With a Saree & Solar Power, He’s Bringing Safe Drinking Water To 400+ Children In Rural Schools

In the heart of rural India, where clean drinking water is still a luxury in many schools, one man’s resourcefulness is rewriting the story — using nothing more than a saree and sunlight.

Meet Kameshwar Rao, an innovator driven not by fame or funding, but by a deep concern for children's health and education. When he visited government schools in interior villages, he was shocked to see that children were drinking contaminated water — often leading to waterborne diseases, absenteeism, and long-term health impacts.

Determined to change this, Kameshwar began experimenting with low-cost water filtration methods that could be used in resource-starved areas. The solution? A combination of solar purification and a layer of tightly woven cotton saree to filter large impurities.

He built a solar-powered water purification system that doesn’t require electricity, runs on minimal maintenance, and is easy to operate. The system uses UV rays from sunlight to disinfect water and a traditional cotton saree layer to filter out sediment, dirt, and visible contaminants. Simple, sustainable, and brilliant.

Today, over 400 schoolchildren in rural Andhra Pradesh are drinking safe, clean water every day — thanks to Kameshwar's innovation. His solution has already been adopted by multiple village schools, and he’s working with local panchayats to scale it further.

What’s most heartwarming is that this isn’t a corporate-backed project or a government scheme. It’s the outcome of one man’s passion to give children the basic dignity of clean water. And with each sip they take, a future becomes healthier, stronger, and more hopeful.

Kameshwar’s story reminds us that innovation doesn’t always need big budgets — sometimes, it just needs a little sunlight, a piece of cloth, and a whole lot of heart.