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Growing water for India from fruit and vegetables: Fujitsu's blockchain helps startup tackle water crisis

Growing water for India from fruit and vegetables: Fujitsu's blockchain helps startup tackle water crisis

Fujitsu / October 7, 2024

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Waking up in the morning and washing your face with clean running water is still the privilege of a handful of lucky countries. You might assume that development has given more people access to clean water, but the fact is that more people are without this basic necessity due to droughts and floods caused by climate change.

Botanical Water Technologies (BWT) is ready to tackle the water crisis in India with its unique technology: processing drinking water sustainably from tomatoes, sugarcane and other vegetables.

Fujitsu Limited is backing BWT with their latest technology. We interviewed BWT’s Founder and CEO, Terry Paule in Tokyo to share his passion for the new project.

Growing water from fruits and vegetables

“Floods and droughts are equally bad, and both disasters leave an urgent need for clean water in their wake,” says Botanical Water Technologies Founder and CEO Terry Paule, taking out two bottles of water from his briefcase.

The company's product, “AquaBotanical” harvests drinking water from fruits and vegetables. “We like to say that we ‘grow’ water,” says Paule and offered the bottles to interview staff. “This one is ‘harvested’ from tomatoes in a ketchup factory in Australia. We also have bottles made from sugarcane and carrots. This water has been invisible for centuries and is often thrown away to environmental detriment.”

To our surprise, the water tasted soft and silky in the mouth with no unpleasant taste or smell -- no trace of tomatoes!

“For the last ten years, companies have focused on carbon, but water is the next big thing. Water is in the clothes we wear, in the food we eat and in almost everything we do. It's life-giving.” Paule said.

Safe drinking water is essential for a healthy life. Yet, over two billion people worldwide do not have access to safe water, and 40 percent of the population suffers from the negative effects of water shortages, including disease, according to the United Nations.

“Sadly, UNICEF reports that women and children, particularly girls, spend more than 200 million hours every day collecting water, that means children can’t go to school, they can’t get an education, and they can’t break the poverty cycle." Paule points out. “We want to change that.”

Terry Paule, Botanical Water Technologies Founder and CEO, explains his new project in India amid the water crisis (Tokyo, July 2024)

Discovering “new sources of water”

About nine years ago, Paule discovered the idea that would eventually lead to the founding of his startup. At that time, he was serving as the Co-Founder and Chairman of Findex, a financial advisory firm he established in Australia alongside his brother.

"I then learned about an individual conducting innovative research on producing drinking water from carrots. This intriguing concept captured my interest, prompting me to meet with him immediately."

Paule was focusing on technology-led agriculture and food business as one of the growth areas for his startup. After inspecting the technology, he immediately decided to invest.

Their patented technology that harvests and creates clean drinking water from fruit and vegetables are called Water Harvesting Units. All the technology sits inside a 40-foot shipping container. It is installed on the production line of a ketchup or sugar factory.

During the processing of vegetables such as tomatoes and sugarcane, a large amount of evaporative condensate is released. The unit cools, filters and purifies this condensate and creates clean and sustainable drinkable water to be delivered to the world’s most vulnerable people.

Each processing facility can produce approximately two million liters of drinking water per day. This is close to the 2.5 million liters that an Olympic swimming pool holds.

The first product they launched in the market was bottled water labelled “AquaBotanical,” which is now available widely in supermarkets across Australia.

“It is a new source of water that no one had paid attention to,” Paule said.

”AquaBotanical” is sold at supermarkets in Australia as a sustainable product

[Visit our Customer Story] Botanical Water Technologies: Delivering a new source of water

Delivering clean drinking water to India’s most vulnerable people

Since its launch in 2020, BWT has been operating units at two locations in Australia and one in the United States . And in October 2024, the company plans to launch a fourth location in central India.

Paule says the project in India is a crucial touchstone for the company to achieve their goal.

India is facing one of its worst water crises in history. They have approximately 18% of the world’s population, yet only have approximately 4% of the world’s water resources. A government-backed think tank, the National Institute for Transforming India, says people are facing a water shortage caused by frequent floods and droughts in many parts of the country while its population continues to grow rapidly.

The death toll from lack of access to clean water for children less than five years old is between 400,000 and 500,000 each year. Only half of India’s total water needs can be supplied in 2030, putting the brakes on its economic growth.

Paule wanted to directly help those in need of water, but he soon realized how difficult the plan would be. Transporting water from Australia would be environmentally unfriendly because aircraft and vessels generate significant greenhouse gases.

“I spent many sleepless nights staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out how to do it,” Paule said. “To find clues, I analyzed companies like Amazon, Airbnb, and Uber that disrupted industries and saw tremendous success in this century to see if there were any common elements.”

“What they had in common was that these companies created a platform to connect buyers and sellers of a particular product. So, we decided to create a platform that would bring together people who need water and people who can provide water in one place.”

Woman carrying water in India facing water shortage

India faces record water shortage

Blockchain is ensuring trust in the platform

Paule and his team spoke with more than a dozen IT companies looking for a technology partner that could help them build a global water trading platform. That is where Fujitsu comes in. The deciding factor was Fujitsu's blockchain technology solution, “Fujitsu Track and Trust.”

“Blockchain technology was the final piece of the puzzle to complete our plan,” said the CEO.

In 2021, BWT and Fujitsu jointly launched a platform for trading water online, the “Botanical Water Exchange.”

One of Paule's top priorities was transparency of information. Water transactions involve various stakeholders, including manufacturers, companies that address water issues as part of their societal contribution, and NGOs that support local communities.

“Blockchain technology allows us to see which factory produced and transported the water, and who received it. The entire process is now visible and verifiable through data,” Paule explained.

“Through our data, we can assure that water is being delivered to people who need it. And we can report to our impact sponsors who are conscious of ESG management (*1) in real-time. In short, Fujitsu's technology literally helps us ‘track and trust’ our activities from grower to end consumer.”

“We say it was a meeting of the minds. Fujitsu’s engineers were keen on the importance of sustainability, and they immediately understood what we were trying to achieve,” he said. “The engineers worked on the project as if it were their own. They are great partners.”

(*1) ESG management: Company management focusing on measures of environmental, social and governance for environmental and social impact.

[Learn more] Sustainable manufacturing: turning wine into water

Terry Paule speaks about his water project in India

“Through sustainability, CEOs now work to reward all stakeholders, not just shareholders”

In India, BWT plans to produce clean drinking water by utilizing the evaporative condensate generated during the sugar milling process. A local NGO will transport purified water to villages suffering from water shortages.

RFID (radio frequency identification) cards will be initially distributed to residents in over 5,000 households living in the Nagpur District. When they hold this card over a water machine installed in each village, they will be able to get free water all year round paid for by the impact sponsor.

This project is sponsored by Microsoft, who have several data centers in India that require significant amount of water for cooling purposes. Microsoft pursues preservation of water sources in its sustainability policy as they strive to become water positive by 2030. The project with BWT is part of its effort to address the water crisis in India and help them achieve their water stewardship goals.

“When you run a business, you often hear that a CEO’s job is to reward the shareholders. But this is changing. Now, through sustainability, CEOs work to reward all stakeholders, not just shareholders. CEOs must make decisions around all the relationships with their suppliers, their employees and their customers as well as their shareholders.”

Paule's focus is on expansion within India, with the goal of bringing clean, safe drinking water to 100 million more people in the next two years, improving water access and quality in the Global South.

“Imagine if we fail and we only reach 50 million people. That's still a lot of people. Even five million, even 100,000…think of how many kids we can save from dying,” Paule says. “And technology is an enabler that can help us go faster. If we can make a difference, let's do it.”

Terry Paule says his goal is to bring clean and safe drinking water to 100 million people by 2025

Botanical Water Technologies is strategically focusing on expanding operations across India's network of over 800 sugar mills and distilleries. By collaborating with Fortune 100 companies who operate in the region, BWT aims to accelerate this development.

Fujitsu, together with Botanical Water Technologies, will continue tackling societal issues to achieve both business growth and a sustainable future through our business model, Fujitsu Uvance.

Terry Paule

Terry Paule is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Findex, Founder and Executive Director of My Co, Founder and CEO of Botanical Water Technologies, and an Impact Investor. Terry has amassed over 40 years of experience as a serial entrepreneur with a hands-on approach to building startups both in Australia and internationally. In recent years he has established My Co to focus on new idea and startup opportunities in FABtech (Food, Agri & Bio) with an emphasis on plant-based foods and renewable ideas. He mentors many aspiring entrepreneurs through strategic guidance and dedicates time and resources to philanthropy.