Dutch WASH partners launch WaterCompass for selection of appropriate water technology

Three Dutch water-related non-governmental organisations Practica Foundation and AKVO, with support of Aqua for All, launched the WaterCompass, an online tool to support the right technical choices for appropriate water supply and sanitation in developing regions.

The WaterCompass contains almost 70 water management methods applicable in asset-poor, developing region contexts. Grouped from source protection to household water treatment and storage, these methods comprise the current best practice in developing water sectors.

Local context
Making the right choices about water and sanitation technologies in developing contexts is of key importance, especially concerning the operational results.

This means taking into account the local context, quality, durability, availability, maintenance, and of course the affordability of the method.

Rational selection
The tool supports more rational selection of water supply and treatment technologies. According to the designers the WaterCompass is not designed to replace experts, but rather to share and discuss potential options in an objective and transparent fashion with other stakeholders.

Together with the linked databases and assessment tools, it is expected to provide an accessible mini-compendium of water management technologies relevant in a development context.

How does it work?
The innovative online tool can be used as a simple overview of technologies, and also as a more practical decision-support tool for selecting suitable water supply technologies for a real setting.

To this end, the WaterCompass allows its users to choose relevant factors of the local context, such as intended use, preferred level of delivery (e.g. household, school or community), water source (ground, rain or surface water) or possible contamination.

Information on sustainability
The tool also contains information on the sustainability features of the water technologies, based on the five principles of FIETS: Financial, Institutional, Environmental, Technological and Social sustainability.

By using this special feature of the tool, the selected technology or hardware ensures a WASH service that can be maintained, repaired and replaced by local people, that it is not depleting the (natural) resources and that it is meeting the demands of the community.

To the tool: WaterCompass

This news item was originally published on the website of Dutch WASH Alliance.

More information
Dutch WASH Alliance
Haarlem, the Netherlands
+31 23 517 5791
www.washalliance.nl

Aqua for All
The Hague, the Netherlands
+31 70 3519 725
www.aquaforall.nl