In 2016, Swapnil Shrivastav and Venkatesh R.Y., the founders of the Bengaluru-based Uravu Labs, a start-up working on renewable water technology, experienced first-hand the impact of water shortage.
They were both students at the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, back then, says Shrivastav, recalling the dry spell the city of Kozhikode went through that year. When the river near the institute, its primary source of water, started drying up, NIT turned to water tankers to supply their staff and students with water.
“But with so many students in the hostel, you cannot keep calling water tankers,” says Shrivastav, adding that water had to be rationed to one to two buckets per person per day back then. “That was a trigger. It got me thinking about water, in general.”
