Tapping Local Innovation:
Unclogging the Water and Sanitation Crisis
Collaborative Competition
ost people don’t think about water; they turn on a tap and
clean water flows readily. But for more than 1.1 billion people
around the world, water is a constant concern. Suitable sanitation facilities are in even shorter supply.
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In January 2008, Global Water Challenge and Ashoka’s Changemakers
launched the global, online collaborative competition, “Tapping Local
Innovation: Unclogging the Water and Sanitation Crisis”.
We received 265 entries from 54 countries. Our commitment is to invest
in all the projects that can catalyze local entrepreneurs to create a worldwide movement to end the water and sanitation crisis.
2
NAANDI FOUNDATION
Community-based Safe Drinking Water Systems, India
bout 31 percent of India’s
806 million people living in
rural India do not have access
to a protected water source.
This project creates fee-based
community drinking water systems
in underserved villages in rural
India, potentially reaching 27 million
people by 2012.
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THE PROJECT SPONSOR The Naandi Foundation is one of the largest and fastest growing social
sector organizations in India. Founded in 1998, Naandi focuses on three areas: child rights, safe
drinking water, and sustainable livelihoods. Beginning with a single pilot project in 2005, Naandi now
has over 150 operational water purification plants and 200 plants in various stages of construction in
Andhra Pradesh and Punjab. When all 350 plants are completed, some 1.75 million people will benefit
from the new systems.
THE PROJECT The Naandi Foundation’s three-step strategy utilizes careful field research, a cutting
edge reverse osmosis purification technology, and financing that is repaid by community user fees. It
invests in community-based safe drinking water systems through a “tripartite agreement” among the
village council, technology provider, and the Foundation.
First, a Naandi representative conducts an intensive education campaign about the risks of continuing
to use untreated water and the benefits of a community-owned solution.
For more information, visit:
http://www.naandi.org.
Naandi also serves as a bridge between communities and the technology provider, Tata Projects
Limited, which helps smooth the introduction of the technology into the village. Tata installs an
advanced, low-maintenance reverse osmosis purification system that is suitable for Indian rural
conditions. Naandi helps villages structure the initial financing and a repayment system. Community
members purchase safe water for a small cost of .25 cents per liter. The community’s 20 percent
contribution increases ownership and improves accountability of services.
FUTURE EXPANSION In the next two years, Naandi aims to cover a thousand villages and 5 million
beneficiaries at an estimated cost of $21.5 million. By 2012, they hope to reach 27 million people in
rural India.
FUTURE NEEDS For a major expansion, Naandi needs to attract additional finance and further
engage the private/corporate sector, international bilateral agencies, research institutions, and the
public sector. To scale up to 1000 new units, Naandi requires $10 million in grants or loan guarantees
that may be used to leverage commercial borrowing from the Indian capital market.
3
MANNA ENERGY FOUNDATION
Developing another World in Rural Rwanda, Rwanda
THE PROJECT SPONSOR Based in Houston, Texas, Manna is a start-up enterprise with the promise
of retroactive compensation once revenue is realized. Several of Manna’s employees are engineers and
managers with Engineers Without Borders-USA Rwanda projects.
THE PROJECT Manna Energy Foundation is installing close to 500 water treatment systems and
biogas generators for secondary schools in Rwanda, funding the venture with carbon credits generated
by saving fuelwood. The water treatment plants will be gravity filtration systems with a pass under a
solar powered ultraviolet light which together bacterially decontaminate the water making it safe for
drinking, food preparation, and personal hygiene. The biogas generators will take human and kitchen
waste and capture the waste methane. The methane is then provided as fuel for high efficiency cook
stoves. The waste effluent is rich fertilizer. Under this model, economic sustainability and expansion is
generated only by the continued use of the installed projects.
Manna will apply UN carbon emission reductions (CERs) for the treatment of this water. It is the first
organization to attempt to do this, based on the premise that a liter of water treated is a liter of water
that no longer “should” be boiled for an equivalent public health increase. This project is designed
to generate a continuing stream of income through the award and sale of carbon credits, which will
ensure that these systems do not fail due to neglect.
FUTURE EXPANSION At peak roll-out, Manna will employ approximately 800 Rwandan staff,
supplying approximately 236,000 Rwandans or 3 percent of the population with clean water and
energy.
FUTURE NEEDS Manna is currently seeking equity investment in Manna Energy LTD, the for-profit
company that will own the license to the generated carbon credits. It also interested in loans. At an
interest rate of 5 percent, it can repay its debt by the end of 2012. To reach scale, it needs $13 million in
capital investment, which will return gross revenue of more than $70 million over 16 years.
his project will install 500 water
treatment systems for secondary
schools in Rwanda, delivering
clean water and energy to 236,000
Rwandan students. It would fund
the venture with carbon credits, an
additional benefit for global climate
change.
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For more information, visit:
http://www.mannaenergy.org
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HIMANSHU PARIKH CONSULTING ENGINEERS/BYRRAJU FOUNDATION
Slum Networking – Transcending Poverty with Innovative Water and
Sanitation Paradigm, India
uilding affordable and effective
sewage and drainage systems
in urban slums in developing
countries has been a development
challenge for decades. In this project,
the engineering firm and nongovernmental organization work
closely with slum communities to
install sewage and drainage, and safe
water systems.
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For more information, visit:
www.byrrajufoundation.org
THE PROJECT SPONSOR Himanshu Parikh Consulting Engineers (HPCE) is an engineering firm
that uses city planning methods to design new sewage and drainage systems for slum revitalization
programs. Byrraju Foundation, established in 2001, is a non-profit organization that builds progressive
self-reliant rural communities by providing services in healthcare, environment, sanitation, primary
education, adult literacy and skills development.
THE PROJECT Since many slums are near water sources, HPCE creates a new network of drains,
decreasing the cost of underground sewers by making use of the natural drainage slope of the area.
Its partner, Byrraju, works closely with the community to influence health behavior and organize the
inhabitants of the slum to pay for the cost of the sewer. The households collaborate to get loans and
to make home improvements that include water and sanitation. Both Byrraju and HPCE work with the
community and governments to get land tenure, increasing the stability of the changes and boosting
community pride. Projects are funded through individual household contributions, government
subsidies (for individual toilets, and the main sewer system), NGOs and cross-subsidies from their
structural engineering practice.
FUTURE EXPANSION HPCE plans to eventually expand its approach to 199 villages in which Byrraju
Foundation has a presence.
FUTURE NEEDS In the immediate future, Byrraju Foundation and HPCE are seeking $1.2 million in
grant support to expand to expand to 5 villages. These will be matched by other corporate and noncorporate partners.
5
ECOLOGIC DEVELOPMENT FUND
Tapping Multi-Sector Finance to Increase Water Flows to the Rural Poor, Latin America
THE PROJECT SPONSOR Ecologic is a U.S.-based charitable organization that seeks to conserve
biodiversity and advance community-based development in rural Latin America. Its strategy has
evolved into building long-term partnerships with local groups.
THE PROJECT Ecologic’s experience in helping to create and strengthen local governance through
community water boards and municipal government coalitions shows that rural households with
reliable potable water systems under local management demonstrate a high willingness and capacity
to pay for water services. Currently, water boards supported by Ecologic in Honduras and Guatemala
serve over 117 communities.
cologic Development Fund
provides a multi-sector financing
model that enables well-organized
communities together with
municipal governments to serve
as reliable managers of credit to
establish, maintain, and enhance
potable water infrastructure.
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FUTURE EXPANSION Ecologic’s project will create a multi-sector financing model that identifies
a range of prospective public and private financial institutions and the barriers they need to overcome
to finance the sector. This new model will draw upon EcoLogic’s expertise with microcredit peer group
lending models, international small and medium eco-friendly enterprise lending, and structuring
equity investments for mission-driven enterprises.
The pilot phase of the proposed program would add another 100 communities in Honduras alone.
Given the highly replicable nature of their project, Ecologic’s program has the potential to incorporate
at least 100 communities per year throughout the region including in Guatemala, Mexico, and Belize.
FUTURE NEEDS Ecologic aims to double their annual revenue between 2008 and 2013 to exceed
$6 million. They also expect to refine their proven capacity to leverage funds awarded directly to local
partners, assuring an additional $6 million annually by 2013 in matching funds to co-finance partners’
work.
For more information, visit:
http://www.ecologic.org/
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BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION INDIA LIMITED
Mainstreaming Sustainability, India
CIL will develop and implement
a comprehensive urban water
and waste management system for
the town of Pollibetta in Karnataka
State, India. They will work with the
local government to establish a tariff
structure that will generate sufficient
revenues to cover the capital and
recurrent costs of the new systems,
thus making it an efficient and
sustainable system.
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THE PROJECT SPONSOR BCIL espouses only social objectives, but is a private enterprise and all
its projects and initiatives have to be profit-making. All earnings of the organization go back toward
activities that support further research in building technologies or energy and water management.
BCIL secures no special benefits or subsidy. Banks support BCIL with loans that come under normal
commercial lending practice. It is not grant-based or donor-supported. It has a very successful revenue
model, making it the largest green builders in India at present. Revenue from sales of BCIL’s sustainably
built homes in 2007/08 was US $12 million.
THE PROJECT BCIL will repair, upgrade and extend the water networks, repair and clean up open
wells to improve the volume of water per user per day, and stabilize the infrastructure in Pollibetta.
In addition, BCIL will implement solid waste management system in the town. The main goal of
the project is to increase progressively the volume of water per user along with the quality of the
distribution, and provide 100% of users with an individual water connection. BCIL seeks to expand
progressively the reach of the networks, the total capacity of water storage (tanks), and the number of
safe open wells.
FUTURE EXPANSION Once successfully implemented in Pollibeta, BCIL will replicate this model in
a larger town Karnataka.
For more information, visit:
http://www.ecobcil.com/
FUTURE NEEDS The proposed capital costs for a town of about 300 households and a population of
1,500 is about $5.4 million. The operating costs will be about $1.50 per household per month. 100% of
capital costs can be recovered in 5 years.
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IRINGIA DEVELOPMENT OF YOUTH, DISABLED AND CHILDREN CARE
Using Sports to Disseminate Sanitation and Hygiene Information, Tanzania
THE PROJECT SPONSOR IDYDC is an NGO that serves the people of Iringa region in Tanzania. It
operates a well-established microfinance program and vocational training centers.
THE PROJECT IDYDC has utilized a sports approach to educate out-of-school youth about HIV/AIDS,
and has recently established a water and sanitation program. The plan is to link the aforementioned
programs with each other, so as to offer a package of services to the communities.
There are about 700 football/netball teams in the region with 21,000 team participants. Team
coaches, who have been trained on health topics and are equipped with specially designed training
manuals, teach their teams about vital hygiene and sanitation information. Children and young
people act as change agents in their families and influence them to change behavior. Family groups
and/or community water/sanitation committees will be linked with the organization’s microfinance
program—operating in 80 to 90 percent of the region’s wards—and receive training in business
management and how to build, run and/or maintain their water source and/or sanitation facilities.
In four districts, IDYDC runs vocational training centers that provide sanitation solutions and (in
two cases) well drilling support. The organization’s vocational training students will support the
communities with drilling wells and/or building or improving sanitation facilities. A whole service
package is offered to the communities, starting with awareness raising, hygiene education, creating
demand, and providing solutions and financing.
FUTURE EXPANSION
messages.
IDYDC’s five-year goal is to reach 100,000 people with hygiene and sanitation
FUTURE NEEDS The implementation of the program needs to be financed by local, national, and/or
international sponsors. To reach scale, capital needs over the next five years are estimated at $750,000
to $1 million. Later it might sustain itself through the delivery of payable services like well drilling,
sanitation solutions, or eventually interest generated though microcredit loans.
ringa Development of Youth,
Disabled and Children Care (IDYDC)
in Tanzania uses a sports approach to
disseminate hygiene and sanitation
information and provide water and
sanitation solutions and microcredit
to the community.
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8
SWAYAM SHIKSHAN PRAYOG
A Community-Led Approach to Water and Sanitation, India
SP builds partnerships between
village governments and self-help
women’s groups to promote greater
demand for water and sanitationrelated projects in three Indian states.
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THE PROJECT SPONSOR Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP) is a grassroots women’s and communityfocused rural development organization. Their mission is to build and enhance core social, economic,
and political competencies of grassroots women’s collectives and communities with the aim of bringing
the rural poor, women, and communities from the margins to the mainstream of development. SSP
began working with women’s collectives or self-help groups (SHGs) in 1989, mainly in the savings and
credit sector, and started a water and sanitation program in 2000.
THE PROJECT SSP mobilizes and empowers communities to demand, implement, and maintain
water- and sanitation-related projects and utilize existing government resources to maximize their
impact. SSP builds local capacities, especially those of women, in planning, designing, managing, and
maintaining water and sanitation services.
For more information, visit:
http://www.sspindia.org/water.htm
SSP’s Total Sanitation strategy promotes a vision of safer and healthier communities, starting with
trigger exercises that create demand for change in entire communities. Village governments and
women’s self-help groups partner to stop open defecation, prepare community plans for safe water
and sanitation, and find resources for households and communities to put into place sanitation
infrastructure and services.
FUTURE EXPANSION Approximately 270 villages and over 40,000 households have been directly
reached by SSP’s water and sanitation work in Maharashtra and Gujarat. In the future, SSP plans to
expand the reach of its water and sanitation work to all 1,604 villages of Maharashtra, Gujarat, and
Tamil Nadu in which they currently operate other programs with 60,000 self-help group members.
FUTURE NEEDS SSP’s five-year goal is to expand from the current 60,000 women customers to
1.5 million, which would require capital of about $2 million. Funding for SSP’s water and sanitation
initiative usually comes in the form of small grants. Therefore, there is a lack of long-term funding for
this kind of work.
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THE CENTER FOR COMMUNITY ORGANISATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Women Entrepreneurs in Sanitation, Malawi
THE PROJECT SPONSOR CCODE is an NGO that supports community-led interventions and that
works with local women’s groups in Malawi. Most of these groups are affiliated with the Malawi
Homeless People’s Federation, a network of community-based savings groups throughout rural and
urban Malawi.
THE PROJECT The backbone of this project is enterprise-driven. Local groups led by women will be
encouraged to set up an ecological sanitation unit in central markets that will include a paying toilet
and a manure processing shed. Women will collect fees for toilet use and also separate and recycle
waste for income. Markets are central places for most communities, thus providing visibility to ecosan
and thereby creating demand at the household level.
To ensure the sustainability of these enterprises, CCODE will link these groups to capital and markets for
their products. Community members have come together and established the Mchenga Fund, where
they contribute a token amount, and have had other institutions providing financial support. The
Mchenga Fund has grown and some of the project beneficiaries have begun repaying their loans, which
has brought in more revenue for capital projects.
FUTURE EXPANSION Eventually, CCODE will provide support for local entrepreneurs offering
ecosan services at the household level. This particular project is expected to serve at least 5,000
households directly in the next three years, and over 25,000 households indirectly. In five years, CCODE
expects to provide support to at least 50 successful small- and medium-scale enterprises recycling
and supplying a wide range of waste products—such as compost, metals, plastics, and glass—to
commercial companies, farms, and individual buyers.
FUTURE NEEDS In order to reach this scale, CCODE needs at least $750,000, representing 50 percent
of the current capital costs and 62.5 pecent of the annual budget. They expect that user fees will
only cover 5 to 10 percent of our capital and operating costs. Stakeholder awareness campaigns and
negotiations are currently under way to attract support.
he Centre for Community
Organisation and Development
(CCODE) empowers local women in
poor urban communities in Malawi,
providing support for them to
introduce eco-sanitation facilities in
central markets and households.
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10
BUSHPROOF
Leasing Hand Pumps: Opening New Markets for Affordable Drinking Water, Madagascar
ushproof offers hand-pump
leasing and maintenance
services to make community drinking
water financially sustainable and
affordable. Through their pilot
project in Madagascar, Bushproof’s
well-leasing program has served
a minimum of 13,500 people and
plans on serving thousands more by
scaling the number of leased wells in
subsequent years.
THE PROJECT SPONSOR Bushproof is an award-winning social enterprise founded by Adriaan Mol,
who previously worked for over a decade for international development and crisis relief organizations
in technical and top field management positions. Bushproof is currently 100 percent financed from
earned income, mainly through the sale of hand pumps and drilled wells.
For more information, visit:
http://bushproof.biosandfilter.org/
FUTURE EXPANSION The concept of leasing and contract management of small-town water
supply systems is starting to be actively discussed in Madagascar by bilateral donors and government
departments. Bushproof’s proposal would take this concept down to a smaller scale: remote rural
villages. Their target is to scale up hand-pump leasing to reach 1 million people after 5 years.
B
THE PROJECT Bushproof keeps ownership over the materials they supply and offers communities
and other local organizations their products through a leasing contract. This agreement allows them
to take full responsibility for the provision of a constant quantity and quality of the water supplied by
their wells and pumps, thus relieving the local community of this burden.
Bushproof creates demand through direct and social marketing, including personal field visits by
Bushproof and partner NGOs. It will outsource the collection of leasing payments to partner microfinance organizations, which have greater expertise in managing rural debt. Because Bushproof
outsources payment collection, its approach enables regular-paying clients (rural groups that lease
wells, which could include women’s groups, farmer or village associations, or even local authorities)
to increase their credit-worthiness. This is a huge advantage that will enable communities and local
organizations to apply for additional credit for other projects.
FUTURE NEEDS Income from leasing will allow additional scaling up, while demonstration of
financial viability will enable Bushproof to source additional (soft) loans or blended-value investment
funds to increase the rate of scaling up. Installing 5,000 wells will cost about $7 million.
11
CITY GARBAGE RECYCLERS
Unclogging Sewers and Drainage Systems in Low-Income Estates, Kenya
THE PROJECT SPONSOR City Garbage Recyclers, founded by Andrew Macharia in 1996, is a
community-based organization focused initially on turning dumping sites into a business enterprise.
City Garbage Recyclers first cleared dump sites, separating the waste into organic matter (75 percent of
the total) and inorganic waste, such as plastic tins and polyethylene material.
THE PROJECT As inorganic waste becomes a growing problem in Nairobi, City Garbage Recyclers
in 1995 formed a plastic waste cooperative saving and credit society to coordinate the collection and
recycling of plastic waste. The cooperative included over 20 groups representing all eight regions of
Nairobi.
FUTURE EXPANSION Ultimately, this program will benefit the 500 cooperative members who
gain from the income raised and dividends from shared profits, as well as over 5,000 Nairobi residents
who buy and sell plastic waste and recycled products, in addition to the 50,000 Nairobi residents who
benefit from a cleaner water source and environment. If successful, this project will be replicated in
other major towns such as Mombasa, Nakuru, and Kisumu.
FUTURE NEEDS The main constraints of the project are a lack of resources (equipment and
materials) to undertake recycling. City Garbage Recyclers requires $100,000 to purchase machinery and
basic tools. Currently, with the support of the French Embassy in Nairobi, City Garbage Recyclers has
been able to acquire basic machinery for waste cleaning and re-use.
ity Garbage Recyclers formed a
cooperative with over 20 groups
representing all eight regions of
Nairobi, Kenya. Local community
members collect plastic and
polyethylene waste from clogged
sewers and drains to sell to the
cooperative, which coordinates
the collection and production of
re-usable materials. The plastic
polyethylene waste is then turned
into items such as fencing posts,
crockery, and roofing tiles and water
gutters.
C
12
ECOTACT LIMITED
“Iko-Toilet” Thinking Beyond a Toilet, Kenya
his Ecotact Limited project
in Kenya focuses on four key
factors—architecture, behavioral
change, cleanliness, and disposal
technologies—by building and
franchising pay-per-use “Toilet Malls.”
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For more information, visit:
http://www.ecotact.org/
THE PROJECT SPONSOR Ecotact Limited is an environmental development company incorporated
in Kenya. David Kuria, the chief executive officer, has been a senior specialist on sanitation with
Practical Action, one of the leading development NGOs on environmental sanitation.
THE PROJECT The Ecotact project creates a new package for sustainable sanitation by focusing
on architecture, behavioral change, cleanliness, and disposal technologies (the ABCDs of sanitation).
The ABCD approach creates a “Toilet Mall” or “Iko-Toilet.” Combining pay-per-use sanitation services
with other businesses attracts users into the space. Other services may include shoe shine vendors,
newspaper vendors, and soft drink sales. Most importantly, improved management through a franchise
mechanism ensures local involvement and sustainability. Biogas from digesters of human waste, urea
from harvested urine, and compost from the sludge provide added income for these entrepreneurs.
To date, Ecotact has signed contracts with 10 local authorities for the initial 100 units; engaged 10
corporations in Kenya as sponsors of these units; and engaged a local university to develop a week-long
module for capacity development. To earn an income, each franchise will charge users. The add-on
enterprises will strengthen the local ownership strategy and ensure a quality level of maintenance.
Based on Ecotact’s pilot facility, these toilet malls should have between 600 and 1,000 users per day.
FUTURE EXPANSION In Nairobi, Ecotact’s short-term goal is to put up 50 facilities in slums serving
about 40,000 people per day, 20 in schools serving 40,000 students, and 20 in urban markets and bus
stations serving 20,000 people daily.
FUTURE NEEDS Ecotact’s greatest need is finance. Each toilet mall costs about $20,000, so
construction of 1,000 malls would require $20 million. Ecotact is seeking equity investments and
grants from government agencies, corporations, global foundations, and multilateral development
institutions. The facilities are expected to be self-sustainable except for those established in schools,
since children cannot be charged for use.
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THE CLEAN SHOP
School Sanitation Improvement and Enhancement Project, South Africa
THE PROJECT SPONSOR The Clean Shop is a self-financed, profit-making private enterprise
that contracts with companies and institutions to provide cleaning services. Current clients include
AngloGold Ashanti Limited, the largest gold mining company in Africa, and the University of Venda.
Clean Shop’s approach emphasizes education—teaching the skills to maintain toilet facilities and use
them correctly. Clean Shop also seeks to inspire a change in attitude, teaching people to refuse to use
dirty toilets.
THE PROJECT Clean Shop intends to partner with the University of Venda to formally educate
unemployed women in the Venda region and provide them with permanent employment thereafter.
The University of Venda will offer a short course on the dynamics of cleaning and hygiene and will
provide an accredited certificate upon completion. Clean Shop will then deploy three graduates at
each of 100 schools in the region, thus providing 300 permanent employment opportunities. Clean
Shop’s objectives are to (a) create clean, safe and useable school toilets for public schools in Venda; (b)
create school environments that are conducive to seamless teaching and learning; (c) empower school
children with life skills on the importance of maintaining clean toilets at home and at school; and
educate, train, and employ women from underdeveloped areas in Venda.
FUTURE NEEDS Although Clean Shop is self-financed and does not pursue funding, it would greatly
benefit from grants or other funding to expand its training programs. It can also accept loans or equity
investments to purchase heavy duty cleaning equipment and trucks/vehicles, which would enable us to
service rural schools. To reach scale, Clean Shop’s capital needs are $350,000.
he Clean Shop employs 350
people and conducts daily
cleaning and toilet management
services for schools, universities,
mines, supermarkets, and gas
stations. In partnership with the
University of Venda, Clean Shop plans
to educate parents with children in
public schools to clean and operate
local school latrines. It is poised to
operate in many more schools in
partnership with the South African
government.
T
For more information, visit:
http://www.thecleanshop.co.za
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SAFE WATER AND AIDS PROJECT, KENYA
cknowledging the links among
safe water, hygiene, and HIV, the
Safe Water and AIDS Project offers
training— to people infected with
HIV and HIV support groups—on
safe water system interventions
and business skills. Field officers
and trainers identify HIV support
groups, promote and demonstrate
safe water treatment, and discuss
illness prevention through the use
of health products. HIV support
groups are engaged as vendors
of water treatments and other
health products, and then linked to
microfinance services.
A
THE PROJECT SPONSOR Safe Water and AIDS Project (SWAP) is a nongovernmental organization
managed by Alie Eleveld, who has lived for the past 10 years in Kenya working in HIV-related programs
and safe water systems interventions. Alie is a nurse by profession and specializes in pediatrics, tropical
medicine, and community and public health.
THE PROJECT The HIV support groups can buy products at wholesale prices, sell at retail, and keep
the profit. Groups are closely monitored and resupplied with products. They are offered microfinance
services from savings and loans to expand their business. Four-hundred-fifty groups are vending
the water treatment, selling door-to-door, in community gatherings, and in community kiosks and
pharmacies. The project has served 100,000 people.
The project would result in reduced diarrhea and improved general health and income among people
infected and affected by HIV. With better health, the HIV-infected can become useful members of
society.
FUTURE EXPANSION SWAP plans to expand the project by opening offices in each district of
Nyanza Province in Kenya with field officers, trainers, and microfinance officers. The microfinance
services are already sustainable because—within two years of operating—a second person can be
paid from the interest gained on the loan repayments.
FUTURE NEEDS The project started with four staff in 2005, and has since expanded to over 60 staff
members working full time, including a research team. Outside funding is needed for the core activities
and the cost of running the office. The profits from sales are still too limited to take on new staff and
pay for the recurring costs. Over the next five years, SWAP expects to scale up to reach 500,000 people
directly, which will require $153,000 in capital costs.
15
PROJECT WATER
Saving Lives in Rural Bangladesh, Bangladesh
THE PROJECT SPONSOR Project Water is a socially and environmentally responsible for-profit
technology enterprise that develops and provides water treatment technology targeted to the poor in
Bangladesh.
THE PROJECT Project Water uses WaterPyramid, a proven, environmentally sustainable technology
combining solar distillation and rainwater harvesting in a single, easy-to-operate, cost-effective
system that can be readily installed and operated in rural areas. The primary challenges faced in water
treatment in rural Bangladesh are pathogens (which cause diarrhea), salinity, and heavy metals such as
arsenic. The WaterPyramid technology can address these challenges at an affordable cost.
The WaterPyramid is the first stand-alone water factory combining solar distillation and rainwater
harvesting that can provide pure water all year around. Solar distillation is used during the dry season
to turn salty, polluted surface water into clean distillate and drinking water. During the rain season the
outside area of The WaterPyramid is used as a catchment for rainwater. The rainwater is disinfected and
stored in a large water tank.
Project Water will train and support local entrepreneurs and provide them the opportunity to build,
own, and operate their own WaterPyramid under a franchise model supported by micro-credit loans.
Additionally, Project Water plans to proactively develop, distribute, and/or license new technologies
that have a relevant application in rural villages of Bangladesh.
Consumers will qualify for price subsidies by registering for a “water card” with a health social worker.
They will be required to provide bi-monthly updates on the health and welfare of the household. This
will allow Project Water to monitor the social impact on the household level and also expand services
to meet their needs.
FUTURE EXPANSION The organization’s initial plan is to set up a pilot project to provide sufficient
clean water—using the WaterPyramid technology—to serve a 500-household village in Bangladesh,
and then replicate and customize this model for subsequent village implementations.
FUTURE NEEDS We are seeking financing to launch the pilot program. The initial capital
investment required per pilot is about $95,000. Project Water’s Dutch partner is willing to provide a
subsidy of 50 percent on the capital investment per pilot for the first 2 years.
roject Water provides selfsustaining water treatment
technologies that develop local
economies and deliver pure water
to people living in rural areas of
Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, there
are about 19,000 villages with
500 households per village that
are currently without direct water
access. Project Water provides local
entrepreneurs the opportunity
to earn a living and serve their
community by owning and operating
water treatment systems that purify
water at an affordable cost.
P
Paul Faeth
Executive Director
Global Water Challenge
1001 Connecticut Ave.
Suite 925
Washington DC 20036
Mobile: 202.294.5471
Email: pfaeth@globalwaterchallenge.org
www.globalwaterchallenge.org
Ashoka Global Headquarters
1700 North Moore Street
Suite 2000 (20th Floor)
Arlington, VA 22209
Email: info@ashoka.org
www.ashoka.org