Idea 423 of 500. Cluster 21: Energy, water and waste at small scale
Water-purification franchises for the districts where the wells are failing
The mechanism, from the book
The sun shines on every roof and the island imports its fuel.
Every idea in cluster 21 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Go to a district where people say the wells have turned salty or unsafe, and ask 20 households what they spend on bottled water and how far they carry it. Price a small purification unit and a refill counter at a shop, and ask the shopkeeper whether they would run it for a share of sales. The proof is a host site and a list of families who would buy refills weekly.
- Who pays first
- Families who already buy bottled water or boil well water every day, and would pay less per litre at a refill counter nearby.
- What leaves today
- Bottled water and illness from bad wells drain household money; a local refill franchise turns a daily expense into a village business.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. FourteenThe List
Energy: first, stop importing it
More from cluster 21
- 411Rooftop solar leasing for households, paid from the electricity bill
- 412Solar-powered cold rooms for the fishing harbours and the farms
- 413Biogas plants for the dairy and pig farms, with the gas sold locally
- 414Rainwater-harvesting installation for the dry-zone villages and the hotels
- 415Waste-collection and recycling businesses in the tourist towns, paid by the businesses they serve
- 416Composting of hotel and market waste into a branded soil product
Idea 423 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.