Culture
Why Informal Water Sellers Are Key to India's Future
Most packaged water in India is unregulated and not all of it is safe. Even so, the private water market may meet the needs of Indians better than the public sector does.
On any given morning in any given city in India, water makes its way into households in luxury high-rises and slums alike, not through pipes but in plastic water containers.
The fancier, global corporations like Bisleri or Aquafina transport pristine 25-liter polycarbonate bottles in branded trucks to consumers with in-home water dispensers for 50 or 75 rupees (about $1). Other bottles, unmarked and scuffed into opacity from repeated reuse, wend their way through traffic on flatbeds affixed to bicycles or onto motorized three-wheelers, and cost between 15 and 30 rupees.