talukas) budgets, with or without support from CSR funds.