Building Resiliency Through Data-Driven Site Mapping and Selection

Building on our current partnership to develop and deploy a mobile app that improves efficiencies within the sales and customer management process for household safe water connections, Safe Water Network and partner Envicom have launched a new project to design and beta-test a GIS app to streamline efficient site selection for new small water enterprises. 

Currently, when Safe Water Network looks to expand into a new community, we conduct a feasibility assessment to select new communities, considering existing infrastructure/assets, socioeconomic, demographic, and geographic factors. However, while necessary, this method is time-consuming and labor-intensive. The new project will result in a geospatial planning tool for small water enterprise site feasibility and community resiliency building. This will help Safe Water Network, and in time other water system implementers, cost-effectively assess the suitability of communities for safe water provision, prioritize intervention locations based on comprehensive risk and vulnerability factors, and plan optimal locations for new systems.