Congo Helping Hands will be installing the four Lorentz SmartTap dispensers in two health clinics located in Kananga, DR Congo. I am excited by the project because it’s innovative using new technology to help solve the problems of accountability and sustainability.
Here’s how it will be operated. Water customers will purchase water credits equating to a known number of liters of water per Congolese Franc from an authorized water seller. The water credit will be stored on their Near Field Communication enabled SmartTap tag until they are ready to get water. When they are ready to get water, the consumer will place their tag on the SmartTap dispenser. The dispenser will start dispensing water until the water credits are exhausted or they remove the tag off the machine. The SmartTap will subtract the water credits used from the balance of water credits on the tag.
To aid in accountability, the SmartTap dispenser will record each liter (actually, tenth of a liter) of water used by each customer’s SmartTap tag and the date, beginning balance, and ending balance of customer water balance. And to aid in sustainability, the number of water credits sold (water sales) by the water seller and redeemed water customer will be recorded in a cloud based database. It’s a rock solid system but… What could possibly go wrong that could cause this project to fail?
First, our water customers cannot or refuse to pay for the SmartTap tags. Yes, we are expecting our customers to purchase their SmartTap tag because they have a cost and they should be valued. Initially, we would like the water customer to buy the tag for about US$5 each but the water customer will receive the equivalent amount of water credit. In the Congo, US$5 is the equivalent of 2-4 days of pay for the average customer. And the water credit to get 1,250 liters of water. According to The World Counts, “We use water not just to drink or shower or wash our clothes, we use it through the products we consume too. The average person will need 5 liters of water to drink daily, to survive in a moderate climate with little activity. An average American uses 100 to 175 gallons of water per day.” And, a family of five persons would use about 25 liters of water, the equivalent of one water jug or water basin a day. Therefore, each family would have to purchase a SmartTap with the equivalent of a water supply for 50 days.
Second, the Water Seller located at each health clinic cannot load water on the water customers SmartTap tag. We will have to train a Water Seller and possibly a backup person for each health clinic location. Although, the SmartTap app is simple for someone who has used an Android smartphone. Most Congolese women do not own or have not used an Android Smartphone.
Third, the Water Seller loses or damages the Android smartphone. And not all US versions of Android smartphones have NFC capabilities. Accordingly, NONE of the African versions of Android smartphones have NFC capabilities. Therefore, buying a replacement smartphone in Congo is not a possible solution. And it takes a minimum of a week to get another smartphone from the US. And the shipping and importation taxes are expensive.
What else could possibly go wrong that could cause this project to fail? I need your help!
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