CHATAKA: An open data initiative for the water sector

Abstract

The packaged water segment in India has been witnessing rapid growth over the last decade as a result of increasing urbanization, skewed spatio-temporal distribution of freshwater resources and limitations in the municipal water supply infrastructure. However, growing demand for retail (<;5L bottles) and bulk water (20L bottles) packages has also been accompanied by a rise in several thousands of new unregistered manufacturing units. Even for government certified manufacturers, weaknesses in the supply chain networks are being widely exploited by distributors and dealers to flood the market with poor quality imitations of leading bottled water brands. The paper describes the application of ICT in the form of task-based contextual QR-codes to promote the availability and consumption of healthy packaged water products. The proposed scheme improves end-to-end supply chain visibility for the certified manufacturer, enhances regulator's ability to catch potential licensing and quality violations, and empowers consumers with tools that rapidly detect fraudulent offerings.