Slum areas in developing countries lack access to networked, let alone potable water. Many rely on informal water vendors (from pushcarts or trucks) and bad quality surface water.Such water would require further cooking, which means extra cost and effort. These sources of water are also not available 24/7. This can have high toll on monetary and health costs, affecting citizen and municipalities.
Water ATM (Primal Sarjaval operator) is a fully automated potable water dispensing machine. A GPS is installed in the machine so its quality can be remotely maintained. The ATM is fully automated and can dispense water 24/7 since it does not have to be attended, unlike truck and pushcart vendors which requires residents to wait. Residents pay using a card recharged by a mobile phone or at the vending kiosk. The machine charges per use and does not have a high upfront cost for citizens.
- Slum dwellers
- Health and water municipalities
- Health advocates
- Private companies that manages and distribute the machine
- Companies championing the ATM need to partner with health NGOs to promote this product more extensively to the municipalities for its widespread implementation.
- Survey data of water provision and waterborne diseases concentration to find out where to best implement the ATM.
- A pilot project should be carried in a chosen area to get detailed feedback for a successful implementation later on.