Autarcon GmbH

With the spin-off of AUTARCON GmbH from the University of Kassel in 2010, the company set out to solve the problem of contamination and thus the greatest challenge of drinking water supply in rural developing regions. For over 12 years, AUTARCON has focused on the concerns and needs of the local population. Thanks to AUTARCON, around 100,000 people worldwide have already been supplied with safe drinking water on a long-term basis, thus improving their health in the long term.
As part of numerous development projects and the experience gained there, the technology was developed from pure water disinfection to a platform. AUTARCON can use it to solve site-specific challenges in a targeted manner. In addition to the actual drinking water treatment, a user-oriented solution that takes into account the socio-economic conditions on site also includes suitable operator models.
The Kassel-based company supplies the necessary components and know-how for this. The systems are adapted to the specific conditions on site and otherwise use locally available components wherever possible. This saves a considerable amount of material and transportation costs and transfers the added value to the respective region.

In many regions of the Global South, the lack of germ-free, quality-controlled drinking water is the cause of diarrhea and other illnesses. AUTARCON has developed a method to reliably supply people in rural areas of India and Africa with germ-free drinking water. Around 100,000 people, 30,000 of them in India alone, are already benefiting from this. The water is disinfected using a chlorine solution generated on site using solar energy. Other pollutants such as arsenic can also be removed. Consumption-based payment models cover the operating costs of the installed systems in the long term. Training courses for local staff ensure the operation of the systems.

AUTARCON will use the prize money to evaluate and co-finance locations for drinking water facilities in the Indian provinces of Maharashtra and Assam and to introduce a piped prepaid system. This will enable up to 5,000 people living there to be permanently supplied with safe drinking water.

Utta Dottma in the Indian state of Assam is the first location where an AUTARCON disinfection plant has been built to supply the community with safe drinking water. It was commissioned in December 2023 and has been in continuous operation since January 2024. This means that around 2,000 people living in this community currently benefit from the plant, which can disinfect up to 60 cubic metres of water per day, making it safe to drink.

The plant consists of a newly constructed well with a well pump, buildings for the technology, an aeration and filtration system that removes harmful substances from the water, a water tower with a storage tank and an autonomous disinfection system based on the onsite electrolysis of chlorine –co-financed with part of the prize money.

It was also important to AUTARCON to construct the plant, which was designed and pre-manufactured in Germany, as far as possible with components and materials from Indian production, and this was achieved. Manufacturers from New Delhi, Maharashtra and Kerala supplied materials for the drinking water treatment plant built in the Bodoland Territory region. The plant will be handed over to the responsible local authority for further supervision and operation. This will be prepared by AUTARCON through training courses.

Following the successful installation of the plant in the state of Assam, further plants are to be built at other locations. The state of Maharashtra has been selected for this. Here, experience from practical operation and plant construction in Assam will be incorporated.

The local conditions that play a decisive role in the construction and operation of drinking water treatment also include the payment for the use of water. Here too, there are different models for how and by whom the tapped drinking water is paid for. Unlike in Germany, where every household has to pay a fixed fee to the water supplier for the amount of water used, there is often no control over the water consumption in households in in India. AUTARCON has suitable meter and consumption measurement models that can be used as required by the responsible municipality.

The newly constructed water supply system in Utta Dottma, Assam state, India — Inauguration in December 2023 with local representatives of the health authority and plant operators from the community.                               ©AUTARCON

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