Xylem Inc. (NYSE: XYL), a leading global water technology company focused on addressing the world’s most challenging water issues, announced today the launch of an innovative treadle pump called Saajhi™, the first product in Xylem’s planned Essence of Life portfolio. Essence of Life is a sustainable business model from Xylem that addresses the fundamental needs of those living at the base of the economic pyramid and creates solutions to help them grow.

“Xylem is known for our industry-leading technology to address the most complex water issues around the world,” said Keith Teichmann, Xylem’s director of innovative networks and marketing. “As part of our ongoing commitment to sustainability, leveraging our global footprint and experience creating products based on the needs of our customers, we’ve launched this initiative to address an under-represented segment of the water market. There is a real daily need to overcome a very fundamental water challenge – getting water where it’s needed to efficiently irrigate small-scale crops to help appreciably improve annual crop yield. Addressing this issue will help us to build new markets for our products and those of our partners.”

Designed to best meet the needs of smallholder farmers who grow their own food in emerging markets, Saajhi (Hindi for “companion”) represents an innovative global, OEM-engineered solution for rural water management needs. The introduction of the Saajhi pump is the result of extensive field research, including interviews and field tests with smallholder farmers across India, Africa, Latin America and Asia.

The Saajhi treadle pump requires no electricity and is field-serviceable, with a minimal number of removable parts and no required tools. Taken together, these critical design aspects meet the communicated desires of rural farming communities, the citizen sector organizations who support them and Xylem’s agri-business partners.

Keith Teichmann presented the Essence of Life plan during the “Modernizing Agricultural Water Management” session at this week’s Asia Water Week, hosted by the Asian Development Bank in Manila, Philippines.

For additional information, and to download the Essence of Life white paper, please go to: www.EOLRippleEffect.com. Join the Essence of Life discussion on Facebook and LinkedIn, and follow us on Twitter and Pinterest: @XylemEOL.

Xylem (XYL) is a leading global water technology provider, enabling customers to transport, treat, test and efficiently use water in public utility, residential and commercial building services, industrial and agricultural settings. The company does business in more than 150 countries through a number of market-leading product brands, and its people bring broad applications expertise with a strong focus on finding local solutions to the world’s most challenging water and wastewater problems. Xylem is headquartered in White Plains, N.Y., with 2012 revenues of $3.8 billion and approximately 12,700 employees worldwide.

The name Xylem is derived from classical Greek and is the tissue that transports water in plants, highlighting the engineering efficiency of our water-centric business by linking it with the best water transportation of all – that which occurs in nature. For more information please visit us at www.xyleminc.com.