ATM dispenser brings cheap, clean water to slum dwellers

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero (left) is shown how the water ATM works in Mathare. PHOTO | COURTESY 

By GERALD ANDAE

In Summary

• The water ATM machines have now edged out vendors who have for long exploited the residents by selling water for Sh30 per 20-litre container.

Slum dwellers in Nairobi’s Mathare are now able to access clean and affordable water through ATM-like dispensers.

The system, the first of its kind in Kenya, uses smart cards with a self-service kiosk that supplies the water for as low as 50 cents.

Residents simply swipe smart cards at the ATM dispensers installed in Mathare to dispense and pay for the amount of water that one wants to fetch.

The water ATM machines have now edged out vendors who have for long exploited the residents by selling water for Sh30 per 20-litre container, taking away the little money that many would have saved for other basic needs like food.

With the new system, residents pay as little as 50 cents for a 20 litre-container.

“This is the best project ever that has been started in Mathare. I am now able to access clean water at a low cost and without worrying about its safety,” said Mary Wangare, who lives in the slum.

She said that for long she had been exploited by water vendors who have always capitalised on the unavailability of water in the area to make a killing. The water ATMs will also tame cases of cholera outbreaks and illnesses caused by drinking dirty water.

The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) said the initiative gives the locals an opportunity to access the resource that is scarce in informal settlements.

The informal settlements lack infrastructure to connect piped water to individual homes.

“We have come up with this technology to enable the slum dwellers access not only clean, but also affordable water by swiping their smart cards at the water ATM dispenser,” said Mbaruku Vyakweli, the NCWSC corporate affairs manager.

Mr Vyakweli said NCWSC will launch similar projects in other informal settlements such as Mukuru Kwa Reuben and Kibera in Nairobi.

Residents swipe their smart cards, which they load with money at the water kiosk or they can as well top up with money using mobile phones.

Once the card has been placed at the ATM and the customer keys in the amount of water that she wants, water then automatically flows from the dispenser to the container.

Mathare residents were given the smart cards for free and all they have to do is to load them with money. There is no limit to the amount of cash that one can top up, allowing many to make monthly or weekly budgets.

The dispensers have been set up through a partnership between the government and the Danish water engineering company Grundfos.
The Mathare project is managed by a village chairman and other administrators.