An entrepreneur from Pune has been honoured with a Gold prize in the industrial technology category at the prestigious Edison Awards ceremony in the United States.

Rahul Pathak, who runs a firm called Aqua Plus, won the recognition last week for his innovative solution of making clean potable water available quickly at affordable prices for people facing natural calamities like floods and earthquakes. “The solutions developed by Aqua Plus are being utilised by the Red Cross, Unicef Oxfam GB, RedR India, IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies), ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) and Rotary International during relief work,” he said.

The water filters developed by Aqua Plus were first successfully used during rescue operations in the wake of the Jammu and Kashmir earthquake of 2005, reaching out to over 5,000 people. Installed in 1,500 locations during the flash floods of Uttarakhand, Jammu, Kerala, Assam and Chennai, one of its models even processed 7,000 litres of water in 10 hours which proved potable in mountainous terrain.

The significance of this award, Pathak pointed out, was high as American inventor Thomas Alva Edison, after whom the recognition is being given, believed that innovations should be human-centric and beyond monetary considerations.

Through such innovation, Pathak said, “we are planning to reach the most vulnerable population who are affected by disasters and try to give them some dignity. We are trying to reach those people who are most in need. Our solutions have proved useful in over 50 emergencies nationally and internationally. This is what the awards have considered.”