Water Vending Machines in Kenya

Published on by in Government

Water Vending Machines in Kenya

The Kenyan government has installed communal water dispensers to get clean and affordable water to people in poor areas of Nairobi city

These water vending machines, known locally as water ATMs, allow people to fill containers with water for a subsidized price, paid for with pre-paid smart cards. With a simple swipe, you can fetch water for as little as half a Kenyan shilling (half a US cent) per 5 gallons of water.

"We have come up with this technology to enable the slum dwellers access not only clean, but also affordable water," said Mbaruku Vyakweli, an official at the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company, to a Kenyan Daily.

In collaboration with Danish water engineering company Grundfos Lifelink, the Nairobi government has brought four water ATMs into Mathare, the Kenyan capital's second-largest poor neighborhood. They plan to expand the project to other slum areas in the city.

Nairobi slum dwellers have never had the luxury of simply turning on the tap for fresh water, and normally rely on water vendors, who inflate prices as high as 30 shillings per 5 gallons, or natural sources of unsafe drinking water.

Source: Business Insider

Read More Related Content On This Topic - Click Here

Media

Taxonomy