Safe Drinking Water for Poor Households via Data-Driven Vehicular Water Delivery

Casey Brown of the University of Massachusetts in the U.S. is building a water distribution network with digital platform to provide affordable access to safe drinking water for poor urban populations. Public water infrastructure in low- and middle-income areas is often poorly maintained and insufficient for rapidly growing cities. This has led to additional water being provided in tankers by private companies, which is expensive and the water quality is often poor. In Phase I, they built prototype mobile applications, and engaged nine high-quality water vendors to set up online profiles and 300 customers to place orders selecting from quantity, price, distance, and water quality. Once orders were placed, a rider was mobilized with an optimized delivery route. In Phase II, they will optimize the prototypes, implement a real-time water quality measurement system to reduce costs, and expand their platform to target low-income households in Mombasa and Nairobi in Kenya.