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Affordable Water and Sanitation Solutions

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This entry helps entrepreneurs to identify business opportunities and technologies to provide water and sanitation (WASH) services at an affordable cost.

Affordable solutions for viable sanitation and water management 

How can you improve or extend water and sanitation services affordably, and so reach a larger market, including people at the so-called base of the pyramid (BoP)? 

You can use this toolbox to identify opportunities, help your customers to obtain water and sanitation, and build your business. In addition, it:

  • Tells you how you can strengthen your business by involving customers and the public in decisions and operations
  • Helps you tailor your business model to the specific needs of different customers
  • Offers high- and low-tech as well as other options for delivering water and sanitation inexpensively

Identifying sound solutions and strategies

You can use this toolbox to identify opportunities, help your customers to obtain water and sanitation, and build your business.

Explore the resources below: 

    For more information

    You might want to look at two complementary sources:

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    Affordable WASH services and products

    If you are selling low cost water and sanitation services directly to your customers, it is especially important to: 
    1. Meet your customers’…
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    Improving water and sanitation services provided by public institutions and utilities

    Providing essential services, including water and sanitation, is a serious and challenging responsibility. Entrepreneurs who bring affordable…
    22 Factsheets
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    Inclusive innovation and service delivery

    Your clients, your employees and other entrepreneurs are potential partners. They have expertise, resources and know their community and its needs.…
    14 Factsheets
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    Fog Drip

    Fog harvesting provides a cheap complementary water source for arid and semiarid, rural regions. As the wind blows the fog through specially designed…

    Mulching

    Mulch is a material placed on the soil surface to maintain moisture, reduce weed growth, mitigate soil erosion and improve soil conditions. Mulching…

    Manual Pumping

    Hand pumps are water-lifting devices that can be operated manually to withdraw water from surface water sources, groundwater sources and reservoirs,…

    Human-powered Emptying and Transport

    Human-powered emptying and transport refers to the different ways in which people can manually empty and/or transport sludge and solid products…

    Double Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP)

    The double VIP has almost the same design as the single VIP with the added advantage of a second pit that allows it to be used continuously and…

    Urinal

    An urinal is used only for collecting urine. Urinals are generally for men, although models for women have also been developed. Most urinals use…

    Urine Diversion Components

    The separate collection of urine allows to reduce water used in toilets for flushing and to collect the nutrients contained in the urine in order to…

    Dehydration Vaults

    Dehydration vaults are used to collect, store and dry (dehydrate) faeces. Faeces will only dehydrate when the vaults are well ventilated, watertight…

    (Co-) composting (Small-scale)

    Composting at the household level is an important method for managing organic waste, which is normally the largest portion of household waste.…

    Human-Powered Distribution

    Where there is no or not sufficient piped supply of freshwater and drinking water, nor any motorised vehicles to distribute it, water distribution…

    Leakage Control

    Water leakage is an important component of water losses. Many methods for controlling leakage from urban water supply systems have emerged, but it…

    Preventing Recontamination

    Recontamination of clean or already treated water is a common problem in many countries. On the household level, there are several simple methods to…

    Incineration (Small-Scale)

    Small-scale incinerators are a useful technology to combust household waste, medical waste, slaughter waste, etc. instead of discharging it in a…

    Heat Recovery from Sludge

    Wastewater treatment processes produce sewage sludge,which has to be discharged after an appropriate treatment. Nowadays, there are several new…

    Biogas Combustion

    In principal, biogas can be used like other fuel gas. When produced in household-level [8221-biogas reactors], it is most suitable for cooking.…

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    The Swiss Bluetec Bridge 

    The Swiss Bluetec Bridge was launched in November 2012. It strives to accelerate sustainable access to water and sanitation for local residents – especially the poorest in society – in rural areas and in small towns in developing and emerging economies, by providing them with advanced Swiss technology and innovation.

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    Created by

    Seecon GmbH

     

     

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