I am having problem in downloading info about common mans filter from ur site anangpur.
my computer says it is not correctly loaded plz help me get the info.

----------
REGARDS
RITIKA

----------
REGARDS
RITIKA

RESPECTED SIR,
We are the students of 8 standard. we request you to explain us your water filter as we are interested to apply it in our school and homes

THANKING YOU
RITIKA & NIKITA

Dear Anilji,
The filer is too expensive for the poor as pointed out by samit shah;i have a suggestion;can you put all the ingredients used in your filter in a small sachet like the tea bag with a porous skin;just dip it in the water collected for drinking purpose for a few minutes to purify the water;it will be a wonderful invention if it can be done.
you can add to the bag ferric sulphate[a flocculant]to remove turbidity and calcium hypochlorate[a disinfectant]in appropriate doses,both are very inexpensive;then we have a product which will be affordable,can be carried in a pocket by the labor to use at the work-spot."PUR" purifier of water manufactured in Pakistan and marketed all over the world by proctor&gamble[but not made available in India for some unknown reasons] at Rs.5 per sachet to treat 10 liters of water contains these two chemicals and according to CDC,PUR makes the water 99.9% free of contaminants.

Just to update all who may be interested in this simple solution
On the 2nd of March we had a demonstartion of this filter as well as trained approximately 100 students and NGO's. This was made possible by the Shruti Foundation and the event was held at the India Habitat Center. 10 filters with small pots ( 2 liters each) were made by the groups as a hands on experience. Overhead tank water which had a foul odour was filtered on the spot after making these filters and the change of taste was discernable to the tongue. It was also free of any odour. People were also asked to drink bottled mineral water for the sake of comparison and they were pleasantly surprised.
Shruti Foundation now has several requests for more such training programmes. An Austrailian couple is now carrying this all the way back to Austarlia. The Mouser Bayer R&D lab is conducting further reseach on this filter in Noida.

Further to my comment here is a bit on Holistic Human Settlements that needs to be addressed
Business of the future--- Climate Change-----Carbon Credits and what have you???
There is no business like a major disaster, or so it was said until the very recent past. One had heard two Indian Government engineers congratulate each other after the Gujarat Disaster some years ago. Then it was the Tsunami. Now the race to generate good business from Climate Change and the much clichéd Sustainability issues are gaining momentum. A systematic alarmist approach has been perfected. That climate change is a reality is now a well established fact but the root cause is being avoided and convoluted solutions being concocted to generate big business is the order of the day. Solutions based on good common sense (now a rare commodity) and traditional wisdom, is viewed with disdain. Add to this the fact that this is now a subject of elite social discussion and you have a formula for big business and high fashion all rolled into one potent mix.
Major Institutions have now perfected the Art of Researching the Obvious --- Common Sense and finding complex mechanisms to add figures that would confuse the best of mathematicians. Based on these very complex results that are based on assumptions that the Researcher’s results are backed by Institutions that are the ultimate authority, these then are enforced through complex mechanisms involving Patents and High consultants fees to cover the so called research. This sets into motion an extremely, well oiled machinery that then feeds off the people who have blind faith in these institutions and their research. Standards are then drawn up for the purposes of quality control, all in the interest of giving people value for money.
Let us briefly take up one of the most important problems facing mankind, where a basic fundamental right such as Safe Drinking Water has been put into this circuit. Bottled water used to be the exception and used only in cases where water availability was a serious problem. Today Bottled Water is a norm. If it’s not the bottled water then it is a variety of water filter technologies at prohibitive costs. Soft water is an accepted norm. Few know that the Human Body requires Semi Hard Water. Soft water is good for Soap. Essential minerals are removed to give soft water therefore it stands to reason that the water standards have been devised around the needs of soap rather than the Human Body. Ludicrous. Removal of essential minerals opens up the body to disease as the immune systems break down. Now we require the pharmaceutical industry to make up for these shortfalls. Brilliant business sense!
Few realize or would believe that the supposedly safe water we are sold leads to Heart Disease and Osteoporosis. We have been sold the standards of EURO II norms under the impression that we are safe from water borne diseases. May be, may be not but one thing is certain. We are now open to a larger number of diseases. Owing to inert water as propagated in the Euro II norms and removal of essential minerals that the body needs, our immune systems have been impaired
Coming to the issue of Urban Development issues that are responsible for more than 50% of the Carbon Emissions, some very critical issues need to be answered.
Why is it that all civilizations of the past were built on the High Lands? It is often argued that this was possibly for defence strategies. What good are defence strategies unless one can get water? We do know that rivers flow in the lower areas and yet the civilizations were built on the highlands. How did they get the water up to the habitation without mechanical means? Today we build on the flat lands under the misnomer of it being more economical. This is the first absurd step we take in the Human Settlements that we design.
Now for the second absurdity which defies logic. We accept that roads require a minimum slope. We also know that drains require the maximum slope. And yet we plan and design for drainage on the sides of the road. This entails deep storm water drains and enormous amount of infrastructure and exorbitant costs. Drainage systems need to be separated from the roads.
Roads, built for good connectivity often end up being an impediment and negating the very purpose for which they were built. Often built higher than the adjacent land, they become mini dams and impede the flow of water during the rains thus inundating vast tracts of land for months. The crops fail and the farmer has to bear the brunt. Minuscule dole outs are given most of which ends up in the wrong hands. We build roads higher then bring in enormous amounts of filling material to raise the plinth of the building that has to be built.
The first chapter of the Public Health Manual states that the kitchen and bath waste must not be mixed with the sewage. But this is precisely what we do thus making the non pathogenic water, pathogenic. This is then sent to the centralized sewage disposal plant. Ask the plant manager to give you more gas and he would tell you that if you gave him less water, he would give you more biogas. The problems keep on compounding further. Often we justify addition of more water to create self cleansing velocity to take the sewage to the treatment plant. Much like a dog trying to catch it’s own tail. The so called treated sewage is discharged into the nearest river and onward to the sea.
One has to only examine the map of the US and see the amount of habitation along the Mississippi River. It would also be worth while analysing the habitation around the Indo Gangetic Plain of India and around the Bay of Bengal.
5. A large number of homes and commercial toilets still use the 20 liter WC. Imagine 20 liters of water to carry 100 gms of sewage and transport it through a considerable distance to a centralised sewage treatment plant. It was not that the 100 gms of sewage that required the 20 liters of water. The standard of the 5 gallon (20) liter cistern was set up to carry the news paper over this considerable distance when the bottom sitting on the WC was a British one and the toilet paper in fashion was news paper. Now the standards are being revised but the absurdity of the manner in which we set up standards and then take them for granted is the main point being made in this instant case.
6. The use of paint for the gloss and sheen of good living is probably one of the largest contributors to ground water contamination. Copious amounts are used annually therefore it stands to reason that the same amount is being washed away and finding it’s way into the earth. These paints contain deadly poisons and heavy metals which find their way into the ground water.
7. The most misunderstood building component is a simple brick that we have come to take for granted. Standardising the brick at the size of 9"x 4.5"x3" is literally the biggest mistake of the construction industry. We know that clay of different regions varies and yet we standardized the brick. The size of the brick perforce must vary in keeping with the availability of clay of the region. Asking for the brick to be standardized is almost like ordering Mother Earth to standardize the quality of clay she yields. Can be done--- only if you are God. The old Roman Brick or the traditional India Lakhori or the Nanak Shahi bricks were thin and baked well without the use of the Bull Nosed or the Vertical Shaft or the Chinese Kilns fired with coal. Yet the standardized brick of today is inferior to the brick of yesteryear burnt with firewood or even cow dung cakes as in India.
Another aspect of the standardization of the brick that makes little or no sense is the fact that the quality of the brick is rated around it’s crushing strength. Simple calculations would show that the uniformly distributed load on a 9" brick wall is less than ½ Kg/sq cm. And yet we demand that a brick have a crushing strength of at least 150 Kgs / sq cm. The crushing strength of a brick at 150 Kgs/sq cm is a direct consequence of it’s surface requirements--- that of non erodability. The soil bearing capacity of good earth is 2-3 kgs per sq cm. Why have walling materials of such high strength when the earth on which the structure is to stand would give way? The ideal focus should therefore have been to develop a material that has a non erodable diaphragm with a lean backup so as to have a long lasting material with good thermal insulation.
8. It is much the same story with Concrete. A perfectly good material, the backbone of the construction Industry has become a bane instead of a boon. This is the most classic example of man demanding that materials behave in the manner that he wishes, rather than respecting materials for their inherent values and putting these to good use. Developed to make stone malleable we cast it flat as in a floor slab. The lower surface undergoes tension and therefore we add steel to neutralize the tension that need not have been generated. The more sensible way would be to cast an inter grid of beams (which replace the conventional arch as in traditional systems) and cast the slabs in gentle two way curved slabs. These are called funicular shells and have more than twenty times the compressive strength as they have been used for their inherent values. Waste material can be used in these funicular shells. The safe rise to span ratio should be 1:6 and with some training could also be cast flat using bricks only.
9. The every day consumer products we buy need careful scrutiny. Often the base price is a fraction of the cost of the sale price. Addons such as attractive packaging (an expertise of the developed world) involve the consumption of several materials which add to the problems of environmental degradation. These materials are often non biodegradable. As a ball park indicator, if it is found that the addons are more than 50% then the marketing and manufacturing process needs scrutiny.
10. Take the case of our transportation problems in our cities. We try to resolve problems by dealing with cars and relegating the pedestrian, the child, the cyclist and the invalid to the least priority. We build flyovers at the intersections only to stop the traffic at the base of the flyover so that the pedestrian can cross. However if we were to treat the citizen as the first priority, the solution of the Rotary Mode Separator would be found to be a far better solution, respecting the right of the citizen at the first instance.
The above are only some of the issues that one has been addressing for the past 40 years and some of the answers are quite simple really. But are we willing to look at the simple solution. This is the million dollar question.
One was watching the Climate Change series on BBC. A most hilarious one was one of a researcher claiming that the wind broken by the cows emits more methane than all other sources. He was actually holding a microphone to the posterior of the cow for the sound bytes. The conclusion was that we need to change the feed of the cows so that they emit lesser methane which he states is causing Climate Change and Global Warming. The Programs on BBC are very slick but are often based on what one calls the Harvard Approach. Research for Research sake with a whole lot of computing of figures to scare the daylights out of the viewer.
That climate change is a reality is obvious. But may be taking a step back to the future is the way forward. There is wisdom in tradition and blending the past with the present is possibly where the answers lie.
Carbon ratings and Carbon credits are yet another way of milking the system. Evaluated at US$ 11.45 per ton the entire concept reeks.
One does not know if the analysts of theses figures have heard of the statement as below
"Every action is best performed at the lowest level that it can best be performed"
The present system of evaluation gives the right for incorrect technologies to do business as usual at a small price and if you want to know who would benefit try answering the question below as asked by Henry Lamb.
All countries are today in debt and this seems to be growing. If this be so, then WHO MAKES THE MONEY?
In being able to answer this question, you would have understood Sustainable Development, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change and eventually Appropriate Human Settlement Design in a holistic manner. Over the 40 years of work in this direction, one has understood some of it and is being shared at
www.anangpur.org
.

Dear Brian,
I am truly impressed at your using the term JI. I do not know if you are Indian but your name suggests otherwise and yet your very impressive short film on Nainital Lake makes me feel that you do have Indian Roots. Bieng old, I do get a little put off when todays students address their teachers by their first names but then I am old fashoined.
Coming to the more specific issue of the water filter. Here I think the need is to get good potable water for drinking purposes to as many people as possible. I am opposed to making water a BUSINESS PROPOSITION as it is today. (It is for this reason that we do not patent any of our work). The water we drink is where all our problems begin and we then go onto feeding the Pharmaceutical Companies and the large scale manufacturing sector.
In as far as the capacity of limestone by the sea catering to high density areas is concerned, I would not presuppose that all areas are high density settlements. Even if one can cater to the needs of 70% of the population living by the sea in this manner, I think we could call this success. In trying to universalise solutions to meet the needs of incorrect urban development we often tend to end up ignoring the larger population. In the process we also end up selling them incorrect solutions on the presumption that our incorrect practices are indeed the right ones.
I would settle for a large number of small water withdrawal points and similarly a large number of disposal points and acheive a more balanced manner of resolving this point. Large CENTRALISED points is a strict NO NO. One would have to treat Urban Development as a "Partnership Between Man and Nature".
I did check my website and it seems to be working well. Since some of the files are heavy, downloading and then reading is a better option as mentioned.

Hello Anil-ji,

I find your ideas quite fascinating and of some reasonable logic. The idea that current filtration of potable water removes the necessary minerals is certainly reasonable and perhaps explains part of the reason virtually all "high end" bottled water products have some mineral content in them. I also applaud your recovery from the serious illness you suffered...I wonder if you have also brought exercise into your daily life?

With regard to your thoughts on filtering wastewater through "de-centralized" systems along the sea shore...this causes me some pause. If populations were at some low density, then perhaps this would be a reasonable conclusion or supposition but, with higher densities I don't see this working. On the other hand, I have worked with very creative engineers who have theorized de-centralized wastewater treatments.

I tried the website and could not open it...can you advise if there is a secondary method to access this information?

Thank you,
Brian

Some friends of mine are using this filter One of them has 25 workers in their car garage and the labour swear by the quality and taste A young Architect who trained here found that her resistance to perpetual coughs had improved considerably and has now installed one for all her friends in the Hostel at the Lucknow School of Architecture and I could ask her to send you her comments For the comments posted I think the e mail pasted below should help

Absurdities of Water Standards

Few would believe that the standards for potable water are in fact standards set up for making good lather for the soap and detergents that we use. Absurd as it may seem, soap has been given a priority over the needs of the Human Body. All of us have come to accept that we need SOFT WATER and so the standards. The daily advertisements also propagate the need of Water Filters such as Reverse Osmosis (RO) and lead us to accept the need for these systems, for our good health as well as that of our children.
One has witnessed the Water War in the media in recent past with the ever so concerned NGO’s voicing their concern for meeting the WHO Standards and the Euro II norms. The truth of the matter is that it is these very norms that are ensuring that people become more susceptible to disease. Makes for good business for the Pharmaceutical Industry. Soft water as also the norms of less than 100 parts per million dissolved salts in reality increase the risk of Cardio Vascular problems as well as a host of other illnesses. For those of you who are fond of searching the net, punch in the query “Is soft water good for Human Consumption” or “Soft water vs Hard water” and you would get startling results.
A few are as below:-
“At least some of the geographical variation in heart disease mortality in Ontario may be related to a marginally inadequate dietary intake of Mg. In the hard-water area of the province, water-borne Mg increases total daily intake by at least 20% so that residents of this area are less likely to be Mg deficient. This hypothesis is supported by the finding that the concentration of Mg in the myocardium tends to be higher in residents of the hard-water area, and it is consistent with the observation that fatal cardiac arrhythmias are less common than in the soft-water area.”
Water hardness and cardiovascular disease
Over 80 observational epidemiological studies relating hardness and cardiovascular disease risks have been realized and their results had been discussed by experts at the meeting organized by the WHO European Centre in Rome on November 11-13, 2003. The conclusions are quoted in the WHO report titled: 'Nutrient minerals in drinking-water and the potential health consequences of long-term consumption of demineralized and remineralized and altered mineral content drinking-waters', published in August 2004.
It was observed a positive (protective) association between cardiovascular disease mortality and increased water hardness in countries around the world, both for population and on individual-basis. It was then supposed that these beneficial health effects can possibly be extended to large population groups on a long- term basis by adjusting the water quality.
It was pointed out that magnesium and possibly calcium may be effective in reducing blood pressure in hypertensive individuals. Nutritional studies suggest that some other micronutrients may have a beneficial role associated with their presence in drinking water, even is they have not extensively considered in these epidemiological studies yet. More studies are needed to better understand the possible risks and benefits of essential and trace elements found in water.
The discussion group concluded there is sufficient epidemiological evidence of and inverse relationship between magnesium concentration in drinking water and ischemic heart disease mortality, and therefore the reintroduction into demineralised water in the remineralisation process would likely provide health benefits. There are, in fact, no known harmful human health effects associated with the addition magnesium within a large range and the nutritional benefits are well known. It is thought that adding calcium provides the same benefits, however, a correlation between calcium in drinking water and decreases in the occurrence of heart disease is not yet proven substantially.
C:\Documents and Settings\Anil\My Documents\Demiwater and health.htm

THE WATER STORY & HEART DISEASE
Source: HEALTHY WATER Martin Fox, Ph.D.

”Over the years many studies have been published on the relationship between drinking water and cardiovascular mortality. Two beneficial factors continually stand out - hardness and total dissolved solids. Both have been associated with lower mortality from heart disease. Hardness refers to the amount of calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg), or calcium carbonate in the water. The more Ca, Mg, or calcium carbonate, the harder the water, the less - the softer the water.
The first major study on drinking water and heart disease was in 1960 by Schroeder. In his paper, "Relation Between Mortality from Cardiovascular Disease and Treated Water Supplies," the water in 163 largest cities in the United States was analyzed for 21 constituents and correlated to heart disease. He concluded "some factor either present in hard water, or missing or entering in soft water is associated with higher death rates from degenerative cardiovascular disease."
In 1979 after reviewing fifty studies, Comstock concluded, "there can be little doubt that the associations of water hardness with cardiovascular mortality are not spurious.”
“Today after thirty years of research we are left with Schroeder's initial conclusion-drinking hard water results in less cardiovascular disease than drinking soft water.”
C:\Documents and Settings\Anil\My Documents\Hard Water is Healthier Than Soft Water FAQs From TWT.htm
The obvious disadvantage to soft water is the level of sodium (salt) deposited in the water.
Potassium Chloride used in place of Sodium Chloride can reduce the levels of sodium in softened water. Anyone who has heart or circulatory problems, or on a low sodium diet should discuss the installation of a water softener with a physician.
There are 3 alternative methods are available to reduce sodium in softened water: reverse osmosis, distillation, and deionization..
Researchers have found conflicting results relating the mineral content of water to the risk of cardiovascular disease. The risk appears lowest when the drinking water contains lots of minerals and highest when the water is soft. Consumers may want to consider installing a bypass to the kitchen water supply for cooking and drinking.
According to a report by the University of Kentucky, softened water also increases the potential for leaching heavy metal from pipes, solder, and plumbing fixtures. Increased levels of copper, lead, zinc, and cadmium are found in soft water, particularly when it stands overnight in the plumbing system. Heavy metal concentrations can exceed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) primary drinking water standards, particularly for water standing overnight in brass plumbing fixtures and faucets.
http://www.keidel.com/resource/water/hard.htm
Arsenic in water is proving to be a colossal problem in countries like Bangladesh. All one requires is merely 3 liters per capita per day of good potable water with the essential minerals provided by nature. Could a fundamental right prove so elusive? Einstein said “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”. As usual, it is to mother nature and traditional wisdom that one must turn to when all else seems to fail. After all she is the original all caring provider of sustainable environmentally balanced solutions.
Be it the holy waters of the Ganga and Jamuna or those of Lourdes in France, it is where water passes through limestone belts that you get the best waters and are used for religious rituals. If they contain other minerals such as traces of silver etc., these waters are literally worshiped. These waters are stored in copper vessels for decades on end. They remain pure. Water is best purified by storing in a Silver or Gold vessel and therefore has the status of noble metals. Excessive intake of these metals in no way harms the body but only gives the skin a very pale blue colour and therefore the term “Blue Blooded” in royalty. The next time you visit your local jeweler who serves water and drinks in silver glasses, do observe the pale blue tinge in the colour of his skin.
Coconut shell charcoal is one of the finest filters to remove e coli and suspended impurities. We used copper five copper vessels each with a small hole at the bottom to slow down the rate of water passage. The first has water the next contains coconut shell charcoal. The third contains white marble chips. The fourth contains white sand and the fifth vessel is for water collection and contains a silver coin or chain and has a small tap to drain out water.

ROgue selling-- the Reverse Osmosis water filter

In the beginning we had UV water filters acting as life savers for potable drinking water, now deemed as archaic. Even the new Reverse Osmosis system, I suspect, is also on it’s way out, the latest to join the band wagon being the ROM, (Reverse Osmosis Mineral) the ultimate solution to pristine, clear water. To my mind it is the all “American Way” hard sell gimmick that makes people buy this very expensive machine.
To prove a very valid point read on…..
A few days ago our UV filter which had served us well for more than two decades finally went bust. My wife was passionate about this gadget as she was of her archaic washing machine which had served us well for almost the same period of time. (A new washing machine has since replaced the old one, about one year ago). There was virtual panic and the service mechanic was called in post haste. One look at the UV water filter and he advised retirement of this machine suggesting a replacement with the all new concept of the RO (Reverse Osmosis) system. A new UV system would cost Rs 7000.00 and the all new RO system would cost only Rs.11,000.00. With a buy back offer of the old UV system, I would be poorer byRs 9,000.00 only.
Slickly initiated into the all “American Art of Selling”, the salesman had tested our fresh water system and quickly established that we were lucky to have survived thus far. This added to my wife’s panic – ridden state left on with little option but to go in for the RO system (she calls the shots on the domestic front). Tests with the meter had shown brown and green sediments in the water which began to boil when the sales man had used the meter called the Electrolyser. Grime had collected on the surface of the glass of water. I pride my self on the fact that our underground water source is as good as water can be and it forms the basis of my so called expertise on the issues of Sustainable Development. My self confidence I felt, was about to take a severe beating.
With great temerity I requested the salesman to come to my (in the same complex as my house) along with the samples of the tested water and the test equipment. To say that the water samples were truly horrific, is putting it mildly.
At this point I might add that my office had recently developed a Common Man’s Water Filter, aimed at removing Arsenic from water. Laboratory tests showed clearly that this water filter did remove Arsenic. The basic ‘funda’ was simple. After placing copper vessels one over the other water was passed through coconut charcoal, marble chips, sand and then eventually over silver coins or chains. There was nothing earth shakingly new about this gizmo where a combination of traditional systems that were used to filter water. This can be downloaded from our website at www.anangpur.org. A sample of water through this system the TDS (Total Dissolved Salts) meter showed a reading of 410 ppm for the water passed through this home made gizmo whereas the bottled mineral water allows for less than 100 ppm. The meter looks rather like a pen and costs app Rs. 1200.00. One has to dip it in the water for a few seconds and the reading is displayed. However when the salesman used the Electrolyser, the water turned a murky brown and gained heat. The salesman’s job was done and I immediately ordered his RO system where he guaranteed TDS of less than 100 ppm. (The Electrolyser basically comprises two rods, one of Iron and the other of Copper, connected to a step down transformer, much like a battery eliminator, so that the system can be used through the power mains).
Within the hour the RO system was firmly ensured in our kitchen and fully operative within the next half hour. A glass of water after it had been filtered through the RO system was brought in and the very two tests repeated. The TDS meter showed a reading of 74 ppm and the Electrolyser turned the water very pale brown which was hardly discernable and no heat was emitted. Very impressive indeed.
In a flash, I recalled my Physics lessons in class 9 and 10 way back in 1957 and 1958. I asked for a small amount of common salt and asked the salesman to repeat the same tests on the same freshly filtered water through the RO system. Few grains of a barely visible quantity of salt were added to this water. When the Electrolyser was used, the water turned murky brown and started heating up. I then took off my wedding ring and with a rather blunt knife made gentle abrasions on it. The abrasions on the ring were barely visible. Some barely visible particles dropped into the glass of water. The water turned even murkier than the unfiltered water from my underground source. The salesman was at a complete loss for words, his selling skills dampened. Surely salt is not poison, neither is gold. If there are traces of gold then of course you have the ultimate pristine water. Silver, a tried and tested mineral for water purification, was not at hand, but I am certain that the results of the water turning murky would have been similar. If you access google and type in therapeutic value of silver in water, you will be surprised at the studies available on this subject. The tradition of gifting a silver or gold spoon and bowl as a gift for the newly born baby is therefore significant, as water becomes pure on contact with these metals even for a short period of time. In this context I would like to narrate an interesting meeting with a 90+ years old traditional doctor, way back in 1973. His recommended form of medication was crushed diamonds, rubies, pearls and powdered metals such as silver, gold and platinum etc. ostensibly expensive as it might seem, he proved that in dispensing quantities as miniscule as those that could be picked up by the tip of a needle, these were affordable by the common man. These metals had no carrying agents and therefore had no side effects. The electrical charge emitted by each of these elements kept the circuitry of the blood and the body stable. Each had it’s own electrical charge and were explained as a series of small batteries working in combination. He compared the body and the nervous system to a computer way back in 1973. He claimed to restore this very delicate balance in the blood through his form of medication.
He went on to explain, that based on the mineral content in the body of human beings there is a constant electrolysis taking place. This is what makes peoples of different regions what they are. Water therefore cannot be standardized as per the Euro norms but must be different for different regions. This would be the first step to sustainable development. On a similar note, the fact that even a small element like the building brick has been standardised, is the first step to unsustainability. Brick varied according to the different clay of each region. In standardising the brick we are asking for the standardisation of earth, and this is simple if the decision makers of these standards were God. More can be read on this subject by accessing the very same website at www.anangpur.org and reading Sustainable City Strategies which was part of the Local Agenda 21 for the Asia Region, authored by the undersigned, for the Johannesburg Summit.
It now became clear that this was indeed “ROgue selling the Reverse Osmosis the all American Way”. The entire explanation is relatively simple if one is cued into the very basic lessons in Physics.
The RO system tends to turn water into what one may term as “Dead Water”. Devoid of minerals and nutrients so essential for the balance of blood in the human body, the immune systems of the body are now susceptible to disease. Some standards rate the essential TDS as 500ppm and this goes up to 800ppm in the WHO standards. At less than 100 ppm, no electric charge passed through the water and therefore no electrolysis took place. Consequently no sediment formed. The anode and the cathode (the two bars of iron and copper) had next to no exchange of ions and therefore the pale brown colour in the RO filtered sample. With the addition of common salt or microns of metal in the form of gold or silver, the electric circuit was complete and with the passage of current, electrolysis took place and the sediment formed the scary looking layer. This scare syndrome that was induced was enough to have us buy the RO water filter. It had nothing to do with the impurities.
So now you have a choice between the Devil or the Deep Blue Sea. Drink the Municipal water and you die. Drink the water through the RO system and you still die, albeit slowly but with copious amounts of pills to make up for the loss of essential minerals owing to drinking “dead water”. It’s almost as if the entire system was tailor made to feed the pharmaceutical industry.
I now get calls from the salesman regularly to check how I am. His fear is that I may enlighten others (much to his discomfort) which I am most diligently doing. My RO filter has been set to app 700 ppm. Now that I have told you my story I would venture to make some suggestions. The purpose here is not to scare anyone, as we all know that our municipal water in India and some other countries is unsafe. But this does not mean that the scare syndrome using technology must compel us to take conscious decisions.
Here are some thought provoking suggestions for those of you who wish to invest in a water purifier as well as those who manufacture them :_
1. Do get yourself a water filter but have it set to between 500 to 1500 ppm. Don’t get carried away by the scare instilled by the sales gimmick.
2. The manufacturers must be compelled to make a more honest selling campaign.
3. The manufacturers must carry a pamphlet stating that essential minerals exist in the treated water and just as in the case of packaged foods, the levels of resultant maintained mineral content must be printed on the equipment being sold.
4. Manufacturers must set equipment to suit the local needs and metabolisms

In the eventual analysis a very apt quote comes to mind and is pasted below:-

Even though the following statement was made with respect to India, it is applicable to the tropical areas the world over.
Lord Macaulay in his speech in the British parliament on February 2, 1835 on introducing English education in India said “I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such high calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her cultural and spiritual heritage, and therefore I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self esteem, their native self culture, and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation”.
Since the true statement of Human Values is encompassed in the way we design Human Settlements, our effort is to respect traditional wisdom and blend with today’ its needs to provide for a sustainable future.
Do access this on our website and make one for yourself. It’s easy. Then as a social obligation make one for the nearest slum dweller, preferably an eldelry lady. Teach her how to use it and suggest that she market safe water at 50 paise (one cent per liter) as opposed to Indian Rupees 12 (25cents) per liter of bottled water as in India. She would make Rs 30 (75 Cents) per hour amounting to US$ 6 per day as opposed to a daily wage earner at US$ 2 per day. It’s a win win situation.

Your obligation to us. Keep us informed of your effort in this direction. Not too much to ask for.

Once again do access Common Man’s water filter at www.anangpur.com. For your GOOD HEALTH and that of your family as well as one needy person.

Have a good year

PS . For those of you who distill your own wine. This filter would do a great job of filtering your wine. Pass your Hard liquor through this filter and make it smoother.
I am an architect with an interest in Sustainable Human Settlement Design. Our approach is holistic and you may find our project at Jamaica of interest as it has been devised around water it’s disposal as the pivotal factor.

Hello Anil, Could you give us an update since your entry in the last competition? Were you able to get funding for your work? Do you have any videos that you could post on the site? Lastly, you mentioned that you were working on a documentary. How is that going? Thanks
Dana Frasz
Changemakers

Dear Anil:

Your filter looks like a very promising way to deliver potable drinking water. However, I have two questions regarding the technology and its method of delivery. First, what makes this filter different from other filters on the market? It seemed as if you implied that the water retained its minerals after being filtered, providing additional health benefits, but I was unclear. Also, how do you propose to deliver this innovation to the public? At a cost of $150 it may be difficult to convince middle-class consumers to buy a filter that is much more expensive than others on the market, especially if, as you say, the common misconception is that soft water is healthier. The poor (and most in need of clean drinking water) would certainly lack the funds to buy the filter, even if they so desired or the price was reduced 30-40% from the use of local production inputs. How do you think you can overcome these obstacles?

Thanks for your response!

Samit Shah
Changemakers