Permanent project revision

Water ATMs: Prepaid Dispensers in Nairobi's Informal Settlements

Revision 2026-08-20-source-dates · effective 2026-07-26

Current revision. This is the snapshot used by the live entity page.

unreviewed

Created the first structured Evidence Passport with 1 claim and 8 source dossiers.

sha256:815ec092a6b951caed2b9800a23a725cf66f15012cdb4fb8ebabc2b51f894bb3

All revisions → Current entity page →

Change set

add /evidencePassport — Added claim-level evidence mapping and source dossiers.
add /revisionHistory — Established a permanent, hash-addressed baseline revision.

1: of 1 claims mapped
8: source dossiers
6: publication dates recorded
1: archives linked
0: exact locators
0: content captures hashed

Claims, one by one

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-6156fd77621e6067 quantitative

Peer-reviewed fieldwork in Mathare found informal vendors charging "from Ksh2 (US$0.02) to Ksh50 (US$0.50) per 20 litres depending on where the clients lived"

Published field: impact · verbatim
Mapping: mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says: The impact cites Water International 45(5), 2020 for the vendor price range, a gap of roughly four to a hundred times the dispenser tariff where a dispenser was working.
Caveat: The same fieldwork found the dispensers few, clustered along the main road and frequently empty, so residents kept buying from vendors.

Sources carrying this claim

Sarkar, A. — Informal water vendors and the urban poor: evidence from a Nairobi slum, Water International 45(5):443-457 (2020)

Source dossiers and revision state

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-08-20-source-dates effective 2026-07-26 · created 2026-08-20

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:815ec092a6b951caed2b9800a23a725cf66f15012cdb4fb8ebabc2b51f894bb3

Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →

1: of 1 claims mapped
8: source dossiers
6: publication dates recorded
1: archives linked
0: exact locators
0: content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator: Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (county-owned utility), with individual dispensers run under contract by community youth and women's self-help groups
Actor types: utility, civil-society
Funding model: mixed
Funding description: NCWSC with Grundfos Lifelink (Denmark); the separate token-dispenser strand funded by OFID, UK DFID and Water for the World
Cost: Not recorded
Ownership: Not recorded
Decision rights: Not recorded
Exit conditions: Not recorded

8 source dossiers

Grundfos — Public and private partners shape Nairobi's water future (24 Jun 2015) grundfos.com · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-96e14ce9bb325277
Publisher: Name not classified · grundfos.com
Type / language: web-page · language not classified
Published: 2015-06-24
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-07-26
Dossier created: 2026-08-20
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: No archived copy linked
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
Partner source, fetched successfully. Confirms the NCWSC–Grundfos Lifelink partnership and AQtap dispensers at four sites in Nairobi informal settlements. Names no donor and gives no prices. Its '4,000 water kiosks, which could be equipped with the AQtap' is potential, not deployment.
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: Background source; no baseline claim points here

The Source (IWA) — NCWSC bets big on technology to serve Nairobi's urban poor (29 Aug 2018) thesourcemagazine.org · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-31e3c8f6f5c8583c
Publisher: Name not classified · thesourcemagazine.org
Type / language: web-page · language not classified
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-07-26
Dossier created: 2026-08-20
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: No archived copy linked
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
Fetched successfully; the load-bearing operator-sourced document. Verbatim: 'The Company has installed 4 ATMs in Mathare Mashimoni under the pilot programme and intends to roll out 12,000 dispensers'; price 'less than $0.01 per 20 litre Jerri can'; machines 'operated by local youth and women groups'. Separately records '16 Token Water dispensers since November 2015' in Korogocho and Kahawa Soweto funded by OFID, DFID and Water for the World — kept distinct here, not merged into the AQtap count.
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: Background source; no baseline claim points here

Sarkar, A. — How 'smart' are we with smart technology: comparison of water ATMs in Nairobi and Delhi, Water Practice & Technology 17(10):2160 (2022) iwaponline.com · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-7eab789d7ca71a95
Publisher: Name not classified · iwaponline.com
Type / language: web-page · language not classified
Published: 2022-09-29
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-07-26
Dossier created: 2026-08-20
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: No archived copy linked
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
Peer-reviewed. Publisher page returned 403; article record verified through search and its DOAJ listing. Supports the 2015 Mathare PPP origin, management by community self-help groups under NCWSC contract, cartel pipe-cutting and theft from dispenser tanks, and the finding that utility staff accepted in interview that the dispensers remain dry through illegal siphoning.
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: Background source; no baseline claim points here

Smart technology to serve urban poor: a case study of water ATMs in a Nairobi slum, Water Utility Journal 22:1-12 (2019) ewra.net · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-a26dcaeff2b5e777
Publisher: Name not classified · ewra.net
Type / language: pdf · language not classified
Published: Not recorded
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-07-26
Dossier created: 2026-08-20
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: No archived copy linked
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
Peer-reviewed. PDF fetched but returned unreadable binary; abstract verified through search. Supports the 2015 first introduction in Mathare, 'meagre presence with a few kiosks located in some favourable sites', unpopular management, opposition from cartels, and dispensers 'mostly underutilised due to insufficient water'.
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: Background source; no baseline claim points here

Sarkar, A. — Kenya's urban poor are being exploited by informal water markets, The Conversation (30 Aug 2020) theconversation.com · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-adcc8cca1a7413d3
Publisher: Name not classified · theconversation.com
Type / language: web-page · language not classified
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-07-26
Dossier created: 2026-08-20
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: No archived copy linked
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
Fetched successfully; companion to the peer-reviewed Water International paper below. Source of the vendor price range in Mathare and of 'tanks were also often empty, making them an unpredictable and unreliable supply source'. Caution: the same piece gives the ATM price as 'about US$0.50 for 20 litres', which contradicts both its own claim that ATMs are cheapest and the utility's KSh 0.50 — treated as an error and not used.
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: Background source; no baseline claim points here

Sarkar, A. — Informal water vendors and the urban poor: evidence from a Nairobi slum, Water International 45(5):443-457 (2020) tandfonline.com · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-bfeb381b9895f35d
Publisher: Name not classified · tandfonline.com
Type / language: web-page · language not classified
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-07-26
Dossier created: 2026-08-20
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: Open archived copy ↗ · 2020-08-30
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
Peer-reviewed source behind the price figures. Paywalled — abstract only. Confirms the central behavioural finding that residents kept buying from private vendors despite higher prices, because vendors offered supply and payment flexibility the formal options did not.
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: clm-6156fd77621e6067

The Star — expert commentary, Solution to Kenya's water crisis lies beyond supply (29 Jun 2026) the-star.co.ke · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-6094042530c8aff3
Publisher: Name not classified · the-star.co.ke
Type / language: web-page · language not classified
Published: 2026-06-29
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-07-26
Dossier created: 2026-08-20
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: No archived copy linked
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
The only located source for the current figure of 257 dispensers and the KSh 2 per 20-litre social tariff. Returned 403 on every attempt; the sentence is reproduced consistently across search indexes but is not independently corroborated, the author's affiliation could not be confirmed, and it is signed commentary rather than reporting. Attributed in the entry, not asserted.
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: Background source; no baseline claim points here

Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company — FAQs nairobiwater.co.ke · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID: src-9ba03d3c36bda5ee
Publisher: Name not classified · nairobiwater.co.ke
Type / language: web-page · language not classified
Published: Not recorded
Updated: Not recorded
Source last checked: No source-level check date
Record last verified: 2026-07-26
Dossier created: 2026-08-20
Retrieved copy: No local capture recorded
Archive: No archived copy linked
Content hash: No captured content hash
Locator: Open the recorded source note
Fetched successfully and cited for a negative finding: the utility's public FAQ covers connections, billing, meter readings and supply schedules, and says nothing about prepaid dispensers, tokens or water ATMs. The utility's own AQtap project page is indexed under two URL forms and returned 404 on both.
Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked: Background source; no baseline claim points here

Known limits of this passport

Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.