Aquaya was founded in 2005 by scientists intent on bridging the divide between academic research and field implementation of measures to expand access to safe drinking water in the developing world. They help design new products and services, build and improve upon successful delivery models, and measure the health and socioeconomic impacts of water and sanitation programs using rigorous techniques.
Aquaya is dedicated to improving global child health by increasing access to safe drinking water. They conduct rigorous research and provide consulting services to support public and private safe water efforts.
They work in three areas:
1. TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
Aquatest Research and Development Program
The Aquatest research project is dedicated to developing and delivering an effective, low-cost test for fecal contamination of water that is ready for manufacturing and distribution at scale in developing countries by 2011. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded the University of Bristol $13 million to develop Aquatest. Aquaya is part of the international, multidisciplinary research consortium that is driving the Aquatest project forward. Aquaya’s role in Aquatest is to develop and implement pilot field-use programs of the Aquatest diagnostic with a global range of end-user organizations including water providers, government agencies involved with water quality surveillance, and development organizations. They hope that widespread use of this device will help identify unsafe water supplies, enabling governments, NGOs, and communities to improve access to safe water.
2. DELIVERY MODELS
Rural Water Supply: Treatment and Management
With funding from the Asian Development Bank, Aquaya is working with the Thua Thien Hue Water Supply and Construction Company (HueWACO), a state-owned water utility in Central Vietnam, to design and test novel technology and management models for safe water provision in rural, off-network communities. In this approach, the utility assumes responsibility for water system design, operation, and maintenance. Operators selected by the community are employed by the utility for day-to-day operation and system monitoring, while maintenance and system repair is overseen by the utility itself. Aquaya is also assisting HueWACO in designing and implementing Water Safety Plans for these off-network systems.
Water Business Kits™
They are developing the Water Business Kit™ – a water refill business-in-a-box customized to different markets. This kit will empower tens of thousands of entrepreneurs and small businesses to profitably deliver safe water in communities where it is scarce.
End-user Studies of Household Water Treatment
Together with the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), and CARE Kenya, Aquaya is examining the influences on end-user adoption of competing household level water treatment products among the rural poor in Nyanza province, Kenya and among the urban poor in the Mirpur slum of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
3. IMPACT MEASUREMENT
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Intervention Evaluation
Together with the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and Sri Ramachandra Medical College in Chennai, India, Aquaya recently completed an epidemiological evaluation of the long-term health and socioeconomic impacts of a water, sanitation, and hygiene intervention among rural communities of Tamil Nadu state in Southern India.