Pune, April 22: City based innovator – entrepreneur Rahul Pathak has bagged Gold Prize the USA’s  prestigious Edison Awards in the industrial technology category for his innovative solutions of making the clean potable water quickly available at affordable prices for people in natural calamities like floods, earthquakes etc. The solutions developed by Pathak’s Aqua Plus are being utilized by organizations like Red Cross, Unicef Oxfam GB, RedR India, IFRC, ICRC and Rotary International during the relief work.

The water filters developed by Aqua Plus were first successfully used in the rescue operations of the Jammu and Kashmir earthquake of 2005 reaching out to over 5,000 people. Installed in 1500 locations during the flash floods of Uttarakhand, Jammu, Kerala, Assam and Chennai, one of its models processed 7,000 liters of water in 10 hours that proved potable in mountainous terrain.

These solutions have proved useful in over 50 emergencies nationally and internationally. The equipment used here can operate without electricity as well. There are options of getting it operated by human hands, gasoline and electricity.

The decade old Edison Award instituted in the name of the legendary scientist is an annual competition honoring global excellence in new product and service development, marketing, human-centered design and innovation. Their vision is guided by the legacy of Thomas Alva Edison, the discoverer of electricity and inventor of the light bulb andthe motion camera and the founder of General Electricals, among other unprecedented innovations. The award ceremony was recently held at Fort Myers, Florida.