A Grant For Northern Aid

Working with their partner, Christian Aid, Kenyan NGO Northern Aid will soon be trialling an innovative water payment system in north eastern Kenya. This project will be implemented in drought-prone Mandera Central District, in El Wak town and its surrounding villages. Communities living in this area have no clean running water in close proximity. The town’s wells often dry out during dry spells and they are routinely contaminated by human waste when the water table rises. There is sufficient borehole water to meet the population’s needs all year round, but it contains calcium carbonate and sodium chloride and is not safe to drink. People are forced to choose between walking for miles or buying water from a donkey cart, which can be very expensive.

Northern Aid believes that mobile phones and reverse osmosis technology may be able to address the problem. [...]