Sensor Checks Water Projects Efficiency

Team at MIT came up with the CleanData-CleanWater SensorTracking Whether and How They're Being Used

It's one thing for technology to work in the office or lab. It's another whether it works properly in the field.

Users have an annoying habit of getting in the way of the best laid plans.

Take water filters. There are now dozens of smart ideas aimed at the developing world, where millions still get sick from water-related diseases. But sometimes the theory and promise of these devices rides ahead of their impact.

Sometimes, NGOs and others are better at distributing fixes than following up to see if they're delivering.

In the name of accountability, a team atMITcame up with theCleanData-CleanWater sensor, a smart tap that fits to many filters, allowing NGOs to track whether and how they're being used.

"We're drowning in technologies to clean water. It seems like a new way comes out every day," saysDavid Taylor, a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering.

"The problem is practitioners have no idea which one of these ideas work."

The project grew out of a conversation withSusan Murcott, a lecturer inMIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Murcott runs an NGO calledPure Water Home, which has distributed clay filters to 100,000 people in Northern Ghana. Murcott wanted to understand more about usage and usability, and asked the students to come up with something.

Taylor, who worked in the region himself, explains that NGOs often get false data for their programs. A representative will go to a home and say "have you used thatshiny new devicewe gave you?" To which, a user will invariably say "yes"--even if it's not true. "People feel obligated to say 'yes.' It's like when the dentist asks you if you've flossed recently. Everyone says yes," Taylor says. He reckons, typically, the data might be off by as much 25%.

Source: Fast Coexist

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Taxonomy

• Innovation
• Sensor Systems
• Drinking Water