Summary:
Background
Ezbet Khairallah is an informal settlement in southern Cairo with some 650,000 inhabitants. Like most other slums in Egypt, no infrastructure for water disposal is available. Instead, the dwellers depend on self installed tanks to store wastewater, which require emptying on a regular basis, by means of suction trucks that take the water to the nearest available sewage drain.
Problem
A part of Ezbet Khairallah does have a sewage network. The few sewers that are available in that area are the drain points of choice for the rest of the inhabitants, trying to get rid of their wastewater for the lowest possible cost.
A conflict arises due to the extremely high demand for this resource. Inhabitants will fight for their turn to use the drains. Furthermore, the dwellers of the more fortunate area are extremely inconvenienced due to continued road blockage by sewage trucks, water overflows and foul smell. This leads to even more conflict.
Proposed Solution
The situation could be significantly enhanced by introducing a form of coordination, such that the drainage points are utilized according to an efficient and fair time schedule, giving equal opportunity to all parties, while observing water level in the network to avoid overflows.
Calculating the optimum time and location of disposal will be done using automated software that take in several inputs, including that from water level sensors which will be installed in the network. The turns will be announced to the users in time via SMS text messages. Finally, the performance will be monitored and feedback will be used to further enhance the system and algorithm.
Next steps:
Required Inputs & Outputs
In order for the software to calculate the optimum times, locations, and turns for water disposal, the following site data will be collected and mapped:
- number & locations of homes with tanks
- frequency of water disposal
- road network
- locations of sewers
This data will be collected using site surveys and interviews with inhabitants. The data will be recorded and analyzed using the software and data model perfected in the openstreetmap.org project.
Finally, the system provides two user interfaces:
1.A web interface, showing a map of the area and the current scheduled disposal jobs. This is intended for the better prepared audience among the users themselves (a minority, according to available demographic information), and also for observers, the public, and interested NGOs.
2.An SMS messaging system. This will be the method of choice to notify the inhabitants of when and where they can take their turn to dispose of their wastewater. Text was chosen based on available demographics which indicate low penetration of smart phones.