Project Facts
Location
Gambia
Applied Financing Solutions
Private Donations
Project Dates
Start: 2019
In operation since/from: 2019
The Story
Access to clean and healthy water is a challenge to many communities worldwide. BWT defines access to safe, clean water as a human right. Therefore, b.waterMISSION, a project of AQUA PEARLS – FOR YOU AND PLANET BLUE, supports the access to clean and affordable water in rural communities in Gambia. The project builds innovative, easy-to-maintain water dispensers and results in significant social benefits for the evolving global water market serving low-income communities.
The system is very simple: Using a basic phone, people can use cash to buy b.water-credit from shop keepers who then top up their b.water-credit tag. Also people living in cities or other countries can buy b.water-credit and send it to any tag in Africa. The pre-paid b.water-credit tag is simply placed on a reader and clean water flows easily from the tap. Every cent is transparently tracked and used by the water operator to pay for maintenance of the water supply system. Sustainable operation is granted via online monitoring and local maintenance. If a water system fails, the software sends out text alerts to technicians to resolve the problem at the source.
In order to support the communities, BWT aims to set up 10.000 b.waterMISSION taps in Gambia over the next 7 years, ensuring that nobody in Gambia is forced to walk more than 150 meters to find clean and safe drinking water. By mid-2020, BWT had 123 dispensers in service and roughly 100 million liters of clean water had been dispensed to over 29.000 people in 2020 alone.
Success Factor | Hero Moment
Products for customers in developing countries need to be adapted to local conditions – not only in technical terms. Particularly in low-income countries, the question of affordability is crucial. “Pay as you go” makes it possible for people with low incomes to have access to clean water. This means that only the actually required quantities of water are charged.
Submitter
BWT – Best Water Technology, Austria
Other Involved Stakeholders
AQUA Pearls Foundation
Contact Mail
aquapearls@bwt.com
Website
www.bwt.com/de-at/ueber-bwt/csr
