Water conditions in India have seriously deteriorated in the past 35 years. In the burgeoning cities, people will not use the tap water if they can help it. In the countryside, rivers are polluted, the water table in many places is dropping rapidly, and the rise in population has not been matched by enhanced sanitation infrastructure. The result is that 48% of India’s children are now malnourished, not necessarily as a result of lack of food, but because of the rise of endemic conditions that produce chronic dysentery.

In 2014, two large BioSand Filter/Community Sanitation trainings were held in India, one in Rishikesh and the other in Bangalore. There were set up by Shivani Kumar, who was trained by Friendly Water for the World in Olympia, Washington, with the assistance of of the South Asia Pure Water Initiative Inc. Friendly Water for the World brought trainers from the U.S. and from Uganda. Representatives from 55 different non-governmental organizations from 22 different Indian states participated. The training in Bangalore was conducted in five languages (Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, Hindi, and English) simultaneously. Groups are now springing up all over India, from Himachal Pradesh in the north to Assam in the east to Tamil Nadu in the south. The Friends Center in Rasulia, Madhya Pradesh (in the center of India) offered yet another training, and views itself as a training center for future work Friendly Water is also supporting the Indian Social Service Institute in Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu to develop its program, which may be linked to yet another training center in the south.