Project News

The International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering: 2iE Developed by Dr. Amadou Hama Maïga, the innovative idea of Collective Water Supply Stations satisfies household needs in small urban centres and offers an alternative solution to individual connections and street fountains.

Thanks to the 2009 Grand Prize, 2iE has been able to continue with trials launched in 2000 in Burkina Faso and Mali, and to deploy Collective Water Supply Stations (CWSS) in other urban centres. In November 2010, ten new CWSS stations were built and brought into operation in Northern Mali.

The 2009 Grand Prize also enabled Dr. Amadou Hama Maïga’s team to continue testing the suitability of this innovative idea in various settings. As a result, a technical data sheet has been published on the various CWSS models, and how they are built, operated and managed, in order to make the technology accessible to the greatest number of people.

Barefoot College

The engineers trained by the Barefoot College have built over 1300 rainwater harvesting systems on the roofs of rural schools to provide drinking water to over 235,000 pupils in seven countries.

The rainwater harvested is channelled via simple pipe systems from the roofs to underground tanks. These storage tanks, which are cheaper and easier to maintain than surface tanks, are built by bricklayers from the local community.

Maintenance and repair costs are negligible and the building work creates jobs and income for the community.

The Special Prize has helped train engineers and financed storage tank construction.