The Gotita Project

A continuous water quality monitoring system for remote and difficult access areas.

The Gotita Project is a water monitoring system for public utility companies, NGOs and communities. We offer a device and a digital platform.

Our device is a system build with different sensors that automatically monitor water quality through different variables. The device allows users to either get the data manually or have it uploaded online if possible, with different IoT solutions available.

If the data is uploaded online, we provide access to our digital platform, with a user friendly interface that provides real time access to the user’s database. We also provide advanced analytic tools for the data and custom add-ons, such as custom warnings for the water quality.

We want to note our device doesn’t purify the water, but rather tests its quality.

Currently, utilities and NGOs working in remote and isolated areas struggle with monitoring water quality. Since the quality of the water can change at any time, it is essential to measure it periodically. We interviewed five WASH engineers from different countries and organizations, all of whom have difficulty measuring water quality continuously, either because the facilities are too far away or because they are in dangerous areas. Only one of the engineers measures the water quality weekly and another has been monitoring the quality every six months. The others do not have the capacity to monitor the quality of the water again. This process is far from perfect as they have to employ and train volunteers to monitor water quality regularly, buy expensive kits to use on site, or are unable to perform any tests due to unsafe living conditions such as terrorist groups. or criminal activities. As a result, testing can be expensive, time-consuming, and unreliable.

Because of this reasons, the 1000 people living inside the community of San Isidro do not have access to clean water, so they need to boil it to consume it. In addition to this, 25% of the rural community of Risaralda does not have aqueduct or sewage coverage. Also, 3 million people in the Colombian countryside do not have access to drinking water and are exposed to more than 26 diseases. Furthermore, 1/3 of the world's population does not have access to safe drinking water.

Our solution aims to help public utility companies, NGOs and communities to monitor their water quality without having to do it manually, on site, or buy new supplies. It will save them time, money, and be more reliable as we will operate with high standards. We will allow rural and isolated communities to be more autonomous and appropriate the water monitoring system so they won’t depend on the organizations anymore. We also aim to improve the water quality monitoring for places where there is currently none, improving the quality of life of the communities.

More specifically, we intend to provide the population of San Isidro with the possibility of knowing the water quality state they consume for do a proper maintenance, improving this way sanitary conditions. They are currently boiling the water for consume it.

A large part of the population of the community of San Isidro has arrived in a situation of displacement. They are affected by the big social inequalities and violence of the region among other things.

Since Clement did volunteering activities with the San Isidro community, he learned about the problem itself and the affected population. We have communicated with different actors such as leaders of the community itself and public service companies in charge of water distribution in Risaralda, a region from Colombia.

More globally, we interviewed professionals from the WASH sector working in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ethiopia and Cote d’Ivoire. We also have a close communication with a WASH Advisor from Terre des Hommes that has worked in multiples countries and a WASH Consultant from the UNESCO that has worked in Paris and is actually working in Bogota.

We are currently building our first prototype and starting to run different tests on it. 

We are also starting to partner with a community in Colombia and start operations with Gotita. Aguas y Aguas de Pereira has shown interest in Gotita and intends to use it to supervise the services it offers to the community, called San Isidro and located in Puerto Caldas.

Our device is made of a system of sensors that are connected to a micro-CPU. The sensors mesure different water quality variables like Ph, Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, Conductivity, Turbidity, Residual Chlorine and water level. 

The micro-CPU uploads the values of the different variables through a device that can be configured and setup to different IoT solutions such as Bluetooth, Wifi, LoRa, Sigfox and LTE communication. If an IoT solution is not possible, the users can get the data through USB manually.

We have not yet started our operations.

Our target is to start our operations in a rural community of Colombia, located hour and a half from Pereira. We are planning on serving approximately 1000 people with this first project. 

Our goal through the installation of our device is to increase accessibility to clean water and improve sanitation for the community of San Isidro. We also aim to improve their health. In addition, our goal is to help Aguas y Aguas de Pereira in its mission and to improve their infrastructure. Aguas y Aguas de Pereira are the public utility company in charge of water services in the region of Risaralda.

6.1: Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services

6.3: Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality

3.3: Number of people requiring interventions against neglected tropical diseases

3.9: Mortality rate attributed to unsafe water, unsafe sanitation and lack of hygiene (exposure to unsafe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for All (WASH) services)

Our biggest concerned is residents lacking access to tablets or smartphones, so not everyone from the community may be able to access information.

Our team is leaded by two engineers, Maia and Clement both have a solid technical background. Corporación El comienzo del Arcoiris has a vast experience with communities from Colombia, especially with the Puerto Caldas municipality. We count also with the support of a Water Expert that has been serving as a consultant and technical assistant of Ecohydrology for the UNESCO. Furthermore, we have a large network of WASH professionals for any inquiries concerning water matters.

We are partnering with Organización Rio Magdalena, an organization lead by Jose Gaona who aims to spread general knowledge of water pollution and related topics for the general public understatement. We are also partnering with Corporación El Comienzo del Arcoiris, an organization that worked with the municipality of Puerto Caldas located in San Isidro. With those two partners we have the necessary background to involve the community into water topics.

Aguas y Aguas de Pereira are the utility companies in charge of the water services in the region of Risaralda, and they have shown interest in our project. Furthermore, we have the possibility to work with laboratories from IMT Atlantique.