• New community drinking water plant at Singaperumalkoil inaugurated
  • Water processing capacity of 24,000 liters per day

Chennai, India - March 19, 2015 - BASF Catalysts India Private Limited and Waterlife India are working together to bring safe drinking water to the local community in Singaperumalkoil, Chennai with a new community drinking water plant. The plant, sponsored by BASF Catalysts India Private Limited, was inaugurated by Shri. E. Sampathkumar, Chairman - Panchayat Union - Kattangulathur Union and Shri. S. Ravichandran, President, Singaperumalkoil Gram Panchayat along with Mr. Raman Ramachandran, Head, BASF South Asia. As a part of CSR activities, the new plant will provide safe, healthy and affordable drinking water to the residents of Singaperumalkoil, Chennai. With a capacity of processing 24,000 liters of water per day, the plant will be functional 24 x7 throughout the year.

Waterlife India will undertake operations and maintenance of the plant for a period of ten years to ensure that the program remains sustainable and the community continues to enjoy the benefits in the long-term. To ensure the highest quality of water and services available to the community, stringent checks and audits will be conducted by Waterlife India regularly. In addition to the community water plant, BASF will launch a series of community outreach programs such as educational programs and different measures to strengthen the community's awareness about water safety, hygiene and sanitation.

The community outreach program was kicked off with two Panchayat Union Middle Schools in Singaperumalkoil participating. During the outreach program, students were educated on the matters of safe drinking water and hygiene. The implementation of the program will be managed by Waterlife India in close cooperation with the local stakeholders.

"Water quality and accessibility have always been challenges in the country. To be able to address these challenges, effective partnership plays an important role. We are pleased to work with Waterlife India to improve access to affordable clean and safe water for the local community through the plant in Chennai, India," said Raman Ramachandran, Head, BASF South Asia.

"Creating awareness and ensuring sustainable availability of potable water are the two guiding principles of this project. We will undertake community outreach programs to educate the residents on the benefits of clean water, sanitation and hygiene. We will highlight these benefits to school children as they are our future." said Vaidyanathan B., Managing Director, BASF Catalysts India Private Ltd.

"Waterlife India is dedicated to providing sustainable water solutions to unreached rural and urban areas. Today, as we bring our solution to the Singaperumalkoil village, we continue to move towards our goal of providing everyone access to safe water. We are excited to partner with BASF who is an expert in their field and share our vision of sustainably trying to solve the big water challenge," said Sudesh Menon, CEO, Waterlife India.

About BASF

At BASF, we create chemistry - and have been doing so for 150 years. Our portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. As the world's leading chemical company, we combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through science and innovation, we enable our customers in nearly every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF had sales of over €74 billion in 2014 and around 113,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.

About Waterlife India

Waterlife India (www.waterlifeindia.com) provides safe water to more than 4000 villages across 15 states in India and is a pioneer in providing sustainable safe water solutions to the people in rural and urban areas, while focusing on green and environmentally friendly technologies. This, coupled with affordability to the underserved sections, has been the crux of the Waterlife model, which the company believes will drive it to its vision of providing safe water to all by the year 2020- "Waterlife vision 2020".

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