In the global south, universal, dependable water access is a major necessity. Currently, one-fourth of the global population lacks access to clean drinking water. About 5 million out of approximately 31 million people in Ghana lack access to clean, safe water. One in ten individuals must spend more than 30 minutes to obtain potable water.
Off-grid communities are particularly plagued by difficulties. These are low-income rural and peri-urban areas that do not have access to a municipal or central water supply.
Increasingly, the private sector and other non-governmental providers are filling the void, sometimes in conjunction with the government. Some private water suppliers have used innovations such as “water ATMs.” These automatic standpipes are proliferating as a method of expanding access to affordable water services.
SOLAR ENERGY INTRODUCED TO AID GHANA’S WATER CRISIS
The majority of water ATMs are designed to function 24 hours a day and are powered by solar energy. They are low-cost, self-contained, automated water vending devices that store clean water and are typically connected to a groundwater-using water purification facility. Customers purchase water from ATMs using a water card that is reloaded with mobile money.
In a recent study, I examined how water vending machines functioned in Ghana’s low-income, peri-urban, and off-grid areas. I discovered that water ATMs provided relatively low operational value. And they were altering the landscape of water availability — not always for the better from the perspective of water users.
IMPACT OF WATER ATMS ON WATER ACCESS
In Yawkwei, a peri-urban settlement in Ghana’s Ashanti region, the research was done. Off-grid households have the option of using water ATMs, but they can also rely on private standpipes and community boreholes.
Safe Water Network, a non-profit organization focused to designing and implementing small, financially feasible water programs, managed the water ATMs. They were erected at six water standpipes, five with a single ATM and one with two ATMs, servicing around 2,000 individuals.
The progressive installation of water ATMs made advantage of the community’s existing physical, institutional, and financial infrastructure. This was done to lower the innovation’s cost and likelihood of opposition or rejection. It utilized existing infrastructure, including mobile phones, Safe Water Network standpipes, and community actors such as water station operators and mobile money agents.
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The study identified five significant ways in which water ATMs were altering the landscape of water availability.
Improved water reliability and accessibility: Water ATMs gave more reliable, flexible, and easy (time-saving) access to off-grid water than previous or competing methods. For example, the average round-trip time from home to water ATM and return was 15 minutes, compared to 29 minutes at two non-ATM boreholes in the community. Additionally, individuals could collect water outside of the caretaker’s or vendor’s business hours. Instead of interfering with other livelihood activities, collection should be scheduled around them.
GHANA’S ATMS
Cost and alterations in water management: Water ATMs pushed the cost-water relationship to the forefront for users. Users became more careful at the point of water collection since they were required to pay for any water that was spilled. In addition, despite the fact that the technology did not alter water prices or tariffs (20 litres for 10 pesewas), several consumers complained they were effectively paying more because they did not receive the same amount of water for their money.
A water ATM user said:
“(…) see, this pipe (water ATM point) is closer to me, but as of late, the prices have compelled me to use the other standpipe by the store. A Ghana cedi (GH1) purchase guarantees five times as much of this container from other merchants when I use the same container (a 40-litre pail). When I use water vending machines, I occasionally only receive four refills for the same cost, as opposed to the usual five. I prefer to walk that distance if I can obtain an additional water bottle.”
Some once informal, social features of water access, such as the interchange of rumors, opinions, and worries during water collection, have diminished.
New actors became crucial to the water collection process as their roles and authority shifted. Some were local (mobile money agents), others national (the mobile operator MTN), and others international (eWaterPay). Consumer payments and use of mobile money-related services benefited them.
Disempowerment versus empowerment: Households without water ATM cards or credits, as well as women who sold water from standpipes off the grid, were disempowered. For instance, four female vendors at various water standpipes had lost their means of subsistence due to the digitalization of water. Those having water cards were granted authority.
TOP-DOWN APPROACH
Based on my findings, I propose the following enhancements to water vending machines.
Government should create a favorable policy and regulatory environment for investments in water infrastructure and a conducive ecology for locally based digital technologies.
When introducing innovations, water service providers should adapt and expand upon existing systems and local institutions to foster a conducive atmosphere.
Initial cost should be set at an affordable level to stimulate adoption and utilization.
Government and private water companies should work to gradually implement digital water technologies. First, they should implement risk management procedures to help prioritize and mitigate threats to the long-term viability of current infrastructure and the delivery of clean, inexpensive water.
»Ghana’s water vending machines are transforming people’s lives«
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