Theme 1: Pure Home Water case

Theme 1: Household Water Treatment and Storage: What can the poor afford?

by Hamdiyah Alhassan and Wahabu Salifu

Social Entrepreneurs

Pure Home Water

Tamale, Ghana

Introduction

Household water treatment and safe storage is both an old and a new approach toproviding “safe water” and is meant to go hand in hand with efforts to provide and protect safe water supplies at the source and to provide safe water at the point of use.

Safe household drinking water treatment and storage products are intended to provide safe water at the point of consumption, i.e. in the home.Safe water as defined by the World Health Organization Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality, “does not represent any significant risk to health over the lifetime of consumption, including different sensitivities that may occur between life stages.” (p.1)

Due to the high cost involved in providing potable water through large-scale drinking water treatment plants, the need for inexpensive and convenient methods of providing safe water at the household level is great.

Issues

·Water source of customers

·Source of income (livelihood)

·Knowledge/importance of water quality

·Product affordability to customers and willingness to pay

·Mode of payment for the products

Examples from Experience

Pure Home Water is the first social business of its kind in Ghana, focusing on (i) giving users choices of household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) products that are locally manufactured and affordable ($1-$20), through person-to-person (especially woman-to-woman) marketing and sales to provide safe water at the household level.

The Northern Region is one of the poorest regions in Ghana. More than 50 percent of these communities get their water from “unimproved” sources such as dams, unprotected wells, and dugouts etc, which are not safe for drinking.In traditional villages, most families drink from the same large ceramic vessels with which they collect and store their water.In rural areas, most people are peasant farmers who earn less than $1/day from the crops they produce and the animals they rear. Their income is seasonal and the money to purchase a HWTS product may only be available during the harvest season. For the region as a whole, 23 percent of the economically active population are unpaid family workers, 68 percent are self-employed and 6 percent are employees (Ghana Statistical Service, 2005) While illiteracy rates among women are high in traditional homes, people do understand the value of clean water.

At community meetings at Lidga in Savelugu/Nanton District and Kalariga in Tamale, PHW introduces people to the various treatment and storage products ($6 – $20). PHW asks the amount they are willing to pay for the system and responses range from $0.50 –$ 6.00. Most community members have some idea about water quality, but not all treat or store their water safely.PHW believes that increased education on water quality and good health will change their attitudes and behaviors toward using water treatment and storage systems.

Following a presentation to Ghana army security personnel in Tamale on safe water products, most were interested but no one purchased any products because the price was too high ($6-$19). After stressing the importance of treating water, when the leader suggested PHW sell these products on credit (paid in three monthly installments) the participants indicated they would pay $1-$10.

At a presentation to the West Tamale and Tamale Teaching Hospitals, the staff complained that the products were not affordable to rural people. As health professionals working in these deprived areas in Ghana’s Northern Region, they suggested PHW subsidize the products ($ 0.40 – $6) to make them affordable to these rural communities. In Tamale, most people get their water from the piped supply system or a water tanker services. This water is stored in containers without closed lids and spigots, which normally makes their water unsafe for drinking.

Pure Home Water has realized that the places where safe water is scarce are also the places where people do not have money to purchase treatment systems.Urban people who have access to safe water can afford to buy the HWTS systems on credit. Pure Home Water sales to date (beginning in 2005) shows that 97 percent of the products are sold on credit to urban workers in the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly; in part because PHW does not own a vehicle and so most sales efforts are focused on the urban people.

These are some of the things that will motivate customers to purchase the products.

• High status attached to the products
• Lower price
• Subsidies
• Awareness on the importance of treating unsafe water before drinking
• Incentives – for example, a promotional package with each product (T- shirts, cups, etc)

Questions for Discussion

1. What strategies exist that promote sustained practice of household water treatment and storage?
2. What value do people see in treating and storing water safely so that they sustain the practice over the long term?
3. How can we magnify the savings from treating and storing water safely so that the investment is worth the cost and effort to households?
4. What scemes exist that encourage small business investment into water treatment and storage?
5. What different payment methods might make these products more affordable and desirable to customers?