Ethiopian startup providing “radically affordable” piped water to rural dwellers

3BL builds low-cost piped water systems into people’s homes in rural communities by combining an engineering philosophy that has an emphasis on affordability with a network of rurally-based franchises.

Flowius Manage provides financial and technical tools to operate and maintain piped water systems.

An Ethiopian startup Triple Bottom Line (3BL) Enterprises is working on a project called Flowius, which builds tech-managed, piped water systems so “radically affordable” that rural Ethiopians living on US$1.50 a day can get water in their homes.

3BL builds low-cost piped water systems into people’s homes in rural communities by combining an engineering philosophy that has an emphasis on affordability with a network of rurally-based franchises.

This is all managed by a suite of mobile tools.

“First is Flowius Collect, which maps out communities without the need for surveying teams and minimal training,” Said co-founder Chris Turnbull-Grimes.

“The second app is Flowius Manage, which provides financial and technical tools to operate and maintain our piped water systems, with push notifications and instructional videos. The last mobile app is Flowius Connect for construction management, which compiles construction process tracking with material and labour management,” said Turnbull-Grimes.

3BL was launched with the understanding that nobody in the world wants to walk for water.

“As such, the goal for most people is to have water piped to them in their homes. There are a few reasons why this typically doesn’t happen, though. First and most importantly, piped water systems are usually too expensive for rural people. Other than that, there is usually little access to skilled operators, quality existing infrastructure, and credit for water projects. We work to combine solutions for all of these so people can get water at home,” said Turnbull-Grimes.

The startup has been mostly self-funded, but has been selected into the USAID Development Innovation Ventures programme, which is supporting its operations for the next couple of years. For now, it is running a pilot programme with 600 households in Wita, a town in the Gurage Zone of the SNNPR region of Ethiopia, but Turnbull-Grimes said it has plans to scale.

SOURCE By Pumps Africa

Media

Taxonomy

• Water Supply
• Rural Area Water Supply