SLDS Smart Water – Safe drinking water for every village, every litre monitored

Presentation for State Governments

Take the full story with you: the 22-slide SLDS presentation

Everything a Rural Water Supply department needs to evaluate the model: the proven deployment, benefits to the public, centralised TDS/pH monitoring, remote control, fraud-proofing, the technology, and a pilot-to-state roadmap.

Real photos, dashboard screens and architecture diagrams from the live Andhra Pradesh deployment
Government of AP pilot figures, timeline 2014-2026 and reference cluster economics
Print-ready A4/16:9 PDF, also suitable for WhatsApp and e-mail

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22 slidesPDF 7.4 MBSeptember 2026

The problem we solved

Stand-alone village RO plants fail quietly

Andhra Pradesh launched NTR Sujala in 2014 with about 800 individually operated plants. A 2015 study by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies found the same failure pattern everywhere, and rated the cluster-based hub-and-spoke model with IoT-controlled dispensing, piloted at Kuppam, as the best performer on water quality, accessibility, transparency and self-sustainability. That model, and the technology behind it, is what SLDS delivers today.

Operator dependent

Water is available only when the operator is present. Cash collection is manual and unverifiable.

No quality visibility

Nobody at district or state level can see TDS, pH, or whether the plant is even running today.

Power and distance

Plants sit at the water source, far from the village, on 3-phase power that is limited to a few hours a day.

No records, no accountability

No consumer data, no usage history, no way to reconcile water produced against water sold and money collected.

1 · Proven solution

Nine years of uninterrupted public service in Andhra Pradesh

Conceived and implemented by Spoorthy Innovations for the Government of Andhra Pradesh's NTR Sujala programme and commissioned by Acer Engineers (Bibo), the SLDS cluster model has run 24x7 for nine years. Two independent service providers operate their districts on the same platform today.

Cluster mother plant, 10,000 litres/hour

GPS-tracked 5,000 L transport unit

Village kiosk with smart-card dispensing

Consumers with prepaid Sujala smart cards

Government of AP pilot project	Mandals	Clusters	Beneficiaries	Status (2018)
Kuppam, Chittoor district (water-stressed)	4	15	2,51,399	13 clusters active
Uddanam, Srikakulam district (CKD-affected)	7	7	1,60,150	All clusters active
Prakasam district (CKD-affected)	5	3	1,41,456	Work in progress
Savalyapuram, Power Grid CSR	1	1	40,000	Work in progress

Source: NTR Sujala Cluster Model presentation, September 2018. Programme figures at that date; the platform has operated continuously since.

Endorsed by a state government

Approved, funded and operated under the Rural Water Supply & Sanitation Department of Andhra Pradesh, with district dashboards and a Minister's dashboard integration. Phase 1 sanctioned 103 priority mandals across 11 districts, targeting 7,787 habitations.

Government of Andhra Pradesh · NTR Sujala

How it works

The cluster model: one mother plant, many village kiosks

~50,000 people~10,000 households~20 villages / wards

Reference cluster sizing, AP model.

Mother Plant (hub)

Treats source water at the best available source, sized at 10,000 litres/hour. Treatment mix (RO, UF, UV, ozone) is chosen per source-water quality. Diesel backup keeps it running through power cuts.

Transport Unit

5,000 L stainless-steel tanker on a tractor trailer, GPS tracked with geofence and route mapping. Dry-lock couplers keep the transfer leak- and contamination-free.

Remote Dispensing Unit (spoke)

5,000 L kiosk in the village centre with UV before dispensing, level sensors, in-place cleaning and battery backup. Works like an ATM: tap a prepaid card, get water, 24x7, unmanned.

Mother plant treatment train

Mother Plant

10,000 L/hour RO / UF / UV / ozone
TDS, pH and water-processed telemetry
Reject water blended, reused or evaporated
Fortification possible (reaction tank)

Transport units at a mother plant

Transport Unit

5,000 L SS tank on tractor trailer
GPS, geofence, route and fuel tracking
Shaft-driven SS transfer pump
Dry-lock quick couplers, sealed transfer

Village kiosk (RDU) on inauguration day

Remote Dispensing Unit

5,000 L SS storage, UV before the tap
Two taps, 20 L in 27 seconds, pause to refill cans
Level sensors, in-place cleaning, battery backup
SLDS controller: card reader, GSM, offline queue

2 · Advantages for the public

What a family gets: safe RO water, near home, any time, at 10 paise a litre

Open 24 hours, no operator

The kiosk dispenses whenever the family needs water: early morning, late evening, holidays. No waiting for someone to open the plant.

In the village centre

The plant stays at the water source; the kiosk comes to the people. Short walk, no long carry from a distant plant.

Affordable and prepaid

Programme tariff of Rs 2 per 20 litres. Prepaid card means no cash handling at the tap and no over-charging.

Quality you can prove

RO-treated water, UV-treated again at the kiosk before dispensing, with TDS and pH visible to the government dashboard.

Public-health impact

Deployed first in fluoride- and kidney-disease affected mandals (Uddanam, Prakasam), where safe water is a medical necessity.

Easy for everyone

Tap the card, press the button. Voice prompts in the local language, balance on the display, SMS on recharge. Fast fill: 20 L in 27 seconds.

Works even when the network is downPause to fill several cansBattery backup during power cutsReject water reused, not dumpedLocal jobs: agents, drivers, technicians

The consumer journey: one card, a complete service record

The card is the wallet

Consumer ID, cluster, card type, balance, daily and monthly counters and the last recharge are stored on the card itself, encrypted with per-card keys. That is why the kiosk keeps serving when the mobile network is down.

Fair-use built in

Differential pricing by consumer category (households, institutions, bulk, chilled) and daily / monthly limits are configured centrally and enforced at the tap.

Agents with a mobile app

Registration, recharge, card reissue and balance transfer through the field app with NFC card support. Every action carries a server transaction ID.

SMS keeps consumers informed

Registration, recharge ready, card blocked / unblocked, card reissue, low water level at their kiosk and monthly charges are all sent by SMS.

Field agent app: registration, recharge, reissue, reports

3 · Centralised monitoring

One dashboard for every plant, kiosk, card and rupee

Water quality, plant and kiosk health, sales and collections are visible in one place, with district and state roll-ups for government users.

Cluster dashboard: plants, kiosks, consumers, revenue, water sold and trends

Live operator dashboard (Bibo / WMS). Click to enlarge.

Water quality & plant

TDSpHWater processedPlant health log

Kiosk telemetry

Tank levelTap statusAC powerDC voltageSignalUptimeStorage healthFirmware version

Service & money

Sales today / week / monthCollectionsRegistered vs active usersRecharges & registrationsGPS of transport

Water quality: TDS and pH captured at the plant, visible at the state

Mother plant view: plant, device, TDS and pH per plant

TDS

Digital sensor at the mother plant, logged with each status report

Trend and last value per plant; excursions flagged

Litres

Processed, transported and dispensed, for water-audit

Five quality checkpoints, plant to glass

Treatment matched to the source

RO, UF, UV and ozone combined according to the raw-water test. Reject water handled by blending, plantation or evaporation.

Sensors, not sampling

TDS and pH are read by instruments and pushed to the cloud, not written in a register.

Sealed transport

Stainless-steel tankers with dry-lock couplers, GPS-tracked from plant to kiosk.

UV again at the tap

Every kiosk re-treats stored water with UV before dispensing.

Clean-in-place tanks

Hot-water CIP sterilises kiosk storage; pending cleaning and UV faults raise alerts.

4 · Remote monitoring & control

Every kiosk reports every 5 minutes. Every setting is changed from the office.

Remote configuration

Tariffs, dispense quantity, recharge limits, consumer categories and tap calibration are pushed to the kiosk. No site visit, no downtime.

Firmware over the air

New firmware is rolled out to every kiosk from the FOTA server with per-chunk and full-file CRC checks. A fleet of hundreds updates without a technician.

Remote diagnostics & service

Health logs per kiosk and plant, device-to-kiosk mapping, two-tap flow calibration from the backend, and a Bluetooth service app for technicians on site.

Transport tracking

GPS with geofence and route mapping on every tanker; deliveries are matched to kiosk tank-level changes.

Monitoring by exception: the system calls you, not the other way round

Alert	Trigger	Who is notified
Low water at a kiosk	Tank level below the configured threshold	Plant team, transport scheduling, consumers by SMS
Kiosk not OK / recovered	Status report shows an issue, or reports stop arriving	Mother-plant agents by e-mail, dashboard status
Dispensing failure / excess flow	Tap, valve or flow-sensor fault; flow beyond expected time	Technician, kiosk shown red on dashboard
Power failure	AC absent, DC voltage falling	Plant team; kiosk keeps running on battery
UV or cleaning due	UV lamp fault, CIP schedule pending	Maintenance queue
Plant quality excursion	TDS / pH outside the expected band	Plant manager, government dashboard
Mishandling	Unexpected device behaviour, tamper events	Operations and audit

Channels

Colour-coded live status on the dashboard; RDU health and mother-plant health logs
E-mail to responsible agents when a kiosk goes down and when it recovers
SMS gateway for consumers and field staff
Dashboard installs as a mobile app for managers on the move

Why it matters

A district with 300 kiosks cannot be watched by hand. Thresholds and alerts point the small operating team to the few sites that need attention today, which is how the AP deployment runs 24x7 with lean staffing.

5 · Fraud-proof by design

No cash at the tap, no unmetered litre, no unrecorded transaction

The card cannot be forged or topped up locally

Encrypted MIFARE card with per-card keys, integrity checks and duplicate data blocks, locked to one organisation and cluster. Value is added only through a server-issued recharge with a unique transaction ID; the kiosk rejects duplicates, replays and out-of-range amounts.

The kiosk cannot give water away

The valve opens only after a valid card, balance, category and daily / monthly limit check. A flow sensor measures the actual litres, and the real flow is recorded alongside the configured quantity. No card, no water.

The office cannot hide a transaction

Every sale, recharge and registration is uploaded with device time and card number and cannot be deleted at the kiosk. Agent collections are reconciled against server-side recharge records and invoices.

Smart card

Encrypted sectors, per-card keys, CRC on registration data
Locked to organisation and cluster; rejected elsewhere
Balance, daily and monthly counters travel with the card
Remote block on loss; unblock only from the server
Maximum balance and recharge range enforced on the card

Kiosk controller

Unmanned: no cash, no operator discretion
Flow-metered dispensing; real litres logged per sale
Tamper-resistant transaction queue on SD card; nothing lost offline
Unique device serial mapped to its kiosk on the server
Signed, CRC-verified firmware updates only

Cloud platform

Every transaction carries a server-side ID; duplicates rejected
Role-based access: administrators, agents, government viewers
Single active session per user; user audit with IP, place and device
Login history and device tracking on the dashboard
Separate databases per operating organisation

Operations & audit

Agent revenue balance sheets and payment records
Invoices for every registration and recharge
Water audit: processed vs transported vs dispensed vs collected
GPS geofence on tankers; deliveries matched to tank levels
Government sees the same data as the operator, in real time

Why it can't be gamed

Value enters the system only through recorded recharges. Water leaves it only through a metered, card-authorised tap. Both ends are logged on a server the kiosk cannot edit, and the litres in between are measured at the plant, the tanker and the tank. Any gap between water produced, water sold and money collected is visible the same day, by kiosk, by agent and by cluster.

Every litre is a record

One 20-litre sale as it reaches the server (illustrative identifiers):

{
  "smartCardNo": "0615439248", "userId": 1715177360,
  "rduId": 302, "tapNo": 1,
  "transactionTime": "2026-07-11 10:30:00",
  "waterQuantity": 20000, "waterFlowQty": 20000, "waterFlowSecs": 27,
  "transactionValue": 2, "balance": 98,
  "dailyCount": 1, "monthlyCount": 14,
  "transactionValueType": "RFID", "waterType": "normal"
}

6 · State-of-the-art technology

SLDS V6: the sixth generation of the kiosk controller

ESP32 dual-core, 240 MHz2 × RFID readers (ISO 14443A)GSM / GPRSBluetooth serviceSD offline queueBattery-backed RTCFOTA with CRC checks

Two taps, two displays

Independent RFID reader, LCD, button and solenoid per tap, so two families fill at once. Normal, chilled or bulk water types per tap.

Sensors on board

Flow sensors per tap, tank level, AC-presence and DC-voltage monitoring, RS-485 for external level gauges, pump and signboard control.

Voice in local languages

Multi-language audio prompts for balance, success and errors, so the kiosk is usable without literacy.

Designed for the field

Works through power cuts and network outages, updates itself over the air, and exposes a Bluetooth app for technicians to read cards and sync pending data on site.

Platform architecture: from the tap to the Minister's dashboard

The complete software suite, in production today

Operator dashboard (WMS)

Organisations, clusters, plants, kiosks, consumers, price templates and slabs, recharges, invoices, agent revenue, RDU health and data sync, SMS reports, user audit. Installs on a phone as an app.

Government & public portal

District-wise entry points for officials, programme information for the public, and a Minister's dashboard feed with state-level KPIs.

Field & support tools

Android agent app with NFC cards, backend support console (card lookup, device mapping, tap calibration, consumer search), FOTA and device-log dashboards, Bluetooth technician app.

Multi-organisation: separate data per operatorRole-based access, single session, audit trailReports by org, cluster, plant, kiosk, consumer, agentCloud hosted, standard REST APIs for integration

For Government

Transparency for the department, the district and the Minister

Government dashboard: district roll-up

Plant-wise status and sales

GPS tracking of transport units

Consumer and card records

Layered access. State, district, cluster, plant and agent views, each seeing only their jurisdiction, all from the same live data.
KPIs, not anecdotes. Functional vs non-functional units, litres sold, active consumers, collections, incident age and status, per day, week, month, year.
Multi-operator by design. Several service providers can run districts on one platform under one government portal, each ring-fenced.
Audit ready. Water audit, cash audit and user audit trails; every action attributed to a login, device and place.
Open to integration. REST APIs feed a Minister's dashboard or any state data platform; SMS and e-mail gateways plug in.
Donor and CSR friendly. Clusters, plants and kiosks can be tracked against the sponsor that funded them.

A self-sustaining operating model with local jobs

Lean cluster team

1 plant manager, 2 technicians per cluster
1 driver per transport unit
1 local agent per kiosk on honorarium + commission
Roughly 25-30 local livelihoods per cluster of 20 kiosks

Prepaid revenue, daily visibility

Consumers pay in advance through agents; no receivables
Collections and litres sold reconciled daily on the dashboard
Differential tariffs for institutions, bulk and chilled water
Capex and opex per litre trackable per cluster

Maintenance by data

Preventive schedules for CIP, UV lamps, filters and vehicles
Breakdowns raised by alerts, not complaints
Health logs per kiosk and plant support root-cause analysis

Environment

Reject water blended, used for plantation or evaporated per its quality
Kiosks draw about 0.18 kWh per hour with battery backup
Fortification (e.g. minerals) possible at the plant

Reference cluster economics

Illustrative monthly O&M for one mother plant, 4 transport units and 20 kiosks, from the 2018 AP cluster model:

Fixed costs (staff, communication, consumables)	Rs 1,74,353
Variable costs (power, fuel, chemicals)	Rs 1,50,800
Total per cluster per month	Rs 3,25,153

2018 planning figures for a ~50,000-person cluster; to be re-costed for each state's tariff, power and fuel rates. Actual figures from the live deployment available on request.

Working with your state

From pilot cluster to state-wide roll-out

What Spoorthy delivers

SLDS V6 kiosk controllers, sensors and card readers
Encrypted smart cards and card-issuing workflow
Cloud platform, dashboards, APIs, FOTA and alerting
Agent Android app and technician tools

Integration with the state's portal or Minister's dashboard
Plant, transport and kiosk specifications for tendering
Training for RWS&S engineers and operator teams
Ongoing support, upgrades and a 9-year operating playbook

Flexible engagement

Technology partner to the department, to a state utility, or to empanelled service providers. Government-owned assets with private O&M, CSR-funded clusters and PPP structures have all been run on SLDS in Andhra Pradesh.

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Browse the presentation

Click any slide to enlarge. The full deck is available as a PDF above.

Slide 2: The problem we solved — 2 · The problem we solved

Slide 3: Proven: nine years of service — 3 · Proven: nine years of service

Slide 4: Validated step by step — 4 · Validated step by step

Slide 5: The cluster model — 5 · The cluster model

Slide 6: Built and running in the field — 6 · Built and running in the field

Slide 7: Advantages for the public — 7 · Advantages for the public

Slide 8: The consumer journey — 8 · The consumer journey

Slide 9: One dashboard for everything — 9 · One dashboard for everything

Slide 10: Water quality: TDS and pH — 10 · Water quality: TDS and pH

Slide 11: Remote monitoring & control — 11 · Remote monitoring & control

Slide 12: Monitoring by exception — 12 · Monitoring by exception

Slide 13: Fraud-proof by design — 13 · Fraud-proof by design

Slide 14: Controls at every layer — 14 · Controls at every layer

Slide 15: Every litre is a record — 15 · Every litre is a record

Slide 16: SLDS V6 controller — 16 · SLDS V6 controller

Slide 17: Platform architecture — 17 · Platform architecture

Slide 18: The software suite — 18 · The software suite

Slide 19: Transparency for Government — 19 · Transparency for Government

Slide 20: Self-sustaining operating model — 20 · Self-sustaining operating model

Slide 21: Pilot to state-wide roll-out — 21 · Pilot to state-wide roll-out

Let's bring it to your state

Proven for nine years. Ready to deploy.

We would welcome the opportunity to demonstrate the live Andhra Pradesh deployment, host a site visit to a running cluster, and scope a pilot cluster for your department.

Spoorthy Innovations Pvt LtdPlot 1293/A, Road 63, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad 500 033, India

+91 83286 34596info@spoorthy.org · spoorthy.org

sujala.orgSmart-water platform and portals

ntrsujala.inLive district dashboards, Andhra Pradesh

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A cluster mother plant on commissioning day, Andhra Pradesh