WaterHealth International is a private, American

multinational corporation A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...

headquartered in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

. The company operates as a

social business Social business was defined by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and is described in his books. In these books, Yunus defined a social business as a business: * Created and designed to address a social problem * A non-loss, n ...

that provides

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

to communities in primarily rural areas. WaterHealth purifies and retails water through decentralized plants termed "WaterHealth Center," which serve an average consumer base of 10000. The company has installed around 500 WaterHealth Centers primarily in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, but also in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, and

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

. Daily output of purified water across all of the WaterHealth Centers falls around 1.4 million liters. The company was founded in 1995 as a market development firm that operated primarily in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. By 2002 and 2003, however, the company reoriented its focus to water retailing services and began to center more heavily in Asia and Africa. The company currently operates through wholly owned subsidiaries like WaterHealth India and WaterHealth Ghana. __TOC__

History

WaterHealth was founded in 1995. The company began its operations when it won the bid to use a new

Ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...

(UV) disinfectant technology invented by

Ashok Gadgil Ashok Gadgil (born November 15, 1950, in Mumbai, India) Is the Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation Distinguished Chair Emeritus, and Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley. He is an Affilia ...

, a researcher at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

who later became the Chief Technology Officer of WaterHealth International. Shortly after 1995, WaterHealth established UV Waterworks Plants in

and the

. After limited success in those areas, Tralance Addy, the CEO appointed to the company in 2002, shifted the company’s focus to water distribution and retailing in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. In January 2014, WaterHealth launched its

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

arm, the Jaldhaara Foundation. According to officials at Jaldhaara, the foundation aims to provide purified drinking water and educate underserved people on its importance. Additionally, Jaldhaara hopes to teach women how to operate local WaterHealth centers.

Controversies

In 2011, WaterHealth ex-CEO Sanjay Bhatnagar was criticized by Wenonah Hauter, a renowned environmental organizer, for bragging "about how his investors were making piles of money selling water in villages in Africa and India." She called Bhatnagar "a vocal proponent of the poor paying for water."

References

{{Reflist, 30em Social enterprises Water treatment