Jal4All ·
Nobody pays to walk on a footpath or to stand under a street light. We expect a city to provide them, and we notice when it does not. Drinking water in public places used to sit in the same list: a tap at the station, a matka outside a shop, a pyau on a busy road in summer.
Today, for most people away from home, water is something you buy. On a hot day at a bus stand, in a hospital queue or in a temple line, the choice is often a bottle from a shop or nothing at all.
Water is not a product here
Jal4All starts from a simple position: in a public place, safe drinking water should be free at the point where people need it. Not as charity, and not as a favour, but as part of what makes a place work, like lighting or seating.
That does not mean water costs nothing to provide. Sealed, safe water has to be packed, stored, transported and handed out by people. Water points need sources, pumps, filters and someone to look after them. The question is only who pays.
Who pays, then?
We think the answer is: the organisations that benefit from being there.
- Brands spend on hoardings, radio and digital ads to be seen in the same places where people go thirsty. Paying for free water there is a better use of the same attention. People notice who gave them water.
- Companies with CSR budgets can fund the lasting part: drinking water points, wells, pumps, storage and the revival of ponds and tanks, executed by the Jal4All Foundation. India's CSR rules name safe drinking water explicitly as an eligible activity.
- Venues, organisers and local bodies can host free water and make it part of how they welcome people.
Jal4All keeps these tracks separate. A branded carton is marketing, and we say so. A CSR water project carries no brand promotion.
Counted, not claimed
Public infrastructure earns trust when you can see it. That is why every Jal4All drive and project goes into a public impact log with the place, the date, the number of cartons and photos. We do not publish estimates of "people reached", and we will not round up.
Where we start
We are starting from Nashik, Maharashtra, with drives at stations, temples, markets and events, and CSR projects with partners who want to build something that lasts. Dubai is next on our list.
If you run a brand, a CSR programme, an event or a place where people gather, we would like to hear from you. Talk to us.