WASH SMS and Indonesia WATER SMS Pilot Meena Palaniappan

Pacific Institute’s International Water and Communities Initiative - Goals  Release trapped knowledge in the water sector so that it flows to those who need it and bubbles up from communities to support better planning and policymaking.  Improve community participation in decision making.  Promote sustainability in water and sanitation services.  Improve capacity of local governments, community support organizations, and residents.  Assist funding organizations in evaluating the most effective approaches to create sustainable change in the water sector.

The Current Need in Cities  A high percentage of urban residents don’t have access to municipal water sources to meet all of their needs, and must supplement with or rely entirely upon expensive informal water sources  Rapid urbanization and inadequate infrastructure increase water insecurity  Climate change is changing where, when, and how much water falls, challenging our ability to plan

The Need for the Future  Urban poor communities need information they can use to advocate for improved service and access to drinking water  Residents need ways to communicate quickly and effectively with local government and water service providers about the current state of water supply, quality, and costs  Government and utilities need better information on community needs and the status of water resources in order provide better services, manage their water supplies, and plan for the future

WASH SMS Project Goals  To create a highly accessible, open-source communication and tracking mechanism that uses messages from mobile phones and to develop crowd-sourced data in the form of maps and reports for communities, NGOs, water and waste water service providers, and governments agencies.  To increase the exchange and monitoring of information among communities, water and sanitation service providers, and government, in order to improve services for the urban poor in developing country cities.

Indonesia WATER SMS Pilot Project Malang, Java Makassar, Sulawesi Project Partners: Current Funders: Designed by: The communities, water utilities, local governments and NGOs in the cities of Malang and Makassar watercivil societytechnology

Critical Success Factors: Technical and Social System Design Technical System Design What issues are reported? What is the format for inputs? What information is needed? How do we ensure accurate reports? What kinds of outputs (dashboards) are produced? How is data stored? How is privacy protected? Social System Design How do we incentivize reporting? How can we ensure action is taken on reports made? How can we support key stakeholders to use the information to create change (development of Standard Procedures for report response for water utility) ?

Identifying Multiple Pathways to Impact Issue (e.g., water quality) What information is needed from SMS message? Who will use this information? What output format is needed? To achieve what change in what venue?

Learning Session Findings  Information needs:  PDAM services, water quality  Water conservation  Meter readings/rate structure  Water crisis in dry season; PDAM service on hold  Lack of trust/feelings of discrimination in service provision  Lack of effective medium for sending alerts/info to customers, or sending complaints/inquiries to utility

Learning Session Findings  Residents willing to pay for up to 4 SMS messages  Updates by SMS (in addition to web) desired  Residents receptive to structured SMS format; Ujung Tanah only sub- district that preferred multiple-choice SMS format over structured; further testing is needed

Malang Focus Group Discussions  Lack of coordination between water providers, utilities, local government agencies  All are willing to share more information  All desire a communication medium to share information among water managers from improve planning

Makassar Focus Group Discussions  PDAM is aware of issues with dried reservoir, leaks in old pipe network, and independent access to water resource, but lacks resources to solve these problems quickly  Recognized across stakeholder groups that more coordination is needed  Other groups are aware of challenges PDAM faces, and want to be supportive while still holding PDAM accountable

Malang Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue

Makassar Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue

 When is water coming? How much?  Will there be changes in water services?  When will you extend service to us?  What is the quality of water?  What is the current status of overall water system?  How much are people paying for water?  Where are there leaks?  How many boreholes are there—how far down to groundwater? What Information is Needed?

 Provide information in an information poor environment  Create open communication channels between communities, water market, and water utilities  Better understand interconnections in the system  Help utilities better plan and extend services  Make the urban poor visible so they can’t be ignored by government and utilities Role of Indonesia WATER SMS

National Ministries Funding Agencies NGOs Other Water Suppliers Public Utility Administration City Government Media & Verifiers Maps and data sets are freely accessible online to anyone with concern, interest or need SEE REPORT OPEN ACCESS

Role of Indonesia WATER SMS WATER SMS Website City, Utility & Verifiers respond to report and Utility works to repair… Person sends SMS to report Cellular Network WATER SMS Server SMS sent to… Person has Smelly Water Report relayed to... City Government Utility Administration Independent Verifiers

Role of Indonesia WATER SMS Responses sent directly to… National Ministries Funding Agencies NGOs Reports & responses are displayed on website and can be viewed by… Other Water Suppliers Person who made initial report Public Cellular Network City, Utility & Verifiers send their responses to… Responses relayed to… WATER SMS Server City Government Utility Administration Independent Verifiers WATER SMS Website Utility Administration City Government Independent Verifiers

22 Example of Interaction User: Water 45171: Do you want to submit a report or request? 1.Report 2.Get Updates User: : Do you want to register your phone number with the system to follow up on this request? 1.Yes 2.No User: : Thank you for registering. What do you want to report? 1.Leak 2.No water 3.Dirty water 4.Price paid for water

23 Example of Interaction, continued User: : How long have you been without water? days days days 4. More than 10 days User: : Where are you located (enter street name, postal code)? User: Street A, : Thank you for your report. [Note: Using a postal code to identify location may provide a spatial resolution as low as 1-2 km.] Total # of SMS Messages: 10

24 Participant Dashboards Participant-Generated Data Analysis and Visualization Locally Relevant Alerts and Location of Reported Problems 45171: Reports in the area for the period from to : 1. 5 leaks 2. 3 water disruptions - trucks 3. 2 water disruptions - terminal 4. 6 water outages – 0-2 days 5. 3 water outages – 3-5 days 6. 1 water outages – 6-10 days Sent Text Message Accessing Website

25 Utility Dashboard Metrics Specific to Utilities: unresolved reports, water loss Utility Level Reports Utility Management

26 City Government Dashboard City Administration District Summaries from Multiple Utilities and Water Boards City Level Reports

The WASH SMS Project seeks transform the way mobile phones are used to improve water and sanitation services in Indonesia and around the world in some key ways: – Every person can submit information – The community has access to and owns the data along with the water utility – Democratizes decision-making on basic services so that communities can be involved – Brings together residents, public agencies, and the private sector to ensure water security. What changes can this make?

Thank You Photos throughout by: A. Darsono, Badri, F. Muslih, and M. Hutchings Meena Palaniappan, Director International Water and Communities Initiative For more information: