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If you have ever purchased a household water purifier, you are probably familiar with the terms UF and RO. Simply put, ultrafiltration (UF) is a technology that can remove contaminants up to 0.01 microns in drinking water, while reverse osmosis (RO) can remove impurities up to 0.0001 microns and is considered the safest.

However, RO-based water purifiers are very wasteful, with 3 liters of water discharged per liter of treated water. Most of the rejected water drains into the sewers: in India, where water is scarce, this is a criminal waste. This is why the National Green Court (NGT) recommends prohibiting reverse osmosis in areas where the total dissolved solids (TDS) in the water supply is less than 500 mg/L. "If the TDS is less than 1000 units, the use of RO is a waste of energy and water. Ultrafiltration (UF) can easily remove most bacteria, protozoa, and inorganic pollutants, unless there is a concern about biological contamination. In this case, It is recommended to boil the UF-treated water as an additional step," said Assistant Professor Vishnu Sharma A. Department of Civil Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology.

Professor Sharma recommends using RO only for drinking water and UF for cooking purposes. However, from a cost and space point of view, installing two independent water purifiers in the kitchen is not an option for most people. In addition, how to check the TDS level in real time first?

Their pursuit of these issues prompted the Bangalore businessman Vikram Gulecha and three friends to establish India's first smart water purifier company. As a descendant of a real estate-based family, Vikram also started his career in the same industry. While exploring options to provide safe drinking water for the apartments they were building, he realized that none of the options available on the market were consumer-friendly.

Vikram has only two options: choose any of the available options, or let the residents of the apartment make their own arrangements. Vikram's entrepreneurial spirit inspired him to come up with a third option. OCEO, India's first smart water purifier company, came into being.

"Our system is very similar to a dual-SIM phone-it eliminates the need to have two different machines. By pricing water, we provide economic incentives for saving fresh water. OCEO's data-supported purifier system is only based on consumers They are charged for the amount of water consumed. No installation fees, no maintenance, no hidden charges. You only pay for what you use," Vikram said.

Each OCEO purifier has a digital display that shows the real-time TDS level of the incoming and treated water. Based on these data, users can choose RO and UF water from two independent taps. They can recharge their credit balance through the mobile app to pay for water.

Since the data-supporting purifier is directly connected to the cloud, the water quality can be monitored in real time, and the company will automatically know when the filter needs to be replaced. "Many users often forget to replace the filter, or they postpone the replacement. This will affect the quality of the water they consume. In addition, as the purifier company itself admits, the replacement filters provided by local technicians are often not original. If not By monitoring the water quality in real time, it is impossible to determine whether the filter is effective enough. Since we replace the filter for free, our filter will not be forged,” Vikram explained.

The four founding members of OCEO-Vikram Gulecha, Mahendra Dantewadiya, Hasmukh Gulecha and Rajeev Krishna-started their business in 2017. Since last year, they have been actively marketing and selling this product and have installed more than 3,000 units in Bangalore. Now they plan to expand the service to Chennai.

The founders are proud that their innovation has attracted the attention of the domestic and foreign markets. The India-Israel Innovation Challenge recognizes their contribution to ensuring a safe and affordable drinking water supply in the early stages of OCEO 2017. Vikram said that after being approved by the Israeli Prime Minister, they have been demonstrated by Japan, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.

"If it is not for the next generation, we should save water for tomorrow. Only if we maintain our generation until the next drought years, the next generation can exist. We hope to lead the next revolution in water purification," Vikram said.

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