With a population of around 8.5 million, Bangalore is one of the largest cities on the Indian subcontinent. It is commonly referred to as the “Silicon Valley of India” due to the large concentration of tech companies that make their home in the city and surrounding area. Accordingly, it is home to a great amount of wealth and development.
But it is also home to staggering income inequality and widespread poverty. Nowhere is that more evident than in the quality of Bangalore’s drinking water.
University of Minnesota environmental engineering alum Kaylea Brase first came to know of Bangalore’s water woes while a student in the Acara program, an interdisciplinary course that positions students to tackle “Grand Challenges” facing the world. Together with her business partner, UMN civil engineering student Christopher Bulkley-Logston, Brase created Pure Paani, a company that seeks to bring affordable and easy-to-use filtration technology to the city’s low-income residents.
The Acara program, which brought together Brase and Bulkley-Logston, has operated on the campus of Minnesota since 2008.