In the U.S. we take so many things for granted. You’ve probably heard about the scarcity of clean water in developing countries. But, have you ever thought about what a blessing indoor plumbing and working toilets are? It is so easy to forget that commodities like these are actually a luxury in much of the developing world, and the consequence of not having these are detrimental. Annop Jain and his company SHRI (Sanitation Health Rights in India) are making an impact on both of these issues. More than 6o0 million people in India lack adequate indoor sanitation facilities, forcing them to defecate outdoors, exposing the population at large to 100,000 tons of untreated human waste annually, and contributing to the spread of diseases that kill 450,000 each year. In addition 100 million Indians lack access to clean drinking water.

Anoop graduated from Northwestern University in 2009 with a degree in Environmental Engineering. He worked as an engineer for a year then quit his job after raising $30,000 to build a community soup kitchen for Tibetan Refugees in northern India. Then, in the summer of 2010, Anoop realized the importance of improved public health. He eventually ended up in the state of Bihar and after seeing the severity of the public health problems there, SHRI was born.

Jain has helped to create an organization which works with local communities in India to end open defecation and improve access to safe drinking water. “SHRI sees overcoming these issues and providing access to sanitation as a right and not a privilege.” It constructs toilet facilities, and uses the methane gas produced by anaerobic digestion to power a generator. This generator in turn filters water for safe consumption to provide a complete solution.