Minhaj Chowdhury, cofounder of Drinkwell It distresses Minhaj Chowdhury that thousands die every year from arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh. Although born in Dallas, Texas, in the United States, as a child Chowdhury used to visit Bangladesh every summer with his parents, who emigrated from the South Asian country. It was during these visits that he realized the magnitude of arsenic contamination in the region's water. Chowdhury, 28, sees the widespread contamination of water by arsenic and fluoride in vast swathes of the eastern Indian subcontinent as a personal challenge. Eager to do something about it, he is transforming the crisis into an entrepreneurial opportunity for scores of rural Bangladeshis, and Indians. Cofounder of water technology company Drinkwell, Chowdhury develops water filtration systems for poor communities. They provide safe water by removing dangerously high levels of arsenic and fluoride from groundwater. Despite millions of dollars being spent to address water contamination over the past three decades, more than 48 million people in India and Bangladesh are affected by widespread arsenic poisoning due to drinking water from contaminated underground sources, Chowdhury said. In fact, my grandfather, who passed away before I was born, succumbed to a water-related disease as well. So this huge problem of vast swathes of the country (with) unsafe drinking water was always in the back of my head, said Chowdhury. This is why I decided to study public health in my college (Johns Hopkins University, in the US). In 2009, while still at college, Chowdhury received a grant to distribute 100 water filters in Bangladesh to remove arsenic from groundwater. His team developed filters for household use, but they failed to live up to his expectations. Out of the hundred filters we installed, only three were found to be working when we visited to do a field check about three years later, Chowdhury said. We found the biggest reason why all the 97 (filters) had to be scrapped was that, while the technology worked well, there was no after-sales service for those imported filters. So, when the (filter systems) broke down, there was no one to fix them. He also found that the users, who were largely illiterate, did not know how to properly use and maintain the filters. The other problem was that, since the filters were distributed free, there was no mind-set of spending money on their repair, he said. The next year, Chowdhury tried other methods, such as the installation of filtration plants on thoroughfares. But those too failed to make an impact. That's when I realized that the region needed a uniquely tailored solution for its problems, he said. He returned to Bangladesh as a Fulbright Scholar with BRAC USA, an affiliate of the giant anti-poverty group BRAC (formerly named the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee), to understand why his projects continued to fail and to pinpoint the issues driving the failure. In 2012, while attending a conference organized under the Fulbright Program in Kochi, Southwest India, Chowdhury met Indian technologist Dr Arup K Sengupta. A chemical engineering professor at Lehigh University in the US for more than 25 years and a Fulbright Scholar from India, Sengupta had invented a novel filtration technique. (Sengupta's) approach, I found, was more suitable for (tackling) the problems (faced by) Bangladesh and India, because it involved a whole community in setting up a filtration plant, which is either funded by grants or donations or self-funded by the community, Chowdhury said. The users would also buy the water that would pay for the filtration plant's upkeep and maintenance, he said. In May 2013, Chowdhury, along with Sengupta and a few other technocrats, established Drinkwell in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. The company was strategically located near the Bangladesh border. I chose West Bengal to set up the new company because Dr Sengupta was already running a few instances of his invention there, which would help me capitalize on the new technique. I also wanted to take advantage of the enormous market opportunity of providing clean drinking water to rural and peri-urban communities of both West Bengal and Bangladesh that lack access to affordable sources of clean drinking water, he said. Drinkwell's solution is notable, Chowdhury added, for being not only a novel filtration system but also a franchise model that provides employment to poor communities. However, unlike the most commonly used technologies like reverse osmosis where more than 50 percent of the water is wasted, Drinkwell's technology assures 99 percent recovery since the process involves filtration through resin. Running the system is simple too, with the only electrical component being a pump to lift water from the ground to the overhead tank. The rest of the filtration is done completely through the force of gravitation. This (method) works wonders in the energy-starved regions where availability of electricity is irregular, Chowdhury said. Drinkwell is the only company in the world to use a resin-based generable adsorbent to filter water. Each resin filter, according to Drinkwell, lasts about five years and can even self-generate and recharge during the period. Between 2013 and today, we have already installed 32 systems in the region and another 102 projects of various sizes are in the making, said Chowdhury. The projects are funded by United States-India Science & Technology Endowment Fund (USISTEF), an India-US joint initiative for the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship through the application of science and technology. USISTEF's activities are implemented and administered by the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, established by the Indian and US governments in 2000. The forum granted $400,000 to fund these projects. Drinkwell's capital expenditure is also supported by industrial conglomerates like the Tata Trusts, various aid agencies, and the public health departments of state governments in India and Bangladesh. We never compromise on the operation and quality of the (water filtration) plants. We ensure that the entire system is cash-flow positive from month one, said Chowdhury. In other words, before installing a water filtration system, he ensures there is enough customer demand, so that the system can operate without subsidy. wristbands canadacustom silicone bracelets canadarubber bracelets canadasilicone bracelets canadasilicone wristbands canadacustom wristbands canadacanadian wristbandswristbands canada
Unified inspection standards expected to coordinate various military unitsThe People's Liberation Army has published its first regulation governing military training, a move observers said will effectively boost the PLA's combat capabilities.The regulation was signed by President Xi Jinping, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, and will take effect on March 1, Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.The report said the regulation is the first of its kind for the Chinese military. It aims to improve training inspections and ensure that PLA units focus on combat capability, the report said.The regulation's 10 chapters and 61 clauses specify the duties and major tasks of training inspectors and prescribe the proper procedures and methods of inspection.Wu Peixin, a military observer in Beijing, said the regulation is expected to enable the PLA to better supervise units' training."Currently, the training of PLA units is examined and supervised by higher authorities, mainly based on those authorities' own rules, which are more or less different from each other," he said. "With the regulation, training will be organized and supervised with a unified set of standards, so it will be improved."Wu said the regulation stresses the importance of combat capability and urges units to make training as realistic as possible. Its implementation will help to build a stronger and more battle-ready PLA, he said.A military observer in Shanghai, who asked to be identified as Yang, said the PLA has put combat-ready exercises and joint operation capabilities at the top of its agenda, so it needs a regulation to make sure all forces conduct training in accordance with strict, unified standards.Xi has repeatedly ordered the military to improve its training so that it can fight and win a modern war.At a Central Military Commission conference in Beijing in early January, he urged the military to be fully aware of the nation's security and development trends; to strengthen the troops' awareness of crises, challenges and combat; and to make comprehensive preparations for military operations.Xi told the meeting that the armed forces must focus on improving their combat capabilities, and that whatever they do must align with that objective.
