The Challenges of Bringing Piped Water
Whilst piped water is common in dense urban centres, bringing piped water to (semi-)rural populations presents extra difficulties due to the lack of access to finance pertaining to multiple barriers:
To Rural Areas
Access to CAPEX financing barriers
​
Hard-to-reach areas
Small project size
​
Limited local capacity
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This is what TapEffect is solving!
Did you know?
In Cambodia, 8 million people could get a TapEffect water tap at home!
Our
TapEffect seeks to tackle this problem by implementing and operating portfolios of piped water systems in these rural hard-to-reach areas
Approach
Normal water utilities usually integrate a costly custom design process, TapEffect seeks to do the opposite.
In contrast, our business model is based on a standardized approach to minimize the design/development costs and support limited on-site capacities with appropriate technologies and technical assistance.
Our Solution
Business Development
​
• Site selection
• Feasibility studies
• Licensing & agreements
• Community engagement & sales
• Strategical Partnerships for Scalability
Financing
​
• Aggregation of projects for financing
• Finance management
• Sizing tools for techno-commercial evaluation
• Risk assessment framework
• Project model forecasts
Project Supervision
​
• Overall project supervision
• Procurement management
• Design & technology selection
• Contractor
management
​
Asset Management
​
• Portfolio management tools
• Remote monitoring (using a basic SCADA system)
• Digital payment systems
• Water safety planning
Our water safety plan is based
on a continuous improvement cycle
1. Engage
communities
5. Review & Improve the implementation
4. Monitor
control measures
& verify efficacy
2. Plan
water supply
3. Assess risks
& existing control measures
Water Safety Planning
To ensure sustainability, piped water supply needs to be seen as an ongoing process rather than a once-off installation.
This is Water Safety Planning
System Sustainability
Each water system = 1,000 – 10,000 households.
Each household pays:
Connection Fee
$40-$70
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Water Bill
approx. $5 per month
Our Revenue Model
vs.
Other Water Products
Did you know?
Most water collecting activities in the world are performed by women and girls (UNICEF)
Tap Water
Water Filter
X Inconvenient & lengthy process
X Requires a water source
X Mostly suitable for drinking
Bottled Water
X Expensive
X Use of plastic (both single use and reusable)
X Sometimes untreated
X Mostly suitable for drinking
Did you know?
443 million school days are lost each year to water-relate illness (UNHDR)
Trucked-In Water
X Expensive
X Sometimes untreated
X Necessitates proper storage
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Water Pump
X Inconvenient & lengthy process
X Necessitates proper storage
X Can be far away
X Often abandoned
after project's completion
X Requires maintenance
Well
X Inconvenient & lengthy process
X Necessitates proper storage
X Sometimes unreliable
X Can be far away
X Often abandoned
after project's completion
X Requires maintenance
Pond
X Unsafe, or requires filtering method
X Necessitates proper storage
X Mostly suitable for domestic purposes
X Sometimes unreliable
X Can be far away
Tap Water (piped)
✓ Readily available on premises
✓ Cheap
✓ Treated, suitable for drinking
✓ For all purposes
✓ Reliable
✓ A sustainable solution
The Pilot
Project
The 1-Unit “1U” Project
Scaling the Impacts
The Portfolio "P1"
Project
Why we built this: it gave us some country specific experience and a site for sandboxing ideas – plus it brought in the first investor. In Cambodia, it also allows us to test technologies to smooth
Why we are building this: this is the real size thing – we want to build systems just like this again and again. Our 1U project has a $500k capex, has over 14,000 people within the covered area, and connects 10 schools and 2 HCFs
What’s next up: A portfolio of systems. Each just like the 1U and managed as a portfolio. These systems will be planned together, financed together, built together and operated together.