Official Launch Of AQtap Water Dispenser

Grundfos announces the official launch of its AQtap water dispenser at the 2015 Aquatech in Amsterdam, from November 2nd.

Grundfos developed the AQtap dispenser as part of its Lifelink water solutions and its commitment to providing sustainable water solutions in the developing world. The Grundfos AQtap is an intelligent water dispenser that can be used at any water kiosk to assist water utilities in expanding their delivery of reliable water supplies to under-served communities in informal urban settlements and in rural areas.

The AQtap is the outcome of several years of direct market research and product development carried out by Grundfos, in order to gain a true understanding of the fundamental challenges faced by water utilities and the needs of low-income consumers. Grundfos took this first-hand information and applied not only its commitment to sustainability but also its expertise in water and pump technologies to develop the AQtap dispenser.

Grundfos took a holistic approach and developed an intelligent water dispenser to be the core element of Lifelink water solutions, building on Technology, Service Networks, Cross-sector Partnerships and Business Model Know-how. The dispenser technology incorporates a water management tool and smart card platform for efficient revenue collection.

Piloted and field-tested for over 5-years in 40 installations throughout Kenya, the dispenser is a ‘plug-and-play’ commercial product, the AQtap.

Press article: AQtap and Lifelink sustainable water solutions

Challenges of water service providers in the developing world:

Financial viability and revenue collection
Public water utilities in developing countries are facing a wide range of challenges in living up to their obligation of providing individuals with access to a clean, affordable water supply. Crucial challenges include access to financing and the need to reduce Non-revenue-water, which can account for losses of as much as 50% in some countries, due to leakage and theft.

The needs of increasing revenue streams and financing are relentless as water utilities must:

• Maintain and install new infrastructure assets and metering
• Improve the service coverage and solutions for informal settlements in urban areas to avoid private vendors charging exorbitant prices for water of uncertain quality
• Secure a set-up for on-going operations and maintenance, including access to spare parts for repair

To potential investors, each inefficiency problem translates to a risk and higher premiums.

Mitigating the challenges through innovative technology:

Smart water management
The Grundfos AQtap water dispenser is designed specifically to assist local and national water utilities in attacking these challenges head-on.

As a solution that comes with a smart water management system, water utilities are enabled to centralise the management and remotely monitor the performance of each water tapping point. The cloud based water management system simply receives and publishes all transactional and operational data from each water dispenser. This way, the water service providers and their service partners are informed and supported in their day-to-day operations. The system also includes an alert function, which allows utilities to immediately detect – and respond to – operational problems so that maintenance can be carried out in a timely manner. This helps in minimising operational downtime of the water kiosk.

With professional tools for monitoring and managing water points, water utilities are also incentivised to expand their water distribution to rural communities and informal urban settlements, which crop up outside the infrastructure grid.

Efficient revenue collection
The Grundfos AQtap also includes the use of smart cards, offering a platform for pre-payment and efficient revenue collection. To tap water from the AQtap, consumers must use a WaterCard with water credits that can be acquired through either local vendors or mobile payment. This pre-payment model using smart cards and water credits gives water utilities an efficient and effective revenue collection process and up-front cash-flow to i.e. self-finance on-going operational and maintenance costs. Also, by monitoring all water credit and tapping transactions, the water management system provides transparency and financial accountability. In turn, this helps provide greater certainty and lower risk for investors, which can help lower the cost for capital.

Positive engagement with water consumers
For consumers, purchasing water becomes a positive and transparent experience as they receive the exact amount of water they have paid for, and without wastage. This also enhances the utility’s ability to manage water as a scarce resource. And last but not least, consumers can feel reassured that the water price is kept as low as possible, and that their community was engaged from the beginning, along with the water utility, in setting a fair price for the water.

The ICT-enabled AQtap water dispenser and integrated solution also provide an opportunity for water utilities to engage consumers on a positive level. By incorporating the smart card and mobile payment process into the pre-payment model, low-income consumers are also provided with a reliable, user-friendly, efficient, transparent and accountable payment system, eliminating the potential for mismanagement of funds by middlemen. The dispenser interface was created with the water consumer in mind – with the aim of keeping it simple, intuitive and user-friendly in order to facilitate easy adoption. Best of all, under and un-served populations get access to a sustainable, affordable water supply for themselves and their families.

Grundfos Lifelink water solutions: A holistic offering:

The Grundfos AQtap innovation is complemented by the additional offerings in Grundfos Lifelink water solutions to enable sustainability in water service deliveries.

Innovative technology:
The Grundfos AQtap is a core element in Lifelink water solutions.When combined with Grundfos’ vast range of high quality pumps, controls, disinfection and water treatment solutions, systems can be designed to meet project-specific criteria.

Professional service set-up
Grundfos has built into Lifelink solutions an answer to the crucial issue of providing access to high-quality spare parts and service capabilities.

Through a network of dedicated partners in focus countries, Grundfos ensures that customers receive the support, training and parts needed to deliver a sustainable water supply.

Partnerships
Grundfos Lifelink works in cross-sector partnerships. By linking partners from government, investment and development sector, we facilitate the right solution for every water project.

Business Model know-how
Having piloted more than 40 projects in Kenya over the past 5-years and by working closely with water utilities and NGOs, Grundfos’ dedicated Lifelink team offers extensive know-how and experience in designing the right business model for a sustainable water service delivery.

In addition, Grundfos continues to generate knowledge from the data delivered to the water management system connected to all the installed dispensers. This data is used to learn about the consumption patterns of specific communities, to test assumptions and to refine products and service models.

Alternative to expensive infrastructure build-out:
The AQtap empowers water service providers with a cost-effective and efficient way to provide reliable access to clean and affordable water. With the professional tools integrated in the AQtap water dispenser for monitoring and managing water points, water utilities are incentivised to improve and build out their water delivery services to as many people as possible who have little – or no – access to water at all, whether they are located in remote rural communities or in informal urban settlements.

The fact that a AQtap water dispenser makes it possible to operate a fully automated and reliable water kiosk also challenges the conventional assumptions behind delivering water to households via piping infrastructure as the sole – or optimal – delivery model. Households in both informal urban settlements and rural locations can actually be provided with a sustainable source of clean, affordable water by distribution to – and collection of water from – connection points with automated water kiosks. This way, low-income populations are serviced more quickly and effectively than waiting for more expensive, larger scale infrastructure build-out.

The AQtap water dispensers can be connected to existing freshwater supplies – for example, existing but abandoned borehole wells – or to urban water networks to deliver water to a single water kiosk or to a group of water kiosks in a given area in the network.

Mini-grid of water kiosks connected to water supply

Water kiosk connected to water network

About Grundfos
Grundfos is a global leader in advanced pump solutions and a trendsetter in water technology. We contribute to global sustainability by pioneering technologies that improve quality of life for people and care for the planet. Grundfos Lifelink water solutions is our commitment to providing sustainable water solutions in the developing world that can be customised according to project needs, delivering a reliable water supply, supporting revenue collection and efficient operations. For more information, visit www.grundfos.com/lifelink.