New technology and new opportunities

As I was researching gender and water in Africa and the policies and schemes which were in place to tackle the problems, I came across eWATER. It very simply aims to supply rural villages with local and sustainable water sources, this will help tackle the issues of water collection and all of the problems women and girls endure. 15 years ago less than 1% of Africans had mobile phones, now 76% have mobile phones, these people pay for their air time, and to charge their phones, yet many of them still drink and die from contaminated water. Billions of dollars have been spent on supplying rural parts of Africa with sustainable water sources; however, these structures usually break down within six months to two years as the management is often poor or non-existent. Often the taps are left on, once the tank is full water gushes out and is available for an hour twice a day. The water that remains uncontained turns into stagnant water which is a breeding ground for mosquitos and disease. This lack of time leads to conflict and problems between the locals as they fight over the water. This problem of water availability affects young girls whose responsibility it is to collect the water for the whole family as they may have to miss school or be late as they must collect the water for their families first.

Money collection is often the problem for communal water sources, when the money is not collected, there will be no maintenance in return and thus no sustainable water available. The problems start with money collection for the water; this is the core of the eWATER system. They have teamed with mobile phone companies to spread advanced technologies to the rural areas of Africa. This low cost solution works by people buying eWATER credits on the app on smartphones, or if they do not have smart phones they can buy credits from a eWATER seller. They then use a eWATER tag which contains their credits, they tap this tag on the contactless pad on the water pumps and the water is dispensed. The water is available 24 hours a day, enabling the locals to have full time availability to their local water source.

These water sources are maintained as they are receiving the money when the water is dispensed, the pumps are connected to the eWATER servers via the internet and cloud. This enables alerts to be sent to local engineers who often get the pumps fixed and working again in 30-60 minutes as it is shown in the cycle in the image. Many women and girls have been educated and trained to become the engineers and technicians so eWATER can hire them, thus allowing them to get a fair wage and promote gender equality in rural parts of Africa.

From my research of eWATER I have found it to be a key driver in the fight for gender equality regarding water and water collection. The introduction of these pumps in thousands of rural villages across Africa will considerably drop the distance that girls and women have to travel for water. This will then have a knock on effect for the women’s health as I have stated in my precious blogs that carrying large amounts of water across large distances can have long term health impacts as well as short term problems. The 24 hour availability of water will mean that girls no longer have to miss school waiting for water to be available, they can simply collect the water before or after school. Not only does this system have a positive impact on the girls and women collecting the water but also managing the water systems. Girls and women are being trained and hired in something they have vast knowledge on and are keen to develop. 

References: 

eWATER. Available: http://www.ewaterpay.com/About. Last accessed 20th Dec 2017.

Lien, K. (2017). Pay as you drink. Available: https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21717766-innovative-cure-broken-pumps-better-way-provide-drinking-water. Last accessed 20th Dec 2017.