Using climate-smart tech to access safe drinking water

DW (English)

A pay-per-fetch system that uses a digital tag is helping communities in rural Uganda access water and save maintenance costs of boreholes. In the slums in the capital Kampala, a solar-powered jerrycan improves water sanitation.

Transcript

00:00The tag turns the tap on. It gets inserted into the reader at this communal well in central

00:08Uganda and the water flows.

00:17It works like a mobile phone service. Can you make a phone call without credit on your

00:23phone? No, we have gotten used to it.

00:29Water engineer Serena Abdul-Salam came up with the idea.

00:34You carry the tag that is issued to you, you bring it to the water source, you insert it

00:38in a specific area, then if there is credit, there is an internal valve, it will open,

00:44then it will allow you to start fetching.

00:46Villagers load their tag with mobile money via cell phone, getting up to 3,000 litres

00:52of clean water for the equivalent of about one US dollar. The community agrees on the

00:57cost, which is supplemented with donations from the non-profit organisation Sunda to

01:03maintain the wells. And there is an important psychological effect.

01:08The fact that people always thought water was free, they abused water usage. You find

01:14a person, he needs only one jerry can per se, but he doesn't care if that jerry can

01:20falls and the water spills out. But whenever they realise there is monetary value attached

01:28to that jerry can, they could care more than earlier before, to protect, you don't just

01:36allow the jerry can to topple off.

01:40Sunda's co-founder also uses the digital technology solution to monitor the state of

01:45the wells. He receives data in real time that shows if repairs are necessary, allows him

01:51to advise local authorities and monitor misuse. The International Institute for Environment

01:57and Development says that more than 360 million dollars are wasted on poorly maintained wells

02:04in Africa. The paper fetch system also ensures fairness and transparency.

02:11From the government setting, every household, no matter how big the family is, you have

02:19to pay 2,000 shillings. So even if you are alone, you have to pay every month 2,000,

02:28which was not good for those small families. Not fair at all. So people are complaining.

02:36That's why some people could pay, others couldn't pay. But when we put the system, now everyone

02:42is fair paying.

02:45Another initiative supports urban families. In many of the capital Kampala's poorer areas,

02:51people rely on wells like this one. But the water is often contaminated with fecal matter.

02:58Susan Nakabugo now uses a special jerry can to disinfect the water for her six children.

03:04For about four to six hours in the sun, the ultraviolet rays and the high temperatures

03:10kill the germs in the water without it having to be boiled.

03:21It was difficult for me to afford charcoal for cooking and boiling water every day. Sometimes

03:28my children would get sick from drinking unsafe water, contracting diseases like typhoid and

03:35diarrhea. But getting this jerry can has been a relief. I purify all our drinking water

03:50with it.

03:53Ian Calvin Waiswa donated the jerry can. He co-founded Student Support and Philanthropy

03:59Program, a non-profit organization that encourages students to get involved in their communities.

04:06He obtained 1,000 canisters from a Swedish company, some donated, some financed by his

04:12organization. According to UN Water, more than half of Uganda's 45 million inhabitants

04:19have no access to safe water supply. Waiswa has a plan for what happens on days when the

04:25sun doesn't shine. Then he encourages people to boil their water with fuels made with alternatives

04:32to wood. Susan Nakabugo uses briquettes made of organic waste in a stove donated by Student

04:39Support.

04:41We are encouraging households that in the time that the sun is not existing, can you

04:46use these briquettes and if possible we are able to provide the fuel-saving stoves for

04:54you to be able to at least cut the consumption of charcoal by a great percentage in the absence

05:01of the sun. So this is a holistic solution that we are trying to promote that in the

05:08end still promotes, without compromising the issue of sanitizing the water, still promotes

05:14the sanitizing of water but also protects the environment.

05:19These initiatives in rural and urban Uganda are bringing the country closer to its goal

05:25of clean water for all by 2030.

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