A screenshot of the app shows the interface that allows users to report new water issues.
A mobile app developed in Kenya and aimed at tackling water problems there could have applications elsewhere, including the water-rich Great Lakes region.
The app, MajiRipoti, recently won the 2012 Nokia DoGood Hackathon competition.
It allows users to report water theft and water and sewer pipe leakages to Kenya’s Water Service Providers. Its developer believes that similar citizen-based technologies will be useful in tackling water availability problems in other areas of the world, as well.
“What prompted us to work on the application was the frequent water shortages we are experiencing in Kenya, as well as the major problem of burst water and sewer pipes,” said Douglas Injugu, head of operations at the Synacor Consortium, the company that developed the app. More than half of Kenya’s water is lost to pipe breaks and vandalism, Injugu said. Synacor developed the app to help citizens combat waste.
Users can take photographs of problems and upload them with comments to a database. Once recorded, users can check back via MajiRipoti to see if any progress is being made on the problems they reported.
“For an application which focuses on the environment and water conservation, you need to make it free to the public, so that anyone can access it,” Injugu said.