Working with smallholder farmers in his home country of India alerted Jai Gaurav to the devastating impact of climate change on water supply. Jai is currently on a Commonwealth scholarship doing his master’s in climate change and development at the University of Sussex.
He plans to use the knowledge he has gained from his studies, and support from the university’s StartUp Sussex enterprise training programme, to develop low cost water filters and ensure better access to safe drinking water for India’s poorest people.
Jai, whose first degree is in environmental science and chemistry from the University of Delhi, plans to provide water filters that will cost 40% less than the existing filters on the market in India. The filters will also last for around a year.
He proposes to work with charities and NGOs who will eventually provide water filters to low income households in developing countries. He has begun talks with manufacturers in India and is currently seeking funding to build a prototype of the low cost filter.
Before coming to Sussex last year, Jai worked for the United Nations Development Programme and then for an NGO helping to address challenges faced by smallholder farmers in India.
Jai said: “Water is a big issue. The majority of people in rural areas do not have access to safe drinking water. They have to go to wells or public water facilities, which are often not working.”
“The problem is even worse in the slums of urban areas where people have to wait for water tankers to deliver water,” said Jai. “There are quite a few government initiatives to bring piped water or to fund the building of a well or a hand pump – but when the facilities break down it can take years to get it fixed.”
Studying at the University of Sussex has helped him crystallise his future plans.
“The MSc course has helped me to look at development issues through different lenses and find innovative ways of approaching a challenge. The StartUp Sussex programme and the help I received from the Sussex Innovation Centre [the university’s incubator for new businesses] has been helpful in planning the implementation of my low cost water filter idea, and I will start looking for funding opportunities since now I have a better understanding of the issues” he said.
