Mobile phones and solar power to help provide clean water in Kenya
EcoFriend
Mobilephones were a revolutionary breakthrough of the 20th century, whichconnected people all over the world with a common medium. Carrying thetechnology into the 21st century, communication company Safaricom introduced an innovated M-PESA system which helped people transfer money using their cellphones.
The same system will now be used to distribute clean water in Kenya. Safaricom and Grundfos Lifelinkare working together to implement a solar-powered, pay-for-use watervending system that will be able to use smart cards to distributewater. The vending machine is activated using a smart card andcontinues to distribute water until the card is removed or the userruns out of credit.
Moremoney can be credited to the user’s smart card with the use of theM-PESA system developed by Safaricom. The system is initially beingtested across Kenya with expansion planned by this year’s end.
Via: NY Times
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