How drones are being used to improve water, sanitation, and hygiene around the world
Drones can improve human health by expanding access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) to under-resourced communities around the world.
Image courtesy of manzi gandhi
Access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) is critical for human health and is recognized by the United Nations as a fundamental human right. However, a significant portion of the world still lacks access to adequate clean water, sanitation, and proper hygiene. According to the World Health Organization, 2.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and 4.5 billion people are without safely managed sanitation services. Furthermore, 829,000 people around the world die from diarrhea each year as a result of poor WASH.
Beyond direct health problems caused by poor WASH, water system leaks in developing countries is also an ongoing issue — it has been estimated that 45 billion liters of water is lost per day, which could have served up to 200 million people.
Image courtesy of tim shepherd
Why use drones to improve WASH efforts?
In recent years, technological advancements have started to positively impact the WASH sector — drones are an important one of these technologies that have proven promising in expanding WASH to populations in need. Drones can efficiently survey areas for unsanitary water sources and plan for new water transport infrastructure, detect leaks and inefficient use of clean drinking water, spray disinfectant around places in need, and map the spread of disease caused by unsanitary practices. The relatively cost-effective and time-efficient nature of drones makes it easier than ever to implement projects such as these, ultimately leading to the improved health of under-resourced communities while also providing economic and environmental benefits.
“Drones can efficiently survey areas for unsanitary water sources and plan for new water transport infrastructure, detect leaks and inefficient use of clean drinking water, spray disinfectant around places in need, and map the spread of disease caused by unsanitary practices.”
How are drones being used for WASH?
WASH is broad, and intervention methods to improve WASH in a given community vary based on specific community needs. However, there are three main methods of intervention used to improve WASH that can be adapted across scales and locations:
Mapping — Using aerial imaging to map and identify unsanitary practices that may lead to community disease outbreaks. The high spatial resolution of drone imaging allows for detail that can often help link poor sanitation practices with sickness. Mapping also allows for efficient planning of wells and water pipelines to provide people with access to clean water.
Water Leak Surveillance — Employing drones equipped with multispectral cameras to detect large-scale leakages in water transport systems before it reaches the consumer. Such technologies may reduce non-revenue water loss by a significant amount, providing societal, environmental, and economic benefits.
Spraying — Utilizing drones equipped with disinfectant tanks and spraying mechanisms to efficiently and consistently disinfect busy communal spaces.
Where are researchers using drones to impact WASH?
Drones are being used in the WASH space all over the globe, from low-resource settings in Sub-Saharan Africa to developed countries in Europe. The use of drones in WASH programs differs by context.
In low-resource countries, projects primarily focus on mapping the spread of disease due to unsanitary practices and building infrastructure for clean water. International humanitarian organizations like UNICEF have used this technology as part of their response to cholera outbreaks. Water for Good, a non-profit in the Central African Republic, has used this technology to optimize the construction and placement of new clean water infrastructure with the help of DroneDeploy’s 3D maps and orthomosaic models.
In Europe, drones have been used to identify water system leaks. The European Union-funded WADI project is working to create cost-effective surveillance drones that find leaks quickly and minimize large-scale water loss using multispectral cameras' thermal infrared, visible, and near-infrared sensors.
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