When was the last time you drank water straight from the tap at your house to slake thirst on a hot summer day, without hesitation. Chances are you would have at least boiled or filtered the water. The public water supply in India is so unreliable that the urban middle class, with its increased spending power, prefers shelling out an extra buck on one of the numerous water purifiers available in the market, rather than risk health. In a decade or two, more than half of India will live in urban areas. Will they have better options? ... There is no denying a rising demand for purifiers. But what are these technologies and how effective are they? What are the standards they conform to? suresh babu s v studies the purifier market and technologies for answers.