Groundwater Extraction is going to get tougher.....!

It's not going to be a cake-walk for Bottled Water Industry anymore ...

The bottled water industry in India, is dominated by the "Packaged Drinking Water" segment. And the Packaged Drinking Water plants use Groundwater as their Raw Water Source. They typically install a Borewell & start extracting & using the water. Then water passes through other processes to make the safest water be available to the civilians. 

The Water comes from Aquifers

Water, as we know, is stored in the soild, rock, in form of aquifers, which are the pockets where it has been preserved for many many years. The Rainwater, is passed through the soil to the channels and stored again in the earth. The process is called "Infiltration". From here the water is fed to the Borewell, which extracts it from the ground. The specific pockets are "Aquifers".

India uses the maximum Groundwater

India uses maximum groundwater, the most of it (>70%) is used by irrigation, and the rest for other purposes, which consists of Industry & Domestic use as well. 

The laws are getting tougher .....

Already, states like West Bengal (Where you need to furnish your groundwater usage strictly), Kerala (where you need to take a permission for the propsed drilling site) & Tamilnadu, (where there are notifies areas not to drill a borewell) have started to implement certain strict laws, which is going to be challenging in future.

The Bottled Water Industry

Still, there is a good ground for the Bottled Water Industry on 2-3 accounts such as ...

• It's going to be used for drinking water, the most essential commodity
• Comparative water usage is lesser

Consider it in your cash-flow

If you are setting up a unit, please consider another licensing cost (it's no way easy to do business in India ) and the type of permissions too!

Ozonation as Pre-treatment : A New "Must-be" after Covid-19 ?

What is Ozonation ?

Ozonation is the process of adding ozone into the produced pure water in a Bottled Water Plant, before final packing. The very general usage for common man to understand is that it enhances the life by increasing the oxygen level, till the bottle gets opened.

The Whole Process in brief

Usually Groundwater doesn't need this.The Ozonation is required for Biological Treatment, removing microbes from Source Water. In ground water the chances are lesser, compared to surface water. Bottled Water uses the groundwter mostly, hence no need actually.

But, can be a better additional measure

However, it can be an additional measure to have more purity. And you can also "Market" the same. It can be a great addition to your post covid-19 marketing weapons.

Be careful while paying "Under the Table"

A Mineral Water Plant needs many formalities

A mineral water plant needs many formalities to get completed, out of them the BIS is the most important in case you are establishing a Bottle + Jar Plant. You can go alongwith just the fssai license in case you wish to start a Chilled Water Jar Unit. The Chilled Water Jar Units are not an excellent way for a water business, however, people go with that as it is a very easy option out.

What is this "Under the table" thing ...

Agreed, there may be many places where you might require to pay under the table (common term for bribing) ; you need to be careful. Recently, an entrepreneur from Balirampur Nanded went to a Gram-Sevak to get a "Permission" from a Gram-Sevak for his Mineral Water Plant. The entrepreneur laid a trap through the Anti Corruption Department & caught the Gram-Sevak red-handed.

What can be the permission from a Gram-Sevak ?

If it's Mineral Water Plant, it can be as simple as a Gram -Panchayat NOC. Besides that, if it's an agricultural land etc, the matters go to the collector etc. If you want to run the plant in Gram-Panchayat Area, the Sarpanch or the Gram-Sevak will help you get this NOC, which actually is the starting point for all documentations for the plant.

You can read more about this here

What about the other documents ?

There are many documents & formalities needed for a Mineral Water Plant. You may go to this Video, which explains not just the Documentation Part, but also the Cost of Plant.