According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report, more than 1 in 3 health facilities in low and middle-income countries do not have any access to water.

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When the reliability, safety and distance of the water supply is taken into account, that ratio increases to 1 in 2.

So lack of water is clearly a key challenge, the others being access to soap and functioning toilets.

Solving this problem of access to water and soap is Israel-based Max Simonovsky, founder and chief executive officer, Soapy.

A scientist with a degree in medical sciences and he has spent many years in the development and sales of scientific equipment decided to experiment with existing technology that converts humidity in the air to water to create an all-in-one hygiene micro-station that’s not dependent on ground water or municipal water supply.

The solution Simonovsky and his team have built is called ‘Soapy’.

He said, "99.9% of companies around the around the globe are trying to do the same. They are generating water only for drinking while they are forgetting about people that need to wash themselves because you can drink as you need two liters a day. But, you still need to wash yourself, wash your face, wash your hands, wash your vegetables, brush your teeth and take a shower in order to continue to be healthy."

How Does Soapy Work?

The Soapy hygiene station is a modular device that converts humidity in the air to water using solar energy.

Each device is triggered by a sensor to dispense the adequate amount of water and a proprietary soap formulation to ensure a full wash as prescribed by the WHO.

In India, the first Soapy IOT or internet of things enabled station has been setup at a school in Bagepalli in Karnataka in partnership with non-profit, Swasti Health Catalysts.

He further explains, "Each system is triggered without any buttons or paddles or valves. There is a smart bracelet each user has. On this bracelet, we have a unique ID linked to the user. We have gender and age which we can use to monitor who used the unit when and how it affects their lives. We can generate insights and the links between hygiene to health and hygiene to attendance to school and then to education."

Each device can create up to 100 liters of water a day and provides more than 600 washing cycles, while conventional hand washing systems provide between 50 and 200 cycles.

The team at Soapy claims this leads to 95 percent savings in water consumption, an important metric to consider in dry or arid regions that have limited natural water supply.

Soapy is also working with partners like Swasti to move beyond schools and set up these stations at healthcare centres and at the village community level too.

Simonovsky said, "The cheapest unit is $500 and the most expensive right now is 2,000. The price for the user is Rs 125-130 for a year. So imagine yourself if you are dilated to 220 or 365 days, it means that you are paying less than half a rupee for each day."

Each station has a life of 5-6 years and all the research and development (R&D) and manufacturing presently takes place in Israel itself.

But over time, Simonovsky is open to moving some part of the manufacturing and assembly to India to ensure lower costs for his distribution and channel partners.

After all, Simonovsky is clear, he wants to build a for-profit business that’s scalable.

Shedding light on company’s future plans, Simonovsky said, "We are for profit organisation and the reason for that is that we wanted to expand and not to rely on outsourcing of funds. We want to rely on those who can be our customer. We are now developing a unit that is going to be placed within food services environment. We will reduce the price of water because we are saving 95 percent of water units and we will increase a lot of hygiene products."

Soapy is one of the Israeli companies recognised under the India-Israel Innovation Bridge and is working with the teams at the global Pears Challenge, iCreate in Ahmedabad and Livpure to expand its network in India.

By next year, we can expect Soapy installations across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Delhi.

First Published:Aug 1, 2018 5:18 PM IST