An estimated 1.2 billion people lack access to clean water worldwide. Water borne disease is one of the greatest threats to the world’s poor. Diarrhea, cholera, polio, and typhoid are common diseases spread via contaminated water. The United Nations Children’s Fund, commonly known as UNICEF, believes that in India 400,000 children die from diarrhea each year. To help address the problem, Tata Group, an Indian conglomerate perhaps best known to Americans for its purchase of Jaguar Land Rover, has developed a “water purifier for the masses.”

The Tata Swach – which means “clean” in Hindi – is a water purifier that doesn’t require running water or electricity to operate, and is priced for mass adoption – according to the Associated Press, the 19 liter device costs 749 rupees (about $16 dollars).

Speaking at the product launch, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata, pictured above, said:

Safe drinking water is the most basic of human needs. The social cost of water contamination is already enormous and increases every year. Although today’s announcement is about giving millions more people affordable access to safe water, it is an important step in the long-term strategy to find a solution to provide affordable access to safe water for all.

The purification “filter” uses a combination of paddy husk ash, and microscopic particles of silver that, according to company executives, eliminates bacteria that cause 80 percent of waterborne diseases. The Tata Swach will purify up to 3,000 liters of water, and will automatically stop water flow after its purification limit is reached.

The Tata Group plans to initially produce one million units a year, and will distribute the purifier through a network of 30,000 rural Indian retailers. In the future, the company plans to expand distribution to Africa.

Ramakrishnan Mukundan, managing director of Tata Chemicals, said, “With the launch of Tata Swach, we are taking a small step towards fulfilling our Chairman’s vision of making safe drinking water available for all at an affordable cost…so with the launch of this product we are committing ourselves to work towards wiping out the curse of water-borne diseases.”

Some wonder why this hasn’t been done sooner, or in other markets. Perhaps the Swach will cause a price war and even western countries will benefit from this new, inexpensive alternative to the good ole Britta. If the Swach is available in your area, will you buy one?

The government and the Environmental Working Group claim that consumers know far less about the contents of bottled water than they do about tap.

Treehugger tips us off to showbiz’s eco-scorecard. Find out who aced the green test and who earned Fs.

Admittedly a little self-promotional, nevertheless we were super excited to see AirDye® coverage on the New York Times’ green business blog.

Michael Pritchard demonstrates his newest invention—the Lifesaver water bottle—on TEDGlobal conference attendee Chris Anderson.

Our favorite links from the week that was:

+ Über-chic, high-performance electric car maker Tesla isn’t one to be left out of the auto industry mayhem: Co-founder Martin Eberhard is suing CEO Elon Musk for slander and mismanagement of Tesla Motors’ funds.

+ Inhabitat features a building that converts air to water.

+ Treehugger asks, Is peeing in public green? We respond, Does it matter? (Image credit: almbfa2004 on Travel Shots)

+ Sony Ericsson launches their Green Hearts phone. made of fifty percent recycled materials.

Our favorite links from the week that was:

+ Apartment Therapy asks the question Can an iPhone app green your life? The app provides green tips according to criteria you set, and spits out precise equations for how each change, if implemented, will reduce your water, energy, and carbon footprint.

+ The Huffington Post reports on water footprints; and, of course, lively debate ensues.

+ Earth2Tech snaps photos of Japan’s first drive-through battery swap for electric vehicles.

+ Inhabitat turns us on to Xerox’s new printer ink, which can cut waste by 90 percent (but costs $24K?!).

Welcome to the AirDye—Good for Water blog. AirDye is an innovative new technology that seeks to change the way the world dyes textiles. As an industry, textile manufacturing and dyeing is one of the most wasteful and environmentally damaging. At AirDye, we’ve created a technology to eliminate the need for water in the dyeing process: a step that currently drains the earth of 2.4 trillion gallons of water a year, an astonishingly high amount of which ends up polluting local water sources. In a commitment to change these harmful practices, and with the belief that through innovation and technology our industry can do better, we’re launching this blog on Earth Day.

greening the textile industry

First, we want to tell you a bit about what we’re doing to pioneer new, greener practices for the textile industry. As the name suggests, AirDye uses air to dye fabric, bypassing the liquid state of dye altogether. Here’s a basic breakdown of the technology: Instead of mixing dye with water and placing it on the surface of a fabric, our process transforms dye from a solid to a gas, eliminating the liquid state and therefore the need for water. When synthetic fabric is exposed to a certain temperature, the molecules in the fiber begin to expand. In this porous state, gaseous dye enters the space in between fibers and when fabric cools the dye is trapped in the fiber permanently.

Aside from the potentially trillions of gallons of water this process spares, the benefit to you, the consumer, is something we call “no rules wash.” Since the dye is actually a part of the fabric itself, rather than a layer that rests on top of it, color doesn’t fade and garments can last far beyond 100 washes. (Even pouring bleach on a shirt won’t damage the color.) An AirDye garment has a far longer life, which dramatically reduces disposability and promotes sustainability—after all, the most sustainable product is one you don’t have to replace.

pioneering social change

The implications of AirDye reach far beyond technology. Nearly a billion people go without access to clean, safe drinking water. With 4,700 people dying each day from a lack of potable water, we simply cannot, in good conscience, continue to waste trillions of gallons of water dyeing fabric. Beyond preserving precious resources, dyeing textiles without water expands opportunity for entirely new industries in developing nations that don’t have the water for traditional textile production.

join the conversation

In the days and weeks to come, we’ll be blogging about a wide range of topics, from water scarcity to eco-fashion. At AirDye, we believe vigorous debate and open exchange of ideas always leads to smarter practices. We hope you’ll join the conversation. Happy Earth Day.