Short Description

Background and Challenges

Potable water is inevitable but very limited natural resource. Besides the access to potable water sources is a great challenge, especially at the local level in the developing world. Water use in a community is affected by a lot of geographic and socio-economic parameters. All these information could be quite valuable in assessing and managing water resources on the planet. The spatial and temporal variation in the water source condition can potentially dictate the present and future water usage pattern and the critical regions. Informative water maps are likely to provide an efficient solution in this aspect. If a tool can be developed which will collect and process water source information from the crowd then it could be utilized to understand water accessibility and use on both the local and global scale.

Proposed Solution: Water Map App

The Water Map has been developed with an aim to provide a sustainable solution for the worldwide potable water resource management. Emphasizing on the crowd-sourcing, this app primarily connects mass people (non-technical) in contributing information for identification of the water sources, quality indicators and water use information. However it also provides a base platform for the technical users to incorporate relevant water information. What Water Map Provides:

Identify Water Sources and Water Access Info

Water Map is a mobile based web application (and at the same time available as the web application with all the functionalities) that enables a user to quickly find the nearby water sources on map from his location. He can also view the source type (e.g. well or stream), water quality and the area served by the source. The app allows to mark a new source (if found), and to add quality, accessibility and demand-supply information. The user also can identify or inform the sources which are under vulnerable condition, the type of hazard and the time frame. Water Stress Mapping

With the crowd-sourcing information, the Water Map generates global water stress map which is one of the key indicators in identifying critical regions and thereby contributes to the water access improvement strategies. Utilize TRMM Rainfall Data

As an alternate water solution, Water Map provides NASA's TRMM rainfall data on map which can be utilized to evaluate the rainwater harvesting potentials. With the user input, it generates a map showing the spatial distribution of harvested rainwater volumes. rainwater harvesting locations with the In addition water resource management.

Monitoring Water Sources

Water Map enables a subscribed user to monitor the condition of the selected water sources and it provides useful notifications. This could be very informative, especially for the admin or source authority users who are responsible for the operation and maintenance. If the source quality or accessibility condition is changed, then an automatic notification mail will be sent to the user's account.

Now at a Glance

• Process crowd-sourcing data
• Simple and user friendly interface
• Less data entry, more user satisfaction
• Identify different types of water source
• Identify source coverage area and view on map
• Add photo of the source
• Process crowd-sourcing data
• Simple and user friendly interface
• Display water stress map
• TRMM rainfall data
• Calculate harvest-able rainwater volume
• Show spatial and temporal variation
• Source monitoring and notifications

Next Level

• Customized data input for the admin level users.
• Incorporate relevant technical water data.
• Generate TRMM rainfall time series information for subsequent application.
• Assess rainwater volume for the critically stressed areas.
• Design and analyze rooftop components of the rainwater collection system.
• Incorporate critical socio-economic factors and weightages on the stress map.
• Develop statistical relationship among the data variables.

Credibility of Water Map

Impact

• Connects mass people in water resource management.
• Identifies water sources in the rural and remote areas.
• Provides decision support for source allocation in the critically stressed areas.
• Assesses rainwater potential which is an effective alternate solution in case of source scarcity.
• Identifies the sources with potential threats and hazards and provides early notifications.

Creativity

• Simple, straight forward and user friendly.
• Can be used by both the non-technical and technical users.
• Provides alternate solution in case of the water source problem.
• Shows spatial and temporal variation in source properties.
• Utilizes satellite based TRMM rainfall data.
• Monitoring and early notification feature.

Sustainability

• Provides platform for the present and future water resource management.
• Provides technology to access to the potable water sources.
• Establishes a primary framework for the water stress mitigation plan.
• Incorporates several technical analysis options such as dry season length from the TRMM data, and design of the rainwater collection system etc. To be continued...

Conclusion

Use Water Map, Find your water solution.

Project Information

Resources