PATH shares design guidelines for HWTS products geared toward low-income users

After successfully field-testing its prototype household water filter device designed specifically for low-income users in India, PATH is doing what most product developers would never consider—sharing the recipe to the “secret sauce.” PATH staff recently launched an online compilation of design guidelines generated from three years of research and development on HWTS devices in developing countries. These guidelines describe PATH’s recommendations for designing and developing durable water filters for low-income users. After validating these recommendations with our own prototype device, PATH is globally sharing the design guidelines in hopes of strengthening the entire category of household water treatment products for low-income users.

Designing for low-resource conditions

PATH’s extended user testing (EUT) of HWTS filter devices in rural, urban, and peri-urban households of Andhra Pradesh highlighted a major gap in the HWTS product landscape: most water treatment products currently available to poor households were not designed appropriately for that population. For example, products made from many complex parts are difficult to correctly assemble. Tap heights that require the device to sit on an elevated surface do not allow water dispensing when placed on the ground as is often necessary in poor households. Devices requiring cleaning methods inappropriate in low-resource settings become an additional burden to the household routine and a potential cause of recontamination. By observing these shortcomings and discussing the needs and desires of low-income users, PATH delineated a set of recommendations for how to tailor HWTS product designs for use in low-resource settings.

Making product development decisions easier

The HWTS Design Guidelines are available to anyone including those making, selling, subsidizing, or purchasing water treatment products for households making less than US$5 per person, per day. PATH’s motivation for freely sharing the HWTS Design Guidelines is two-fold: to increase the number and type of water treatment options available in rural and slum areas and to improve the quality and usability of these products.

Encouraging quality product development

Product development for any new product or user group is a long, expensive process. It is not as simple as adapting an existing product designed for a different kind of user. Low-income households have specific needs, desires, and constraints that must be fully understood and translated before developers can build an effective and desirable product. Because the profit potential in low-income markets is as yet unproven, it is difficult for companies to invest in products that specifically meet the needs of low-income users. By doing extensive research and development work and then explicitly sharing it widely, PATH hopes to minimize barriers to entry, keep prices low, and foment competition among HWTS manufacturers at the low-income end of the market.

Evolving the guidelines

While the guidelines were developed primarily from research in Andhra Pradesh, India, they represent the key types of information that developers would need to gather or validate in other regions of the world. As PATH continues to gain knowledge in the HWTS product category, the guidelines will evolve to reflect new learning. PATH encourages users of the design guidelines to send feedback about what was useful and what was not. Continual improvement of the guidelines means continual improvement of water treatment products in low-income households.

Illustration: PATH.