The Potable Water Divide

1
The Potable Water Divide

• Tralance Addy, WaterHealth International, Inc
• UNIDO-UC Berkeley Conference
• On
• Bridging the Divide
• April 22, 2005

2
The Problem Areas

• Urban lower/middle class Access. Low quality
• Urban Poor Limited access. Poor quality
• Peri-Urban middle class Limited access. Poor
  quality
• Peri-urban poor Limited access. Very poor
  quality
• Rural Very limited-to-no access very poor
  quality

3
Frequent Sights
4
Usual Solutions/Approaches

• Municipal treated water available at central
  standpipes
• Well water available at stand pipes
• Batch systems including both community and
  household
• Decentralized community systems (stand pipe)

5
Some Characterizations

• Increasing realization of importance of
  decentralized, point-of-use systems
• Some imaginative and cute technologies that are
  not scalable
• Some technologies seem to be designed for the
  very desperate
• Technologies that require the user to work hard
  to get a drink of water
• Approaches that imply that the poor would
  appreciate whatever they can get

6
In Our Humble Opinion

• The quality requirements for the poor should be
  no different than ours
• Advanced technology and Appropriate technology
  are not mutually exclusive
• Improved water is not necessarily potable water
• The poor appreciate beauty and convenience as
  much as the rich
• It is unwise to assume that the poor are not as
  wise in making family and personal choices
• The poor will pay for high quality water if the
  price is within their budget capabilities
• We should move towards making it unnecessary to
  use dirty water sources for all household needs

7
Our Vision(Early WaterHealth Mexico Installation)
A community water collection facility in Mexico,
providing water that has treated through WHIs
UVWaterworks disinfection technology
April 2001
8
Our Vision
. A typical CWS has the capacity to provide
gt65,000 liters of potable water per day.
9
WaterHealth Community System in India
Community System in Andhra Pradesh, India
One of our local system operators in
Bomminampadu, India
10
Our VisionWater Store
Water Refilling Station in Manila, Philippines
We have over 50 such refilling stations in Metro
Manila, providing opportunities to local
entrepreneurs who own and operate these stores,
and clean water to those who cannot afford
bottled water.