the problem
Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) devices, such as clay filters, aim to provide clean water in developing communities, but most people do not use their HWTS consistently, negatively impacting its potential efficacy. Surveys to evaluate their usage are time consuming to perform and often unreliable, in part due to social desirability bias, the tendency on behalf of survey subjects to deny socially undesirable traits and to claim socially desirable ones.
Our story began when the founder of Pure Home Water (PHW), a social enterprise and legally registered non-profit organization based in Tamale, Ghana approached us about designing an objective tool to better understand the use of their filters. PHW has provided clean water to 100,000 people with their AfriClay filter. But, how many of these people still use PHW’s filters? What is an average usage cycle of their water filter like? To be able to serve its next 100,000 beneficiaries, PHW needed answers to these questions.
Our innovation came from a deep understanding of our partner’s need: PHW needs detailed usage information, but does not need precise information. PHW would like to know if their filters are used for 5 days, 5 months, or 5 years; all year round or only in the hot season. This information can be gathered with a usage sensor instead of a flow meter.
the smart spout
The Smart Spout is a low cost sensor that gathers long-term (>1 year), objective usage data for Household Water and Safe Storage devices. The sensors are embedded into a filter’s tap handle and record the date, time, and length of every filter usage. This means that no part of the sensor has to come in contact with the clean drinking water and that a simple switch and interrupt architecture can be used for the data logging hardware and software. The device uses near-field communication to wirelessly download the data to a smart phone; which works even after the battery has died. Our goal is to make the units low cost enough that can be deployed at large scale, allowing for statistically significant results during field trials.
install
Replace the regular tap handle with ours. The sensor is enclosed in the handle itself, which is waterproof.
record
Usage is recorded when the tap is either depressed or lifted. The date, time, and length of the usage are saved.
upload
The data is uploaded wirelessly and saved to a cell phone using near-field communication and an android app.
our team
david taylor
Before coming to MIT, David spent 11 months living in a rural village in Ghana working as a consultant for USAID. He is currently a PhD student developing a new water valve to decrease contamination in New Delhi’s water system. For Tapped Insight, David leverages his experience in the development industry to articulate and advocate for the functional requirements, for system integration, and for refining the questions we try and ask with the device.
natasha wright
Natasha is a PhD student working in the Global Engineering and Research Lab at MIT. She has spent the last 6 years working on village scale water purification and desalination systems for rural areas of India. For Tapped Insight, Natasha is responsible for the product form design. She has designed and prototyped the current filter spouts and sensor housings.
Contact
Questions? Comments? As we continue to improve the Smart Spout sensor, we value feedback on what device features and data would be useful to you.
Are you an academic group, organization, or company interested in understanding filter usage or behavior change? Think the Smart Spout sensor could be useful in your study? Let us know by using the form below.