Consuming filtered water while one is traveling long distances is a difficult task. Access to filtered water is limited while traveling. Though we have mineral water bottles as our savior, but they are expensive and leave behind a non-biodegradable heap.
And that’s where Niranjan Karagi has emerged out as a savior by inventing a lightweight and affordable water filter. It reduces chlorine and removes bacteria up to 99.9%, making the water drinkable. He named his water filter – NIRNAL. And this is the world’s cheapest water filter.
FOUNDER’S BACKGROUND
Hailing from the Belgaum town in Karnataka, Niranjan Karagi took notes of incidents where kids drank water from a potentially unsafe water outlet. He mainly observed this while playing football.
Niranjan completed his schooling at St. Mary’s School Belagavi. He finished his engineering degree from Angadi Institute of Technology and Management, Belagavi.
IDEA BEHIND NIRNAL
While pursuing his engineering degree, he stumbled upon an important issue. Niranjan found that there was no water filter in the school, and kids drank water directly from the tap that was connected to an overhead tank. And he was shocked to know that the tank was not cleaned for more than a year. His first thought was to donate a filter to the school.
Soon he realized the filters available in the market were expensive and the school wouldn’t be able to manage its maintenance cost throughout. But that didn’t stop him. He knew he had to come up with a solution to contaminated water.
Project of NIRNAL
Niranjan Karagi and his brother Pradumn together started working on the water contamination problem. They developed multiple prototypes in 2016 and eventually developed the NIRNAL Water Filter.
It is a cartridge-based filter, and it uses Nanocomposite technology to filter dust particles up to 5 microns and bacteria up to 99.9%. It costs Rs. 30 and can fit into our ordinary pet bottle. This is the world’s cheapest water filter. It can filter up to 100 liters of contaminated water.
They distributed the prototype to over 15000 students across Maharashtra and Karnataka. Over two years, they have successfully distributed over 70000 filters to school children, members of the Army, CRPF, and INS Vikramaditya. Their innovative filter Nirnal has also been exported to over 8 countries.
Success Story of NIRNAL
Considering its huge social impact, it has gained immense popularity and received an unprecedented response. This filter is very user-friendly, and it consumes no electricity to operate. And unlike traditional water filters, it does not waste any water. It is also cheap and puts pet bottles to reuse.
Niranjan Karagi and Pradumn have won the 2019 3M-CII Young Innovators Challenge Award in the Product Innovation category. During an interview, he shared that his goal is to filter seawater into potable drinking water. There’s no stopping him anymore.
His unshaken confidence, sincere dedication, and grand vision make us wait for his upcoming projects. The best is yet to come.
To know about NIRNAL, please check – Website.
To know more about Niranjan Karagi, please check – Facebook, LinkedIn.
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