Mr. Gaurav Kapse will present his APS in hybrid mode as per the details below:

Date: 8th February 2024

Time: 1130 – 1230 hrs.

Venue: CISCO TP Room, IITB Monash Research Academy

Zoom Link: https://monash.zoom.us/j/85914584752?pwd=UkZVVmxrMThxODhSUFZHRm9Na1pwUT09

Topic: What Does Safe, Affordable Drinking Water Mean? (Understanding High Demand for Reverse Osmosis Technology: From Inadvertence to a Social Reality)

Guide: Prof. Pankaj Sekhsaria (IITB), Prof. Murali Sastry (Monash)

RPC Members: Prof. Anand B. Rao (IITB), Prof. Mainak Majumder (Monash)

Abstract: 

Though received wisdom tells us that the demand for RO filters is driven by issues of water quality and health concerns, my research from a subdistrict of Maharashtra (India) tells a different story. The choice and use of RO as a water purification technology is driven more by user 'perceptions' of taste, and health benefits and less by established water quality standards. We find that formal water quality standards and government infrastructural mechanisms are not the only criteria users consider significant. Users construct meaning and quality differently from the expert and the state.

The granular study of these water purifiers reveals that only a particular type of technology – reverse osmosis – has been widely marketed and is extensively used. The reverse osmosis filters lower the total dissolved solids/minerals and soften water. It is the taste associated with low-mineral soft water, the perceived health benefits of drinking this water, and advertainment strategies that emerge as the most important criteria for the success of this particular technology. This research helps in understanding the high demand for reverse osmosis filters at the trijunction of the science of water quality, the technology of reverse osmosis, and society.