Atomberg creates India-wide map of water quality, anyone can check TDS with PIN code

Curious about how hard is water in your area? Atomberg's new free tool lets users check water quality, TDS levels and more using just a PIN code. The readings come from sensors in Atomberg RO machines and hence accurate and near real-time.

In Short

• Indian startup builds a free tool that reveals water quality in an area
• The Atomberg tool is free to use
• For readings the tool uses data from Atomberg RO machines

In the middle of many mediocre ideas in the tech startup worlds, sometimes there are a few bright sparks as well. One such is the move from Atomberg, a startup that makes home appliances such as smart fans and smart RO machines. The company’s co-founder on Saturday announced that the company has created a free tool that lets anyone check for water quality in their area using just a PIN code.

The trick? Atomberg is using data collected from sensors in its RO machines and after anonymising this data is allowing anyone to search it using a PIN code. The result? Through the Atomberg water quality tool, anyone can go to their website, use a PIN code and get the quality of water in their area, complete with overall water rating and TDS level. To make the tool more effective, Atomberg is also combining the data with water reports that government bodies periodically release publicly.

The announcement about the tool was made by Atomberg co-founder Arindam Paul in a post on X. In the post, Paul explained that the company has spent the last year building a water-quality database using data collected from tens of thousands of Atomberg water purifiers installed across India.

"Been exactly a year since we launched water purifiers We now have TDS data from tens of thousands of Atomberg water purifiers installed across the country. And we combined that with publicly available data from different government sources like the Central Pollution Control Board, Jal Jeevan Mission and Central Ground Water Board," he wrote on X.

According to Paul, the tool brings together data from sources including the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Jal Jeevan Mission and the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB). The idea is to present water-quality information in a way that is easy for ordinary consumers to understand and use.

Any privacy concerns?

Even as the tool has attracted a lot of claps on social media, some people have raised privacy concerns. Some say that the data that their Atomberg machines are collecting should not be put into a public database.

However, at the same time, many have claimed that the way Atomberg is using the data means it is not a privacy risk in any way. The company, after collecting data that its RO machines record, is stripping them of any information that can tie up the data with any specific machine. Instead, users are shown an average of TDS and other parameters based on the number of Atomberg machines active in an area.

In a way, this is similar to how Google Maps work. Just like Google Maps shows real-time traffic information using data from phones that are on the road in cars, Atomberg is using the data from RO machines to generate water quality reports.

How to check TDS levels in your area

To use Atomberg's new tool to check the water quality of your area, visit the website and enter their PIN code. The platform will then generate a local water-quality report based on the available data for that area.

Depending on data availability, the report can show TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) levels, water-quality variations over time, differences between tap water and groundwater, and confidence scores that indicate the reliability of the information presented.

The platform can also provide insights into the presence of certain chemicals and contaminants where sufficient data exists.

Where does the data come from?

According to the company, the platform combines publicly available government data with anonymised readings from connected water purifiers installed in homes across the country. This allows Atomberg to supplement official datasets with real-world information gathered from everyday usage.

The platform can also highlight variations in water quality between households located within the same area. According to the company this is particularly important because water quality can differ significantly depending on factors such as the source of supply, local infrastructure and storage conditions.

Atomberg is not presenting this new tool as a replacement for professional water testing. The company notes that the reports are based on a combination of live purifier readings, government monitoring data and statistical modelling. As a result, the information should be viewed as an estimate of local water conditions rather than a certified laboratory report for a specific household.

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