One of the new Susteq water ATMs to be installed in Turkana County next year. The housing is made of stainless steel.
English
The new water ATMs are operated with a fob which can be worn by the user.
The old water ATMs are operated with a card which is designed to be stored in a wallet. The flaw with this approach is that many water ATM customers do not routinely carry wallets and so the cards are likely to become damaged.
The “back-end” internal workings of Oxfam Kenya’s first water ATM installed in Griftu, Wajir, which was retrofitted to an existing kiosk. The housing is not particularly robust and the water passes very close to the electronics. Although the design of this unit was not particularly durable, feedback from the community was very positive.
In contrast to the complicated set-up above, this is the simpler Susteq system that Oxfam is planning to trial in Kenya. The blue unit is a digital flow meter and the black unit is an electronic flow switch. The control unit is totally separate which makes maintenance easier and reduces the risk of water seeping in and spoiling the unit.
Contactless payment technology that conveniently allows customers to pay for low cost goods is becoming increasingly familiar to shoppers in affluent countries, particularly in Europe. Under the SWIFT programme, Oxfam has introduced similar technology to two very low-income communities in Wajir County in eastern Kenya. And the programme is about to be extended to two further towns in Turkana County, in the north west of the country.
Brian McSorley, the Water and Sanitation Advisor in Oxfam’s Global Humanitarian Team and the person who has overseen the adoption of this technology, says, “We are learning a great deal about the role that electronic chips can play in meeting that most fundamental of human needs: easy access to clean, cheap water.”
The benefits of water ATMs
Contactless payment technology is being used in the form of pre-paid water meters, also known as water ATMs. They allow water to be automatically dispensed when a customer presents his or her token or card against an electronic reader, which regulates flow at a dispensing point. A chip within the token or card contains information on the amount of water the user has already paid for, and water credits are deducted each time water is dispensed. In Kenya, users can buy more credits via the popular MPESA mobile phone payment system, or at local resellers.
For the customer, water ATMs reduce queuing times and potentially make water available 24 hours per day. The fact that customers pay up front makes this an attractive technology for water companies. A digital audit trail also makes it easier for companies to identify fraud. Water providers in Kenya often struggle to operate profitably and extend their services. This is partly because of the high number of illegal connections to their water networks, but also because many bills are simply not paid – either due to default or because of inefficient billing systems. Fraud is also an issue. Water ATMs seek to address these problems and so provide a sustainable solution.
ATMs can be retrofitted to existing water kiosks but they can also be built as standalone tapstands, reducing the need for a kiosk structure and attendant.
Rapidly advancing technology
This technology is in its infancy and so, in a very short period of time, there have been drastic improvements in cost and design. Oxfam’s first water ATM pilot in Kenya cost approximately £5000 per retrofitted kiosk. Early next year however, the water ATMs that will be installed in Turkana County will cost about half that.
What’s more, the new water ATMs, which are made by Dutch company Susteq, are significantly better to use. The chips are in key fobs, rather than being like a credit card, as under the old system. The fobs can be tied onto a chain or keyring, which is more useful in a society where people rarely carry wallets with bankers cards. (The card type is easily damaged or misplaced if it is not stored in a wallet.)
The housing for the old water ATMs is made from fairly cheap plastic and Brian and his team discovered a key shortcoming with the design of the unit: the water passes very close to the electronics. In one case, a seal broke and the water damaged the ATM mechanism. The Susteq water ATMs are built from stainless steel and are of a simpler, more robust design. The electronics and water are kept totally separate and the unit can easily be opened to allow sediment to be cleaned out.
Learning from set-backs
Brian notes that the two communities where water ATMs were installed last year in Wajir County responded very differently to one another. “The ATMs in the village of Griftu have been very popular and will continue to be used for the foreseeable future. However, it has not been such a success story in the neighbouring village of Arbajahan. The system has not been fully utilised because of the increasing number of households who have their own private household connections. This has been made possible by the solar pumping system installed by Oxfam as part of the SWIFT programme. With increased water availability people are able to have water connections to their house and this is making the kiosks redundant.
The towns in Turkana County that have been selected for the second wave of ATM installations are ones where Oxfam is confident there is an ongoing demand for water kiosks.
The future of water ATMs
Brian feels that, in the right environment, water ATMs have an exciting role to play in the sustainable provision of safe water in low-income and fragile contexts. “Technology will never be a substitute for good management. The water service provider (the utility company or water committee) must have the technical capacity and business systems in place to operate and maintain the infrastructure and manage finances appropriately. However, as part of a holistic approach to strengthening management systems, improving revenue collection and working towards a sustainable water service, water ATMs are a powerful tool that should pay for themselves and improve the quality of water services.”
Further information about the success of water ATMs in Griftu is available here.
